ok so it was yesterday “bad poetry day” but here goes………..
A poem for Aethelflaed.
Aethelflaed leader of men,
In battle fought Dane and Norseman,
Took Leicester of the five boroughs without a fight,
faced down the invaders scourge so Derby fell,
pious and devoted Queen
of Mercian lands now forgotten.
Having bought the first book of Bernard Cornwell’s Last Kingdom series and found it an easy and interesting read – so nearly finished in short order – I have bought part 2.
The first book ends with a big battle and the hero? well the storyteller, has gone from childhood to close proximity to the big players of the day Alfred and Guthrum.
Uhtred is used by Bernard Cornwell to observe both sides and he conveniently lives and fights for both. It allows him to comment on a whole range of subjects and this in turn enriches the story. He can also play out the conflict between christian and pagan showing the differences through Uhtreds own eyes.
I have found Bernard Cornwell writes in such a way that you tumble along with the words, sentences and paragraphs aiding rather than hindering your progress. Likewise he pitches the content just right – you want entertainment and enjoyment – not a history lesson.
Yet the depictions of events are sufficiently convincing to make the reading more compelling. I can think of other fiction where a good storyline is hard going precisely because the background material is so jarring.
Wargamers apparently have adopted this word in the realm of figure quality. Metal miniatures with heft matter. The rise of the plastic miniature in 28mm I suspect is the driving force. There have always been metal miniatures – well since the days of H G Wells and the 54mm lead soldier.
There have been plastic figures since the 1960’s, maybe even before that. Plastic has been the 20th century wonder material that is now the 21st century waste problem. So the appearance of plastic soldiers is from a wider phenomenon.
Heft appears to be a popular north american term for weight and so much more expressive I think. So not just “feel the weight of this I just hefted” said the man from Gloucester (UK) but “feel the heft in these” said the man from Philadelphia (USA)?
Apparently metal wargames figures are so much better in metal. I guess they perform better on the gaming board. Mind you plastic figures can be bought in their hundreds for the price of tens of metals, especially those metal figures blessed with detail from all that valuable tin in them. And then of course there is the quote “quantity has a quality all of its own”; was that said by a certain Mr Josef Stalin?
When it comes to books heft no longer applies to the vast swathe of “E” books. Yet in the realm of the printed book there is still room for heft.
Most of my printed books are paperbacks and they do their job well. Then once in a while you acquire something on a different scale.
This then is heft – John Blair’s Building Anglo-Saxon England published by Princeton University Press.
Anglo-Saxon buildings are rare, raring than Romano-British ones. The simple reason is building material. We are back to the plastic waste problem. Maybe just maybe in a hundred years from now all the metal miniatures might have been melted down and reused while dozens of plastic soldiers survive. Unlikely but maybe. Anyway the lover of anglo saxon buildings is frustrated because they all “rotted” away to leave some post holes and thats it. Except John Blair has published a lavish and I mean lavish, book on the buildings of anglo saxon england painstakingly reconstructing for our minds this aspect of dark age britain.
remember dark age britain on this blog means anything between the 4th and 11th centuries.
The book wins the “heft” competition in my collection!
I have read two more books on the anglo saxon period as my interest in the Normans in the South continues to drift northwards unexpectedly.
As I have previously explained as a prelude to starting on my Normans in the South I read up on the Normans in general. Before I knew it I was reading about Saxons and coupled with my eternal interest in the Carolingians encountering the Vikings. You cannot travel far in the “dark ages” without the Vikings putting in an appearance. Although really we are talking about Danes, Norwegians and Swedes. Vikings is so much more attrcative to the modern ear than these nationalities or the collective scandanavian when it comes to gazing into the past. After all they were in the mediterranean at times and of course the Normans, northmen if you like were but Vikings a few generations on. And that proves the point? Normans are top trumps “warring name” even for the Vikings!
I returned to an earlier period with my first book – a novel. Written by Annie Whitehead, “Cometh the Hour” starts with the conquest of Diera in AD604. We meet Edwin who seems to be the likely hero escaping by the skin of his teeth from the Bernicians. The story then weaves its way across the country following Edwin’s attempts to recover his brothers kingdom. This eventually takes us fully into the lands of what is known as Mercia. And it is here that we meet the real character the story revolves around – Penda. On the journey we visit Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland and King Redwalds East Anglian Rendlesham – ok Sutton Hoo land.
The story ends in AD655. It is an entertaining story. It is only recently that I returned to any fictional novel reading with some difficult stories about the post conquest england. Difficult in the sense that I wanted to enjoy them, appreciate the great knowledge behind the words yet I could not fully embrace the style of writing nor the characters. They were awkward, somehow jarring.
James Aitcheson takes us through “Sworn Sword, the Splintered Kingdom, finishing with Knights of the Hawk”. I have read two of the three books in what is a trilogy: No Bernard Cornwell multi series I suspect – maybe a good thing – the story stays tight? Tancred is the hero and the stories are told through him. And they cover a fairly short period of the 5 years after 1066. The fighting is frequent and tends to be small incidents. Big battles do happen and are treated well in my view.
You do get a little bit of a feeling that the design of the story places combat at convenient staging points with journeys in between. Perhaps inevitable when viewed through one person – they need to get around. Tancred rides his luck and is blessed. I enjoyed the books enough to complete two and will read the third. But I guess I did not feel like I was amongst Normans in England around the 1060’s. Yes the descriptions felt accurate, yet it seemed to be to much of a “first person shooter” at times, so despite all the scenery it was somehow empty.
Cometh the Hour was far better and I read the book continously. Maybe because it dealt with intervening stories through more than one pair of eyes it suited both the subject and the story better. This was a story about wealth and power whereas Tancred had started at the bottom and was always climbing a greasy pole.
The author showed her understanding of the period in my view. And somehow a greater empathy as the characters came more alive for me. And despite the wealth and power the storyline ensured the characters showed they were one step away from losing it all and this condition connected with this reader.
And travelling or rather breaking up the story happened by time travel with each section dated for you to know things had moved on 2 years here or 10 years there.
Power and wealth was tenuous and the span of time allowed this to be played out.
So while James Aitchesons’ first two books were good, Annie Whiteheads “Cometh the Hour” was even better and left me wanting more stories like that.
So I was going to read another fiction story and yet I picked up (well downloaded the e book version) “Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen – Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians. The author Margaret C Jones is one of a numerous set of modern authors who have set their eyes on this very special person.
The book is non fiction, although given the paucity of the records any book on Aethelflaed has a lot of prediction and propositions about what was meant by subsequent records and the contemporary record such that it is.
What you can say is that, contrary to the West Saxon mantra of women being well behind their male counterparts or completely absent from affairs of state Aethelflaed shines like a beacon in Mercian History. It is her curse to have ruled as she did a part of what became more remembered as Wessex’s england. Like her father Alfred she humbled the Vikings and successfully fought the Welsh and even Irish Norsemen.
Margaret Jones clearly likes her character as you would expect and is careful not to over play what can be said. I liked what was said although I struggled midway through the book. It became a bit repetitous over emphasising the plausibility of arguments.
I liked the discussions about how historians have sacrified Aethelflaed to use people like Alfred for their own contemporary audiences leading to her suppression from the records. The book brings us up to date with a very useful review of modern authors and also where to phycially visit Aethelflaeds Mercia.
I can definitely recommend this book if you want to know about a female leader with charisma who had to overcome numerous problems to give her part of england peaceful times during the “viking raiding era”.
The lead image in this post is a danish woman given lithographic life by the hand of William Morris. It is ironic (today) that someone like William Morris illustrated Ragnar Lobroks apparent Queen of Denmark and then Norway (at different times). The context is everything – the early 1900’s were awash with dark ages interest – King Alfred front and centre of course. And while Aethelflaed may have featured in various turn of the century millenial midlands celebrations it appears VIKINGS turned heads on a bigger stage.
Some things just don’t change do they?
And then of course there is the Dark Ages themselves.
Writing this post has distracted me again and set me thinking – time as a context – I have glibly written about three authors covering over 400 years!
Timeline context – if we set the timeline then with now what do we get?
| time line today | back then – very very roughly!!! |
| 2020 today | Hereward is run to ground ending the english fight against norman invaders (last book of James Aitcheson) |
| 2016 brexit | 1066 William the Great great great grandson of viking norsemen defeats King Harold (half danish viking anyway) and the English |
| 1815 battle of waterloo – napoleonic wars | 878 – Guthrum and the Great Heathen Army defeated by King Alfreds anglo saxons (Margaret C Jones Aethelflaed – Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen starts here in her childhood + Bernard Cornwells last kingdom starts in 866 Bernicia) |
| 1642 battle of edgehill – english civil war | 694 – King Ine of Wessex attacks Kent |
| 1620 battle of the white mountain in the thirty years war including english and scots | 671 – Northumbrians defeat the Picts at the battle of the two rivers |
| 1588 the spanish armada – elizabethan wars with catholic europe | 633 – Battle of Hatfield Chase where Penda of Mercia and King Cadwallon a British King defeat Edwin of Northumbria (Annie Whiteheads book runs from 604 – 655 AD) |
| 1346 english defeat the french at the battle of Crecy | 383 Magnus Maximus critically takes the most Roman troops from north and western Britain as well as Gaul to fight civil wars in Italy – the penultimate attempt of emperor making |
| from Crecy to today | the “dark ages” timespan roughly 5th to 11th centuries |
So maybe its a bit unfair to compare these authors given the span of time they cover.
These three authors have in their different ways made my interest in the dark ages british isles greater, shining good lights on it. So I am embarking hesistantly on another fictional account. Bernard Cornwells mammoth last kingdom series. Book 1 is called the Last Kingdom.
I have talked here about both fiction and non-fiction. I expect fictional authors first and foremost to entertain me and maybe pique my interest in the history. I cannot scrutinise a fictional account for historic error. However I think for this period the author must have some connection with the stories, characters and sources without which the narrative might as well be west side story or gang warfare in any era.
I do not expect Last Kingdom to be any more historically correct than say the Tancred Trilogy by James Aitcheson. What I expect is that for someone who has authored so many popular books I will find it an entertaining read.
Cornwells story conveniently starts in 866, 200 years or so after the Penda novel and 200 years before Tancred appears.
If nothing else 400 years is a very long period in this islands history, something I think is often forgotten and possibly almost encouraged – oh the Romans have gone so lets swiftly move on to the Normans after all what did the Saxons ever do for us except let the Vikings in?
And finally by a quirk of fate I now possess a copy of Learn Old English with Leofwin. I gave up learning languages decades ago yet here I am buying a book about a dead language!
Where will this anglo saxon story go next I wonder?
My anglo saxon army is growing with the addition of many more bases. I am settled on 80mm wide impetus style basing where the idea is to inject a little variety into figure presentation. This is quite easy with strelets who produce a reasonable pose mix with each set they make. In the case of the anglo saxons it gets even better when you buy they big battle sets as I did. The stamford bridge set is the only one currently available though.
I decorate the base with budgie grit on pva glue (games workshop idea) and use a three colour painting technique. Dark red earth base colour with heavy dry brush of yellow ochre over it followed by a light yellow/white top dry brush. I am looking for sandy and dare I say summer like conditions, no green green grass of home for my troops.
I used some little big man shield transfers for 28mm anglo saxon bucklers on a few of the figures. They blend in ok I think.
I finish with some foliage. In this case I am using Peco Railway scenics which are autumnal or greenish brown grasses.
So thats it for now, next up on show are my first “el cid” Hat 1/72 figures posing as Italo-Normans.
Paul Hill’s The Anglo-Saxons at War is a good source book. He covers the period of 800 – 1066 in themes.
Campaigns describes how the anglo saxons conducted their warfare and while often a reaction to viking raids they had a method and of course fought amongst themselves.
He discusses the use of fortified places – again I thought this was a good chapter.
Strategy and tactics left me less happy – somehow this part was too bitty although I liked the ruses discussion which included how they used the land to their advantage.
Military Organisation covered quite a few aspects and I welcome the coverage he has given on naval capability and activity. Mercenaries are dealt with as is the issue of tribute and how that impacted on military organisation. Tribute giving and taking plus exchanging hostages were all part of the fabric of warfare and should be seen as such and not detached.
He inevitably deals with cavalry and is clear they rode to war and fought “battles” on fought yet fought on horseback when pursuing for example. Similarly the bow is discussed although he is muted on its use acknowledging that before contact shieldwalls exchanged a whole array of throwable missiles. The argument for some bowmen behind these shieldwalls seems obvious – you could also I think draw parallels with late roman armies of spearmen who threw darts. Why would spear armed infantry not use a few missile men? That is a world away from massed units of bowmen which seems sometimes to be the only option in these discussions.
Paul includes the size of armies as well as recruitment – this last part feeds on another chapter (below) very well. Logistics and communciation are also discussed – I felt the logistics was of value but I did not like his approach or the content of the communciations section. I thought he could have made a better argument for more organised communciations even on the battlefield. And he could have made parallels with warfare of the time going on elsewhere. He does this to good effect in other parts of the book yet not here.
The chapter on warfare and society includes obligations and why go to war in the first place looking at the individual perspective as much as the hierarchy. This was good material. Not so good was the part on where battles were fought although some parts were interesting such as the occurence of “ford” battles. Again it felt as though there was more to be offered but either he lacked of room or the author had no desire to go beyond those limited areas that he wanted to cover.
This book is not about battles themselves and probably reads better if unlike me you have read a narrative history of the period first.
In some respects this book felt like a series of articles written maybe over time and now stitched together to form a book. This may even explain the degree of repetition. If so it was not a problem for me.
Overall this is a book I am pleased to have bought and I am not sure there is a book quite like it despite my reservations of the way some areas have been covered.
Unlike even some books I have really enjoyed this book does lend itself to being a reference book. And I aim to revisit it.
Verdict – recommended.
Karwansaray Publications run a title called Medieval Warfare (MW) and its sister publication Ancient Warfare. They produce excellent image content along with detailed current views on historic subjects written by experts in their field. What more could one want?
In edition MW X.3 they will cover the Battle of Brunanburh fought in 937AD where King Constantine of Scotland was on the losing side but is maybe better known than the victor, King Athelstan – King Alfred the Great’s grandson.
King Alfred was King of Wessex although I suspect many simply view him as a King of the English (or even more incorrectly British, who in his day were really the Welsh). His son Edward the Elder became King of the Anglo Saxons, an upmarket move geographically speaking. It was Edwards’ son Athelstan who as King defeated King Constantine of Scotland at the unknown location of Brunanburh.
For the first time since the Roman occupation a single person could claim to rule the largest island (of the archipelago) called Albion by the ancient Greeks. And he was termed an English and not an Anglo Saxon or Wessex Ruler.
It will be interesting to see if MW X.3 puts Athelstan at the centre of the story. If they don’t and you want Athelstan’s full story then you can get a copy of Paul Hill’s “The Age of Athelstan”. Paul in 208 engaging pages with few photos seeks to correct the classic “english/british” teaching that between the Romans (dressed in classical uniforms of course) climbing on board their boat to sail back to Rome and William gazing down at Harold with an arrow in his eye, there was just Alfred (the only Great English/British king).
I am just pleased that Karwansaray have decided to run an edition covering such an obscure battle.
Better still get both the magazine and the book and really immerse yourself in a period usually dominated by the Vikings!
I have been reading up on the world of anglo saxons which strangely I have never read about in depth before. I have been drawn in by reading about the Normans. The fact is that the Normans are far more successful at having history written about them. I guess this is not surprising – Anglo Saxons were losers. Unless of course we are talking about King Alfred, who was singled out as a hero in the Viking Wars. The more I read, the more this is all feels quite unbalanced. History is all about being unbalanced despite the efforts of many historians and simply because of the efforts of others. Historians have their preferences like most people, so you can get a period neglected simply because no one takes that much interest in it.
Every day though, history is being rewritten, not least through the ever burgeoning efforts of archaelogists. So discoveries like the staffordshire hoard help the cause of “dark age” Britain.
So what about the two curators. Well in successive books I have enjoyed learning more about the “anglo-saxons” from Paul Hill and then Gareth Williams.
Paul Hill was Curator at Kingston Museum. Kingston upon Thames saw many Anglo-Saxon kings crowned so has a close relationship with the period. It is not surprising that a former curator should be pro Anglo-Saxon to the extent of writing a trilogy on their histroy and how it has been handled over the centuries. His writing style is what I would describe as traditional and he explores the subject in depth with balanced arguments and overall I enjoy his style.
I actually discovered Paul through his Norman Commanders book. I enjoyed that book enough to read his Anglo-Saxon warfare book. Now firstly it should be said he starts in 800 AD so for some that might be a bit frustrating because he does not start way back in 500AD to set the scene. He has much to discuss in the 200 year slot he set himself, so I think he was right to draw a line.
One reviewer complained about repetition. I think this is because Paul adopts a thematic approach yet still tries to develop the story over time. Inevitably he returns you to specific moments to expand on a different theme each time.
I had no problem with this yet for some people I think this would prove hard work esepecially if they just want a narrative approach.
I especially liked one section when the Anglo-Saxons caught a Viking force in an estuary, the story showing excellent viking seamanship and perhaps overly keen but equally expert Anglo-Saxon sailors caught by the tidal flows.
Paul Hill brings to life warfare in the Anglo-Saxon period and poses and answers questions, he rightly remains uncommitted where the evidence is just simply not sufficient.
Paul ends his story in 1066. In many respects this is the only thing in common with Osprey’s “Combat : Viking Warrior versus Anglo-Saxon Warrior”.
Gareth Williams a curator at the British Museum specialises in Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods so is an ideal author for the Osprey “Combat Series” booklet. He adopts an episodic approach to the timeline starting in 865 and again ending in 1066.
Even in the title the Anglo-Saxons play second fiddle, so you might be worried that such a populist series might play to the viking storyline. It does not and is a refreshing and in my view balanced narrative of the 200 years during which the Vikings made their biggest mark on Britain, ruled it, eventually being defeated comprehensively in 1066.
Unlike an earlier Osprey which bundled the Normans into the same title this author sticks to the two main participants. The book does have a postscript which briefly describes the subsequent events of 1066.
I enjoyed Gareths approach and as you would expect the content is not short of stunning artefacts from museums. It is this – the production and layout of a more “image” oriented approach that marks it out from Paul Hills text heavy book.
Both the books though make common cause to show the Anglo-Saxons have been too often “under” written while the Vikings have been “over” written.
Because Gareth wrote around 3 key battles – Ashdown 871AD, Maldon 991AD and Stamford Bridge 1066AD he compliments Paul Hills book where battles are discussed but always in the context of a theme – say seamanship, hostages or fortifications.
I liked the scene setting for each battle which briefly described the events that led to the battle, then tactics of the time and then the outcome. In each case Gareth uses the appropriate battle to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the warriors as individuals, within their warbands and as parts of an army or more usually a raiding force.
Overall then, two books which have increased my interest in this period significantly.
If you want a quick and accessible book on the subject then the osprey is spot on even to the extent of allowing you to read up on just one of the three battles in isolation.
If you want a more considered approach to aspects of warfare in the anglo saxon period then I recommend Paul Hill’s book.
I am now reading Paul Hill’s trilogy of the Anglo Saxons and their place in this island history.
The feature photograph shows my recently completed anglo saxons from strelets. More on them in a future post.
After what seems like an age my latest painting efforts are nearing completion. This dark age group is the largest I have painted in one round and that has taught me a lesson. Small is beautiful as in 40 odd figures take a while to get completed. Volume means quicker painting but overall completion is longer. I like the idea of completing one or two bases and then starting over again. That feels like a better painting cycle.
Back in 2018 after a trip to Sicily my Condotta armies project began to go off the rails. The reason was simply that a visit to Palermo fired up my interest in the Normans rather than say the fabulous Baroque architecture of the city.
And then I picked up a copy of Early Medieval Italy by Chris Wickham (MacMillan Press) 1981 – ISBN 0 333 26672 2. I still have not read beyond page 60 yet not through lack of interest. It looks a great book (on flick through) for the period of Lombard domination of the Italian peninsula. And this period does not seem awash with books of this type.
It simply reminded me that before the Normans arrived in Italy and after the end of Belisarius the whole of Italy was subject to numerous invasions and fragmented rule. Great for wargames and as a backdrop to “imaginative wargaming”.
Within weeks my Condotta project had been abandoned and I was back in the “dark ages” or early medieval period. It was not long before I switched to Carolingian history with two books about Charlemagne.
Before that another chance bookshop visit resulted in two books I quickly read. The first “A Brief History of the Normans: How the Viking Tribe Came to Conquer Europe by Francois Neveux published by Robinson english edition 2008 ISBN-10 1845295234. The second was “The Lost King of England” by Gabriel Ronay published by Boydell Press ISBN 0 85115 785 8 (paperback 2000).
The book about the Normans is unusual I suspect – a french writer translated to english or should that be Anglish? The Anglish have written extensively about the Normans as they are a key part of the “british empire” mythmaking. After all, all Empires need to make a narrative, a back story and myth making is a key part of it. Professor Neveux comes from Caen so Normandy is his back yard, so to speak and he would have first hand slightly different source material and crucially secondary material/opinion differing in perspective. The book gets a “ok” score on “good reads” with lots adverse comments about poor proof reading. And yes there are plenty of typos. However the value of the book was its purpose to start sometime before the popular english view of the Normans as in “in 1066 the Normans appeared from nowhere and invaded England”. And of course except for a little damp eyed look at the Saxons of Alfred the English quickly move onto “Anglo-Normans” and their inevitable journey of conquest.
So I can see why this book was not that loved. It maybe reads far better in french? The point is that it made me think about that period prior to 1066 a bit more and tying into my recent discovery of Chris Wickhams book I was swirling around the 8th Century.
Gabriel Ronay’s book was a surprise – I had no idea Aethelings could travel so far. I liked the story of Edward the exile and along with it a view of a more joined up northern european world than many history books would have you believe.
A good read in my view although I am not so sure about some of the connections the author makes about the Aethelings themselves.
At least I was painting again – some strelets normans were on the paint table. I wrote about these in this blog back in December 2019. https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2019/12/17/basing-normans-in-the-south/
And then nothing. Zilch. I had quite a long gap where wargaming dark age history took a back seat. But boy did I read. Now reading about history is the thing for me. My wargames interests such as they are, are driven by what I am reading. If I am erratic on wargaming at least I am a consistent reader of mainly military history. The books come first not the games, figures or rules.
I read Peter Heather’s monumental Empires & Barabarians which caused me to reread his Decline of the Roman Empire in short order plus I read two crazy books (again from charity shops) plus some I bought at the Colours Show at Newbury.
The Newbury “buys” were Carolingian Cavalry published by Osprey & Vandals by Simon McDowell published by Pen & Sword.
From the Charity shop I bought Arthur & British Kings – the TRUTH! by Martin Russell published in 2016; plus St Albans – a pocket history book (published in the early 1920’s).
Martin was brave to include Arthur and TRUTH in his book title. It was on sale at Fishbourne Palace https://sussexpast.co.uk/ – a location which does convey a feeling of lived in Roman Britain to me.
Despite being written 100 years apart and under very different contexts, reading them together meant I could easily compare them. And the core story was there. So even though Martin was intent on giving us chapter and verse about an apparent medieval fiction he managed to provide the essential continuity story of what we would call today the south of england.
I suppose that would also be more the “west saxon” or wessex history as well. I actually enjoyed his book although it required a lot of concentration to retain the story line about Arthur he wanted to convey.
The 1920’s St Albans pocket history did what it said and in short order told the story of a great city with an ancient past. It was also an easy read and not too “empirish” in its style, given when it was published the British Empire was still the “force” across the globe.
Enjoying Simon McDowells “The Vandals” (published by Pen & Sword 2016 ISBN 978 1 47383 770 6) I descended back into the Later Roman period – another of my favorite reading subjects. “The Vandals” does a good job of explaining the journey of a much maligned tribal grouping. The authors passion for his subject shines through.
“Patricians & Emperors” by Ian Hughes (published by Pen & Sword 2015 ISBN 978 1 84884 412 4) shows an equal passion. He has been a prolific late roman period author. Ian’s writing style was harder for me although I admire his dedication to dig out effective mini biographies of the various shadow like players at the end of empire. This makes it an unusual book style unless I am mistaken?
I enjoyed both these books and they drew me into the period. It was not long before I was thinking about Visigoths and Merovingians though. I am digressing yet again!
The Peter Heather double header of “The Fall of the Roman Empire” and “Empires & Barbarians” (published by Maxmillan 2005 ISBN 0-333-98914-7 and 2009 ISBN 978-0-333-98975-3 respectively) are worth the read and with a combined page count of 1077 give you lots of background on the main story. It never ceases to amaze me that Apollinaris Sidonius still seemed to project an almost classsic roman world when the dark ages were apparently already well underway in places like the british isles.
These led me to the Penguin Classic of Gregory of Tours and his history of the Franks translated by Lewis Thorpe. I bought the 1974 paperback publication in a charity shop by chance again. I tend to browse randomly and just buy these older books on the hoof. It leads to my meandering across subjects, one of the pleasures of history I think.
Already a good read, I have yet to finish “Gregory” as my mind was turned yet again this time by a magazine article about “The battle of Vlaardingen” in Medieval Warfare VIII-3 published by Karwansaray B.V.. That sent me forward into Ottonian times. And before you know it another charity purchase brought me back to “Charlemagne – The Great Adventure” by Derek Wilson published by Hutchinson in 2005 ISBN 0-0917-9461-7. I enjoyed this book which at just over 200 pages sticks to the subject. Derek even ventures into the more modern usage and views of Charlemagnes Empire.
So back to Gregory then – nope – Another Pen & Sword publication took me sideways into the anglo-saxon world of Offa or should I say Mercian? This is the underated King of the Mercians – note not angles or saxons or english as that is reserved for the ever popular King Alfred. Chris Peers booklist is african and asian so this seems a one off by him. It shows I think in some of the content he chooses to dwell upon which reduces the books value. The fact that I have never read any book before on Offa means that he has done some good though in atttracting me to this subject. In fact my tortured view of the dark ages of these british islands is – the end of Roman rule, celts again, lots of squabbling anglo saxon visitors – british/welsh in retreat – sutton hoo – then the vikings and alfred (brief recovery), vikings, norse, danes visiting and staying again before the great fall after Hastings. Not much else. The Mercians seem mercurial.
“Offa and the Mercian Wars has got me thinking otherwise. And the net result is more dark age “anglish” history to consume before I get back to Italy and the Normans. Still it has sustained my painting of anglo saxons or maybe thats now mercians as well.
The Wargaming Erratic 
