Rivals and Inheritors: The Anglo-Saxons Afternoon Course Wednesday, March 25, 2026 - 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. ET Code: 1J0526D Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Register for this program by purchasing one of these series: 4 Program Series: Rivals and Inheritors: Goths, Huns, Franks, and Anglo-Saxons View series details Resize text The Plunder of Rome by Joseph-Noel Silvestre, 1890 Between 350 and 750, western Europe underwent a profound transformation. The Roman empire, which had dominated the ancient world for more than half a millennium, collapsed. The last Western Roman emperor was deposed in 476, while new peoples competed with the Roman population and with each other. Gothic tribes traveled across the empire to found kingdoms in France, Spain, and Italy. They were driven in turn by the nomadic Huns, whose power expanded dramatically from the east and disappeared just as suddenly. The Franks advanced from the banks of the Rhine River to carve out the only early Germanic kingdom which laid the foundation for a modern country. And in Britain, the Anglo-Saxons moved into the vacuum left by the Roman collapse to settle the lands that would become England. Historian David Gwynn traces the entangled stories of these four remarkable peoples, each of which interacted in different ways with the Roman empire and its legacy and together shaped the history of Christian Europe and Western civilization. Gwynn is an associate professor in ancient and late antique history at Royal Holloway in the University of London and author of several books, including The Goths: Lost Civilizations and Christianity in the Later Roman Empire: A Sourcebook. Session Information The Anglo-Saxons Britain was among the last major regions conquered by the Romans and one of the first to be lost. Yet Roman Britain flourished for 300 years, only to be abandoned as pressures grew elsewhere, and it was against this background that Anglo-Saxon England took shape. The origins and early settlements of the Anglo-Saxons remain difficult to reconstruct, partly revealed through the rich burial site of Sutton Hoo, the legends of Beowulf and Arthur, and the Christian writers Gildas and Bede. Gwynn assembles this evidence to assess the Anglo-Saxons’ achievements and set them alongside the Goths and Franks, each of whom engaged differently with the Roman legacy and left their mark on medieval Christendom. Additional Sessions of the Rivals and Inheritors Course March 4: The Goths March 11: The Huns March 18: The Franks General Information View Common FAQs and Policies about our Online Programs on Zoom.
