Quotes About Marc Morris

But what really sealed Britain's fate were similar attacks on the other side of the empire.

they preyed on monasteries like Lindisfarne, it was undoubtedly because they were soft, isolated targets,

When it comes to Æthelbald's other priority – 'the defence of fortresses against enemies

that spread across the North Channel, and included hundreds of tiny islands and craggy peninsulas.

wretchedly and treacherously', in the opinion of the anonymous scribe

The works of other eighth-century chroniclers are pitifully thin compared to those written by Bede,

Bede, who would doubtless have furnished us with a detailed explanation of such a massive engineering project,

died in 735, a generation before Offa's accession.

The largest and most important was St Peter's, the great basilica built by Constantine the Great

taking the rest with them back to London, along with their plunder and prisoners.

there seems to be no good reason to doubt that Alfred could have done at least some translating,

if anything sinister should befall him', his body was to be returned to Chester-le-Street for burial near St Cuthbert,

explaining how he and his wife bought it back from a viking army with a payment of gold,

the king insisted, there was nobody able to read them, such had been the decline in literacy.

after the conquest he received 300 of the island's 1,200 hides for the use of the Church.

Hopeful of remaining hidden, they were soon betrayed and sentenced to die on Cædwalla's orders.

It stood on the northern frontier of his kingdom, twenty miles inland from the fortress at Bamburgh,

would in due course produce stepbrothers with stronger claims of royal descent.

the king had a royal residence there, and happily this is another occasion where history and archaeology touch hands,

The most celebrated of all these missionaries was Boniface.

But the Chronicle for Æthelred's reign was written after its disastrous conclusion,

notorious adulterer who compounded his sin by cavorting 'with holy nuns and virgins consecrated to God'.

Oswiu had made him the ruler of the southern part of Northumbria, the former kingdom of Deira.

was massive – something like 50,000 men, over ten per cent of the entire imperial army.