Wiglaf 18mm

 Have you seen the Wiglaf range of 1/100th scale Anglo-Saxon warriors?

They are rather nice, designed by Mark Copplestone for author Dan Mersey. Figure selection here in the photos painted by paint master Steve Dean.

You can buy them here:

https://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=306&page=1

Website

The Mystery of King Arthur

 Picked this up for 50p. I have quite a few books on this subject from charity shops. This one is about the various interpretations through history.

Elizabeth Jenkins brings her subject alive in this unique and glowing book, doing full justice through her loving and careful research to history and mystery alike.

Glastonbury Tor by Claire Harrup

 For the book Landmark and Legends. More pics here

Was Camelot a Real Place? | Arthur: King of the Britons | BBC Timestamp

 

Here

Although most scholars regard the tales of King Arthur and Camelot as fiction, there are multiple locations that may have been linked with King Arthur’s Camelot. One potential place is in Somerset, whereby four, manmade distinct banks in a hill suggest the existence of a hillfort right next to the Camel villages. Could this be the site of King Arthur’s Camelot?

Susan picked this up today for 50p. Signed too which was nice😆

 

New novel

 

Years have passed since the clash of shield-walls echoed across the land . . .

The Saxons are now the lords of Britain. And yet the bards still sing of Arthur - 'In our darkest time, when we need him most, shall he come again.'

Ageing mercenary Beran has no love of bards' songs. Nor of people. Unless they are paying him to steal or kill. Now he has been ordered to murder a boy. But this is no ordinary child. The son of King Constantine and the grandson of High King Ambrosius, this boy could be the saviour of Britain . . . if he lives.

Betraying his companions and returning to a world he believed he'd forsaken, Beran vows to take the boy to the one place that still holds out against the invader: Camelot.

Hunted by Saxons, Queen Morgana and those he deceived, he will seek the help of Guivret, called the Little King, and the Saracen, Palamedes who once rode beneath Arthur's banner. They will meet the doomed lovers, Tristan and Isolde. And they will fight for their lives and for each other.

For if there's to be any hope for Britain, Beran must deliver the boy to Camelot. And to do that, he must come to terms with his past . . .

Arthur is the breathtaking new novel from the author of the bestselling Lancelot, called 'a masterpiece' by Conn Iggulden . . .

Penda Mercia's first king

 

Since the Venerable Bede wrote his iconic Ecclesiastic History of England in the eighth century, King Penda has been relegated to the role of villain and treated as a barrier to advancement in a battle between new ideas and a new culture. Paul Barrett outlines the background to the Anglo-Saxon takeover in England and explores the broad concepts of the Angles’ traditional culture, before delving into the life of Penda (605 – 655). Penda’s life spanned the first half of the seventh century, the era which gave birth to national identities which still form the central components of modern Britain; Wales, Scotland, and England all take shape through this period. Penda’s seemingly impossible ascent to prominence starts on the very periphery of power and ends with the dominance of Britain. He is at the centre of Mercia’s birth, expansion and rise. Throughout his reign his kingdom becomes a bastion of stability in a period of endemic warfare, climate change challenges, cultural competition, and unstable nation-to nation relationships. Throughout his life Penda challenges the status quo and shows the value of cultural pluralism in a time when the growing power of a new faith, Christianity, was pushing all others into extinction. Guided by his loyalty to an ancient culture, service to his family, and his powerful Queen Cynewise, Penda launched Mercia towards eventual supremacy, which would last for over 200 years. He was the last of the great Anglo-Saxon heathen warlords.