Laycock, Stuart/Gidlow, Christopher King Arthur's Country. One Land, Two Kings and Two Centuries that Changed Britain Forever

Today's England is a rich, complex mix of identities, cultures and heritages. In the decades following the collapse of Roman Britain in the fifth century, the cultures of the Angles and Saxons spread rapidly westwards across large parts of eastern, southern and central England with a high degree of homogeneity. Then it came to a standstill. Or was stopped. For the area, which at that time was still beyond the reach of the Anglo-Saxons, is characterised by a network of military and economic connections across the island. These included parts of Britain traditionally associated with King Arthur. Later, the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural kingdom of Mercia, in alliance with the British kingdoms in Wales under the mysterious King Penda, spread from the Midlands across England, dominating the former Anglo-Saxon kingdoms with its wealth and military might. The region from which Mercia emerged is also a region that was most likely a base for the elusive figure of King Arthur. The authors use historical and archaeological evidence, much of it new, to explore the link between Arthur's kingdom and the rise of Pendas Mercia. They attempt to locate lost Arthurian battlefields and understand what happened there - with exciting new results. This is the story of a region, two kings and two centuries that changed England forever.