Short History of the Anglo-Saxons

Henrietta Leyser is an Emeritus Fellow of St Peter's College, Oxford. Her books include Hermits and the New Monasticism: A Study of Religious Communities in Western Europe, 1000-1150, Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England, 450-1500 and The Life of Christina of Markyate.

'Henrietta Leyser not only sets out the tumultuous events of Anglo-Saxon history with elegant clarity and eloquent cogency, but also explores many of its byways with a pithy wit. General readers will be drawn into a compelling narrative ranging over many centuries, and illustrated throughout with a wealth of translated quotations from contemporary sources. Students and specialists, meanwhile, will appreciate the breezy ease with which this sometimes baffling and always complex material is summarised and analysed by its distinguished author. This is a beautifully crafted and well researched book.' - Andy Orchard, Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, University of Oxford, 'In eight invigorating chapters, Henrietta Leyser covers a period of six hundred years from the settlement of Germanic peoples across eastern and southern Britain, in the fifth and sixth centuries, to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. She provides a lively and well-balanced assessment of the ways in which social, cultural, economic and political forces interacted with each other, leading to the emergence of a unified kingdom of the English - and its conquest. It is over thirty years since a book of this scope and nature has appeared; and Dr Leyser is a very skilful guide to all that has changed in our perception of the Anglo-Saxon world-order.' - Simon Keynes, Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, University of Cambridge, 'Rich in erudition, this book wears its learning lightly and engages the reader throughout by posing as many questions as it answers. Texts, artefacts and historical events are deftly interwoven. Dr Leyser shrewdly negotiates the complex interactions between faith and politics in the period, grounding her assumptions in a wholly convincing context. A truly excellent short history.' - Susan Irvine, Quain Professor of English Language and Literature, University College London, 'A Short History of the Anglo-Saxons opens new windows on a distant yet very present world at a corner of early medieval Europe. The book provides a valuable guide for the newcomer and yet still throws up surprises for those already familiar with the period. Henrietta Leyser revels in the new work undertaken on the Anglo-Saxon period in recent years. She reveals how much we now do know, while at the same time reminding us how much we still don't, and raises provocative questions that those of us who wish to understand the period should think about. This little book packs in a great deal.' - Ryan Lavelle, Reader in Early Medieval History, University of Winchester