Norman Conquest Encyclopedia

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was compiled by monks working at different places, including Canterbury, Peterborough and Winchester. It is an historical account, usually fairly boring but providing an invaluable contemporary record, of events between the arrival of Christianity in Britain and the middle of the 12th century. It was written in Old English rather than the scholarly Latin; a decision of King Alfred who is credited with initiating the project. It is thus the first prose work of English literature. It contains some important poems, notably Brunanburh , an account of the battle of that name that took place in 937 AD between Athelstan of Wessex and the Vikings of Ireland and Northern England fighting alongside their Celtic allies.

Related Reading:

• Saxon Viking Norman (Men-at-Arms 85)
• Arthur and the Anglo-Saxon Wars
  (Men-at-Arms 154)
• Anglo Saxon Thegn (Warrior 5)