In Search of the Dark Ages - Michael Wood



This book was published in 1981; the version I read was a paperback published in 2005.

In the meantime there were a lot more diggings in England and more facts came to light.
It does not take away that this book has been very educating for me.
To get the British nationality I expected to have to know a bit of British, rather English history. So I learned some bits about King Alfred and King Canute. In the end I did not have to do a sort of exam, I got my passport quite smoothly (after paying quite a lot of money).
Because I am always interested in history I have been searching for books about the Dark Ages. From William the Conqueror on it is not hard to get information about the history, but before that it is quite a blur. That is why the days between the leaving of the Romans and the arrival of William of Normandy are regarded as "The Dark Ages".
I always thought not a lot was known about these days, but this book showed me I was mistaken. It is known who were the Kings of the land(s) in these days.
It was very interesting to read about Queen Boadicea, King Offa, Alfred the Great, King Athelstan, King Eric Bloodaxe, King Ethelred the Unready, King Swein Forkbeard and King Canute (in Norse Knut) and the last king before William, King Harold. The book also shows the links there are because of marriages between Anglo-Saxon and Viking royalty. And connections between the Anglo-Saxons and the Frankish kingdom of Charlemagne.
Furthermore there was a lot trading with faraway countries like the Baltics and even Asian countries. The world seemed to have been a lot "smaller" than I expected.
All in all this was a very interesting book. I fear I will not be able to tell the history exactly like it was in a few weeks. It all is a bit too complicated for that.
But I have the book and I can check facts with it.
I give this book 4 stars because I should have read something more up-to-date, not because it is bad or badly written.


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