Captivating History progresses through the story of Mercia chronologically; the evidence shows the fortunes of Mercia to ebb and expand over time. Early on, Germanic tribes (Anglo Saxons) formed petty kingdoms that battled with each other for supremacy and kingship.
By 793, there was a new challenge -- the beginning of invasions by the Vikings. But in 865, the Great Heathen Army (Danes and Scandanavian warriors) came to invade and settle in England. In 874, Viking Guthrum conquered Mercia. The Vikings started cultivating their new acquisitions. Alfred, the king of Wessex, and Guthrum formalized a treaty, by which Guthrum became a Christian and ruled under Danelaw. Mercia was no more; instead, Mercia became an earldom.
This period of time, the early Middle Ages and the Norman Conquest had a profound effect on the Middle English -- it became dominant. This book makes the point the Oxford professor, J R R Tolkien, used the language of the Kingdom of Mercia to create a fictional language of the Rohirrim, of his books.
By 793, there was a new challenge -- the beginning of invasions by the Vikings. But in 865, the Great Heathen Army (Danes and Scandanavian warriors) came to invade and settle in England. In 874, Viking Guthrum conquered Mercia. The Vikings started cultivating their new acquisitions. Alfred, the king of Wessex, and Guthrum formalized a treaty, by which Guthrum became a Christian and ruled under Danelaw. Mercia was no more; instead, Mercia became an earldom.
This period of time, the early Middle Ages and the Norman Conquest had a profound effect on the Middle English -- it became dominant. This book makes the point the Oxford professor, J R R Tolkien, used the language of the Kingdom of Mercia to create a fictional language of the Rohirrim, of his books.
