This book explores the impact of the Viking Wars on England between the first recorded attack in AD 789 and the last major Scandinavian interventions in the late eleventh century, with a few stray events occurring even later than this.

This book argues that without the Viking Wars there would have been no united England in the 10th century, no rise of the Godwin family and their conflict with Edward the Confessor, no Norman connection, no Norman Conquest and no Domesday Book.

The wars and responses to them accelerated economic growth; stimulated state formation and an assertive sense of an English national identity; created a hybrid Anglo-Scandinavian culture that spread beyond the so-called Danelaw; and caused an upheaval in the ruling elite.
By looking at the entire period of the wars and by taking a holistic view of their political, economic, social and cultural effects, their many-layered impact can at last be properly assessed

CONTENTS
Title
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 The Gathering Clouds
2 Storm from the North, 789–866
3 The ‘First Blitzkrieg’: Why were the Vikings so Successful?
4 The Shadow of the ‘Blood-eagle’
5 Alfred’s Victory
6 War Correspondence or Propaganda?
7 How Great was Alfred ‘the Great’?
8 The Impact on England of the First Phase of Viking Settlement
9 Band of Brothers – and a Sister
10 Emperor of Britain
11 The Road to a United Kingdom of England
12 Return of the Vikings
13 How ‘Unready’ was Æthelred?
14 ‘One Nation … Divisible’?
15 Cnut: Viking Emperor of the North
16 The Road to Hastings
17 The End of the Viking Wars
18 On Reflection
Bibliography
About the Authors
Plates

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