We focus attention to the possible sites for the Battle of Brunanburh by paying extra attention to all known sources known for the battle. We focus on two known poems that describe the events in detail; that is the Brunanburh poem and the poems in Egil's saga as well as other known sources for this battle. The poems in Egil's saga are contemporary with the events, even though the saga was written in the 13th century, the poems are older and are thought to be the work of Egill Skallagrímsson himself. We also use other references that conform to elements in other known sources like the issue of silver in this time. We conclude from all these sources that the Battle might have been fought in Hunwick in County Durham. We revive the poems in Egil's saga, the Brunanburh poem and the relation these poems have with the old Icelandic poem Völuspá and we conclude that the Brunanburh poem is much related to these Old Icelandic poems and Egill Skallagrímsson might have been the poet of the Brunanburh poem.

"Gathers together for the first time the key historical and literary primary sources for the study of the Battle of Brunanburh in their language of origin with facing-page translations and explanatory notes. Many of the sources are translated here for the first time."--Page 4 of cover.

Egil's Saga is the tale of the long and brutal life of Egil Skallagrimsson, the tenth-century warrior-poet: a morally ambiguous character who was both the composer of intricately beautiful poetry and a physical grotesque capable of staggering brutality. It recounts Egil's progression from youthful savagery to mature wisdom as he struggles to avenge his father's exile from Norway, defend his honour against the Norwegian King Erik Bloodaxe, and fight for the English King Athelstan in his battles against Scotland. Translated from Icelandic by the great fantasist, E R Eddison, and accounted by many to be the greatest of the Icelandic sagas, Egil's Saga is a fascinating depiction of a deeply human character.

Around 1,100 years ago a group of Viking settlers from Scandinavia arrived somewhere between Þorsteinnstún (Thurstaston) and Melar (Meols) on the shores of north Wirral – a small peninsula lying between the Rivers Dee and Mersey – having been driven out of Ireland. This initiated a mass migration of their fellow countrymen into the area and soon they had established a community with a clearly defined border, its own leader, its own language, a trading port, and at its centre a place of assembly or government – the Thing at Þingvöllr (Thingwall). This community was answerable to nobody else: the English, the Welsh, the Dublin Norse, the Isle of Man, Iceland, and not even Norway. The Wirral-Norse settlement therefore satisfied all the criteria of an independent, self-governing Viking state – albeit a mini one! This book, written by Wirral-exile and scientist Steve Harding, is about these people, why they left Scandinavia, where they settled, their religion and their possible pastimes. Wirral was also probably witness to one of the greatest battles in the history of the British Isles – Brunanburh. The third edition of this highly popular book has been updated to incorporate the identification of the mysterious Dingesmere in the Battle, the importance and relation of Wirral to the wider Viking Commonwealth, including the Isle of Man, North Wales, Scotland and Ireland, together with the results from the Wirral and West Lancashire Viking DNA project, where up to 50% of the DNA of men from old Wirral and West Lancashire families appeared to be Scandinavian in origin.

Medieval Icelandic authors wrote a great deal on the subject of England and the English. This new work by Magnús Fjalldal is the first to provide an overview of what Icelandic medieval texts have to say about Anglo-Saxon England in respect to its language, culture, history, and geography. Some of the texts Fjalldal examines include family sagas, the shorter þættir, the histories of Norwegian and Danish kings, and the Icelandic lives of Anglo-Saxon saints. Fjalldal finds that in response to a hostile Norwegian court and kings, Icelandic authors - from the early thirteenth century onwards (although they were rather poorly informed about England before 1066) - created a largely imaginary country where friendly, generous, although rather ineffective kings living under constant threat welcomed the assistance of saga heroes to solve their problems. The England of Icelandic medieval texts is more of a stage than a country, and chiefly functions to provide saga heroes with fame abroad. Since many of these texts are rarely examined outside of Iceland or in the English language, Fjalldal's book is important for scholars of both medieval Norse culture and Anglo-Saxon England.