Maps on endpapers

List of maps -- Forespæc: The birth of the Anglo-Saxons -- A note on maps -- Introduction: The Kalends of January -- CHRONOGRAPHY I: 628-716. Penda : war 630-658 -- Wulfhere : conversion 658-675 -- Æðelred : foundations 675-704 -- Cœnred; Coelred : no country for old men 704-716 -- CHRONOGRAPHY II: 718-796, Æðelred : Rex Britannie 716-735 -- Æðelred : England's anvil 736-757 -- Offa : overlord 757-779 -- Offa : the face of power 780-787 -- Offa : war by other means 788-796 -- CHRONOLOGY III: 798-918. Cœnwulf : high tide 796-821 -- Ceolwulf to Æðelflæd : all the king's horses 821-918 -- Acknowledgments -- Bibliography -- Endnotes -- Image credits -- Index

"For too long, the eighth century has been a neglected era in British history: a shadow land between the death of Saint Bede and the triumphs of King Ælfred and the eventual unification of England. Butbefore the victories of King Ælfred against the Viking invaders, the kingdom of Mercia--spread across a broad swathe of central England--was the reigning power that exercised central political authority for the first time since the Roman Empire. This authority was used to construct trading networks and markets; to develop strong economic, cultural, and political links with the Continent; and to lay the foundations for a system of defense that would be invigorated and reinvented by Ælfred at the end of the ninth century. ... In this ... history of early medieval Britain, Max Adams reconnects the worlds ofthe three kings--Æthelbald, Offa, and Ælfred--in [a] ... study of the landscape, society, and politics of a fascinating century of change"--