Lost Realms: Histories of Britain from the Romans to the Vikings

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We really get an impression of the weirdness for the people of the time, living through the collapse of Roman civilisation, abandonment, cities falling into ruin, roaming gangs, the rise and fall of warlords, and then the period when the country was full of remains of a magnificent past, monuments so sophisticated they must have been left by wizards or giants. Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. However, apparently it makes him queasy because of the 'Horny Relish' which which Geoffrey of Monmouth described the conception of King Arthur. Thomas Williams, to his credit, takes great care to make clear when he is making conjecture from the sources he used and so there are a lot of possiblys and probablys throughout. Some – like Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and Gwynedd – have come to dominate understandings of the centuries that followed the collapse of Roman rule.

As such, a lot of the book is based on supposition, although he fully gets to grips with archaeological and literary sources from the era while admitting their shortcomings. Ultimately I would have preferred some more stranger than fiction tales of characters, deeds and events - but that is not what this book is trying to do, so can't fault it.In Lost Realms, Thomas Williams, bestselling author of Viking Britain, uncovers the forgotten origins and untimely demise of nine kingdoms that hover in the twilight between history and fable, whose stories hum with saints and gods and miracles, with giants and battles and the ruin of cities. Publication dates are subject to change (although this is an extremely uncommon occurrence overall).

A well written and cleverly structured look at the history of the British Isles during what is often referred to as the Dark Ages; the book focuses on nine of the smaller kingdoms present within that time frame, charting their individual histories from origin to demise. He also has an irritating habit of insultingly dismissing anything he disagrees with as imaginative nonsense, while resorting to sweeping generalisations and unsupported assertions to support the historical narrative he prefers. Wasting nine pages of the chapter on Dumnonia on a summary of Geoffrey of Monmoth's utterly non historical story is as baffling as the author's desire to tell the reader that the story of Arthur's conception makes him 'queasy'.The bigger kingdoms like the Wessex of Alfred the Great and the Mercia of Offa have tried to dominate parts of Great Britain and present their stories as truth.

Overall a tougher read than expected, perhaps because of the poetry within the book sometimes confusing the chronology. In Lost Realms Thomas Williams uncovers the forgotten origins and untimely demise of Britain’s ancient kingdoms: lands that hover in the twilight between history and fable, whose stories hum with gods and miracles, with giants and battles and ruin.Archaeological and source material driven, Williams constructs what he can with the evidence available and his vivid interpretations make you think. However lots of the information was based on lore and snippets of evidence, so there was a lot of ‘maybe’ and possibly’. Just place names that once referred to Elmet and other place names that refer to a British church in Old English (Eccles).