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Welcome to Dr Sam Newton’s Wuffings’ Website Website, which aims to provide a focus for the study of Sutton Hoo and the history and culture of the Wuffing Kingdom of East Anglia, Beowulf<\/em>, and beyond.<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Header-picture above: \u00c6t Hr\u00e6dwaldes-Cyninges-Hl\u00e6we<\/strong>, \u2018At R\u00e6dwald\u2019s King\u2019s Barrow\u2019 (\u00a9Dr Sam Newton 2013, 2025).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please scroll down for information about (1) Wuffing Education study-days, study-mornings, and my weekly seminars, (2) available lectures, (3) about me and my works, (4) my books and other publications, and (5) some old but still occasionally useful resources for Wuffing & Sutton Hoo Studies. You might also be interested in my YouTube channel<\/a> . I also make occasional Wuffing Education uploads on the Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Study-days, study-mornings, and weekly seminars (live and online) scheduled so far for 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Offa, King of the Mercians (757-796).<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

an online study-day with Professor Rory Naismith (University of Cambridge<\/strong><\/strong>) on Friday 22nd May 2026<\/strong>.<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Above: a miniature from the Life of St. Alban by Matthew Paris (c. 1200-1259), depicting Offa as a 13th-century warrior-king riding over the severed head of King \u00c6thelbert of East Anglia, martyed near Hereford on 20th May 794 while visting King Offa and his queen Cynethryth<\/em> (from Dublin, Trinity College Library, Ms 177 [formerly MS E. I. 40]; thanks to Wikipedia for this Public Domain image). <\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

King Offa, who ruled the Mercian heartland of the West Midlands from 757 to 796, is best remembered for building the great dyke along the western marches of his kingdom. He is also held responsible for the maytyrdom of the East Anglian king \u00c6thelbert, which took place near the southern end of Offa’s dyke on 20th May 794. It is apt then that, two days after the anniversary of the killing of St \u00c6thelbert, Professor Naismith puts these events in the context of the wider strengthening of Mercia\u2019s position as the dominant force in southern Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c6lfred’s Heirs and the Kingdom of England<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

an online study-day with Dr Sam Newton FSA<\/strong><\/strong> on Friday 12th June 2026<\/strong>.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How the heirs of \u00c6lfred the Great unified the kingdom of England under West Saxon overlordship in the course of the 10th century. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Above: Symeon of Durham states that King \u00c6thelstan’s great victory at the Battle of Brunnanburh took place “at” or “near <\/em><\/em>Wend\u00fan“, perhaps Went Hill, just north of Wentbridge in South Yorkshire (\u00a9Dr Sam Newton 7th September 2008).<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We shall begin with \u00c6lfred\u2019s son, Edward the Elder, and his remarkable daughter, \u00c6thelfl\u00e6d, lady of the Mercians, before considering his famous grandson, \u00c6thelstan, who defeated a great coalition of Hiberno-Norse, Danish, Scottish, and Welsh armies at the Battle of Brunnanburh<\/em> in 937. We shall look at the contemporary poem in the Chronicle<\/em> celebrating this triumph and address the sometimes contentious question of its location. Mention must also be made of the description of the battle in the 13th-century Old Icelandic Egil\u2019s Saga<\/em>, whose hero, the warrior-poet Egil, is said to have fought there on \u00c6thelstan\u2019s side. His poetry provides a dramatic glimpse of Scandinavian York during the reign of the infamous Norwegian king of Northumbria, Eric Bloodaxe. Following the death of Eric Bloodaxe in the Battle of Stainmoor in 954, we reach the high tide of West Saxon power with the coronation of King Edgar as overlord of Britain in 973.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monday morning online seminars exploring the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle<\/em>, Early Summer 2026.<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Above: W\u00f3dnesbeorg (Woden\u2019s Barrow), Wiltshire, mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as shown here, as the site of battle in 592; another battle here is mentioned in the entry for 715 (\u00a9 Dr Sam Newton, 9th October 2008).<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A series of weekly online Monday morning seminars exploring the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle<\/em>, one of the primary cultural documents of the English-speaking peoples. Its language includes examples of the ancient English medium of alliterative poetry as well as some of the first original compositions in English prose, the linguistic style of which anticipates the language of the King James version of the Bible. Its great narrative scope also provides an Old Testament of English history. related texts, We shall consider closely this wonderful document in the light of Anglo-Saxon art, landscape studies, recent research, and new discoveries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provisional Schedule:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n