The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
A few weeks ago I heard Tom Licence speaking on a podcast (part of the promotion of this new work, no doubt) about how King Harold’s famed feat of generalship (marching from London to Stamford Bridge and back again in under two weeks), may not have been a march after...
Welcome to Aspects of History, Tom. I feel I should begin by thanking you for Harold: Warrior King. I enjoyed every moment of reading it. (I appreciate that’s not a question, but I just wanted to get that out of the way!) Thank you, Paul – I’m glad you enjoyed it. One...
Back in the (late) 1980s when I was at university, it was the period leading up to and following AD 410 that most filled me with trepidation. Almost nothing in the way of contemporary written sources, combined with archaeological findings that were only really just...
At various times during my Rebellion trilogy, castles play an important role in the narrative, not least the one built in the south east corner of York which we know today as St Clifford’s Tower. The castle would become a significant factor in the spread of Norman...
As I understand it, Blood Feud is the first book in your second trilogy (Rebellion). Set the scene for us. That’s right. We begin in a small village (Acum or Acomb as it is today) in the far north of England, situated close to Hadrian’s Wall and the River Tyne. The...
When studying Anglo-Saxon history at university, it often felt to me that (with apologies to East Anglia), Mercia was left holding the thin end of the wedge in terms of the big three kingdoms of the Heptarchy. With Northumbria to the north and Wessex to the south, it...
Let me begin, Rory, by offering my congratulations on the publication of Offa: King of the Mercians. A truly magnificent piece of work. The jacket notes refer to this book as a ‘breathtaking piece of historical investigation’ (with which I cannot argue); how would you...
First of all, Nicholas, congratulations on the publication of this endlessly fascinating and absorbing work. In the introduction, you describe the book as a fresh look at the subject rather than a rehash of your earlier work, Rome, Britain and the Anglo-Saxons, some...
Some historians have labelled it a ‘genocide’, whereas other have suggested that what King William I did in the north of England, in the winter of 1069/70, was not out of character with the standards of the time. But, whilst we should always try to avoid projecting...
So, Paul, The Reckoning is the third and final book in the Rebellion trilogy. Bring us up to date with where Thegn Oslac of Acum is now. Yes, it seems a long time since I started the first book, but we’re finally into the home straight now. After the failure of the...
