Read The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as a digital edition available free from https://www. gutenberg.org/ebooks/657
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
About burhs
Enjoy a further look at history in Steve Roberts’ blog post at https://familytr. ee/wessex
References
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a history of Anglo-Saxon England in annalistic style (from Latin ‘annus’ = year, so in annual records). It survives in seven contemporary manuscripts, one of which, the ‘Peterborough Chronicle’, continues right up to 1154 and the reign of Henry II. It originated in the reign of Alfred the Great, who may well have ordered its compilation.
Alfred the Great’s fortified burhs were the basis of our modern boroughs, whilst the Anglo-Saxon ‘Hundreds’ established a basis for local government that lasted into the 19th century. It was during the Anglo-Saxon period that an ‘English’ nation was forged from the former kingdoms of the Heptarchy and British outliers, with Athelstan’s victory at Brunanburh (937) held to have been the decisive, unifying battle.
• History of England (W. McElwee, 1960)
Mortuary chest in Winchester Cathedral, one of six near the altar, which purportedly contains the bones of King Egbert, who died in 839 AD
• Chambers Biographical Dictionary (1974)
Our school history says that when the Romans departed Britain in the early 5th century AD, leaving the Brits to their own defence, the void was filled by the Anglo-Saxons. Marauding across the North Sea, from modernday Denmark and Germany, they occupied the south-east, fraternised and conquered, pushing the Brits further west. Over time, seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms emerged (the ‘Heptarchy’), one being the Kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex) in south and south-west England, a geographical expression later adopted by Dorset author Thomas Hardy.If any of the seven became top dog, its leader was known as ‘Bretwalda’, or overall king. This is the story of how Wessex became pre-eminent, simultaneously forging the nation of ‘England’.