Essays on Anglo-Saxon History and Old English Literature

Where old words wake and the past walks near

What life may have looked like in Anglo-Saxon England

Daily Life in Anglo-Saxon England: Food and Work

One bad spell of weather could undo months of effort. Seed might fail, fodder could run short, and an animal lost to illness represented more than a missed meal. Cattle could provide traction, milk, hides and meat; sheep supplied wool as well as food; pigs could forage in woodland. Their value ran through the whole household economy.

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A 7th-century monk enshrines Christianity into the annals of history

Sovereignty & Faith

How Christianity Transformed Anglo-Saxon Society

England’s kings could accept baptism in a day, but converting a culture took generations. The evidence reveals a slower and more complicated transformation.

Sovereignty & Faith8 mins

What Happened When Christianity Met Old English Poetry?

Christian poets inherited a heroic past. In Beowulf, The Dream of the Rood and the elegies, they gave its familiar stories new meaning.

An artist’s interpretation of the overlapping forms of authority exercised by women in Anglo-Saxon England: within the hall, the household and the Church.

Women’s Rights in The Age of Beowulf

Queens, landowners, household managers and abbesses exercised different forms of authority. Poetry, wills and archaeology reveal the possibilities—and limits—of women’s power in Anglo-Saxon England.

The Battle of Maldon: Courage, Pride and the Will to Endure

Explore The Battle of Maldon, Byrhtnoth's ofermod and Byrhtwold's famous speech in this guide to courage, pride and Anglo-Saxon loyalty.

Silver, scales, and trade in Anglo-Saxon England

The Viking Influence6 min read

Silver, Scales, and the Shape of Trade

A chest of silver at Cuerdale reveals two ways to pay. Coins, bullion and merchants’ scales show how Scandinavian settlement reshaped trade in Anglo-Saxon England.

Grendel and the Kin of Cain: Beowulf’s Monster Genealogy

Why does Beowulf trace Grendel’s ancestry to Cain? Biblical history, the Flood and a giant-made sword reveal a monster shaped by violence, exile and broken kinship.

The Viking Influence

When the Sea Brought Slaughter: The Raid on Lindisfarne, AD 793

The raid on Lindisfarne sent a shock across Europe. The Chronicle and Alcuin’s letters reveal what the attack meant to Christian England and its sense of safety.

Learn Old English

Learn Old English: A Free 5-Day Beginner Course

Begin reading Old English with five free lessons on case, gender, number and word endings. Short passages from surviving texts put the patterns into practice.

The Key at a Man’s Thigh: Exeter Book Riddle 44

A familiar object becomes a suggestive puzzle in Exeter Book Riddle 44. Read the Old English, weigh the clues and explore its playful double meaning.