From long-lost Viking ships and kings buried in unexpected places to tales of murder,

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Hello, I'm Matt Lewis. Welcome to Gone Medieval from History Hit, the podcast that delves

into the greatest millennium in human history. We've got the most intriguing mysteries,

the gobsmacking details and latest groundbreaking research from the Vikings to the

printing press, from kings to popes to the crusades. We cross centuries and continents to delve

into rebellions, plots and murders, to find the stories big and small that tell us how we got here.

Find out who we really were. We've gone medieval.

In the year 794, the bright promise of a royal marriage swiftly turned into a bloody tragedy.

Young King Ethelbert II of East Anglia

arrived at the court of the Great Mercyon King Offer. Ethelbert had just one aim,

to marry Offa's daughter, Elthrith, and bind their two kingdoms together. The undisputed

master of central Britain, Offa ruled the mercy and heartland

of the West Midlands and was troubled by this unexpected visitor. Perhaps he was just wary of an

ambitious young rival, but his fears were exacerbated by his own queen, who insinuated that

Ethelbert had not come as a suitor seeking marriage,

but rather that he'd come to depose Offer and seize his crown.

...