Early English Monarchs (Dark Ages)

I have recently discovered Channel 4's 'On Demand' service, available online. As well as catching up on the last 30 days of tv, there's hundreds of classic shows available to watch for free. I watched Season One, Episode One of 'Monarchy' by David Starkey. I thought it was really good, and will be watching the next one tonight.

Episode One was about the dark ages, and the history of 'kingship'. Before the coming of the Romans to Britain, there were many different kingdoms and each leader or warlord ruled with the consent of his people - otherwise they'd depose him. Then came the Romans and they brought with them the concept of absolute rulership, reinforced by strict laws and Christian faith. When the Roman Empire was failing, Britain was invaded by hordes of Anglo-Saxons from Germany. About 200,000 in all came over, when the native population was around 2 million. According to Bede, one of Britain's earliest historians, a large proportion of the native population was displaced or killed. The Anglo-Saxons effectively took over, bringing with them a new language, customs and a new national identity. For the next few hundred years there were many Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Wessex and Mercia being two of the most important. Somewhere around 800AD, Britain was again invaded, this time by Vikings. All the Anglo Saxon kingdoms fell, except Wessex, ruled by Alfred (the Great). He fought back and eventually expanded his kingdom over much of Southern England including London. He named his son as his heir, and his grandson, Edgar became the first to rule over all of Britain (celebrated by an elaborate coronation at Bath where he was the first king to be 'crowned'.

That was the bare bones of the first episode, which was a joy to watch and awakened my interest in this early period of English history.