Warriors, Warlords and Saints: The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia

✍ Scribed by John Hunt

• Publisher: West Midlands History
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 172
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Anglo Saxon Mercia was a great power in its day, although many aspects of it have been shrouded in myth and mystery. However, recent discoveries, such as the Staffordshire Hoard and the Lichfield Angel, have shone a fascinating light into the world of Mercia and the Mercians.

In "Warriors, Warlords and Saints: The Anglo Saxon Kingdom of Mercia", author John Hunt uses this evidence to paint a vivid picture of this political and cultural powerhouse which, at the height of its influence, ruled over much of England, and reached out across Europe into the Middle East.

The Mercians themselves were complex. They were a force capable of both great violence and great art, fostering the embryonic English Church and yet fighting bloody wars with the rival kingdoms of Wessex, Northumbria and East Anglia. The story of the Mercians is integral to the story of Anglo Saxon England, from the end of Roman rule to the Norman invasion. It was a land peopled by ruthless kings, great ladies, brave warriors and famous saints who lived at a vital and compelling time in English history with Mercia at its heart.

✦ Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter One. Introduction: Mercia and its People
1.1 Place-Names and the Anglo-Saxons
Chapter Two. The Origins of Mercia
Chapter Three. The Kingdom Builders
3.1 Warriors and Warbands
3.2 Mercia and the Staffordshire Hoard
Chapter Four. Kings, Monks and Saints: the Making of a Christian Kingdom
4.1 Mercia and the Saints: Presenting Relics
Chapter Five. The Age of Æthelbald and Offa
5.1 Coins, Kings and Trade
Chapter Six. Court, Church and Country: Mercian Kingship at Work
6.1 Offa's Dyke
Chapter Seven. Merchants, Markets and the Carolingians
7.1 Lundenwic: the Mercian Entrepôt
Chapter Eight. Art and Society in Anglo-Saxon Mercia
8.1 The Lichfield Gospels (Gospels of Saint Chad)
Chapter Nine. The Vineyard of the Lord Devoured by Foxes: a Changing World
9.1 Repton and the Vikings
Chapter Ten. Mercia, Wessex and the Vikings
10.1 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Mercian Identity and the Mercian Register
Chapter Eleven. People and Settlement in Anglo-Saxon Mercia
11.1 Manorial Sites - New Directions
Chapter Twelve. Magnates, Earls and Earldom: a Tale of Two Families
End Notes
Glossary
Further Reading
Index