Ælfred's Britain : war and peace in the Viking age / Max Adams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Adams, Max, 1961- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Alfred, King of England, 849-899.

Alfred.

Vikings--Great Britain--History.

Vikings.

History.

Great Britain--History--Alfred, 871-899.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--History--Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xviii, 509 pages : illustrations (some colour), maps (some colour) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Head of Zeus, 2017.

Summary:

In 865, a great Viking army landed in East Anglia, precipitating a series of wars that would last until the middle of the following century. It was in this time of crisis that the modern kingdoms of Britain were born. In their responses to the Viking threat, these kingdoms forged their identities as hybrid cultures: vibrant and entrepreneurial peoples adapting to instability and opportunity. Traditionally, AElfred the Great is cast as the central player in the story of Viking Age Britain. But Max Adams, while stressing the genius of AElfred as war leader, law-giver, and forger of the English nation, has a more nuanced and variegated narrative to relate. The Britain encountered by the Scandinavians of the ninth and tenth centuries was one of regional diversity and self-conscious cultural identities: of Picts, Dal Riatans and Strathclyde Britons; of Bernicians and Deirans, East Anglians, Mercians and West Saxons.

Contents:

Author's note

Introduction

Part one: The tigers in the smoke, 789-878 (Timeline 1: 789-878 ; Forespæc ; 1. Landscape with figures ; 2. Central placves ; 3. The incoming tide ; 4. The End of Days)

Part two: Newton's cradle: 879-918 (Timeline 2: 879-918 ; Forespæc ; 5. The balance of power ; 6. Arriivals and departures ; 7. Fragmentary annals ; 8. Politics by other means)

Part three: Going native: 919-955 (Timeline 3: 919-955 ; Forespæc ; 9. Innate affinities with ambiguity ; 10. Lawyers, guns and money ; 11. A house of cards ; 12. The illusory prize)

Appendix; Regnal tables (Rulers of Wessex, 802-955 ; Rulers of York, 867-955 ; Rulers of Mercia, 757-924 ; Rulers of Pictavia; Dál Riata, Alba, 839-955 ; Rulers of the Welsh, 808-950)

Notes:

Maps on lining papers.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 465-489) and index.

ISBN:

1784080306

9781784080303

OCLC:

987328989