Hey everyone, welcome to the show. Great to be
diving in again. So imagine this kingdom, right?
Hugely influential, basically helps birth England
as we know it. And yet, it's actual story. It's
like whispers, you know? Almost like a phantom
limb of history. That's a great way to put it.
Today we are definitely plunging into that shadow
world, the world of Mercia. Yeah, we're doing
a deep dive into Max Adams, the... The birth
of the Anglo -Saxons. We're trying to piece together
this really fascinating story. Fascinating. And
sometimes, let's be honest, pretty frustratingly
incomplete. Totally. It's history, obviously,
but it feels almost like detective work, doesn't
it? Trying to reconstruct this Midland powerhouse.
It really does. Adams took on a huge task here,
trying to, you know, illuminate Mercia because
its impact, well, it's undeniable. Right. But
getting a continuous narrative like you get for
Wessex down south or maybe Northumbria up north,
it's just elusive for Mercia. And I think that's
what really grabbed me about the book, actually.
The sheer, like... Ingenuity needed to bring
Mercia out of the shadows because Adams doesn't
have that easy year by year chronicle to just
follow along. No straightforward account at all.
Instead, he's like masterfully weaving together
all these different threads. You've got land
charters, mentions and beads, even though beads
clearly got his Northumbrian bias. Absolutely.
You always have to read bead with that in mind.
And then there's the archaeology, the actual
digs. It feels like trying to understand, I don't
know. A lost city from just a few scattered pot
shirts. And what's so interesting is how those
individual pieces, when you start putting them
side by side, they actually begin to show a really
complex picture. Yeah. Mercia wasn't like one
single thing. It was this collection of really
distinct peoples. You know, the Rio Sensetna,
the Washia. Middle angles. Middle angles, right.
Each with their own sort of identities, their
own histories, now all brought under this Mersian
banner. It really underscores how early. england
wasn't just you know england yet it was much
more of a patchwork a mosaic yeah different cultures
different loyalties all shifting around definitely
and the book gives these amazing little glimpses
these snapshots into the lives of people you
just never hear about like who well Through things
like the witness lists on old charters, basically,
you know, old property records. You see the names
of noble women popping up or local priests and
bishops, regional leaders. It's like getting
a roll call for the supporting cast. That's fantastic.
It really fleshes out the society beyond just
the big names, the kings and the battles everyone
focuses on. Exactly. It gives a much richer feel
for how things actually worked on the ground.
And those charters, they are just invaluable,
aren't they? They give you details. The big narrative
histories often just gloss over. Like land ownership.
Land ownership. Yeah. Trade networks, maybe.
You see hints of commerce, things like salt,
iron. Oh, yeah. And just the complex social structures
within Mercia itself. The fact that so many of
these documents actually survived for Mercia,
well, it kind of speaks volumes about how sophisticated
their administration must have been even back
then. That's a real. That's a really good point.
Okay, so let's maybe unpack a couple of things
we found. Well, maybe challenging, but in a good
way. Mm -hmm. Go on. Adams does an amazing job,
no question. But just because of the nature of
immersion history, there are these huge gaps,
right? Oh, definitely. Blank spaces on the map.
Yeah. And we were left with just so many questions,
like what really happened during certain... King's
reigns. How did their politics actually evolve?
You just hit the nail on the head there. It's
understandable given the sources he does have.
Of course. But it absolutely leaves you wanting
more answers. It's the frustration of the. historians
sometimes. And that leads to another point, doesn't
it? About how we actually reconstruct the past.
Yeah, how we have to work. Because Mercia doesn't
have its own big story like the Anglo -Saxon
Chronicle for Wessex. Right, no Mercian Chronicle.
We often have to figure out its history by looking
at how it interacts with the other kingdoms,
reading between the lines of their stories. So
it's like understanding Mercia by what its neighbors
were doing or by the space it occupied in their
records. Exactly. It's a history sometimes defined
by, you know, its absence in other people's stories.
And that inevitably gives you a less complete
picture of its own internal stuff, its own long
term goals. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. And
OK, the other thing and Adams really does try
hard to make it accessible. He does. But there
are moments where the sheer density of the information,
especially when he's like interpreting these
really fragmented bits of evidence. It can feel
a little bit academic, a bit heavy going. Yeah,
maybe a bit overwhelming. You really have to
kind of lean in and focus to get all the nuances
he's pulling out. Well, that's just the reality
of working with this kind of material, isn't
it? You're dealing with, you know, dry legal
documents sometimes or these tiny mentions in
someone else's history. They need really careful
interpretation. You need to understand the context,
the language. It's not always a simple, straightforward
story you can just tell. No, definitely not.
So, OK, summing up then. Having gone through
the birth of the Anglo -Saxons, wrestled with
this enigmatic Mersin legacy, where do we land
on a rating? It's tough because the source limitations
are real. But what he achieves despite that.
Yeah, I'm thinking. A strong four out of five
stars. I think that's fair. Yeah, I'd agree with
that. Four stars. It's such a vital book. Really
insightful for understanding this absolutely
pivotal period. Even if, you know, the historical
record means some of Mercia's secrets are going
to stay locked away. Probably forever. Agreed.
Adams really has done a remarkable job bringing
Mercia into much sharper focus than it often
gets. Highlighting its crucial role in, well...
The making of England. And acknowledging the
challenges too. He doesn't pretend it's easy.
No, he's upfront about the difficulties. Absolutely.
Okay. So if this glimpse into the hidden power
of Mercia has got you thinking. Hopefully it
has. Then definitely hit that like button and
please subscribe for more deep dives. Yep. Helps
us out a lot. We've also put a link to the birth
of the Anglo -Saxons on Amazon down in the description
if you want to grab a copy and explore it yourself.
And thanks so much for joining us for this discussion.
We hope it sparked a bit of curiosity about this
really fascinating kingdom. We genuinely love
to hear what stood out most to you. Was there
like a little nugget of info or something surprising
you learned about Mercia today? Yeah, drop it
in the comments below. Let's get a conversation
going about this super influential, but yeah,
often overlooked kingdom. And please do share
this with anyone you think might be into early
English history or just hidden histories in general.
Yeah, the more we talk about these less famous
bits of the past, the richer our whole picture
becomes, right? Absolutely. Okay, final thought
to leave you with. Just consider this. In a world
where... You know, the loudest voices often write
the history books. The winners write history,
as they say. Right. How many other powerful forces,
other kingdoms, other groups throughout time
might have massively shaped our world? But remain
largely unseen. Exactly. Unseen in the main record,
their influence only detectable in these faint
echoes, these scattered clues we have to piece
together. Are there other mercies out there just
waiting for us to rediscover their stories? Something
to think about.