Reflecting recent historical, textual and archaelogical research, this revised and updated edition of Michael Wood's classic book overturns preconceptions of the Dark Ages as a shadowy and brutal era, showing them to be a richly exciting and formative period in the history of Britain.

This narrative tells how Irish monks and scribes saved classical and religious heritage by copying the manuscripts of writers such as Homer and Aristotle, while libraries on the continent were lost forever.

The classic, bestselling work on the Arthurian era and its fundamental role in the birth of Britain today.

A gripping and breathtaking novel based on the life of Pope Joan, a hidden and controversial figure of historical record who, disguised as a man, rose to great power as the first and only woman to sit on the Throne of St Peter.

Composed towards the end of the first millennium of our era, the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf is a Northern epic and a classic of European literature. In this new translation, Seamus Heaney has produced a work that is true, line by line, to the original poem.

Tolkien readily admitted that the concept of Middle-earth was not his own invention. An Old English term for the Dark Age world, it was always assumed that the importance of magic in this world existed only in Tolkien's works. This book reveals the truth about this historical culture.

Uther, the High King of Britain, has died, leaving the infant Mordred as his only heir. His uncle, the loyal and gifted warlord Arthur, now rules as caretaker for a country which has fallen into chaos - threats emerge from within the British kingdoms while vicious Saxon armies stand ready to invade.

Part of the Men-At-Arms series, this book looks at Anglo-Celtic warfare between 410-1066, illustrating equipment, weapons and military encounters.

A sixth-century Irish woman struggles between the old Druid ways and the rising tide of Christianity, secretly recording the memories of her pagan youth. When the monastery is rent by vague and fantastic accusations, her words become the one force that can save her from annihilation.

Surveys archaeological records to demonstrate that the Dark Ages were not dark at all.

Enter a world where bloody battles, and heroic deeds combine in the historic struggle to unite Britain in the face of a common enemy. The third instalment in Bernard Cornwell's King Alfred series, follows on from the outstanding previous novels The Last Kingdom and The Pale Horseman.

It is the lowest time for the Saxons. Defeated by the Vikings who now occupy most of England, Alfred and his group of surviving followers retreat to the trackless marshlands of Somerset. Only Uhtred remains resolute. His plan is to become accepted by their leaders, and to sit in their councils and uncover their plans.

The Saxons, sensing the disunity of the Britons, seize the chance to destroy Arthur. The climax of the war comes with the legendary triumph at Mount Badon, and Arthur's great victory. But the promises he made then come back to haunt him after the years of peace and glory. This is a story of love, war, loyalty and betrayal.

Brings Arthur and his world to life - A man battling for his vision of the future in a brutal age, dragged down by suspicions and magics of the past, surrounded by intrigue, dependent on his skill at war and genius for leadership.

The dominant view is that the 'fall of Rome' was a largely peaceful transition to Germanic rule, and the start of a positive cultural transformation. Encouraging the readers to think again by reclaiming the drama and violence of Rome's fall, this book examines how and why successive generations have understood this period differently.

Uhtred is an English boy, born into the aristocracy of ninth-century Northumbria. Orphaned at ten, he is captured and adopted by a Dane and taught the Viking ways. Yet Uhtred's fate is bound up with Alfred, King of Wessex, who rules over the English kingdom to survive the Danish assault. This book is set in England during the reign of King Alfred.

Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. But his delicate mission is overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey where extraordinary things are happening under the cover of night.

Warfare was an integral part of early medieval life. This book looks at warfare in a rounded context in the British Isles and Western Europe between the end of the Roman Empire and the break-up of the Carolingian Empire.

By the late 4th century the pressures on the frontiers of the Roman Empire had transformed the nature of the army which defended it into a mobile unit. This book details the rise of the army and its evolution, after the collapse of the west, into the army of the Byzantine Empire.