Alex Harvey
@alexharvv.bsky.social
Best-selling author, artist, archaeologist; I write about the ‘Dark Ages’. Views my own.
New book, LITTLE KINGDOMS, out now!: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Little-Kingdoms-Hardback/p/56542
Published w/ Cambridge Uni, Pen & Sword, Amberley
New book, LITTLE KINGDOMS, out now!: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Little-Kingdoms-Hardback/p/56542
Published w/ Cambridge Uni, Pen & Sword, Amberley
But the guys and gals who lived, loved, and died across all of these little kingdoms never knew they were in that ‘story’, nor did they recognise their homes as roadblocks towards an inevitable conclusion
LITTLE KINGDOMS is not a book about this story. It offers 62 beginnings, rather than an ending
LITTLE KINGDOMS is not a book about this story. It offers 62 beginnings, rather than an ending
November 26, 2025 at 1:28 PM
But the guys and gals who lived, loved, and died across all of these little kingdoms never knew they were in that ‘story’, nor did they recognise their homes as roadblocks towards an inevitable conclusion
LITTLE KINGDOMS is not a book about this story. It offers 62 beginnings, rather than an ending
LITTLE KINGDOMS is not a book about this story. It offers 62 beginnings, rather than an ending
The Lord Of The Rings (1954-55) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Not an ‘academic’ book per say, nor non-fiction, but given its Old English/ Welsh blood I’d like to commemorate re-reading it in my book thread. Certainly, at least, Tolkien’s wordsmithing has been very inspiring for my own ongoing / future works
Not an ‘academic’ book per say, nor non-fiction, but given its Old English/ Welsh blood I’d like to commemorate re-reading it in my book thread. Certainly, at least, Tolkien’s wordsmithing has been very inspiring for my own ongoing / future works
November 25, 2025 at 12:09 PM
The Lord Of The Rings (1954-55) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Not an ‘academic’ book per say, nor non-fiction, but given its Old English/ Welsh blood I’d like to commemorate re-reading it in my book thread. Certainly, at least, Tolkien’s wordsmithing has been very inspiring for my own ongoing / future works
Not an ‘academic’ book per say, nor non-fiction, but given its Old English/ Welsh blood I’d like to commemorate re-reading it in my book thread. Certainly, at least, Tolkien’s wordsmithing has been very inspiring for my own ongoing / future works
…this book is worth including! When I started writing LITTLE KINGDOMS, Harland’s work and his words of wisdom were key guiding points - this is a massive work which moves the discussion away from ‘Britons v Anglo-Saxons’ to something much more nuanced
I hope LITTLE KINGDOMS follows suit!
I hope LITTLE KINGDOMS follows suit!
November 25, 2025 at 8:03 AM
…this book is worth including! When I started writing LITTLE KINGDOMS, Harland’s work and his words of wisdom were key guiding points - this is a massive work which moves the discussion away from ‘Britons v Anglo-Saxons’ to something much more nuanced
I hope LITTLE KINGDOMS follows suit!
I hope LITTLE KINGDOMS follows suit!
Bergen! Bjørgvin! You may postdate the Viking Age, but you have my heart
November 24, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Bergen! Bjørgvin! You may postdate the Viking Age, but you have my heart
The FORGOTTEN VIKINGS keeping good company in Norli, in Bergen, Norway, alongside the great works of Peter Sawyer, @profcarolyne.bsky.social, Neil Price, and Else Roesdahl!
November 24, 2025 at 9:57 AM
The FORGOTTEN VIKINGS keeping good company in Norli, in Bergen, Norway, alongside the great works of Peter Sawyer, @profcarolyne.bsky.social, Neil Price, and Else Roesdahl!
But even outside of Oxfordshire, the muses that Tolkien so admired can be seen clearly in any reading of his work (academic or fictional)
For example, look at Théoden’s speech before the battle in ROTK: it has notes of Beowulf (obviously), Old Norse sagas, and the splintered bones of Y Gododdin
For example, look at Théoden’s speech before the battle in ROTK: it has notes of Beowulf (obviously), Old Norse sagas, and the splintered bones of Y Gododdin
November 24, 2025 at 7:46 AM
But even outside of Oxfordshire, the muses that Tolkien so admired can be seen clearly in any reading of his work (academic or fictional)
For example, look at Théoden’s speech before the battle in ROTK: it has notes of Beowulf (obviously), Old Norse sagas, and the splintered bones of Y Gododdin
For example, look at Théoden’s speech before the battle in ROTK: it has notes of Beowulf (obviously), Old Norse sagas, and the splintered bones of Y Gododdin
One chapter from LITTLE KINGDOMS, on the fictional kingdom of ‘Teyrnllwg’ covers Lancashire and the Greater Manchester area between the 3-8th centuries; a landscape dripping in the beasts and boggarts that so inspired Joseph Delaney
Teyrnllwg was never a kingdom, but to learn more, read on…
Teyrnllwg was never a kingdom, but to learn more, read on…
November 23, 2025 at 11:37 AM
One chapter from LITTLE KINGDOMS, on the fictional kingdom of ‘Teyrnllwg’ covers Lancashire and the Greater Manchester area between the 3-8th centuries; a landscape dripping in the beasts and boggarts that so inspired Joseph Delaney
Teyrnllwg was never a kingdom, but to learn more, read on…
Teyrnllwg was never a kingdom, but to learn more, read on…
This is a really fascinating polity and was one of my favourite chapters to write for LITTLE KINGDOMS; a realm built not on dykes and ditches but keels, dairy cows, and islands!
Thanks again to Russell, and of course all other researchers whose work dips into the Irish Sea and cold Atlantic!
Thanks again to Russell, and of course all other researchers whose work dips into the Irish Sea and cold Atlantic!
November 22, 2025 at 11:57 AM
This is a really fascinating polity and was one of my favourite chapters to write for LITTLE KINGDOMS; a realm built not on dykes and ditches but keels, dairy cows, and islands!
Thanks again to Russell, and of course all other researchers whose work dips into the Irish Sea and cold Atlantic!
Thanks again to Russell, and of course all other researchers whose work dips into the Irish Sea and cold Atlantic!
Good haul from Tromsø
November 21, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Good haul from Tromsø
What, you thought there’d be a kingdom beginning with Q?? If there is, I couldn’t find it, trawling through charters, chronicles, songs, and even theoretical maps and models based on earthworks and toponyms
But questions are the lifeblood of research. Without them, what’s the point?
But questions are the lifeblood of research. Without them, what’s the point?
November 21, 2025 at 12:01 PM
What, you thought there’d be a kingdom beginning with Q?? If there is, I couldn’t find it, trawling through charters, chronicles, songs, and even theoretical maps and models based on earthworks and toponyms
But questions are the lifeblood of research. Without them, what’s the point?
But questions are the lifeblood of research. Without them, what’s the point?
There’s so much we don’t know about Pengwern
According to Gerald of Wales, it was the ‘capital’ of another larger kingdom, Powys, but otherwise appears as an independent - though small - old Welsh territory
Whatever the case, Pengwern burned, and its ashes and embers are all that remain
According to Gerald of Wales, it was the ‘capital’ of another larger kingdom, Powys, but otherwise appears as an independent - though small - old Welsh territory
Whatever the case, Pengwern burned, and its ashes and embers are all that remain
November 20, 2025 at 10:06 AM
There’s so much we don’t know about Pengwern
According to Gerald of Wales, it was the ‘capital’ of another larger kingdom, Powys, but otherwise appears as an independent - though small - old Welsh territory
Whatever the case, Pengwern burned, and its ashes and embers are all that remain
According to Gerald of Wales, it was the ‘capital’ of another larger kingdom, Powys, but otherwise appears as an independent - though small - old Welsh territory
Whatever the case, Pengwern burned, and its ashes and embers are all that remain
Deepest north!
The furthest my wife and I are travelling on our trip to Norway was to Skjervøy (ON: ‘skerry island’) and then out via dinghy towards Spildra and into the Jokelfjorden
Near 10-12th c. arctic barrows, chasing orca and a mother/calf northern fin whale duo
The furthest my wife and I are travelling on our trip to Norway was to Skjervøy (ON: ‘skerry island’) and then out via dinghy towards Spildra and into the Jokelfjorden
Near 10-12th c. arctic barrows, chasing orca and a mother/calf northern fin whale duo
November 19, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Deepest north!
The furthest my wife and I are travelling on our trip to Norway was to Skjervøy (ON: ‘skerry island’) and then out via dinghy towards Spildra and into the Jokelfjorden
Near 10-12th c. arctic barrows, chasing orca and a mother/calf northern fin whale duo
The furthest my wife and I are travelling on our trip to Norway was to Skjervøy (ON: ‘skerry island’) and then out via dinghy towards Spildra and into the Jokelfjorden
Near 10-12th c. arctic barrows, chasing orca and a mother/calf northern fin whale duo
No modern place names satisfyingly correlate their placements, so cartographers of the early medieval world are at a loss!
Do these names reflect anything real? Truly lost kingdoms? Or, as suggested in 1947, are they merely misspellings of other even more unknowable realms, copied through time
Do these names reflect anything real? Truly lost kingdoms? Or, as suggested in 1947, are they merely misspellings of other even more unknowable realms, copied through time
November 19, 2025 at 4:09 PM
No modern place names satisfyingly correlate their placements, so cartographers of the early medieval world are at a loss!
Do these names reflect anything real? Truly lost kingdoms? Or, as suggested in 1947, are they merely misspellings of other even more unknowable realms, copied through time
Do these names reflect anything real? Truly lost kingdoms? Or, as suggested in 1947, are they merely misspellings of other even more unknowable realms, copied through time
Deeper north; Sapme
November 18, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Deeper north; Sapme
I didn’t want to tell the story of the unification / formation of England, Wales, and Scotland, so on my book, LITTLE KINGDOMS, there’s none of this predestined narrative of the birth of an ‘Anglo-Saxon’ country
Just lots of little stories, groups, kin, and kings, tied together by wood, wold, water
Just lots of little stories, groups, kin, and kings, tied together by wood, wold, water
November 18, 2025 at 1:23 PM
I didn’t want to tell the story of the unification / formation of England, Wales, and Scotland, so on my book, LITTLE KINGDOMS, there’s none of this predestined narrative of the birth of an ‘Anglo-Saxon’ country
Just lots of little stories, groups, kin, and kings, tied together by wood, wold, water
Just lots of little stories, groups, kin, and kings, tied together by wood, wold, water
Ever-northwards; Finnsnes
In Old Norse (‘Saami peninsula’), and part of Sapme, their land
In Old Norse (‘Saami peninsula’), and part of Sapme, their land
November 18, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Ever-northwards; Finnsnes
In Old Norse (‘Saami peninsula’), and part of Sapme, their land
In Old Norse (‘Saami peninsula’), and part of Sapme, their land
Also, what might be an early literary reference to the modern slang: ‘we’re cooked’!
November 18, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Also, what might be an early literary reference to the modern slang: ‘we’re cooked’!
Another nice LOTR + Little Kingdoms bit of synergy;
In Ch.6 of The Two Towers, the song of the Eorlingas is recited, of course referencing the Old English Wanderer poem. I too recite this in my chapter on the Færpingas, a regio from Tolkien’s home in north Oxfordshire
In Ch.6 of The Two Towers, the song of the Eorlingas is recited, of course referencing the Old English Wanderer poem. I too recite this in my chapter on the Færpingas, a regio from Tolkien’s home in north Oxfordshire
November 18, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Another nice LOTR + Little Kingdoms bit of synergy;
In Ch.6 of The Two Towers, the song of the Eorlingas is recited, of course referencing the Old English Wanderer poem. I too recite this in my chapter on the Færpingas, a regio from Tolkien’s home in north Oxfordshire
In Ch.6 of The Two Towers, the song of the Eorlingas is recited, of course referencing the Old English Wanderer poem. I too recite this in my chapter on the Færpingas, a regio from Tolkien’s home in north Oxfordshire
Cheeky lecture aboard the cruise ship seeing as we’re en route to Borg!
November 17, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Cheeky lecture aboard the cruise ship seeing as we’re en route to Borg!
A late Iron Age monolith in Bodø, Nordland, Norway. Currently this is erected outside the local museum but it was discovered beneath where the airport now sits!
November 17, 2025 at 2:00 PM
A late Iron Age monolith in Bodø, Nordland, Norway. Currently this is erected outside the local museum but it was discovered beneath where the airport now sits!
Mercia, big or small, was a realm based in the Midlands most famous for kings Æthelbald and Offa (and, of course, his dyke, which is the subject of my chapter on the Magonsæte/Wreocensæte)
But it was not landlocked! And was intimately connected to trade east and west; a mighty hegemony in the 8th c
But it was not landlocked! And was intimately connected to trade east and west; a mighty hegemony in the 8th c
November 17, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Mercia, big or small, was a realm based in the Midlands most famous for kings Æthelbald and Offa (and, of course, his dyke, which is the subject of my chapter on the Magonsæte/Wreocensæte)
But it was not landlocked! And was intimately connected to trade east and west; a mighty hegemony in the 8th c
But it was not landlocked! And was intimately connected to trade east and west; a mighty hegemony in the 8th c
Now towards Bodø, formerly known as Bodøgård in reference to the small farm excavated there from the Viking Age
November 17, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Now towards Bodø, formerly known as Bodøgård in reference to the small farm excavated there from the Viking Age
To Ørnes (ON: ‘[sea] eagle’s headland/peninsula’), and beyond!
November 17, 2025 at 8:35 AM
To Ørnes (ON: ‘[sea] eagle’s headland/peninsula’), and beyond!