In the hit series Vikings, fans witnessed the friendship between Ragnar Lothbrok and Athelstan (George Blagden), a Saxon monk he encountered during his first raid to the west, in Northumbria ...

"The blue water, smitten by many oars, might be seen foaming far and wide" wrote a medieval monk who watched a Viking fleet set sail. Above: Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry, which commemorates the ...

Gildas, a British monk, (circa 504-570 AD) wrote that the Angles and Saxons received a great setback at Mount Badon, possibly somewhere in south west Britain, where they were defeated by the Britons.