Anglo-Saxon - Getty Images

Anglo-Saxon

This 6th-century matrix from Torslunda, Sweden, was used to create helmet plaques depicting armed figures — likely berserkers — wearing horned helmets with bird motifs and animal masks. Such imagery evokes the warrior culture later embraced by Viking champions like Thorkell the Tall, a famed Jomsviking commander known for his fierce loyalty and shifting allegiances during the early 11th century.

Who was Thorkell the Tall? The pragmatic Viking warrior who fought for (and against) all sides

An illustration showing a king dressed in green and orange, sitting on a blue throne made out of books. He is reading from a long scroll

Love learning like Æthelstan

An illustration of Matilda of Flanders, queen consort of William the Conqueror. As queen after the Norman Conquest, Matilda played a key political role.

The conqueror’s queen: meet the real Matilda of Flanders

An illustration of a king dressed in a green and orange robe. He is wearing a crown and holding a sceptre

King Æthelstan: England's colossus

A black and white photograph shows two men standing with their faces very close together. They both have serious expressions on their faces and are staring down the lens of the camera. Across the bottom are the words KING & CONQUEROR

The wrong moustache in the Battle of Hastings

William the Conqueror: life of the week

Illustration of Emma of Normandy and two of her children

King and Conqueror’s most gruesome death should never have happened and would be “totally out of character”

This 1877 painting by Oscar Wergeland depicts Norwegian settlers arriving in Iceland in 872. Fleeing the unification of Norway under Harald Fairhair, these early migrants laid the foundations of a unique Norse society on the island’s volcanic shores.

Could you survive on the Vikings’ furthest frontier? Here’s the dark reality of Norse life on the edge

A drawing of a king holding a crown on his head, against a black and white image of a church

Far away from England, the mystery of Harold Godwinson's lost crown might have just been solved

Edward the Confessor: life of the week

A woman in a grey cloak holds a swaddled infant to her shoulder

Edith the Fair: the life of Harold Godwinson’s first wife

Luther Ford as Tostig Godwinson in BBC drama King and Conqueror

How Tostig Godwinson’s brotherly betrayal hastened the fall of the Anglo-Saxons

Juliet Stevenson as Emma of Normandy in BBC drama King and Conqueror (Photo via BBC)

Emma of Normandy: not just a two-time queen consort of England

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as William the Conqueror in BBC Norman Conquest drama King and Conqueror

How historically accurate is King and Conqueror? Here’s the real history that should have happened

This posthumous portrait of William I, known as the Conqueror, was painted c.1590–1610 and is held by the National Portrait Gallery, London. Though created centuries after his death, it reflects early modern interest in the legacy of England’s first Norman monarch. (Photo by Getty Images)

Meet the real William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy who reshaped England

Illustrations of Harold Godwinson and William the Conqueror

How well did Harold Godwinson and William the Conqueror know each other prior to the battle of Hastings?

A collage of four images, depicting four different kings against a blue background

1066: who was the rightful king?

A monk with ginger hair and beard, dressed in blue, sits on.a bench with a book. He is against a pink background and around him are a fork, a yellow pencil and a brush

Riddle like an Anglo-Saxon monk

This 9th-century illustration shows Alcuin of York presenting his pupil Rabanus Maurus to Saint Martin. An influential scholar and teacher, Alcuin played a key role in the intellectual revival of Charlemagne’s court.

The first mafia? How an early medieval kingdom perfected the art of deadly diplomacy

Make Mercia Great Again

Sex lives of the Anglo-Saxons

The triumph of the Anglo-Saxons: how the kingdom of Mercia powered the rise of England

A depiction of King Æthelred II holding a sword

The St Brice’s Day Massacre: what really happened?

Aethelred II, known as Aethelred the Unready

Aethelred: why was the Anglo-Saxon king called ‘the Unready’?

Illustration of Eadwig being dragged by Dunstan

A threesome with his wife and mother-in-law: the scandalous story of why one Anglo-Saxon king skipped his coronation

The royal threesome that rocked Anglo-Saxon England

Who is buried at Sutton Hoo?

Æthelred the Unready: life of the week

King Æthelstan shown in a manuscript dated to before 1399 (Photo by incamerastock/Alamy Stock Photo)

Æthelstan: why is writing a biography of one of England's greatest kings so difficult?

Portrait of Jacq Barnard.

My life in historyProject manager at the Sutton Hoo's Ship's Company