Summary: In a country fragmented by Roman withdrawal during the 5th century, the<br>employment of Germanic mercenaries by local rulers in Anglo-Saxon Britain was<br>commonplace. These mercenaries became settlers, forcing Romano-British<br>communities into Wales and the West Country. Against a background of spreading<br>Christianity, the struggles of rival British and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were exploited by<br>the Vikings, but eventually contained by the Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred of Wessex. His<br>descendants unified the country during the 10th century, however, subsequent weak<br>rule saw its 25-year incorporation into a Danish empire before it finally fell to the<br>Norman invasion of 1066.<br><br>Scholars of the early Church have long known that the term ‘Dark Ages’ for the 5th to<br>11th centuries in Britain refers only to a lack of written sources, and gives a false<br>impression of material culture. The Anglo-Saxon warrior elite were equipped with<br>magnificent armour, influenced by the cultures of the late Romans, the Scandinavian<br>Vendel people, the Frankish Merovingians, Carolingians and Ottonians, and also the<br>Vikings.<br><br>Today’s guest is Stephen Pollington, author of ”Anglo-Saxon Kings and Warlords AD 400-1070.” We look at the kings and warlords of the time with latest archaeological research.
