KINGDOM OF ANGLO SAXONS

'The Wars of King Alfred 865-899' is the sub-title of this compelling military and political history. Paul Hill explores England's birth amidst the devastation and fury of the Danish invasions of the 9th century and provides insight into the English response to the new challenges of warfare in these turbulent years. Alfred the Great, youngest son of King Aethelwulf, took control of the last surviving Anglo-Saxon kingdom, bringing Wessex and the new 'English' parts of Mercia together into a new 'Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons'. This is a story of betrayal and of vengeance, of turncoat oath-breakers and loyal commanders, of battles fought and won against the odds but above all it is the story of how England came into being. Warfare changed from attritional set-piece battles to a grander strategic concern. The book demonstrates how defence-in-depth fortification networks were built across the resurgent kingdom in the wake of Alfred's victory at Edington in 878. The arrival of new Danish armies into England in the 890s would lead to campaigns quite unlike those of the Great Heathen Army of the previous generation. Alfred sought to secure the succession on his son Edward, who led his own forces as a young man in the 890s, but not everyone was happy in Alfred's England. Despite the ever-present threat from the Danes, the greatest challenge facing Alfred arose from his own kin, centred deep in the heart of ancient Wessex and he knew he was not the only branch of the family who claimed a right to rule. Superbly well illustrated with both colour plates and black and white images throughout the text and maps and diagrams and descent of the Mercian kings from Pybba to Ceolwulf I to 823. 268pp.