Cambridge was part of Anglo-Saxon Mercia, bordering on the kingdom of East Anglia. Mercia was one of three powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and came into particular prominence during the Mercian supremacy under King Offa, when Magdalene Bridge was built and ended in 910 within a single kingdom of England. The course will look at the geographical extent of Mercia to the Welsh border; its peoples, its dialect. Northumbria has Bede and Wessex the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Mercia has less documentary evidence but its story is now starting to be told with the stunning find of the Staffordshire Hoard. Mercia had its own distinctive art of high quality, the Tiberius school of manuscripts, including the Book of Cerne and the Barberini Gospels and an influential style of metalwork, including the elegant Trewhiddle style of silver jewellery, that spread across England. It has famous churches and sculpture, which drew on Carolingian art.
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