Officer of Foedorati Horse early 5th century

 

The battles that created England 793-1100

 

Blurb reads:

In popular imagination the warfare of the Early Middle Ages is often obscure, unstructured, and unimaginative, lost between two military machines, the ‘Romans’ and the ‘Normans’, which saw the country invaded and partitioned. In point of fact, we have a considerable amount of information at our fingertips and the picture that should emerge is one of English ability in the face of sometimes overwhelming pressures on society, and a resilience that eventually drew the older kingdoms together in new external responses which united the ‘English’ in a common sense of purpose. This is the story of how the Saxon kingdoms, which had maintained their independence for generations, were compelled to unite their forces to resist the external threat of the Viking incursions. The kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Wessex were gradually welded into one as Wessex grew in strength to become the dominant Saxon kingdom. From the weak Æthelred to the strong Alfred, rightly deserving the epithet ‘Great’, to the strong, but equally unfortunate, Harold, this era witnessed brutal hand-to-hand battles in congested melees, which are normally portrayed as unsophisticated but deadly brawls. In reality, the warriors of the era were experienced fighters often displaying sophisticated strategies and deploying complex tactics. Our principal source, replete with reasonably reliable reportage, are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, comprehensive in collation though subject to oral distortion and mythological excursions. The narrative of these does not appear to flow continuously, leaving too much to imagination but, by creating a complementary matrix of landscapes, topography and communications it is possible to provide convincing scenery into which we can fit other archaeological and philological evidence to show how the English nation was formed in the bloody slaughter of battle.

Sixth century Anglo-Saxon warrior by Thegns of Mercia

https://www.thegns.org/

THE BATTLE OF MOUNT BADON: Ambrosius, Arthur and the Defence of Britain Alistair Hall

 

Review

"Hall develops the theory that King Arthur was a real person, and he led the Britons to victory at the Battle of Badon Hill. He maintains that Arthur’s proper name was Arthwys and that he was the leader who replaced Vortigern. Some readers may find this persuasive. Others may not. Either way, the book is well structured and contains some beautiful photographs. Classicists with an interest in the end of Roman Britain and its aftermath would read this book with enjoyment."

Peonnum 660

 

From the wiki.

The Battle of Peonnum was fought about AD 660 between the West Saxons under Cenwalh and the Britons of what is now Somerset in England.^[1] It was a decisive victory for the Saxons, who gained control of Somerset as far west as the River Parrett. The location of the battle is uncertain

Battle of Bradford-on-Avon 652

 From Bradford Museum

Bradford is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 652 when Cenwalh, the West Saxon king of Wessex, is reported to have fought a battle at Bradanforda be Afne. The Chronicle, written much later, gives no details about whom he fought, perhaps against the native Britons or the Mercians, or what was the outcome. In another source, William of Malmesbury’s De gestis regum Anglorum written in the 12th century, a battle was fought at a place called Wirtgernesburh; this could have been the same battle and the place name might refer to the old hillfort at Budbury, just above the town. Until England became unified, Bradford was right on the frontier between Wessex and Mercia.

King Alfred at Egbert's Stone by Jose Daniel Cabrera Peña.

 

Spong Man

Spong Man (from the wiki)Edit

The Spong Man lid at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

"Spong Man" is the pottery lid of a cremation urn in the shape of a seated figure. Unearthed in 1979, it is one of the few Anglo-Saxon three-dimensional human figures ever found.^[1] The lid is 14.3 centimetres in height.^[3]

Spong Man is normally on display at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery. It was loaned to the "Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War" exhibition at the British Library in 2018/9.^[4]

The Osprey Post-Roman Kingdoms says he is wearing a Pileus Pannonicus a pillbox hat associated with legionaries  of the late period.

5/6th century battle

 I got my copy of the Osprey Post-Roman kingdoms. Very good at first look. They had this pic from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergilius_Romanus

5th 6th century

The First Kingdom Max Adams

 Got this book from the library.

Sites in the war between Britons and Saxons

 From the Osprey British forts in the Age of Arthur which I recommend. 

Arthur's battles according to Nennius

Investigation into the location of the 12 battles. On the early British kingdom's page.

Nennius.

Pic Arthur by Richard Hook 

Arthur carried the image of the holy Mary, the everlasting Virgin, on his shield, and the heathen were put to flight on that day, and there was great slaughter upon them, through the power of Jesus Christ and the power of the holy Virgin Mary, his mother

Burgh castle helmet

 More here

Repro Burgh Castle helmet

 Here for this Deepeeka helmet. 

Late Roman Ridge helmet

 Wiki

Roman ridge helmet (Berkasovo I), early 4th century AD. Made of iron and sheathed in silver-gilt, it is decorated with glass gems. From the "Berkasovo treasure", Museum of Vojvodina, Novi Sad (Serbia).

The Long War for Britannia

The Long War for Britannia is unique. It recounts some two centuries of ‘lost’ British history, while providing decisive proof that the early records for this period are the very opposite of ‘fake news’. The book shows that the discrepancies in dates claimed by many scholars are illusory. Every early source originally recorded the same events in the same year. It is only the transition to Anno Domini dating centuries afterward that distorts our perceptions. Of equal significance, the book demonstrates that King Arthur and Uther Pendragon are the very opposite of medieval fantasy. Current scholarly doubts arose from the fact that different British regions had very different memories of post-Roman British rulers. Some remembered Arthur as the ‘Proud Tyrant’, a monarch who plunged the island into civil war. Others recalled him as the British general who saved Britain when all seemed lost. The deeds of Uther Pendragon replicate the victories of the dread Mercian king Penda. These authentic--yet radically different--narratives distort history to this very day.

Post-Roman Kingdoms

 This is out January 2023

Meticulously researched, this book examines the evidence for the post-Roman military forces of France and Britain during the 'Dark Ages', reconstructing their way of life and the battles they fought in compelling detail.

The collapse of the former Western Roman Empire during the so called 'Dark Ages' c. AD 410 was gradual and piecemeal. Out of this vacuum arose regional tribes and leaders determined to take back kingdoms that were theirs and oust any Roman presence for good. However, the Roman guard was tenacious and survived in small pockets that emerged in both Gaul and Britain. These areas of Romano-Celtic resistance held out against the Saxons until at least the mid 6th century in Britain and against the Visigoths and the Merovingian Franks until the late 8th century in France.

Drawing on archaeological finds, contemporary sculpture and manuscript illuminations, Dr Raffaele D’Amato presents contemporary evidence for 5th to 9th-century Gallic and British 'Dark Age' armies and reconstructs their way of life and the battles they fought. The text, accompanied by photographs and colour illustrations, paints an intricate picture of how these disparate groups of Roman soldiers survived and adapted on the fringes of the Roman Empire.

A Sarmatian or Dacian cavalryman Chester

 

Pdf here

Late 5th early 6th Anglo-Saxon by Gerry Embleton.

The Hornhausen Stone

Germanic or Slavic Cavalryman on a Gravestone, c.700AD

Magdeburg region, Saxony, Germany

Footsore Miniatures

They do Romano-British and Early Saxons. 28mm. Webpage