Anglo-Saxon England

Of all the kings of Wessex prior to the reign of King Alfred, Ine is the one with probably the greatest reputation. This rests mostly on the respect afforded to his law code by King Alfred in the preface to his own collection of legal rulings. There Alfred explicitly set himself in a tradition following from Moses and Ine in making laws for his people. This is high praise and surely must attract the interest of readers. Who was this Ine? Why were his laws so notable? And does the reality live up the expectation set by Alfred’s praise? In this episode we will seek to answer these questions and discover that Ine’s legacy is decidedly more complicated that a surface reading of Alfred’s preface would suggest.Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdeninghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8DdeningSocial Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonenglandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnglandAngloInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglosaxonenglandpodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzyGUvYZCstptNQeWTwfQuA  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Upon the abdication of Centwine in 685 the Gewisse were thrown into chaos. From the forests on their eastern frontier came news of an exiled noble massing an army to press his claim to the throne. He had already cut his teeth on the South Saxons by driving out their king and facing a revolt by his nobles, but now he was looking to return home to seize the opportunity of an empty throne. His name was Cædwalla and though he would reign for only three years, they would be some of the most transformative years in the history of Wessex. But that transformation would be a bloody one and would draw the people of the south west into the violent contest that was Anglo-Saxon power politics thereby remaking them and eventually England as a whole.Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdeninghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8DdeningSocial Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonenglandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnglandAngloInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglosaxonenglandpodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzyGUvYZCstptNQeWTwfQuA  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The period between Cynegil’s baptism in 636 and the rise of Cædwalla in 685 is one in which the political history of the Gewisse becomes extremely complicated. This is because the political structure of the Gewisse that had developed by this time was one in which any male heir of Cerdic was entitled to claim the throne. Thus while the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is committed to presenting a unified dynasty linking King Alfred to Cerdic, it cannot totally hide the fact that the political situation among the Gewisse was extremely fraught, particularly on occasions when internal power politics spilled over into the realm of international relations.Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdeninghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8DdeningSocial Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonenglandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnglandAngloInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglosaxonenglandpodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzyGUvYZCstptNQeWTwfQuA  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our first secure historical date for the people who became the West Saxons occurred at some point in the 630s when a missionary called Birinus baptised their king, Cynegils, at his royal palace near Dorchester on Thames. According to traditions which circulated among later generations of West Saxons they already had a century of history prior to this date, but this history as it has come down to us is often vague and contradictory. In this episode I will go over that history. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdeninghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8DdeningSocial Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonenglandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnglandAngloInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglosaxonenglandpodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzyGUvYZCstptNQeWTwfQuA  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following the Battle of Ellendun, Mercia entered an uncertain new phase in its history. No longer the supreme power in England, it was forced to regroup and rebuild amid dynastic strife and encroaching threats from without. It would survive for only a further half century after Beornwulf's death, but rather than being solely a time of decline, that last fifty years saw the emergence of something new which was brutally snuffed out before its time.Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdeninghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8DdeningSocial Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonenglandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnglandAngloInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglosaxonenglandpodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzyGUvYZCstptNQeWTwfQuA  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Mercian Supremacy collapsed within just five years of Coenwulf's death, a dramatic reversal of fortune. Why did this happen and what role did the political instability which gripped Mercia at this time play in the course of events? This episode, follow me as we look at how something as successful as Mercia could come crashing down in such a short span of time.Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdeninghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8DdeningSocial Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonenglandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglosaxonenglandpodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzyGUvYZCstptNQeWTwfQuA  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we look at the reign of the last king of the Mercian Supremacy: Coenwulf. We look at how he rebuilt a fractured Mercian dominion in the wake of Offa's death, how he struggled to incorporate the Church into his overlordship, and how a 10th C legend about his son's death was used to explain the whole collapse of the Mercian supremacy that had been a fact of Anglo-Saxon politics for almost 200 years at the time of his death. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdeninghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonenglandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglosaxonenglandpodcast/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzyGUvYZCstptNQeWTwfQuA  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tamworth in Staffordshire proudly announces it's history as 'capital of the kingdom of Mercia' to all who visit. In this episode we look at the history of the town and how it's origins as a major royal site rest decisively with King Offa, who cemented its place in history as the heart of Mercia. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdeninghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonenglandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglosaxonenglandpodcast/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzyGUvYZCstptNQeWTwfQuA  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Offa of Mercia is one of the great figures of Anglo-Saxon history. Casually known in English textbooks, his true greatness is often only alluded to. He was a great visionary king who aspired to remake the political system of Mercia, to centralise it, and even to found an empire in Britain.Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdeninghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8DdeningSocial Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonenglandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzyGUvYZCstptNQeWTwfQuA  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Athelbald of Mercia was yet another Anglo-Saxon king to return from exile and rejuvenate a stagnating kingdom. More than any king we've discussed so far, he fundamentally altered the way politics in his kingdom worked through daring use of royal power to cement the position of the king of Mercia as a legal warrior diplomat at the head of an economic powerhouse. It ended in betrayal from within, but at its peak he ruled gloriously as the de facto overlord of southern England. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdeninghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonenglandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzyGUvYZCstptNQeWTwfQuA   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices