Lost Tales Of Mercia

History looks back on Eadric Streona as one of the most villainous men of his time. The BBC History Magazine elected him as the worst Englishman of the 11th century, and many also blame him for the victory of the Vikings over England. Streona means "the grasper," and such was Eadric's character: he clutched for power and money wherever he could. But what most historians fail to consider is that Eadric Streona's primary goal was peace and stability for England. Without contradicting the known facts, "Eadric the Grasper" presents another conception of this historical figure: he is suave, charming, intelligent, and values peace above all things. If he must put a Viking king on the throne to gain a pleasurable life for himself and his true love, so be it. Meanwhile, a ruthless vigilante called "the Golden Cross" will do anything necessary to keep the Vikings from the throne. Eadric must pit his wits and sword against the crafty masked figure, but doing so traps him in a dark web of lies and deception. When at last he uncovers the rebel's identity, his entire world will fall apart, and he must face a terrible choice. Can the selfish Eadric Streona sacrifice his own welfare for the sake of another's? Fans of Bernard Cornwell, Georgette Heyer, Ken Follet ("Pillars of the Earth"), and Baroness Orczy ("The Scarlet Pimpernel") will especially enjoy the style of this swashbuckling historical fiction.

Streona means "the grasper" and such was Eadric's character. He clutched for power and money wherever he could but his primary goal was peace and stability for England. If he must put a Viking king on the throne to gain a pleasurable life for himself and his true love, so be it. Meanwhile, a ruthless vigilante called "the Golden Cross" will do anything necessary to keep the Vikings from the throne. Eadric must pit his wits and sword against the crafty masked figure, but doing so traps him in a dark web of lies and deception. When at last he uncovers the rebel's identity, his entire world will fall apart, and he must face a terrible choice. Can the selfish Eadric Streona sacrifice his own welfare for the sake of another's?

Walter Map, Layamon, William Langland, Michael Drayton, William Shenstone, Sabine Baring-Gould, A.E. Housman, J.R.R Tolkien, Geoffrey Hill, Simon Evans, Bruce Chatwin, all experienced an epiphany in The Lost Lands of western Britain. And so did one other writer - Martin Wall.

Since the Venerable Bede wrote his iconic Ecclesiastic History of England in the eighth century, King Penda has been relegated to the role of villain and treated as a barrier to advancement in a battle between new ideas and a new culture. Paul Barrett outlines the background to the Anglo-Saxon takeover in England and explores the broad concepts of the Angles’ traditional culture, before delving into the life of Penda (605 – 655). Penda’s life spanned the first half of the seventh century, the era which gave birth to national identities which still form the central components of modern Britain; Wales, Scotland, and England all take shape through this period. Penda’s seemingly impossible ascent to prominence starts on the very periphery of power and ends with the dominance of Britain. He is at the centre of Mercia’s birth, expansion and rise. Throughout his reign his kingdom becomes a bastion of stability in a period of endemic warfare, climate change challenges, cultural competition, and unstable nation-to nation relationships. Throughout his life Penda challenges the status quo and shows the value of cultural pluralism in a time when the growing power of a new faith, Christianity, was pushing all others into extinction. Guided by his loyalty to an ancient culture, service to his family, and his powerful Queen Cynewise, Penda launched Mercia towards eventual supremacy, which would last for over 200 years. He was the last of the great Anglo-Saxon heathen warlords.

The extraordinary history of Mercia and its rulers from the seventh century to 1066. Once the supreme Anglo-Saxon kingdom, it was pivotal in the story of England.

The kingdom best remembered for Offa and his famous dyke was not only a dominant power on the island of Britain in the eighth century, but also a significant player in early medieval European politics and culture. Although the volume focuses on the eighth and ninth centuries when Mercian power was at its height, it also looks back to the origins of the kingdom and forward to the period of Viking settlement and West Saxon reconquest. With state-of-the-art contributions from experts in palaeography, art history, archaeology, numismatics and landscape - as well as from historians - this book establishes a new baseline for Mercian scholarship, by covering the rise and fall of the kingdom, its major institutions, relations with other political entities as well as its visual and material culture.