NBC and BBC-America are adapting Bernard Cornwall's Saxon Chronicles into a 8 part tv show, the
Last Kingdom. It chronicles King Alfred of Wessex's struggle against the Vikings that came swooping over from the east. Alfred is credited with saving the Kingdom. However, before he saved it and made peace with the Danes, he was driven from his throne, fled into the swamps where he took refuge on a small island. He fortified it and used that as a base to rebuild his shattered armies and continue the fight.
The fight ground on for some time until Alfred reasserted his dominance, drove back the danes and retook Wessex and much of Mercia. This resulted in a treaty that gave Alfred part of Mercia and the Danish King the other part, creating the Dane Law.
It was truly an age of epic struggles, so the TV show has major promise. If done as well as Vikings, it should be very good.
2 comments:
Cool! I'm a huge fan of Cornwell's books! I've read at least three of the Saxon Chronicles, and I read his trilogy that gave his version of King Arthur's tale. Great, great stuff, full of action and intrigue.
I've never read any of it, I think I'll pick 'em up. I so thoroughly enjoy The Religion, which was historical fiction about this fellows adventures during the Siege of Malta. I'd probably dig Cornwell's books.
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