Vikings and Anglo Saxons-Week

An 18th-century marble relief depicting Julius Caesar invading Britain by John Deare, a British neo-classical sculptor. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Geoffrey of Monmouth: the lost voice of ancient Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Silver penny of Cnut

Ivar the Boneless, Ragnvald of Ed and 6 more Vikings you should know about

William the Conqueror (1027–87), king of England from 1066 when he beat Harold II at the battle of Hastings. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

9 surprising facts about William the Conqueror and the Norman conquest

Illustration by Sarah Young

Ælfthryth: England’s first queen

The 1016 Danish Conquest that led to the battle of Hastings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066. (Mary Evans Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo)

1066 – how the Viking diversion cost Harold his throne. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Detail of a Viking helmet from grave one at Vendel, Uppland, Sweden. In the 860s and 870s, the Vikings would bring war to England’s four kingdoms on a massive scale. (Photo by CM Dixon/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The great Viking terror: how Norse warriors conquered the Anglo-Saxons. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detail of the decorative carving on the side of the Oseberg cart c850 AD. A woman with streaming hair apparently restrains a man’s sword arm as he strikes at a horseman accompanied by a dog. Below is a frieze of intertwined serpentine beasts. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Viking women: raiders, traders and settlers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Edmund II - better known as Edmund Ironside - shown in a 14th-century manuscript. (Photo by Wikimedia Commons)

Edmund Ironside: Anglo-Saxon warrior king

A virtuous Viking: the medieval legend of Havelok the Dane. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Anglo-Saxon saints and British slave-owners. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The undignified fates of the bodies of Anglo-Saxon kings in the medieval period. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

King Ecgfrith of Northumbria

The Anglo-Saxon who (almost) united Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A view of Þingvellir National Park in western Iceland. It was here, in AD 930, that Viking settlers established the first pan-Icelandic assembly – possibly the oldest parliamentary body in the world. (© Dreamstime)

Vikings: A land without kings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Viking treasures and Hitler's 'perfect woman'. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval ploughmen ploughing with oxen

The dark side of the Anglo-Saxons. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Alfred the Great and Æthelflæd, 13th century

The Anglo-Saxon cunning woman. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A runestone depicting two warriors fighting and the journey of the Vikings to Valhalla, the hall of slain. (DEA/G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

The Vikings at home. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.