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

by Thomas Williams

From the bestselling author of Viking Britain, a new epic history of our forgotten past.As Tolkien knew, Britain in the ‘Dark Ages’ was an untidy mosaic of kingdoms. Some – like Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and Gwynedd – have come to dominate understandings of the centuries that followed the collapse of Roman rule. Others, however, have been left to languish in a half-light¸ forgotten kingdoms who followed unique trajectories before they flamed out or faded away. But they too have stories to be of saints and gods and miracles, of giants and battles and the ruin of cities. This is a book about those lands and peoples who fell by the the lost realms of early medieval Britain.In Lost Realms, Thomas Williams, bestselling author of Viking Britain, focuses on nine kingdoms representing every corner of the island of Britain. From the Scottish Highlands to the Cornish coastline, from the Welsh borders to the Thames Estuary, this book uncovers the forgotten life and untimely demise of realms that hover in the twilight between history and fable.ELMET. HWICCE. LINDSEY. DUMNONIA. ESSEX. RHEGED. POWYS. SUSSEX. FORTRIU. The grave-fields and barrow-mounds of these shadowed lands give up the bodies of farmers, warlords and queens, a scattering of their names preserved on weathered stone and brittle parchment. Their halls remain as ghost-marks in the earth, their hill-forts clinging to rocky outcrops. This is the world of Arthur and Urien, of Picts and Britons and Saxon migrations, of magic and war, myth and miracle.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, Archaeology, Ancient History, Medieval History, British Literature

416 pages, Paperback

First published August 8, 2022

About the author

Thomas Williams is a historian of the early Middle Ages and a former curator at the British Museum’s Department of Coins and Medals (2017-2018). He worked as project curator for the major international exhibition Vikings: Life and Legend (British Museum 2014) and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
In 2016 Thomas was awarded his PhD by UCL’s Institute of Archaeology. His thesis, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, investigated the relationship between landscape and warfare in early medieval Britain (c.450 – 1016). Prior to this he gained an MA with Distinction in Cultural Heritage Studies (UCL) with a prize-winning dissertation that explored the role of fantasy and medievalism in the modern interpretation of cultural heritage sites in Britain and Germany.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This is Thomas^^Williams. (2 spaces)

Reviews

[K.J. Charles]

A terrific attempt at a history of some of the kingdoms that rose and fell in Britain between the Romans and the Vikings. I say attempt because the whole point is the incredible paucity of evidence: a lot of kings and some kingdoms may not have existed at all.

It's written with a sceptical and historical eye so there's a lot of 'perhaps' in here, which is better than false certainty. They style is great too, very lively, with a couple of exceptionally good jokes including one that had me swearing and posting on Bluesky.

What I really liked, though, was how he deals with the feel of it all. 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. Bleakness, fear and yearning sweep the pages in true Old English poetic style, with clever, subtle use of alliteration and the sort of phrasing those poems might use. In particuular there's a spectacular passage where he writes about the demolition of a 1970s university building where he used to drink in 'gone are the halls of merriment' type terms, which really brought the feeling into focus.

Thoroughly interesting, well written stuff. I am side eyeing the Venerable Bede a lot now.

[emnello · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much information from this time period has been lost. There are so many times we have to say “maybe” or “perhaps” but that doesn’t make anything in this book less compelling. If anything, it makes it even more interesting.

This book focuses on the “Lost realms” of Britain, those that we know less of, smaller kingdoms that came and went alongside more well-known places that tend to hog the limelight due to the fact we know way more about them and that they were larger and longer established (think the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex). My personal favourite to read about was Elmed, located in what is now West and South Yorkshire, because I’m familiar with the area! The chapter on the Picts was also well done.

This book is great if you have an interest in this subject. It supposes an understanding of post-Roman Empire Britain and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the reader. If you have that, then read away!

[Jordy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but also a tougher read than I expected.

The author does an excellent job of reviewing the evidence that we still have of a time long gone, telling the story of people's who barely left any trace is quite difficult. 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. Williams tries to look beyond those known stories by comparing archeological, historical and linguistic sources.

The book lacks a conclusion at the end. Sometimes it felt like the author wrote not one book but several seperate stories and put them together for a book. It's a shame, since the author does draw parallels between developments in different geographical areas.

Overall a tougher read than expected, perhaps because of the poetry within the book sometimes confusing the chronology. Though the author is a critic of Bede and Gildas as well, making me look at those authors differently and reading all the notes because of it which took some time.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly I’m going through a Dark/Middle Ages non-fiction phase. Shout out to Dumnonia, gone but never forgotten 🥲

[Rowdy Geirsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a really enjoyable overview of a selection of the small kingdoms that emerged in Britain during the Dark Ages. Their quirks and fates are fascinating and Williams generally does a very good job of relating their stories in an engaging manner (though there are moments where the narrative feels like it gets bogged down a bit in the weeds of such-and-such stone engraving or this-here monk doesn’t agree with that-there monk, which is fair enough but deviates from the funner passages such as when he ties the narrative into Tolkien or Monty Python).

There is also a political element to the book which I’ve seen commented on but not really discussed (I could have missed such discussion). But the issue basically revolves around the whether the terminology of ”Anglo-Saxon” and everything that accompanies it is racist. I’m less familiar with Anglo-Saxon research than Norse/Scandinavian but I remember when social media blew up a few years ago with accusations and hostility regarding the topic (and wasn’t cued in enough to really get what was going on myself). Williams provides a thorough overview of the controversy, presents both sides, declares the one he agrees with, and proceeds with his book accordingly. Depending where you fall on that divide, you’ll either agree or disagree with his approach and that may affect your overall assessment of the book (I imagine most folks will fall either into a ”Finally! A much needed corrective!” or a ”Here we go with all that woke nonsense yet again” camp) but I think that aside from his commentary on the matter (which occurs primarily as an appendix), this is a book that can be enjoyed be anyone interested in the subject material regardless of all that.

[Alex Rankine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy to dip in and out of, as seen in my 1 month+ read time. Super intelligent analysis of an age and area that is by nature difficult to analyse. Would probably be even better appreciated by a reader with a working understanding of british geography but alas this has always eluded me

[LJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF
As soon as the author stated that this wasn't going to be like his other book Viking Britain I knew I was going to be disappointed.
I loved the wonderfully vivid descriptions in his other book, making you feel as if you were there. But this book was dry and convoluted. Chapters could go by with so many subject matters dashed into it that I had no idea what I had just read. Disappointing

[Andrew Brand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a lot of non fiction books there were a few patches were I found myself having to reference back to previous sections for not recognising a name, but that said this book is fantastic. really informative, funny at times and dramatic at others.

I've seen other reviews which are less sure on the mix of tones but personally I really enjoyed the style that Thomas Williams writes with.

[Rosamund · Rating 4 out of 5]

RSurprisingly rich and satisfying despite the limited source material. And an engaging style. I was fascinated.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this extraordinary book, we explore the "little kingdoms" of post-Roman Britain, the ones between the rising powers of Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex, which largely don't appear in historical atlases.

The problem here is that the documentary evidence is slight and unreliable and archaeology is ambiguous, so Dr Williams shows us a puzzle box of pieces that sometimes don't quite fit together. Nothing is certain and little can be said that's even probable. What we can see, though, reveals a fascinating world, much more complex than the traditional account of the Anglo-Saxon invasion.

Things seem to have moved on since the austere conservatism of the 1980s and 90s, with an acceptance that even very uncertain histories can be interesting. Even Arthur makes a brief appearance.

The writing style clearly doesn't appeal to everyone, veering as it does from the very informal (powerful dude), which probably appeals to undergraduates, to the poetic, but it brings the era to life. Williams is clearly a Tolkien fan, and there is something Tolkienic about this world, with its warlords and wizards. And if occasionally, there is a slightly romantic phrase - torchlight shimmering on bronze - is that such a bad thing?

[Caomhghain · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, and fun, work of historiography. Williams takes those places or polities that are edged over or around in general histories - places like Elmet, Sussex or Hwicce and teases out everything that can be known about them plus what assumptions are possible. He is assiduous about filling in background details (such as the Easter Controversy which is vital when it comes to assessing Bede's coverage of some events). Often he can say little more than we don't know a lot but his presentation of the topography, local politics, cultural developments and the understanding of archaeological discoveries could not be bettered.
The levity of his style is occasionally grating but a very small price to pay for a work of such excellence.

[Sarah England · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. I must be getting old as starting to enjoy non-fiction books. The subject matter is a point of fascination for me, though, and I liked the way he doesn't try and force a theory but lays them all out before you. Also has a really engaging writing style which is great for something which could be dry and turgid in other hands. Would definitely recommend, and I would like to read more of his stuff.

[Henry Gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is something of a heroic failure. I suspect that the author would concur, for that, in essence, is what it is meant to be. If it weren’t hard enough trying to unearth something about the lost history of Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries — perhaps the darkest and least documented period in the history of these islands — the author homes in on those parts of that history that are more obscure still. It is likely that many petty polities rose and fell between the departure of the Roman legions in about 410 and the arrival of Augustine in 597, but evidence for most of them has been irrecoverably lost. Given that the earliest history of what Williams calls ‘the Big Beasts’ of Northumbria, Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia is hidden in the mists of myth and legend, recovering the stories of the lesser realms of Elmet, Hwicce, Dumnonia, Essex, Rheged, Powys, Sussex and Fortriu would seem like a fool’s errand. The existence as independent entities of some, (Sussex and Essex, for example, along with Lindsey, in north Lincolnshire; and Hwicce, in what is now Gloucestershire and Worcestershire) is attested only after they became subject to the domination of larger neighbours. Powys has achieved a spurious legitimacy through the creation of a ceremonial county whose borders may bear little relationship to the ancient kingdom that existed (possibly) in the valley of the River Dee. Evidence for Elmet (in modern West Yorkshire) is a gossamer-wisp away from oblivion, while Rheged (Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway) might not have actually existed at all. And so on. There are, however, some very revealing details. Such as, for example, the existence of people living in Roman luxury at Tintagel (in Dumnonia), long after the fall of the western Empire, possibly benefiting from the resurgence of the Empire and the re-opening of the Mediterranean and Atlantic trade under Justinian. Yet, hardly a stone’s throw away, in Hwicce, perhaps one of the most Romanised parts of Britain, towns were deserted in short order after the legions left, in favour of hilltop forts — perhaps the last holdouts of a population, desperate and fragmented, trying to hold on to what they had lost, an aim as futile as it was poignant. The author’s style veers from passages of a shade of purple that tends to the ultraviolet, to humour that draws on references that might baffle some people today, let alone in the fifth century. Modern Cirencester, for example

remains genteel, well-to-do and liberal, in a Waitrose, National Trust, Radio 4 sort of way.

…to the names of native British warlords, which sound less like personal names than crude boasts:

It has also been suggested that ‘Vortigern’ was a title and not a name at all … when set aside other Brittonic names like Brigomaglos (‘mighty prince’) and Maglocunus (‘top dog’), Vortigern seems hardly out of place. (Even Biggus Dickus might feel at home in this sort of company).

No, you look it up. And on the bullying nature of some early English kings:

The so-called Mercian Supremacy was really an exercise in early medieval gangsterism, and the Mercian king was an Offa you couldn’t refuse.

Ba-boom, and, moreover, tish. So what is the point of it all? The book, I think, invites us to look critically — very critically — at the history we are taught about the foundation of our nation, to show that almost all of it is myth created retrospectively to justify present circumstances, and even the bits everyone thinks are true hardly stand up to much scrutiny. Williams closes with a discourse on how some historians are disowning the term ‘Anglo-Saxon’ as it has, in some places, acquired connotations of racism, even white supremacy. Such notions rest on outmoded ideas of race, nation and identity, in which it was assumed that (for example) an early medieval body buried in lowland Britain with jewellery similar to that found in northern Germany or Scandinavia must have been that of a Germanic invader, rather than — say — a person of British ancestry who just happened to like that kind of bling. After all, the fact that the streets of Britain now thrum to the engines of Japanese cars doesn’t mean that Britain has been invaded by Japan. When presented with such evidence, it is hard, therefore, not to project on to such mute remains the prejudices we hold today, when what we should be asking is how the people who lived in those remote ages saw themselves. This is hard enough to do now, even of ourselves. As David Berreby shows in his masterpiece Us and Them: Understanding our Tribal Mind, we can change our identities as often as we change our socks, and yet convince ourselves that the persona we wear today has been true for all time. So who can tell what a person who lived in fifth century Britain — a time of dramatic but ill-documented change — thought of themselves? That is something that we can never know. Oh, and one last thing. Whoever Thomas Williams imagines himself to be, he loves Tolkien. So that gets an extra star from me.

[Carlton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alternatively annoying and enchanting; writing which is suggestive and evocative rather than getting too involved with making the few facts fit a coherent narrative.
With so few facts to make generalisations, the author appears happy to meander off-topic, for example to discuss differences between the calculation of the date of Easter between Roman and British Christians. They can be interesting facts, but probably read many times already by readers about this period.

After a stirring Prologue which sets the tone of the book, coming across as sceptical of recent revisionism and also somewhat romantic about the period, Williams sets out in an introductory chapter his process of choosing nine “little kingdoms”, lost realms, from the time in Britain between the withdrawal of the Roman Empire in about 410 until the Viking invasions that are the subject of an earlier book by Williams. In particular, Williams chooses not to write about the kingdoms of the larger four kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon “heptarchy” (so no Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia), nothing directly on the largest Welsh kingdom, Gwynedd, and nothing about the Scottish kingdom of Alt Clut, which has been written about by Norman Davies in Vanished Kingdoms (2010).
We therefore get chapters on:
• Elmet (West Yorkshire) - just a couple of mentions together with warlords or princes in records written decades or centuries after the kingdom ceased to exist. Just place names that once referred to Elmet and other place names that refer to a British church in Old English (Eccles). (There is irrelevant reference to poetry by Ted Hughes set in the general area, but in the eighteenth century).
• Hwicce (Gloucestershire and Worcestershire)
• Lindsey (North Lincolnshire)
• Dumnonia (Devon and Cornwall) - long term trade links to Rome and Byzantium probably continued after withdrawal of Roman Empire, especially at Tintagel where significant archaeological artefacts have been found
• Essex (Essex and Middlesex) - East Saxon kings claimed descent from Seaxnot, rather than claiming Woden as most other Saxon kings. Description of the excavations at Mucking of a hamlet over the period from about 400-700
• Rheged (Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway)
• Powys (Montgomeryshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Cheshire, Shropshire)
• Sussex (East Sussex, West Sussex)
• Fortriu (Nairnshire, Moray, Banffshire, Aberdeenshire)

I read until I was part way through the chapter on Essex before deciding that I really wasn’t enjoying the book sufficiently, and this wasn’t compensated by the learning. I would recommend The First Kingdom: Britain in the age of Arthur by Max Adams instead.

Some curious choice of language used at times too, for example kipple, a colloquial word introduced in Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

[Liam Guilar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Four stars for the approach, a lot less for the style.

The approach is attractive. Rather than trying to create a single narrative for the period between the 5th century and the 7th, Williams looks at individual 'kingdoms', revealing how change occurred experiences across the country.
The problem is the lack of evidence, and the limitations of what evidence there is. You can write a history of the Kingdom of Rheged, or you can point out that the evidence is all later and dubious and Rheged may never have existed.

Two stars because the style calls attention to itself and constantly moves away from any kind of precision. I really don't care about the author's memories of Camber Sands or watching the weather in the Cotswolds. Adding nothing to the information, they sound like they've been shoe horned in from an over written memoire written by someone with literary aspirations. The same might be said for the frequent over written passages that attempt to evoke the fading kingdoms. The first time one of these occur it's very effective. After that variations on mist, shadows and fading add nothing to the narratives. These attempts at style sit oddly against the slang of Augustine failing to 'shift his arse' or the random appearance of 'shit stained peasants'.

Some of it just cringe worthy. 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'. However, apparently it makes him queasy because of the 'Horny Relish' which which Geoffrey of Monmouth described the conception of King Arthur. If you have a copy of Geoffrey you should reread what he wrote. You should also read his description of the earlier meeting between Vortigern and Rowena.

The over all effect, and 'horny relish' is a good example, is of a style that sounds like the worse kind of tv history sacrificing accuracy for sound bites. If there is no point in describing something I haven't seen by comparing it to a book or film I haven't read, then comparing historical incidents and characters to fictional characters, places and events even when I do know them (he's fond of the film 'The Wicker man'), just blurs everything.

'A sort of holy artillery deployed in the face of the Northumbrian war machine' describes a famous incident when the monks prayed before a battle. Calling a seventh century army a war machine is to confuse a mob of indisciplined armed men with images of the mechanised industrial armies of the twentieth century.

Maybe the book is trying to do too many things other than simply tell the history of the small kingdoms that flourished in the years following the fifth century? Perhaps I was expecting a history book and this a new hybrid historical genre where history and autobiography are mashed together and knowing Star Wars and Tolkein is more important than reading Geoffrey or Gildas.

[Darren Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of recent work to brighten the Dark Ages, to show it as less of an era of lawlessness and chaos, and instead as a continuation of the Western Roman legacy. There are a lot of sources available for this too, but they all stop at the English Channel.
For in the isle of Albion, the Dark Ages rule. From the 400’s to almost the 800’s, Britain was a land of chaos. As the Roman world receded, taking the culture, luxury, and security of Empire with it, Saxon, Angle, and Jute settlers arrived, throwing the land into a struggle between the original Britons, the Romanised inhabitants, and these new settlers. Kingdoms rose and fell, merged and fragmented, and the history of this foggy isle became as difficult to grasp as the mists that rolled across it.
In Lost Realms, Thomas Williams explores these ancient kingdoms, piecing together fragments of history from writings, poetry, mythology, and occasionally archaeological records. Picking several lost realms, he shows how difficult it is to find them, but also how tantalising it is to pull them together from histories, poems, legends, and more.
Some, like Essex, and Sussex we still know of in our current geography, but others like Elmet, or Rheged are lost to time.

Just like the subject matter, it’s a book that grasps at air sometimes, losing itself in places and names that live in fragments of stories. At other times places spring to life, we walk the streets of collapsed Roman cities, watching nature reclaim the land, we see the Saxon warlords push us back as we retreat to the Iron Age forts that protected us before the Roman invasion.

It’s not the easiest read, but Williams manages expectations, and while at times you’re bouncing between Google maps and the pages, it’s worth the effort to uncover an island under siege, as the Britons are pushed back to make room for the Anglo Saxon dynasties that would rule to the 11th Century.

Legends rise and fall, consumed by moss, forest, and time, and that’s very British. As I look out over the valley’s near my home, watching the sun struggle to cut through the dense fog, I see hedges and trees morph in the morning light into whispers of Urion, of Sigeberht, of Eliseg, and even Arthur riding through the mists like spectres from the past.

[Paul Bedwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am finding this an amazing book. Bringing together fact and speculation about an era of history largely unknown to many. As Mr Williams points out archaeology has developed techniques recently that have enabled us to explore further and deeper than before. Ground radar in particular has led to some exciting discoveries. Interwoven into this scientific work are the poems and myths of the past. Some shed light on historical fact and others lead to intriguing possibilities. For example Tintagel Castle in North Cornwall was possibly a thriving and powerful ' kingdom ' in its own right, a community with a high culture and trading links as far as Europe and beyond. Set against this are examples of the brutal and unstable politics of life in Britain at this time, where to enjoy peace often meant living behind heavily built walls.
Beyond this too the book is an informative study of human nature. There are examples of powerful and long forgotten Kings who realised at the end of their battling and struggling to maintain their Kingdoms that the most appealing idea was to build a monastery and live in it!
I found all this very interesting and filled the gap well between the end of the Roman era and the arrival of the Vikings.
On the downside I found some of the book was deeply academic. This is fine some of the time and I was keen to learn but there is quite a lot, particularly towards the end of the book. I liked the poems and references to them and would have enjoyed more in this vain. Still a wonderful book.

[Kizzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

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. This is absolutely not a bad thing in any way but it bears acknowledging since you are not coming away with a definitive history of Elmet, Hwicce, Lindsey, Dumnonia, Essex, Rheged, Powys, Sussex and Fortriu. Instead you are being given a plausible story for each of them given the information available through archeological finds and the texts we have (Bede being the ever present star of that show).

This is a part of history I am very interested in, and so have at least a passing familiarity with much of what was discussed, yet I at no point felt like I was retreading old ground. It was well researched, well balanced, very accessible and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing, even if I did occasionally mix up some of the people with the more similar sounding names in my head.

I listened to this book via Audible and found Matt Addison's narration to be excellent.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times, this history of the less well known British kingdoms of 'the dark ages' is a tough read due to the focus on archaeological minutiae, yet Thomas Williams' writing style is so informative, witty and irreverent that the denser sections can be forgiven.
He manages to demonstrate attitudinal links between then and now in a memorable passage regarding authoritarian rule which he says "...depends on stoking a fear of others. Building walls is an easy way to divide insiders from outsiders...Wall-builders transform erstwhile neighbours into existential threats...and transforms himself into a bulwark against impending doom. Seen as a protector and a saviour, he develops a powerful grip on...his people.... Whether the threat is entirely invented...is... beside the point." Sounds familiar?
One of the best and most thought -provoking sections of the book is the post-script, "A Note on terminology" in which he analyses the arguments for and against using the term 'Anglo-Saxon' as well as wittily dismissing presumed historical truths with a footnote about croissants!
Recommended if you have an interest in the British Isles during the period from the departure of the Romans to the arrival of the Vikings.

[MyChienneLit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lost Realms is a phenomenally well-written, often lyrical account of the post-Roman British Isle shrouded in the mists of time. While it is a thoroughly researched and documented account, drawing together historical, literary, and archeological sources, this book is easily accessible to the lay person. I found the chapters on Elmet and Rheged particularly fascinating, however, the entire volume held my interest from start to finish. This is not a quick read, but a worthwhile endeavor to be savored slowly, chapter by chapter. I purchased this book after hearing an interview with Thomas Williams on a podcast, but I am now looking forward to reading more of his books.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

An atmospheric exploration of Dark Age Britain from a modern scholar. The author acknowledges from the outset that history from the period is scant, and he makes his job all the harder by focusing on the smaller, lesser known kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon era: Lindsey, the Pictish lands, Cornwall and Devon. 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. The book is occasionally verbose, but what appeals is his poetic evocation of ruined landscapes mired in the forgotten past.

[Tom Fordham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Williams captures my imagination once again. I throughly enjoyed Viking Britain for its historical details and vivid story telling. Lost Realms does this very same thing across the small kingdoms that disappeared into obscurity. Archaeological and source material driven, Williams constructs what he can with the evidence available and his vivid interpretations make you think. There's a lot of "probably" in this book but that makes it exciting but equally frustrating, such is the way of early medieval studies. Either way a thoroughly enjoyable book that even more brilliantly bring to life this period in my mind when I travel across the country!

[Sam Worby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting subject, but overall a disappointing book.

I wish the author would stop slipping into attempts at poetic writing. His laments for the lost came across as pompous purple prose.

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.

The less said about the little earnest cringe about the term Anglo-Saxon which forms a coda the better.

[Emma Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars - wasn’t really sure what to expect when I chose this book by random. Parts of it were very interesting. Especially the archaeology of Saxon places / monuments which I could go a see images of in google. I enjoyed most reading about Elmet since it’s the closest place to where I grew up. Other parts of the book were long a dry. Would be nice to include more photos / diagrams. I’d probably be more interested in reading how Saxon people lived.

[Julian Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shedding real light on Britain's Dark Ages, as imagined and researched by the author - who manages to bring several independent and long forgotten, mysterious kingdoms to life.

Not too much of the x son of y, brother of z (which I always find a bit dry) and the author manages to pique and then satisfy the reader's interest by bringing places to life and putting some historical perspective into them.

Really enjoyable and unexpectedly rich slice of history.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly gripping and thoroughly readable account of post Roman Britain. Actually rather beautifully written in its account of the people and realms that came and then disappeared from time leaving such fleeting and barely discernable remains. The author manages to create something from almost nothing with really solid scholarship and layering over that with a poetic vision. Weirdly amusing in places with a pythonesque quality which is not out of place at all! A gripping account.

[Harriet Pears · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable look at post-Roman Britain, to the time of the Vikings.
Interesting overall, if a bit, well, bitty. He gets sidetracked at times. And it’s hard to keep the thread in your head with all the footnotes at the bottom of pages.
I think the conclusion has to be that much of what we thought we knew about the period was made up by later generations. And that what hard evidence there is doesn’t really prove a lot.

[Henry Gayfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author explores a really interesting period of history and pretty much overlooked subject. I found he executed it relatively well, he did this by giving chapter size overviews of each kingdom, like Essex, Lindsey or Sussex which suited the style well. Also impressed by how he uses what in some cases are very few sources to bring these kingdoms alive. I would have enjoyed maybe a bit more evaluation or tying the threads together more but overall a good book.

[T P Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fun. Much of the history surrounding the lost kingdoms is speculative or based on archeology. In some cases, there's a fuller tale to tell. Found the fleeting references to some of the more successful kingdoms more interesting than the minor kingdoms that ultimately gave way. A good book for opening up historical perspectives on Britain, old and new.

[Du · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoroughly well researched and in-depth look at the period post-roman pre-viking. The writing in this is academic but also highly readable and accessible. I think that the drawback from four stars is a lack of some illustration or visualization that really would have pushed to this book forward. Well worth the read.