In an engaging and detailed new book, "The Mercian Chronicles," Max Adams explains how the Mercian kings were able to dominate the English Midlands and beyond. "There was in Mercia in fairly recent times a certain vigorous king called Offa, who terrified all the neighbouring kings and provinces around him," said Bishop Asser, a Welsh monk, in the 9th century, describing the peak of the "Mercian Supremacy" when the Midland kingdom dominated England.
This book explores the rise of the Kingdom of Mercia, focusing on the reigns of Æthelbald (716-757) and Offa (757-796). It shows how Mercia became a dominant power in early medieval Britain, laying crucial foundations for the emergence of England. The Birth of the Anglo-Saxons, like my other books about the Early Medieval period, is a portrait of power, how it was exercised at all levels from the humblest household right up to the sceptre-wielding imperium of the greatest warrior kings.