The Last Kingdom (BBC2, Netflix 2015-2023)

[Huntn]

​

After receiving several recommendations, we put this on. Four seasons to date. It’s based on an historical novel, started at BBC2, dropped and picked up by Netflix, it’s the story of a young Saxon in England, before it was a England, 866AD and to my complete surprise and slight embarrassment of lack of knowledge, Vikings have over run the place.

What Year is The Last Kingdom Set? A Timeline for the Show

How old is Uhtred anyway? Starting in 866, The Last Kingdom has so far spanned around 40 years of history…

www.denofgeek.com

Before I go any farther, to our UK Members I’ll ask, was this common knowledge in the UK, or relatively recently (couple of decades) realized?

Before this book/show came along, my perception of UK history was Rome invades the British Isle, hangs out for several hundred years and leaves about 400 AD. From then on it’s Saxons vs the Normans, Battle of Hastings 1066AD (which we have visited the site) Despite knowing that Vikings raided The British Isles, and likely had settlements there, I had not clue that the Danes conquered the British Isle known now as England.

Why Danish Vikings moved to England

As many as 35,000 Vikings migrated from Denmark to England, reveals a new study. But what made them embark on such a drastic step to move west to a new land?

sciencenordic.com

The Viking raids culminated in 1013 CE when the Viking King Sweyn Forkbeard conquered the whole of England. And if you believe the results of the new study, tens of thousands of Danish Vikings also moved to England at this time.

“If it’s correct, then the study shows that there was quite a large and well established Danish population in England during Sweyn Forkbeard’s time. It also makes it easier to understand why the Danish King was accepted. There was a large group of Scandinavians in England who had already integrated into the population for 100 years,” says Sindbæk.

So this is the setting, the last kingdom resisting Danish rule happens to be Wessex, and the story centers on Uhtred, son of a Saxon, captured by Danes, raised as a Dane, loses his adopted family and finds himself in the middle. It can be a little confusing, but there are groups of both Saxons and Danes, competing with each other, and/or allied with each other.

​

We’ve watched the first two episodes and it’s good enough to keep going.

 

[Apple fanboy]

View attachment 947091​

After receiving several recommendations, we put this on. Four seasons to date. It’s based on an historical novel, started at BBC2, dropped and picked up by Netflix, it’s the story of a young Saxon in England, before it was a England, 866AD and to my complete surprise and slight embarrassment of lack of knowledge, Vikings have over run the place.

What Year is The Last Kingdom Set? A Timeline for the Show

How old is Uhtred anyway? Starting in 866, The Last Kingdom has so far spanned around 40 years of history…

www.denofgeek.com

Before I go any farther, to our UK Members I’ll ask, was this common knowledge in the UK, or relatively recently (couple of decades) realized?

Before this book/show came along, my perception of UK history was Rome invades the British Isle, hangs out for several hundred years and leaves about 400 AD. From then on it’s Saxons vs the Normans, Battle of Hastings 1066AD (which we have visited the site) Despite knowing that Vikings raided The British Isles, and likely had settlements there, I had not clue that the Danes conquered the British Isle known now as England.

Why Danish Vikings moved to England

As many as 35,000 Vikings migrated from Denmark to England, reveals a new study. But what made them embark on such a drastic step to move west to a new land?

sciencenordic.com

The Viking raids culminated in 1013 CE when the Viking King Sweyn Forkbeard conquered the whole of England. And if you believe the results of the new study, tens of thousands of Danish Vikings also moved to England at this time.

“If it’s correct, then the study shows that there was quite a large and well established Danish population in England during Sweyn Forkbeard’s time. It also makes it easier to understand why the Danish King was accepted. There was a large group of Scandinavians in England who had already integrated into the population for 100 years,” says Sindbæk.

So this is the setting, the last kingdom resisting Danish rule happens to be Wessex, and the story centers on Uhtred, son of a Saxon, captured by Danes, raised as a Dane, loses his adopted family and finds himself in the middle. It can be a little confusing, but there are groups of both Saxons and Danes, competing with each other, and/or allied with each other.

View attachment 947084​

We’ve watched the first two episodes and it’s good enough to keep going.

Yes very well known about the vikings. Many of our place names for example have there roots in the Viking language.
York for example (and by default New York).

Anyway I really enjoyed the first two seasons until it was dropped by the BBC.

 

[Huntn]

Yes very well known about the vikings. Many of our place names for example have there roots in the Viking language.
York for example (and by default New York).

Anyway I really enjoyed the first two seasons until it was dropped by the BBC.

First off, someone and from the UK answered, thank you. I knew Danes were in the British Isles, I was just shocked that I had such a large hole in my British Knowledge, that England had been conquered by Danes after the Romans Departed.

I’ll assume you’ve not seen seasons 3 or 4?

 

[Apple fanboy]

First off, someone and from the UK answered, thank you. I knew Danes were in the British Isles, I was just shocked that I had such a large hole in my British Knowledge, that England had been conquered by Danes after the Romans Departed.

I’ll assume you’ve not seen seasons 3 or 4?

Unfortunately not. I don’t have Netflix.

 

[Apple fanboy]

First off, someone and from the UK answered, thank you. I knew Danes were in the British Isles, I was just shocked that I had such a large hole in my British Knowledge, that England had been conquered by Danes after the Romans Departed.

I’ll assume you’ve not seen seasons 3 or 4?

I should add that technically they never conquered England. At the time the British Isles (England didn’t exist at that point), was many smaller kingdoms. The Danes didn’t conquer them all in the way the Romans did, (well south of the wall!).

@Scepticalscribe could enlighten you much more with her extensive knowledge I’m sure.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

First off, someone and from the UK answered, thank you. I knew Danes were in the British Isles, I was just shocked that I had such a large hole in my British Knowledge, that England had been conquered by Danes after the Romans Departed.

I’ll assume you’ve not seen seasons 3 or 4?

I should add that technically they never conquered England. At the time the British Isles (England didn’t exist at that point), was many smaller kingdoms. The Danes didn’t conquer them all in the way the Romans did, (well south of the wall!).

@Scepticalscribe could enlighten you much more with her extensive knowledge I’m sure.

As @Apple fanboy says, post the departure of the Romans (which occurred approximately 400CE) from what is now England, "England" wasn't "England" (i.e. a modern nation) at the time, but was comprised of a number of independent (and often warring) states.

Gradually, over time, a period of a few centuries, these were amalgamated, by force, trade, choice, marriage, inheritance (the monarch known as Alfred the Great played an early role in the process of this amalgamation) and so on, so that, by the tenth-eleventh centuries a surprisingly wealthy country - the country that became England - with a common legal system, coinage and social customs began to emerge from this.

But, until the Norman invasion, of 1066, the Danish influence (linguistic, cultural, as well as political and economic) remained relatively strong, and the Battle of Stamford Bridge - also in 1066, but earlier in the year, (between the then victorious Anglo-Saxon King Harold of England, and what remained of the Danish forces/influence, which were defeated) was, in effect, the last military expression of that Danish influence.

The Danes ruled vast territories in the North and East of the country; York (then known as Yorvik) was their capital, and their influence extended countrywide.

The fact that York remained the second most powerful city of England until well into the Tudor era, and that the second most important see in the Church of England is still the archbishopric of York, serve as useful reminders of its historic importance, and the lingering cultural-socio-economic and political influence of the earlier Danish raids/invasions (which, over time, became trading posts and permanent urban settlements).

Actually, they - the Danes - were sufficiently strong to be able to defeat most of the remaining 'states' (Mercia, Kent, Wessex, etc) individually in battle, hence temporary alliances were formed between some of these 'states', or regions for the purposes of keeping the Danes - their armies and influence - at bay, which was the beginning of the gradual process of amalgamation.

Others simply bought them off - or allowed taxes to be collected - a process known as "Danegeld" - and the fact that they could afford to be able to do so gives an indication of their wealth, and the willingness of the Danes to be bought off, rather than press battle.

 

[Huntn]

As @Apple fanboy says, "England" wasn't "England" (i.e. a modern nation) at the time, but was comprised of a number of independent (and often warring) states.

Gradually, over time, a period of a few centuries, these were amalgamated, by force, trade, choice, marriage, inheritance (the monarch known as Alfred the Great played an early role in this amalgamation) and so on, so that, by the tenth-eleventh centuries a surprisingly wealthy country - the country that became England - with a common legal system, coinage and social customs began to emerge from this.

But, until the Norman invasion, of 1066, the Danish influence (linguistic, cultural, as well as political and economic) remained relatively strong.

The Danes ruled vast territories in the North and East of the country; York (then known as Yorvik) was their capital, and their influence extended countrywide.

The fact that York remained the second most powerful city of England well into the Tudor era, and the second most important see in the Church of England is still the archbishopric of York, serve as useful reminders of its historic importance, and the lingering cultural-socio-economic and political influence of the earlier Danish raids/invasions (which, over time, became trading posts and permanent urban settlements).

Actually, they - the Danes - were sufficiently strong to be able to defeat most of the remaining 'states' (Mercia, etc) individually in battle, hence temporary alliances were formed between some of these 'states', or regions for the purposes of keeping the Danes - their armies and influence - at bay, which was the beginning of the gradual process of amalgamation.

Others simply bought them off - a process known as "Danegeld" - and the fact that they could afford to be able to do so gives an indication of their wealth, and the willingness of the Danes to be bought off, rather than press battle.

Most of my DNA shows England, but maybe this why my DNA results shows some Norwegian influence (10% at one point, but has changed over the years) even though we are talking about 1000 years ago. 👀 I presume there are significant numbers of people of Danish decent found living in England today.

 

[MarkC426]

This is a fantastic show, in some ways it was better than GOT.

Looking forward to Season 5.
Maybe edit the title, also on iTunes.

 

[Apple fanboy]

As @Apple fanboy says, "England" wasn't "England" (i.e. a modern nation) at the time, but was comprised of a number of independent (and often warring) states.

Gradually, over time, a period of a few centuries, these were amalgamated, by force, trade, choice, marriage, inheritance (the monarch known as Alfred the Great played an early role in this amalgamation) and so on, so that, by the tenth-eleventh centuries a surprisingly wealthy country - the country that became England - with a common legal system, coinage and social customs began to emerge from this.

But, until the Norman invasion, of 1066, the Danish influence (linguistic, cultural, as well as political and economic) remained relatively strong.

The Danes ruled vast territories in the North and East of the country; York (then known as Yorvik) was their capital, and their influence extended countrywide.

The fact that York remained the second most powerful city of England well into the Tudor era, and the second most important see in the Church of England is still the archbishopric of York, serve as useful reminders of its historic importance, and the lingering cultural-socio-economic and political influence of the earlier Danish raids/invasions (which, over time, became trading posts and permanent urban settlements).

Actually, they - the Danes - were sufficiently strong to be able to defeat most of the remaining 'states' (Mercia, etc) individually in battle, hence temporary alliances were formed between some of these 'states', or regions for the purposes of keeping the Danes - their armies and influence - at bay, which was the beginning of the gradual process of amalgamation.

Others simply bought them off - a process known as "Danegeld" - and the fact that they could afford to be able to do so gives an indication of their wealth, and the willingness of the Danes to be bought off, rather than press battle.

Thank you for explaining it so much more eloquently than I did!

 

[Huntn]

This is a fantastic show, in some ways it was better than GOT.

Looking forward to Season 5.
Maybe edit the title, also on iTunes.

I was just listing the producers of the show. I’m curious on iTunes does it say BBC or Netflix?

You’ve just set a very high bar for this series. Let’s see!

 

[scubachap]

Hwat! Ic eom englisc! Ic hattie þā wicingas... We've known about that lot for over a thousand years... It's quite common knowledge, particularly amount those of us who are a bit older and have actually read books (remember them?) - Alfred burning the cakes, King Canute turning back the tide etc etc.

But leaving aside the stories you don't have to look far to see the history of those years around us. Any village / town ending in by (generally found 'oop north in the old Danelaw) was probably a Danish/Norse settlement whereas dons, tons, fords etc etc were Saxon. Burhs were the fortified settlements (a dark ages version of the strategic hamlet strategy) that were used in the Danish wars to retake Wessex and beyond (many of which became modern towns - Oxford, Cricklade, Wilton, Wallingford etc etc). The gold Wyvern often seen in heraldry in the west country is reputed to be the flag of Wessex, and Essex still has three seaxes (the saxon long knives after which the group was named) on it's flag. The Danes and Norse left us many words - knife, take, window etc etc and the old administrative districts - the Ridings (of Yorkshire) etc are Danish as is of course York. Otherwise the city that never sleeps might have been New Eoforwic. (Bit of mouthful!)

If you're interested there's a lot of archaeology going on in Repton at the moment in terms of the Great Heathen Army which was defeated by Alfred at Eddington (Ethandun) which has featured in the episodes I've watched. Hopefully Bernard Cornwall in the books will eventually get us to The Battle of Brunaburh about which's location there's currently a huge debate. This battle was key to the history of England as Aethelstan defeated an alliance of Scots, Irish, Norse, Danes and Strathclydians (sp?) etc etc preventing a break up of England. While the kingdoms of the Scots and Strathclyde retained their independence after the battle the Norse and Danes were weakened and 20 or so years later they finally lost control of York and Northumbria.

I expect you know this but the Normans weren't originally Franks, they were Norse (hence Norse-mans) but had been living in Normandy for several generations by 1066, so one can argue Hastings was something of a re-run of the old wars. I think our current retrospective way of thinking makes too much of the national differences we now seem to impose. The Saxons, Norse and Danes all shared a world view and although they fought like rats in a sack to a modern eye I suspect we'd probably struggle to tell them apart if we met a group of them arguing.

The one beef I have with the series particularly early on are the costumes - the Danes look great but the Saxons would have looked pretty similar - they seem to resemble some sort of weird later norman knights. That all seemed to improve when Netflix took over though. (I suspect the BBC commissioners in their often patronising way thought we were all too thick to understand there was a difference without it being made obvious and I suspect Netflix let the program makers get on with it and so things improved a bit - particularly when the Mercians turned up. I love the portrayal of Alfred though...)

If you haven't read the books - they're great and I also recommend his Winter King series which is more fictional but takes us back to around 500AD and Arthur... Great stuff!

 

[Huntn]

Hwat! Ic eom englisc! Ic hattie þā wicingas... We've known about that lot for over a thousand years... It's quite common knowledge, particularly amount those of us who are a bit older and have actually read books (remember them?) - Alfred burning the cakes, King Canute turning back the tide etc etc.

But leaving aside the stories you don't have to look far to see the history of those years around us. Any village / town ending in by (generally found 'oop north in the old Danelaw) was probably a Danish/Norse settlement whereas dons, tons, fords etc etc were Saxon. Burhs were the fortified settlements (a dark ages version of the strategic hamlet strategy) that were used in the Danish wars to retake Wessex and beyond (many of which became modern towns - Oxford, Cricklade, Wilton, Wallingford etc etc). The gold Wyvern often seen in heraldry in the west country is reputed to be the flag of Wessex, and Essex still has three seaxes (the saxon long knives after which the group was named) on it's flag. The Danes and Norse left us many words - knife, take, window etc etc and the old administrative districts - the Ridings (of Yorkshire) etc are Danish as is of course York. Otherwise the city that never sleeps might have been New Eoforwic. (Bit of mouthful!)

If you're interested there's a lot of archaeology going on in Repton at the moment in terms of the Great Heathen Army which was defeated by Alfred at Eddington (Ethandun) which has featured in the episodes I've watched. Hopefully Bernard Cornwall in the books will eventually get us to The Battle of Brunaburh about which's location there's currently a huge debate. This battle was key to the history of England as Aethelstan defeated an alliance of Scots, Irish, Norse, Danes and Strathclydians (sp?) etc etc preventing a break up of England. While the kingdoms of the Scots and Strathclyde retained their independence after the battle the Norse and Danes were weakened and 20 or so years later they finally lost control of York and Northumbria.

I expect you know this but the Normans weren't originally Franks, they were Norse (hence Norse-mans) but had been living in Normandy for several generations by 1066, so one can argue Hastings was something of a re-run of the old wars. I think our current retrospective way of thinking makes too much of the national differences we now seem to impose. The Saxons, Norse and Danes all shared a world view and although they fought like rats in a sack to a modern eye I suspect we'd probably struggle to tell them apart if we met a group of them arguing.

The one beef I have with the series particularly early on are the costumes - the Danes look great but the Saxons would have looked pretty similar - they seem to resemble some sort of weird later norman knights. That all seemed to improve when Netflix took over though. (I suspect the BBC commissioners in their often patronising way thought we were all too thick to understand there was a difference without it being made obvious and I suspect Netflix let the program makers get on with it and so things improved a bit - particularly when the Mercians turned up. I love the portrayal of Alfred though...)

If you haven't read the books - they're great and I also recommend his Winter King series which is more fictional but takes us back to around 500AD and Arthur... Great stuff!

Nope, I always thought Normans were from what we know as France. And I realize ancestry is much more complicated than what most people imagine before they are introduced to their DNA. See my post in the DNA thread:

DNA Test for Ethnicity

It’s knowledge, even if it may be trivia, sometimes it’s more. My wife grew up not knowing who half her family was, and now she knows she has ancestry tied into the Founding Fathers, as in practically all of them, which is still trivia, but it is cool knowing. :) To give an example of how...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Huntn]

Hwat! Ic eom englisc! Ic hattie þā wicingas...

You should have translated. I googled this and got gibberish (to me) and I was expecting a translation. .

 

[Lasrjock]

- particularly when the Mercians turned up. I love the portrayal of Alfred though...)

I'm sorry but I first read that as 'Mericans. My first thought was how I couldn't believe Hollywood would screw up history that much. But then I reminded myself that they would.

 

[scubachap]

You should have translated. I googled this and got gibberish.

Apologies, you're right... "What! I am English! I hate the Vikings..." My pidgin Old English - If you're interested in this period then I recommend this publisher - AS Books. They should ship to the States. Learn Old English with Leofwin is a really, really great book. I've seen from some of your other posts you seem to like Tolkein and a smattering of Old English adds some real depth to his stuff.

I'm sorry but I first read that as 'Mericans. My first thought was how I couldn't believe Hollywood would screw up history that much. But then I reminded myself that they would.

Ha ha, don't worry they'll turn up in the next series - and anyone with an English accent will turn out to have been the bad guys all along just in time for the Apache's to turn up and strafe the shield wall...

 

[Huntn]

Apologies, you're right... "What! I am English! I hate the Vikings..." My pidgin Old English - If you're interested in this period then I recommend this publisher - AS Books. They should ship to the States. Learn Old English with Leofwin is a really, really great book. I've seen from some of your other posts you seem to like Tolkein and a smattering of Old English adds some real depth to his stuff.


Ha ha, don't worry they'll turn up in the next series - and anyone with an English accent will turn out to have been the bad guys all along just in time for the Apache's to turn up and strafe the shield wall...

Ah yes, but languages I’d really like to learn 1) Spanish (Know a little) or 2) Italian I just can’t seem to make the time investment, lord knows I’ve tried several times, high school, took Old English in college, remember studying the Canterbury Tales in Old English, in my 30s, and 40s, even lately have looked at Babble.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Hwat! Ic eom englisc! Ic hattie þā wicingas... We've known about that lot for over a thousand years... It's quite common knowledge, particularly amount those of us who are a bit older and have actually read books (remember them?) - Alfred burning the cakes, King Canute turning back the tide etc etc.

But leaving aside the stories you don't have to look far to see the history of those years around us. Any village / town ending in by (generally found 'oop north in the old Danelaw) was probably a Danish/Norse settlement whereas dons, tons, fords etc etc were Saxon. Burhs were the fortified settlements (a dark ages version of the strategic hamlet strategy) that were used in the Danish wars to retake Wessex and beyond (many of which became modern towns - Oxford, Cricklade, Wilton, Wallingford etc etc). The gold Wyvern often seen in heraldry in the west country is reputed to be the flag of Wessex, and Essex still has three seaxes (the saxon long knives after which the group was named) on it's flag. The Danes and Norse left us many words - knife, take, window etc etc and the old administrative districts - the Ridings (of Yorkshire) etc are Danish as is of course York. Otherwise the city that never sleeps might have been New Eoforwic. (Bit of mouthful!)

If you're interested there's a lot of archaeology going on in Repton at the moment in terms of the Great Heathen Army which was defeated by Alfred at Eddington (Ethandun) which has featured in the episodes I've watched. Hopefully Bernard Cornwall in the books will eventually get us to The Battle of Brunaburh about which's location there's currently a huge debate. This battle was key to the history of England as Aethelstan defeated an alliance of Scots, Irish, Norse, Danes and Strathclydians (sp?) etc etc preventing a break up of England. While the kingdoms of the Scots and Strathclyde retained their independence after the battle the Norse and Danes were weakened and 20 or so years later they finally lost control of York and Northumbria.

I expect you know this but the Normans weren't originally Franks, they were Norse (hence Norse-mans) but had been living in Normandy for several generations by 1066, so one can argue Hastings was something of a re-run of the old wars. I think our current retrospective way of thinking makes too much of the national differences we now seem to impose. The Saxons, Norse and Danes all shared a world view and although they fought like rats in a sack to a modern eye I suspect we'd probably struggle to tell them apart if we met a group of them arguing.

The one beef I have with the series particularly early on are the costumes - the Danes look great but the Saxons would have looked pretty similar - they seem to resemble some sort of weird later norman knights. That all seemed to improve when Netflix took over though. (I suspect the BBC commissioners in their often patronising way thought we were all too thick to understand there was a difference without it being made obvious and I suspect Netflix let the program makers get on with it and so things improved a bit - particularly when the Mercians turned up. I love the portrayal of Alfred though...)

If you haven't read the books - they're great and I also recommend his Winter King series which is more fictional but takes us back to around 500AD and Arthur... Great stuff!

Terrific and informative and wonderfully interesting post.

And I second your recommendation of the books of Bernard Cornwall on Viking England; in some ways, they are even better than his Sharpe books.

The other thing worth noting - in addition to the revealing linguistic ancestry found in place names - is how the phonetic sound of many of the key, core words of modern English make clear their linguistic roots in Norse; the core sounds of English - all those "th" sounds, come straight from Nordic languages - and have remained, more or less unchanged, in that is now English, for over a thousand years. (Melvyn Bragg, in his History of English, has a lovely chapter on this).

 

[Huntn]

We are up to Season 2 episode 6, will finish Season 2 today. It’s still good, but it’s not GOT.

 

[Apple fanboy]

We are up to Season 2 episode 6, will finish Season 2 today. It’s still good, but it’s not GOT.

Not much is!

 

[Huntn]

The King’s daughter is held captive and demands a bath and they lead her to the nearest river. Can I assume in the 9th century that the concept of taking a bath in a tub of water (in Europe) has not yet been thought of?

A Brief History of Washing - Local Histories

A brief history of baths, showers, cleaning your teeth and washing from Ancient Times up to the 21st Century

www.localhistories.org

Season 3- Another Dane to fight...

 

[MarkC426]

We are up to Season 2 episode 6, will finish Season 2 today. It’s still good, but it’s not GOT.

That‘s a good thing.
GOT got too big for it’s boots.

 

[Huntn]

That‘s a good thing.
GOT got too big for it’s boots.

HBO’s GOT was an outline of the books, got rushed and ruined the ending, but it had a presence based on this incredible story, short changed yes, yet it was still an incredible unique experience.

 

[Huntn]

Season 3 Spoiler
And here I thought it was just another Dane to fight, but wow, what a great change of pace! Uhtred has a falling out, I’d say it appears permanent.
... and then Uhtred, infuriates his Dane brothers and runs South to wipe Alfred’s ass once again. At least it is keeping me guessing. 🤔

Trivia: why is everyone named Æthel in The Last Kingdom?

Ethel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ethel (also æthel) is an Old English word meaning "noble". It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names, both masculine and feminine, e.g. Æthelhard, Æthelred, Æthelwulf; Æthelburg, Æthelflæd, Æthelthryth (Audrey). It corresponds to the Adel- and Edel- in continental names, such as Adolph (Æthelwulf), Adalbert (Albert), Adelheid (Adelaide), Edeltraut and Edelgard. There would be some reason to believe that the word is actually taken from "aedilis" or "aedile", the Latin name of a Roman official, whose function was that of a magistrate and superintendent of public property.

 

[scubachap]

Can I assume in the 9th century that the concept of taking a bath in a tub of water (in Europe) has not yet been thought of?

I know American tourists don't have a high regard for our plumbing but ... sorry, I jest, and it's an interesting question worth thinking about and a nice link. Personally, I don't buy the idea that ancient people would have always been filthy but baths might well have been rare. One of the most commonly found Saxon artefacts are combs and there are cauldrons that archaeologists say were used for communal hand washing in the great mead hall etc. All sorts of tweezers, ear wax scrapers, and nail cleaners picks turn up too so they were all clearly concerned about keeping up appearances. The Vikings had a reputation for being 'clean freaks' and it's suggested would indulge in a weekly bathe(?). There were also strong soaps that were used to bleach hair etc.

I suspect that everyone would have stunk to high heaven though but I guess that's relative in that in our modern world of deodorants and daily showers body that odour now surprises us. I think that for the Saxons a warm bath would have been a hugely expensive luxury and perhaps an old memory of the Romans. In British Roman villas you generally find a bathhouse but running them was obviously a colossally expensive operation in terms of manpower and fuel. (The occupants of the Villas lifestyles were probably about as representative of the majority the population as people like Bill Gates, Tim Cook and Elon Musk are of most of us today.) A portable bath (metal? or wood with ironwork to seal it?) would have been a hugely expensive thing and probably pointless bearing in mind most dark age villages would have had to have some sort of access to outside water. Even in the late medieval period I often find it surprising how little household stuff and furniture even relatively wealthy people had.

I also suspect the christian church of the time would have taken a very dim view of civically provided naked communal bathing as found in Roman Bath (the town) as the collapse of Roman Britain was seen by many in the Church as the result of wanton moral degeneracy etc

There would be some reason to believe that the word is actually taken from "aedilis" or "aedile", the Latin name of a Roman official, whose function was that of a magistrate and superintendent of public property.

Interesting little snippet. Rome would have been an ever-present memory and influence. The Sutton Hoo helmet is reputedly based on a Roman Parade helmet, our religious dioceses are supposed to be old Roman districts, it's speculated that the Welsh flag is an old Roman standard and I've often thought the the church's lecture eagles always look remarkably Roman...

 

[Lasrjock]

And I second your recommendation of the books of Bernard Cornwall on Viking England; in some ways, they are even better than his Sharpe books.

I have read (and enjoyed) all of his Sharpe books (and saw the TV shows). Now I will have to read his Viking books.