Early Wars of Wessex Being Studies from Englands School of Arms in the West [Paperback]

Major's 1913 work used documentary, archaeological, place-name and landscape evidence to reinterpret the history of Anglo-Saxon Wessex.In this 1913 work, Albany Major uses his intimate knowledge of the geography of the West Country to re-interpret the few surviving records for Anglo-Saxon history. By examining physical and archaeological evidence, he sheds new light on the foundation and development of the kingdom of Wessex.In this 1913 work, Albany Major uses his intimate knowledge of the geography of the West Country to re-interpret the few surviving records for Anglo-Saxon history. By examining physical and archaeological evidence, he sheds new light on the foundation and development of the kingdom of Wessex.This 1913 book was considered ground-breaking on first publication. While there are few documentary sources for Anglo-Saxon history, Major uses his intimate knowledge of the geography of the West County to re-interpret the surviving records. By examining physical and archaeological evidence, he sheds new light on the foundation and development of the kingdom of Wessex. He also uses modern boundaries, place names and local traditions, previously overlooked by scholars, to understand how Wessex history was shaped. He shows how the kingdom was first established, and its boundaries extended through warfare with its neighbours, between the late fifth to eighth centuries. Thereafter, famously led by Alfred the Great, Wessex fought and survived Viking invasions; but eventually fell to the Normans in 1066. Although much new archaeological evidence has been uncovered since the book was written, it continues to demonstrate the significance of landscape and folklore study to history.Part 1. The Founding and Rise of Wessex: 1. The founding of the kingdom, 495 to 519 AD; 2. Cerdic to Kenwealh 519 to 643 AD; 3. The Frontier between Wessex and Dyvnaint; 4. The wars of Kenwealh 643 to 672 AD; 5. The wars of Kentwine 676 to 686 AD; 6. The wars of Ine 688 to 710 AD; 7. The finl£0