Welcome to the British History Podcast, my name is Jamie, and this is Dark Age Warfare.

This is a combination episode that covers five episodes on warbands, the methods of war,

war gear, and of course, defensive equipment.

So last time we talked about how Athelbert of Kent invaded the kingdom of Wessex and was

pushed out by Chalin in his army.

We don't have a lot of facts regarding that conflict.

We aren't even told why they were fighting, but we do know that they were both destined

to become Bret Waldes, and at the end of the conflict we're talking about, Athelbert

was chased back into Kent, and presumably following this moment, Chalin earned the

title of Bret Waldes.

So good for him.

But there's a hell of a lot that goes into war beyond one king puffing up his chest

and the other king saying, come at me bro.

Much as I wish it were that simple and comical, real war is a great deal more complex than

that.

So now that we've talked a little bit about why we go to war, let's talk about the

men who are fighting these battles.

Of course you have the kings.

One of the old English terms for these kings by the way is Theoden, yeah, like Theoden

and Lord of the Rings.

Another fun Anglo-Sex in term for king is King.

The old English ing means sion, which is why you start to hear the sons of nobles

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