Author Archives: Brandon Michael Bender

King Cnut’s Awkward Family Gathering? A Look at the Thorney Abbey Liber Vitae

Did Cnut the Great attend a large gathering with each rival side of his royal family — including both of his wives?

The Death and Exhumation of Harold Harefoot

Perhaps no royal body suffered a fate worse than that of Harold I, otherwise known as Harold Harefoot. Harold died on this day (March 17th) in 1040. His body was exhumed several months after his death and, depending on which source you consult, was thrown into a fen, thrown into the Thames, publicly beheaded, or some combination of these.

My First Citation

A couple milestones: my book has been cited in an academic journal for the first time; this is also the first time I’ve been mentioned in another author’s acknowledgments. Considering that 80% of academic writing in the humanities is never cited, not even once, I’m very fortunate. It’s mentioned in an article in The ArchaeologicalContinue reading “My First Citation”

Thoughts on “Swein Forkbeard’s Invasions” and “Reign of Æthelred II” by Ian Howard

Two books by Ian Howard (“Swein Forkbeard’s Invasions and the Danish Conquest of England 991-1017” and “The Reign of Æthelred II: King of the English, Emperor of All the Peoples of Britain”) deal with similar topics, so I thought I would address them together, especially since they share an author. Both are academic works that engage with a tumultuous and confusing period of early English history, when England fell to a Danish king in 1013, was recovered by the English one in 1014, and was conquered by Danes again in 1016.