Ælfred's Britain: War and Peace in the Viking Age

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Maps by Jeff Edwards. In 865, a great Viking army landed in East Anglia, precipitating a series of wars that would last until the middle of the following century. It was in this time of crisis that the modern kingdoms of Britain were born. In their responses to the Viking threat, these kingdoms forged their identities as hybrid cultures: vibrant and entrepreneurial peoples adapting to instability and opportunity. Traditionally, Ælfred the Great is cast as the central player in the story of Viking Age Britain. But Max Adams, while stressing the genius of Ælfred as war leader, law-giver, and forger of the English nation, has a more nuanced and variegated narrative to relate. The Britain encountered by the Scandinavians of the ninth and tenth centuries was one of regional diversity and self-conscious cultural identities: of Picts, Dál Riatans and Strathclyde Britons; of Bernicians and Deirans, East Anglians, Mercians and West Saxons. List of Maps Dedication Map Frontispiece Author’s note Introduction PART I: The tiger in the smoke, 789–878 Timeline 1: 789–878 Forespæc Chapter 1: Landscape with figures Chapter 2: Central places Chapter 3: The incoming tide Chapter 4: The End of Days PART II: Newton’s cradle, 879–918 Timeline 2: 879–918 Forespæc Chapter 5: The balance of power Chapter 6: Arrivals and departures Chapter 7: Fragmentary annals Chapter 8: Politics by other means PART III: Going native, 919–955 Timeline 3: 919–955 Forespæc Chapter 9: Innate affinities with ambiguity Chapter 10: Lawyers, guns and money Chapter 11: A house of cards Chapter 12: The illusory prize Endpapers Appendix: Regnal tables Rulers of Wessex 802–955 Rulers of York 867–955 Rulers of Mercia 757–924 Rulers of Pictavia; Dál Riata; Alba 839–955 Rulers of the Welsh 808–950 Abbreviations, sources and references Notes Bibliography Picture credits Acknowledgements Index