Viking Britain

This statue of Alfred the Great stands in Winchester, the former 'capital' of his kingdom (Photo by TonyBaggett via Getty Images)

What if... Alfred the Great lost to the Vikings at the battle of Edington?

Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, illustrated sitting on a throne

Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians: the warrior queen who crushed the Vikings

Leif Erikson in Vikings Valhalla

Vikings: Valhalla – the real history behind Netflix’s successor to Vikings

A page from The Encomium, a flattering account of the reign of Cnut written in the early 1040s and commissioned by his mother Emma of Normandy to show her powerful position

Emma of Normandy: not just a two-time queen consort of England

Sweyn Forkbeard, king of Denmark and the first Viking king of England

How Sweyn Forkbeard became the first Viking king of England

A sword/hammer type coin from the Danelaw

The Danelaw: is the ‘realm’ of the Vikings in Anglo-Saxon-era England a place or an idea?

A depiction of King Æthelred II holding a sword

The St Brice’s Day Massacre: what really happened?

Cnut-2-364e8ae

Cnut’s invasion of England: setting the scene for the Norman conquest

The Sutton Hoo excavations are the focus of a new film, 'The Dig'. Carey Mulligan stars as Edith Pretty, and Ralph Fiennes portrays Basil Brown

Second World War

The Dig: the real history of the remarkable Sutton Hoo excavation

A portrait of Cnut holding a sceptre. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Cnut: the great Dane

Chew Valley Hoard

Unburied treasures: the 10 greatest discoveries made by the British public

The front facade of the prehistoric chambered tomb of Wayland's Smithy

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #6: Viking military mind games, Anglo-Saxon mind maps, and embroidery before the Bayeux Tapestry

This is the famous Rhynie Man carved stone, thought to be Pictish in date. (Photo by © Aberdeenshire Council Archaeology Service: www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/archaeology)

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #4: back to Braveheart, Viking river boats, Picts, and the Crusades

Animal head-post from the Oseburg ship burial, from the Viking Ships Museum's collection in Oslo, 9th century (Photo by Alamy)

The Vikings: everything you wanted to know

Painting of Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great and Edington: how the King of Wessex became great