The Making of England
A New History of the Anglo-Saxon World
Description:... Introduction: Helmet and crown -- Part I: Mapping a journey through the Anglo-Saxon world -- 'The Italian journey' -- 'On the road' -- Interlude I: The charter bounds of Alveston and Tiddington -- Part II: The reign of King Alfred -- Literacy and the use of English: Alfred's reforms -- The rule of government: 'The craft of all crafts' -- The importance of Bede -- Interlude II: The dedication to the king in the preface to the Old English Bede -- Part III: The expansion of Wessex -- The reign of Edward the Elder -- The lessons of history: 'Edwardian' literature -- Interlude III: 'When the sun most brightly shines', from the Old English Metres of Boethius -- Part IV: War, poetry, and book-collecting -- 'King Athelstan the Pious, famed throughout the wide world' -- The 'Great War' and medieval memory -- 'Prophet in his own country': The early life of St Dunstan -- 'By skill must love be guided': The school of Glastonbury -- Interlude IV: A passage from 'St Dunstan's classbook' -- Part V: Building the nation -- The reign of King Edred: Dealing with the Northumbrians, the queen mother, and the archbishop -- Politics, monasteries and the rise of Bishop Athelwold -- Lawsuits, law-books and sermons: Archbishop Dunstan and King Edgar -- Winchester, chief city of Edgar's England -- Interlude V: The poem The Coronation of Edgar.
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