Alex Burghart

The evolution of England — from ragbag kingdoms to a centralised state

Marc Morris throws new light on Dark Age Britain, and makes centuries of Anglo-Saxon rivalry not just comprehensible but fascinating

Offa, King of Mercia (757–796), one of the most powerful Anglo-Saxon rulers before Alfred the Great, is depicted with the church of St Albans, which he founded as a Benedictine monastery in 793. (From the Benefactors Book of St Alban’s Abbey, c. 1380). Credit: Bridgeman Images 
issue 15 May 2021
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  • The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England

    Marc Morris

    Hutchinson, pp. 464, £25

The title of Marc Morris’s new history makes me want to get up and dance a little jig. The modern Inquisition has been jabbing its finger at the term ‘Anglo-Saxon’, accusing it of thought crime and threatening it with the cucking stool. (At least one august history society in the US has renamed itself in response.)

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