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Anglo-Saxon

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the death of King Harold II during the battle of Hastings in 1066. (Photo by Getty Images)

Where did the battle of Hastings actually take place? 8 facts about the 1066 battle

War criminal? William the Conqueror shown on horseback in the Bayeux Tapestry. The king's Harrying of the North was a military success but a human catastrophe – one that even appalled chroniclers traditionally sympathetic to the Norman regime. (Photo by Bridgeman)

Was William the Conqueror a war criminal? The brutal story of the Harrying of the North

Giant of literature: A page from the 'Beowulf' manuscript. The story is fictional but some of the characters within it were real people, and others were believed to be the ancestors of Anglo-Saxon and Danish kings. (Photo by Alamy)

Beowulf: The Anglo-Saxons' action hero

Statue of Lady Godiva

Q&ADid Lady Godiva ride naked in Coventry?

History ExplorerThe Holy Island of Lindisfarne

A closer look at the Staffordshire Hoard. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Repton Stone with detail of mounted warrior.

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

Ivinghoe Brecon. (Image by Alamy)

The landscape of England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The west Cornish tomb Lanyon Quoit, which dates to the Neolithic period (3500–2500 BC). The Anglo-Saxons believed that ancient burial sites were cursed – and guarded by dragons. (Image by Dreamstime)

Giants, dragons and Middle Earth: the Anglo-Saxon fear of the past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Michael Wood on Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. (Illustration by Femke de Jong for BBC History Magazine)

Michael WoodOn Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An 11th-century depiction of the Anglo-Saxon priest Wulfstan, who feared that Viking raids on England signalled the end of the world. (Image by Mary Evans)

Viking apocalypse: the invasion that spelled doom for the Anglo-Saxons. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A memorial tomb to King Æthelstan, the first Saxon king of all England, in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire. (Photo by Geography Photos/UIG via Getty Images)

A brief history of England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Heck cows, the result of Nazi breeding experiments. Seven Heck cows had to be put down in January 2015 after they tried, on multiple occasions, to attack Devon farmer Derek Gow. (Photo by Jim Wileman/Alamy Stock Photo)

Nazi super-cows and defamed Gods: 7 strange and forgotten moments in history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

c60 AD, Queen Boudica of the Iceni holding a spear. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

8 things you may not know about British history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

For 10th-century warriors, the appearance of wolves, ravens and eagles on the battlefield meant an unlucky few had been chosen to die. Eric Lacey digs into a grisly superstition. (Illustration by Ross Craig for BBC History Magazine)

The LibraryAnglo-Saxon beasts of death. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Codex Amiatinus – one of three huge Latin bibles produced at the twin monasteries of Wearmouth-Jarrow in the north-east of England in the early eighth century. (Photo by Sam Lane Photography/British Library)

Manuscripts in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: 10 things we learned. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bernard Cornwell. (Photo by Felix Clay)

Bernard Cornwell on The Last Kingdom. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A wooden cross marks the spot, just over 20 miles west of Newcastle, where Oswald apparently raised his own cross before ambushing Cadwallon. If the Anglo-Saxon warlord's attack had failed, writes Edoardo Albert, England might now be a lot smaller. (Photo by Getty Images)

Hell in Heavenfield: the Anglo-Saxon battle "as important as Hastings". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Our illustration shows King Arthur leading his troops into battle. The legendary warlord's victories over Saxon invaders first appear in a 'history' written in the ninth-century north Wales. (Illustration by Georgie Gozem for BBC History Magazine)

The King Arthur delusion: a case of medieval fake news?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The remarkable Codex Amiatinus, a "giant of a book", and part of a new exhibition at the British Library. (Photo by Sam Lane Photography/British Library)

Watch: Highlights from the British Library's new Anglo-Saxon exhibition

Jewelled terminal of aestel, The Alfred Jewel. (Photo by Alamy)

Anglo-Saxon treasures. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The remarkable Codex Amiatinus, a "brute of a book", and part of a new exhibition at the British Library. (c) Sam Lane Photography/British Library)

"An absolute gem": Anglo-Saxons at the British Library. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detail from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the death of Harold Godwinson at the battle of Hastings, 1066. Victory at Hastings did not make Duke William of Normandy king of England – at least, not immediately. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Q&AWhat happened after the Battle of Hastings?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sunlight dapples a clearing in Sherwood Forest, which was an essential resource for peasants centuries before it became a tourist attraction (Photo by Alamy)

Where history happenedAncient forests. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Harold Godwinson’s two eldest sons fled to Ireland after the Battle of Hastings, where they lived as guests of the King of Leinster. (Photo by Duncan1890 via Getty Images)

Q&AWhat happened to Harold Godwinson’s children after the Battle of Hastings?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Old Wardour Castle

Britain’s 7 most amazing ruins

A statue of Æthelflæd which stands in the grounds of Tamworth Castle in Staffordshire. (Photo by Chris Gibson/Alamy Stock Photo)

Æthelflæd: iron lady of Mercia. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How English is the Bayeux Tapestry?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

6 trivial decisions that changed British history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Alfred the Great and science at Christmas. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.