Chester AD 400-1066

This companion volume to the author's Roman Chester: City of the Eagles is the first general account of Chester from the late Roman period to the Norman Conquest for over 30 years. It contains much new material from both archaeological excavations and historical research as well as new theories about early Chester and its surroundings. David Mason tells the story of Chester, one of the great military centres of Roman Britain, from its disappearance into the obscurity of the Dark Ages' down to its emergence 200 years later as Legacaestir an important military, commercial and religious settlement of Anglian Mercia and subsequently of Anglo- Scandinavian England. As Cestre the town was refortified in 907, and rapidly became the wealthiest town in North-West England. The author describes the everyday life of its inhabitants in the century and a half leading up to the Norman Conquest. The 700-year period covered by this book is populated by many colourful personalities: the British kings Maelgwyn and Cadvan; early ecclesiastics St Augustine and Archbishop Dinoot; the Northumbrian kings Aethelfrith and 'Edwin the Deceiver'; Cyndyllan, Penda and Offa; Lady Aethelfred protectress of Mercian Chester, the Norse adventurer Ingimund and King Edgar.