The Mercian Chronicles

Hear from Max Adams as he champions the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, exploring its landscapes, people, conflicts, power structures and political geography.

About the event

The 8th century has long been a neglected backwater of English history: a shadowland between the death of Bede and the triumphs of Alfred the Great. But before the rise of Wessex, the kingdom of Mercia – spread across a broad swathe of central England – was the dynamic heart of a power base that discovered the means to exercise central political authority for the first time since the Roman empire.

That authority was used to construct trading networks and markets, develop economic and cultural links with the Continent, and lay the foundations for a system of co-ordinated defence that Alfred would reinvent at the end of the 9th century.

Max Adams will highlight how important Mercia was in the history of the British Isles, offering a glimpse into the fascinating individuals whose actions left a legacy that would stretch to the medieval period.

Additional information

This event is eligible for our 20% ticket bundle discount.

Book tickets to three or more different events across the festival and you can save 20%. Tickets must be purchased in the same transaction and the discount will automatically be applied within the basket.

About the speaker

Max Adams is a writer, archaeologist and woodsman whose work explores themes of landscape, knowledge and human connectedness with the earth. He is the author of ‘Admiral Collingwood’, ‘Ælfred’s Britain’, ‘Trees of Life’, the bestselling ‘The King in the North’, ‘In the Land of Giants’ and ‘The First Kingdom’.