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  • Cnut the Great: England's Viking King

    Cnut the Great: England's Viking King
    2026/06/07
    In this episode, Lucas and Luna turn from Alfred's line to a Danish conqueror who reshaped England. Cnut the Great, son of Sweyn Forkbeard, seized the throne in 1016 after years of war with Æthelred the Unready and Edmund Ironside. We explore how Cnut ruled not just England but a North Sea empire spanning Denmark, Norway, and parts of Sweden—his 'North Sea Empire.' We talk about his 1018 meeting at Oxford where he formalized law between Danes and English, his pilgrimage to Rome in 1027, and the famous story of him commanding the tide (a myth, but revealing). We also discuss his most lasting act: the Canute penny, a high-silver coin that replaced Æthelred's Helmet type and became the standard English coin for a generation. Through the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Encomium Emmae Reginae, and hoards like the Sporle Hoard, we piece together how a Viking king made himself an English one—and why his empire didn't outlast him. #CnutTheGreat #VikingKing #NorthSeaEmpire #CanutePenny #AngloSaxonChronicle #EncomiumEmmaeReginae #SweynForkbeard #EdmundIronside #Oxford1018 #RomePilgrimage #SporleHoard #VikingHistory #MedievalEngland #EnglishCoinage #EleventhCentury #History #FexingoHistory #Podcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分
  • The Danelaw: How Viking Law Shaped Northern England

    The Danelaw: How Viking Law Shaped Northern England
    2026/06/07
    When the Vikings settled in England, they didn't just raid and leave. They stayed, built towns, and imposed their own legal system. This episode unpacks the Danelaw — the territory where Norse customs, language, and governance took root. Lucas and Luna explore the treaty between Alfred the Great and Guthrum that divided England, the Scandinavian legal concepts like the 'wapentake' and 'thing,' and how place-names ending in '-by' and '-thorpe' still mark the landscape. They discuss the Five Boroughs — Lincoln, Leicester, Nottingham, Stamford, and Derby — and how Viking rule differed from Anglo-Saxon administration. The conversation also touches on material culture: the Cuerdale Hoard, the Vale of York Hoard, and what they reveal about Viking integration. Finally, they consider the legacy of the Danelaw in English law and language, from jury systems to everyday words like 'law' itself. Spoiler: the Vikings left more than just a bloody reputation. #Danelaw #VikingEngland #AlfredTheGreat #Guthrum #FiveBoroughs #Wapentake #PlaceNames #CuerdaleHoard #ValeOfYorkHoard #AngloSaxonEngland #MedievalHistory #NorseLaw #TreatyOfWedmore #Thing #EnglishLegalHistory #VikingSettlement #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分
  • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: How Alfred Invented English History

    The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: How Alfred Invented English History
    2026/06/06
    Before Alfred the Great, England had no national history — just scattered monastic annals. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the creation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a revolutionary project that wove together oral tradition, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, and contemporary eyewitness accounts to produce the first continuous narrative of English history. They examine how Alfred's scribes compiled the Chronicle from multiple sources, why it was written in Old English instead of Latin, and how later scribes kept it going for centuries — right up to the Norman Conquest and beyond. The conversation touches on the Parker Chronicle (still in Cambridge's Corpus Christi College), the haunting entry for 793 that describes the first Viking raid, and the Chronicle's role in forging an English identity. What did the scribes leave out? How reliable are the annals for the early centuries? And why did this one manuscript tradition survive when so many others perished? This is the story of how England wrote its own story. #AngloSaxonChronicle #AlfredTheGreat #OldEnglish #Bede #ParkerChronicle #VikingRaids #Lindisfarne #Wessex #MonasticScribes #MedievalHistory #EnglishIdentity #ManuscriptStudies #CorpusChristiCollege #Cambridge #OralTradition #Historiography #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    6 分
  • Edgar and Dunstan: The Monastic Reform That Remade England

    Edgar and Dunstan: The Monastic Reform That Remade England
    2026/06/06
    In this episode of The History of England, Lucas and Luna dive into the tenth-century monastic reform movement that reshaped English religious and political life. They explore how King Edgar the Peaceable, working with the great churchmen Dunstan, Æthelwold, and Oswald, imposed the Benedictine Rule on every monastery in England through the Regularis Concordia. The conversation covers the Synod of Winchester, the expulsion of married clergy, the building of new abbeys like Glastonbury and Abingdon, and the political motives behind reform—including Edgar's desire to centralise power and reduce noble influence. Lucas explains how the reformers created a network of literate, disciplined monks who served as royal administrators, and how Queen Ælfthryth became the first anointed queen of England. The episode also touches on the resistance from secular clergy and the lasting legacy of monastic learning. Along the way, listeners learn about the cost of reform in human terms, including the destruction of traditional minsters and the loss of local religious autonomy. #History #FexingoHistory #England #AngloSaxon #EdgarThePeaceable #Dunstan #Aethelwold #Oswald #RegularisConcordia #MonasticReform #Benedictines #SynodOfWinchester #Glastonbury #Abingdon #Aelfthryth #TenthCentury #MedievalChurch #EnglishMonarchy Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    12 分
  • Edgar the Peaceable and the Tenth-Century Monastic Reform

    Edgar the Peaceable and the Tenth-Century Monastic Reform
    2026/06/05
    In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the reign of King Edgar the Peaceable (959–975) and the transformative monastic reform movement led by Dunstan, Æthelwold, and Oswald. They discuss the Regularis Concordia, the revival of Benedictine monasticism, the expulsion of secular clerics from cathedrals, and how these reforms reshaped English religious and political life. The conversation touches on the Synod of Winchester, the role of Queen Ælfthryth, and the lasting influence of the reformed monasteries on learning, art, and royal administration. Specific figures include Edgar, Dunstan (Archbishop of Canterbury), Æthelwold (Bishop of Winchester), and Oswald (Archbishop of York). The episode also briefly mentions the earlier Alfredian reforms and the context of tenth-century unification under Edgar's coinage reforms covered in prior episodes. #EdgarThePeaceable #MonasticReform #Dunstan #Aethelwold #Oswald #RegularisConcordia #BenedictineReform #SynodOfWinchester #TenthCentury #AngloSaxonEngland #BishopAethelwold #ArchbishopDunstan #ArchbishopOswald #Aelfthryth #MonasticRevival #EnglishChurch #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    6 分
  • How the Reform Penny Unified Anglo-Saxon England

    How the Reform Penny Unified Anglo-Saxon England
    2026/06/05
    In the late 10th century, King Edgar and Archbishop Dunstan introduced a revolutionary new coinage—the Reform Penny—that transformed England's economy and helped unify the kingdom. This episode explores how the standardized silver penny, with its distinctive cross-and-crosslets design, replaced a chaotic mix of local currencies. We trace the coin's production across dozens of mints, each overseen by a royal moneyer, and its role in promoting trade and royal authority. Discover the evidence from hoards like the Blythburgh Hoard, which reveals how widely these coins circulated, and learn about the sophisticated system of trial plates and weight checks that kept the coinage honest. Lucas and Luna also discuss the political genius behind the reform—how Edgar used a single currency to bind his diverse subjects together, from Wessex to the Danelaw. A fascinating look at how money shaped the birth of England. #ReformPenny #EdgarThePeaceable #AngloSaxonEngland #CoinageReform #BlythburghHoard #CuerdaleHoard #Dunstan #Moneyers #CrossAndCrosslets #TenthCentury #EnglishEconomy #Numismatics #MedievalHistory #BritishHistory #FexingoHistory #History #Podcast #England Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分
  • The Reform Penny: How Edgar Unified Anglo-Saxon England's Coinage

    The Reform Penny: How Edgar Unified Anglo-Saxon England's Coinage
    2026/06/04
    In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the remarkable monetary revolution under King Edgar the Peaceable. In the 970s, Edgar implemented a single national coinage — the Reform Penny — that replaced a chaotic mix of local moneyers and designs. The new coin, struck at dozens of mints across England, featured a consistent design: a crowned portrait on the obverse and a small cross on the reverse, with the name of the moneyer and mint city recorded on the coin itself. This system was so robust that it endured for over a century, through Viking invasions and political upheavals. Lucas explains how Archbishop Dunstan and a council of nobles pushed through the reform, how the Blythburgh and Cuerdale hoards reveal the transition, and why Edgar's coinage became a model for medieval European monarchies. The episode also touches on the practical mechanics of minting, the role of moneyers, and how the coinage helped unify England after the turbulent tenth century. #EdgarThePeaceable #ReformPenny #AngloSaxonCoinage #Dunstan #BlythburghHoard #CuerdaleHoard #Moneyers #MedievalCoinage #EnglishHistory #TenthCentury #CoinReform #AngloSaxonEngland #Numismatics #MonetaryHistory #KingEdgar #History #FexingoHistory #MedievalEconomics Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    6 分
  • How King Edgar Made England's First Unified Coinage

    How King Edgar Made England's First Unified Coinage
    2026/06/04
    In 973 AD, King Edgar of England summoned the moneyers of every mint from Cornwall to Northumbria to Winchester, and issued a single royal decree: from now on, every penny in the realm must be identical — same design, same weight, same silver purity. This was the Edgar Reform, a monetary revolution that created England's first national coinage and established a system that would last unchanged for over 150 years. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the details of that reform — how the 'Reform Penny' was struck, how it was enforced, how it helped unify a fragile kingdom after the chaos of the Viking age, and why the coins themselves became a tool of royal propaganda. They also trace the career of Edgar, the 'father of the English navy', and the forgotten figure of Dunstan, the archbishop who helped design the coinage. Along the way, they examine surviving pennies, the role of local mints, and the surprising story of the Chester moneyers who nearly ruined it all. #History #FexingoHistory #England #AngloSaxon #EdgarThePeaceable #ReformPenny #Coinage #Numismatics #Medieval #978 #Winchester #Dunstan #MonetaryReform #VikingAge #Mints #Moneyers #Chester #SilverPenny Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    15 分