The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066

Written by Marc Morris

Narrated by Roy McMillan

A sweeping and original history of the Anglo-Saxons by national bestselling author Marc Morris.

Sixteen hundred years ago Britain left the Roman Empire and swiftly fell into ruin. Grand cities and luxurious villas were deserted and left to crumble, and civil society collapsed into chaos. Into this violent and unstable world came foreign invaders from across the sea, and established themselves as its new masters.

The Anglo-Saxons traces the turbulent history of these people across the next six centuries. It explains how their earliest rulers fought relentlessly against each other for glory and supremacy, and then were almost destroyed by the onslaught of the vikings. It explores how they abandoned their old gods for Christianity, established hundreds of churches and created dazzlingly intricate works of art. It charts the revival of towns and trade, and the origins of a familiar landscape of shires, boroughs and bishoprics. It is a tale of famous figures like King Offa, Alfred the Great and Edward the Confessor, but also features a host of lesser known characters - ambitious queens, revolutionary saints, intolerant monks and grasping nobles. Through their remarkable careers we see how a new society, a new culture and a single unified nation came into being.

Drawing on a vast range of original evidence - chronicles, letters, archaeology and artefacts - renowned historian Marc Morris illuminates a period of history that is only dimly understood, separates the truth from the legend, and tells the extraordinary story of how the foundations of England were laid.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: May 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781713608073

Marc Morris

Marc Morris is a historian and broadcaster specializing in the Middle Ages. He is the author of A Great and Terrible King, King John, and the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling The Norman Conquest. He lives in England.

Reviews for The Anglo-Saxons

[Jeff · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a fairly entertaining book and provides great insight into the Dark Ages of what came to be known as England. If you watched The Last Kingdom (destiny is all!) then so much will be familiar to you, especially the 10th century events. But I was stunned at just how chaotic the years leading up to 1066 truly were. There is necessary speculation due to the lack of primary sources, so many of which were destroyed by the Vikings (as well as the Normans it seems to a lesser extent). But he always couches it as such. I struggle with the ratings because, for what it tries to be - an overview of this time period - it's great. If it were perhaps 500 pages longer, there would be more information but then far less readable. If you feel like I did though, that there was a gap in your knowledge of this time period, then I would unhesitatingly recommend this book.

[Muiris Fitzgerald · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Woke. The author makes the mistakes of an undergraduate in judging people 1500 years ago with today’s standards by describing them as misogynista and abusive towards slaves, etc. instead of stating matter-of-factly that slaves and women had more rights in Western Europe because of Christianity than in the vast majority of places on earth for the time . This book has the tedious condescension of a Guardian newspaper columist. Shame.

[Aylea Wilkins · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic. Can get a little long and in the weeds. But then again, it covers over 600 years of history in pretty good detail.

Morris helps to dispel Anglo-centric supremacy narratives about the Anglo-Saxons, such as their belief in being the first post-classical people to commit to representative governance, or the belief that they were "freer" than any other nation in the early middle ages. In many respects the history of those 600 years is extremely sparse, and what does appear on written and archaeological records paints a picture of a fractious, battle-addled landscape of tribalistic precariousness.