Anglo-Saxon England

Anglo-Saxon England (1979)
by Lloyd Laing & Jennifer Laing
Published by Routledge & Kegan Paul
ISBN: 0710001134
Condition: Good (translation: it’s survived the Viking raids of library purges and still has all its pages)
Sold by Crappy Old Books™

Before Netflix made medieval drama sexy and before Beowulf was endlessly remade as a CGI monstrosity, there was this: a 1979 tome that insists Anglo-Saxon England deserves your serious attention. Written by the Laings (a husband-and-wife academic duo who presumably spent their evenings arguing over the relative importance of Sutton Hoo versus Offa’s Dyke), this book offers a sweeping survey of the centuries when England was more about mead halls, rune stones, and arguments over who got to be Bretwalda than about Brexit.

Inside you’ll find:

• The obligatory Sutton Hoo treasure photos, because every Anglo-Saxon book is legally required to have them.

• Discussions of art, archaeology, and culture that will make you say “wow, the Dark Ages weren’t that dark, just slightly dim.”

• Maps and diagrams that prove even 8th-century monks had a better grasp of branding than most modern startups.

• Enough Old English names to make you wonder if half the population was called Æthel-something by law.

Condition is officially Good: the cover corners are a bit battle-hardened, like a fyrd after a summer campaign, but the spine still stands tall, unlike some of the monasteries post-793. No ISBN barcode on the back (this was 1979, when books assumed you had a brain and could use a library catalogue).

Perfect for:

• Students hoping to sound clever in tutorials by saying “of course, the Laings argue quite differently.”

• Amateur historians who want to upgrade from pub trivia to pub monologues.

• Anyone who enjoys imagining life before Wi-Fi, when the height of entertainment was a scop chanting verses about heroic geese.

Crappy Old Books™: still pillaging the shelves of history so you don’t have to.

Keep browsing: See more History books Other books by Lloyd Laing and Jennifer Laing