The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066

I am going to assume that most readers that check out this book are not that up on early English history, although they may more than many — that may be one reason why they are checking this book out. If that’s you then I’d suggest that this book is likely to be worth the investment. It is written in an open-handed, almost chatty style. But at the same time it delves into all sorts of details that you may not have heard before. The author is experienced at writing popular histories and has been on TV about it, apparently. If you are looking for a more scholarly book then this might not be the one for you. The chatty style at first caused me some concern at first, left me wondering how lightweight the book was going to be. But the depth of content won me over. The only criticism I might have about the book is that it focuses a lot on the history of the English church in particular and the elite in general. But I do understand that documentation of the times beyond that has scarcely survived. It does seem that by comparison the Roman Empire left far more of a written record, which maybe spoiled me a bit. So again, if that all checks out for you, then why not give the book a try?

O livro chegou bem rápido – em dois dias! A capa é um pouco simples, mas o livro chegou inteiro e por dentro ele é lindo. Tem bastante figuras e ilustrações.

Vou ler e retorno com outro “feedback”

This author deserves a glowing and carefully written review. I don’t have time for that, but I decided to post this anyway because there’s something important missing from these reviews.

After reading this 2022 publication for the second time in April 2024, I was curious how many of Marc’s readers (or reviewers, anyway) had noticed what I consider to be his most outstanding achievement: balance, independent judgment and durability through a chaotic period in Anglo-Saxon historiography rocked by vicious political controversy and groundbreaking advancements in population genetics. I didn’t see this mentioned in the other reviews, so here I am.

Since the June 2022 paperback edition was published, several landmark academic papers have demonstrated much greater mobility in ancient and Early Medieval populations than many recent historians and archaeologists had realized. In particular, Gretzinger et al (Sep 2022) and a recent preprint by McColl et al (March 2024) showed rather conclusively that large parts of England were virtually repopulated by migrants from around Germany after the fall of Roman Britain. These findings directly contradict the cultural diffusion models favored by the left. Frustratingly, they’ve also been weaponized by unsavory nationalist ideologies. So Marc was entering sensitive territory with this one.

When Marc wrote this book, he would have known about some 2016-2017 papers showing a sizable genetic legacy from the Anglo-Saxons among the modern English, but this hadn’t really settled questions about the scale and process of migration, local assimilation and displacement, ethnogenesis and so on. He would have been faced with a complex, under-documented period that was getting punted around and politically weaponized by radicals on both ends of the spectrum. Somehow, he managed to draw conclusions that were demonstrably accurate in light of subsequent findings without endorsing extreme or simplistic views about ethnicity that preoccupied the opposing camps. He agrees with recent findings in his nuanced rejection of the “elite transfer” model, but he draws his conclusions primarily from archaeological and literary rather than genetic evidence, very much on his own terms, and he mentions the evolving genetic picture with cautious interest and abiding respect for interdisciplinary methods.

Of course, Marc’s stance was entirely correct, but his writing also shows a studied awareness of these issues without really acknowledging, antagonizing or otherwise dignifying the political discourse, and he did it at no cost to his own sweeping and confident exposition.

Wow. Just wow. Marc is smarter than he lets on. His literary talent alone is quietly brilliant, but he’s also a good historian. Thank you, Marc.

I love reading history, and although I have periods and places which I find of greater appeal, I am always willing to venture into others. When my wife became particularly entranced by a television series in which Alfred the Great and other medieval characters were featured prominently, the questions about its historical accuracy shortly followed, exposing a gap in my readings. I have since been somehow waiting for the appropriate source to fill that gap, and along came this book. Marc Morris covers the centuries from the end of Roman Britain to the Norman conquest, painting a thoroughly detailed picture with the precision that few surviving firsthand sources and scattered archeological findings can provide. It is an engagingly written book, with well argued explanations for apparent conundrums, and one that allowed me to pinpoint what was fact-inspired or completely made up in the television show.

A comprehensive and in depth, highly entertaining story of the majority of the movers and players of the Anglo-Saxon era, which leads on perfectly to one of Morris’s earlier books, The Norman Conquest.

Not unexpectedly, this is the part of the Anglo-Saxon history he doesn’t look at in quite as much detail, given he has a whole book on it.

For me, this is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the period of time often referred to as The Dark Ages in which the old kings of England ruled, with very little physical sights or objects from the era to experience the history, this book is invaluable, the author having researched and put together the existing sources to give us the only overview a popular history fan could ever need about the Anglo Saxons.

A great book I will undoubtedly come back to again in the future and use for reference.