The Last Kingdom. (Carnival Films 2015/Kata Vermes)

The Last Kingdom

Read expert articles on the real history which inspired Bernard Cornwell's novels and the hit series…

Lindisfarne Castle, Northumberland. (Photo by Dreamstime)

Secrets of Lindisfarne. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ragnar Lothbrok. (Illustration by Georgie Gozem for BBC History Magazine)

Ragnar Lothbrok: the legend of the immortal Viking and his sons

A medieval new England: the Anglo-Saxons’ eastern odyssey. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The ninth-century Alfred Jewel, adorned with the inscription: "Alfred ordered me to be made". This masterpiece of Anglo-Saxon art is thought to have been an aestel, a pointer used to follow text. (Picture by Alamy)

10 ways the Anglo-Saxons changed the course of British history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

History ExplorerThe Holy Island of Lindisfarne

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.

Viking ships sailing towards unknown land. (Photo by Getty Images)

The global Vikings. 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.

Bernard Cornwell. (Photo by Felix Clay)

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

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

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

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.

Vikings on screen. 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.

Rune Temte as Ubba in 'The Last Kingdom'

Behind the scenes: series one of The Last Kingdom

Section of the Bayeux Tapestry depicting a woman and child fleeing from a burning house. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

The Anglo-Saxons’ last stand. 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.

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

Edmund Ironside: Anglo-Saxon warrior king

The Last Kingdom and Agincourt. 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.

The Oseberg ship at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. (Photo by: Carl Simon/United Archives/UIG via Getty Images)

How the Vikings ruled the waves. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Michael Wood on Alfred the Great. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hamo Thornycroft's 1901 statue of King Alfred the Great in Winchester. (Photo by RDImages/Epics/Getty Images)

Alfred the Great: do we overplay his 'greatness'?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Dwarves in the Holocaust and the Vikings' cultural legacy. 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.

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.

View across the river Clyde to Dumbarton Rock and the medieval Dumbarton Castle. (Photo by Martin W Holt via Getty Images)

History explorer: Alfred and the Vikings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The LibraryThe Duke of Wellington and Alfred the Great. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Abingdon Sword, an iron sword fragment and hilt found near Abingdon in Oxfordshire in 1874. The decoration on the sword hilt indicates this was a high status weapon dating from around AD 875. (Ashmolean Museum/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Fighting the Vikings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

ilver penny of King Alfred

The real Alfred the Great. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.