After the departure of the Romans from Britain, the course will cover the 'Dark Ages' and the various theories of how the people we call the Anglo-Saxons arrived, gradually dominated England, and formed kingdoms. As the course progresses, the written and archaeological evidence becomes more certain, giving us a view of how the development of the powerful Kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, and eventually the superpower of Wessex took place. We will meet the Kings that ruled these new great Kingdoms. The era of the Viking raids, developed from seasonal raids into outright invasions, then to settlements. The course concludes with the Battle of Hastings, the death of King Harold, and the coronation of Duke William of Normandy as William I of England.