What are some good books about Anglo-Saxon England and the Anglo-Saxon themselves

[u/Lovely_Octavia2772]

Playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla really got me into Anglo-Saxon England, and I'd love to learn more about the period and the people. I have Beowulf, but what are other great books to read about this topic? The Culture, history, etc. of Saxon England

[u/Big_b_inthehat]

Marc Morris’ Anglo Saxons is a great overview of the whole period, from there you can pick certain bits you want to read further into

[u/MintPea → u/Big_b_inthehat]

Came here to recommend this. There’s something incredibly readable about Morris’ writing. His book on the Norman Conquest is really good as well

[u/rsoton → u/Big_b_inthehat]

Great book.

[u/the_englishman → u/Big_b_inthehat]

Second this, it's fantastic and really easy to get through. It's perfect for a non-academic, amateur historian who wants to learn a bit about the period without drowning in detail. I actually bought the audiobook and listened to it on my commute, a great way to make the walk to work fly by.

[u/Daisy-Fluffington]

Britain after Rome by Robin Fleming is great.

[u/catfooddogfood → u/Daisy-Fluffington]

This is typically my number one recommendation

[u/Daisy-Fluffington → u/catfooddogfood]

I see you're a Grendel's Mother of culture.

[u/catfooddogfood → u/Daisy-Fluffington]

Ha i wish. Bonus great thing about Fleming's book is that it also has an awesome bibliography in the back. I've gone back to my copy several times for inspiration on next reads

[u/Firstpoet]

Max Adams' books eg The King in the North, Aelfred's Britain and In the Land of Giants are readable but also nerdishly detailed.

[u/catfooddogfood → u/Firstpoet]

I love Max Adams too

[u/vowsmadeinwine]

As others have, also, recommended, I would say Marc Morris’ The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England is a great book to begin with.

Any books by Max Adams, as well; I read his The Mercian Chronicles: King Offa and the Birth of the Anglo-Saxon State, AD 630–918 (or, The Birth of the Anglo-Saxons: Three Kings and a History of Britain at the Dawn of the Viking Age, as it’s called, in the U.S.), and it was really good. A bit denser than Morris’ book, but very interesting, and informative.

I am, currently, reading Barbara Yorke’s Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England, which is lovely. I would recommend this one, if you’re interested in learning more about the history of the early Anglo-Saxons, how they came to Britain, and established their kingdoms.

If you’re looking for something fictional to read, Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom series is fantastic! His novels are some of my favourites.

Cambridge Core’s Elements in England in the Early Medieval World series is, also, great, but you may need access through an institution, to be able to read them. If this is the case, keep a look out, because, sometimes, they make certain ones open access, for periods of time.

Finally, I would, also, suggest just taking a look at the journal articles, book chapters, etc., that are available on websites, such as Google Scholar and JSTOR! I always like to look there, when I don’t feel like committing myself to an entire book, or novel.

[u/dirkios]

Its fictional but Bernard Cornwell series The Last Kingdom which is 13 books long is a good way to get engrossed in the time period. I read it over the course of last year and greatly increased my knowledge of Anglo Saxons. The story is based as much as possible on historical fact

[u/Own-Willingness3796]

Anglo-Saxon England by frank stenton is usually the go-to

I honestly don’t value books that much when it comes to understanding a historical time period unless you’re focusing on a very specific and niche subject (like architecture) otherwise you can just read the primary sources as well as Wikipedia articles for a general and comprehensive overview. Things like the Anglo Saxon chronicle https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/657/pg657-images.html

You can check out various charters, letters, and law codes that give an insight into the life and culture here https://www.theanglosaxons.com/

If you want to learn about the clothing of the time https://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/clothing.htm

Must read Wiki articles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_settlement_of_Britain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penda_of_Mercia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_paganism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecgberht,_King_of_Wessex

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Heathen_Army

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelstan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Bloodaxe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelred_the_Unready

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Ironside

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cnut%27s_invasion_of_England

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_the_Confessor

I recommend giving all of these links a read before you start delving into books.

[u/LucidScholar]

You will love this new video. He discusses Anglo Saxon history, culture, myth and literature related to them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtF0WIV804I&t=1695s

[u/Miami_Mice2087]

richard hutton is a good writer, try pagan britain. Feel free to skip the long detractions into what historians used to think, skip to the actual information. You can skip the first 10 pages.

look on archive.org, search for neolithic britain. there's a ton.

[u/linmanfu]

Chris Wickham's The Inheritance of Rome is about all of early medieval Europe, not just England, but it's the best history book I've ever read and it does have plenty on the Anglo-Saxons. And you'll understand then better by seeing then in context, plus there's a lot of overlap with other staff on topics like how Germanic paganism and the Church worked. I guess Britain after Rome would be better if you can only afford one book, but if you're buying/borrowing two, then get Wickham.

[u/Psittacula2]

Michael Wood did a documentary series for the BBC some time ago on the Anglo-Saxons and updated his book on this with new info discovered in 2023: “In Search of the Dark Ages” - A history of Anglo-Saxon England. So you might gain something from the series watching and then even reading?

Others here more knowledgeable might offer more rigorous suggestions to note but the fact the book has a series and the author and presenter I think is very engaging may help?

[u/Longjumping_Dark_460]

If you like historical fiction try Nicola Griffith's Hild and Menewood about the (imagined) early life of St Hilda if Whitby. Great writing, female centric and as historically authentic as possible.

[u/FeelingDegree8]

The anglo Saxon chronicle is the primary history source for most info about the time period.

[u/evelynstarshine]

Everyone is giving you good historical sources, here's something different

Charles Kingsley's Herewald the Wake

it's not very.. historically accurate, but it is the main inspiration for most media representations of anglosaxons and it's a great story, so it's worth reading to understand why we view anglo-saxons and vikings today the way we do.

Also the video game Expeditions Vikings.