Professor Barry Cunliffe discusses Vortigern, the king whom history has often held responsible for inviting to the British Isles the first Anglo-Saxon invaders. Show more
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Professor Helena Hamerow of Oxford University discusses the peasant farmers who have shaped the English landscape as we know it today. Show more
Departing Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams focuses on St Augustine, the first-ever person to hold the role of Archbishop of Canterbury. Show more
Martin Carver recreates the lives of three powerful pagan women: a privileged pagan girl from the earliest period, a 'cunning woman', and a princess buried in her bed. Show more
Martin Carver recreates the life, death and burial of the inhabitant of the Sutton Hoo ship burial, thought to be King Raedwald. Show more
Historian Michael Wood celebrates Penda, the much-maligned last pagan king of England, linking him with the recently discovered Staffordshire Hoard. Show more
Historian Barbara Yorke tells the story of Hild of Whitby, an abbess who held great power and influence in the seventh century. She is a largely forgotten pre-feminism model. Show more
Historian Tony Morris explores the life of Cuthbert, the popular saint of the Northeast, and his continuing appeal today, both on and far beyond his home, the island of Lindisfarne.
Richard Gameson explores the literary, historical and artistic legacy of scribes, using the example of Eadfrith, who wrote and ornamented the Lindisfarne Gospel around the year 700. Show more
Lesley Webster vividly recreates the life of the smith and his ambivalent status in Anglo-Saxon society. Show more
Sarah Foot makes a passionate claim for King Athelstan to be reinstated as a more significant figure in British history. Show more
Dr Timothy Bolton presents a portrait of Cnut, son of Sven Forkbeard, the king of Denmark. Show more
Historian Pauline Stafford assesses the life of Queen Emma of Normandy, whose life was a rollercoaster of Anglo-Saxon politics. Show more
Simon Keynes discusses the life of Aethelred, the Anglo-Saxon monarch who ruled over one of the most turbulent times of English history. Show more
Stephen Baxter creates a portrait of the remarkable Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor, a central figure in a period of turbulent politics. Show more
Clive Anderson discusses the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold Godwinson, whose life and reign came to a bloody end at the Battle of Hastings. Show more
Gale Owen-Crocker explores the making of the Bayeux Tapestry, including its design and production. Show more
Nobel Prize-winner the late Seamus Heaney's exploration of the great bard of the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, and the role of the court poet or 'scop'. Show more
Academic Lilian Groves explores the life and times of St Bede, widely regarded as one of the world's greatest theological scholars. Show more
Writer David Almond discusses Caedmon, the earliest English poet whose name is known, said to be an illiterate herdsman who began to write it during a dream. Show more