Sadly Wood doesn't set out the theory that Boudicca might not actually have existed, otherwise entertaining and good popular history.Īll the photographs which illustrate the book were taken in winter, I wonder if this was a deliberate choice to suggest the bleakness of the dark ages or a happy accident. The Arthur chapter is particularly good for anybody interested in the 'real' or the historical background to an Arthur type figure. It is an entertaining read that set out the controversies and questions surrounding some interesting people, although in this case they are particularly interesting because they are so obscure and in the case of Arthur or Boudicca may not even exist. Įach chapter is free standing and requires no prior knowledge of English history. Each chapter focuses on a person from Boudicca to William the Conqueror of the Battle of Hastings fame via Arthur, Offa, Alfred the Great, Eric Bloodaxe perhaps not quite the name you'd chose for yourself if you wanted to get ahead in politics, even in Yorkshire and AEthelred the Unready this is an example of early English humour - the name means noble counsel no counsel some might say that the early English needed to work on their punchlines, others that in the Dark Ages you took your laughs when you could. This nice book suitable for all readers is perhaps an ideal introduction to the English dark ages - which contrary to the opinions of many other countries are generally considered to be long over. 'Michael Wood is the maker of some of the best TV documentaries ever made on history and archaeology.' Times Literary Supplement 'With In Search of the Dark Ages, Michael Wood wrote the book for history on TV.' The Times Reflecting recent historical, textual and archaeological research, this revised edition of Michael Wood's classic book overturns preconceptions of the Dark Ages as a shadowy and brutal era, showing them to be a richly exciting and formative period in the history of Britain.

Here too, warts and all, are the Saxon, Viking and Norman kings who laid the political foundations of England - Offa of Mercia, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, and William the Conqueror, whose victory at Hastings in 1066 marked the end of Anglo-Saxon England. In Search of the Dark Ages vividly conjures up some of the most famous names in British history, such as Queen Boadicea, leader of a terrible war of resistance against the Romans, and King Arthur, the 'once and future king', for whose riddle Wood proposes a new and surprising solution. This edition of Michael Wood's groundbreaking first book explores the fascinating and mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest of 1066.

In search of the dark ages