The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria - Hardcover

Max Adams

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1781854181 ISBN 13: 9781781854181

Publisher: Head of Zeus, 2013

Synopsis

Oswald Whiteblade lived one of the most influential and colourful lives in early English history. Before his death in battle against the pagans of Mercia cut short his reign as king of Northumbria (634-42), he remodelled his northeastern English homeland as a Christian kingdom, founded the monastery of Lindisfarne, introduced a culture of learning which influenced all Europe, and became the most powerful ruler in Britain. Max Adams's thrilling account rescues Oswald from Dark Age obscurity to reveal an unjustly forgotten English hero - a king whose return from exile to reclaim his birthright was the inspiration for J. R. R. Tolkien's Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings. But THE KING IN THE NORTH is more than just a biography of the first great English monarch; it is a stunningly researched, wide-ranging, beautifully written and revelatory portrait of early medieval England in all its aspects.

About this title

Review:

'A triumph. The most gripping portrait of 7th-Century Britain that I have read ... A Game of Thrones in the Dark Ages' Tom Holland, The Times.

'An engagingly populist and evocative book that makes a bold and effective attempt to bring a particularly obscure period in northern British history to the general reader' Literary Review.

'This early ruler had a life, and a legacy that rivals any fable' Independent.

'Gripping, hugely enjoyable and deeply scholarly.' History Today Books of the Year.

About the Author:

Max Adams is the author of Admiral Collingwood, The Prometheans, the bestselling The King in the North and In the Land of Giants. He has lived and worked in the North-East of England since 1993.

About this edition

• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1781854181
• ISBN 13: 9781781854181
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 448