The Early Anglo-Saxon Kings takes a new look at the adventus Saxonum, the arrival of the Saxons, recorded in the earliest literary sources. As the Roman provincial structure fragmented, new cultural identities emerged. In fifth century Britain whatever sense of pax Romana remained gave way to a war-band culture which dominated both Brythonic and Germanic peoples. Villas left abandoned were replaced by the mead-hall. These halls now rang with the songs and poems of bards and scops. Tales of famous battles such as mons Badonicus and Cattraeth filled the air.

Out of the ashes of the former Roman diocese new kingdoms emerged. One major factor was the settlement of significant numbers of Germanic peoples in Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries. The first kings of these peoples are shrouded in legends and myth, such as the leaders of the first group of mercenaries, Hengest and Horsa, as well as AElle of the South Saxons, Cerdic and Cynric and later Ceawlin of Wessex. The book takes the reader from the early-fifth century through to the mid-seventh century and the death of the last great pagan Anglo-Saxon king, Penda of Mercia.

An entertaining journey across the landscape of Britain in search of battle-sites and burial-mounds, this book brings to life the world that produced Y Gododdin and Beowulf; a world that saw warlords and kings carve out new kingdoms from the carcass of post-Roman Britain.