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A review by jvanwago
The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England by Marc Morris
informative
5.0
Coming into this book, I knew almost nothing about the Anglo-Saxons other than some vague understanding that they were somehow involved with early England. What I learned here was highly interesting and informative. Morris’ book takes 600 years of history and scant archeological record, and spins them into an engaging yarn.
This easily could have been a dry recounting, but Morris focused on one fascinating character at a time and used their story as a framework to tell the broader history. Morris is a fluid writer who expertly deploys dry humor as another tactic to enliven the history.
The Anglo-Saxons were first conquerors of the Roman Britons, presided over the darkest ages of British history, harried the few remaining native Britons and were in turn constantly attacked and weakened by Vikings. At the moment of their greatest weakness, they were finally conquered by the Viking-Franco hybrids known as the Normans. The Anglo-Saxons’ proto-Germanic evolved into Old English (the word “English” derives from one of the Anglo-Saxon tribes) and although they made several attempts to unify, true English kings were fleeting during this time.
This easily could have been a dry recounting, but Morris focused on one fascinating character at a time and used their story as a framework to tell the broader history. Morris is a fluid writer who expertly deploys dry humor as another tactic to enliven the history.
The Anglo-Saxons were first conquerors of the Roman Britons, presided over the darkest ages of British history, harried the few remaining native Britons and were in turn constantly attacked and weakened by Vikings. At the moment of their greatest weakness, they were finally conquered by the Viking-Franco hybrids known as the Normans. The Anglo-Saxons’ proto-Germanic evolved into Old English (the word “English” derives from one of the Anglo-Saxon tribes) and although they made several attempts to unify, true English kings were fleeting during this time.