England: From the Fall of Rome to the Norman Conquest

Seeing what makes Anglo-Saxon England so captivating; a brief survey of the traditional scholarship across the ages; Professor Paxton outlines how to form a picture of the Anglo-Saxons, including written evidence, literary sources and more.

England is forged in the crucible of the decline of the Romans; exploring the impact of the Romans on Britain, from Hadrian's Wall to the city of London; the role of Christianity, the state of language and the collapsing economy during this time.

The three primary invasions of Germanic people that schoolchildren are aware of; reflecting on the accuracy of this narrative; how varying sources, as well as DNA and archeological evidence, paint a much more complex picture of Germanic migrations.

Pondering whether there is resistance among the locals to Germanic migrations; looking at King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table; investigating Arthur's status as a real person, who he is based on and his impact on the history of Britain.

Exploring a period between the decline of Roman Britain and the rise of a new Anglo-Saxon order; what everyday life is like for average citizens; the ethnic groups of sixth-century Britain; exploring their settlements; examining the era's hardships.

Thanks to migration and the fusion of Germanic and native British cultures, the Anglo-Saxons emerge; the political vacuum left by Rome is filled by smaller kingdoms across England; touring several of these kingdoms and how they come into being.