Buried in the middle of this that and the other was the first historian of the English People, The Venerable Bede, a monk who never quite got past the Venerable Rank of sainthood. Of course he also was not martyred which probably was a Good Thing as far as he was concerned. Even less lucky in promotion was his nextcell neighbour, the Almost Venerable Weed, who went off on a fishing trip with St Brendan and came back with proof that they had been to what later became America but for now was known only as "Here There Be Dragons". Alas he also smoked the evidence. This made the monastic life much more bearable,but set the invention of New York City back some time.

Meanwhile, the Vikings did give the English Kings something new..nicknames.

Aethelbert the Earnest..who invented many new cookies

Alfred the Great..a title many of the subkings would have disagreed with

Edward the Elder who had many sons who also became king. Not,as a rule,at the same time

Aethelstan the not so old

Eldred the not really old at all

Edmund the Magnifent, who ate haggis and promptly gave much of Scotland back to the Scots. He was also the only king to die as a result of a ride by stabbing.

Edgar the Peaceable, who was one of the few kings to run out of enemies

There were also kings with nicknames like the martyr, the unready,the unsteady, and the almost ready but forgetful

Next.. Edward the Confessor tells all and a really neat tapestry is started.