The Battle of Brunanburh: A Casebook

This casebook fills a major gap in our cultural knowledge of the Middle Ages. It gathers together for the first time the key historical and literary primary sources for the study of the Battle of Brunanburh (AD 937); a key moment in the history of the British Isles. Produced by an international team of experts, the volume offers the sources in their language of origin - Old English, Old Norse, Welsh, Irish, Latin, Anglo-Norman, Middle English, Early Modern English - with facing-page translations and explanatory notes. Many of the sources are translated here for the first time. In addition, the volume includes a substantial introduction from Michael Livingston and ten wide-ranging essays that provide cultural contexts and lay to rest many of the most controversial questions about the conflict - including the key matter of where the battle likely took place, identified here as Bromborough on the Wirral, between Liverpool and Chester. The essays show the lasting significance of this nation-defining battle - both in terms of history and in terms of its impact across more than a thousand years of literature.