Been reading The Anglo Saxons by Marc Morris, a history of Anglo-Saxons in Britain (so roughly from when the Romans leave in 410 CE to the Norman invasion of 1066 CE). I heard the author interviewed when the podcast Gone Medieval did a series on the four most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and it's a pretty good popular history. Copiously endnoted but not academic in style. Most recently read a whole chapter on a significant Christian figure, St. Wilfred. Was a major leader in the Anglo-Saxon church during the 7th century CE when not all the kingdoms had yet converted and some of those who did were wavering. He was also a seriously terrible human being on some levels and not at all what we might consider "saintly". Even sided with a pagan Anglo-Saxon leader against a Christian one at one point because he felt his interests were better served by the former. It was a rather weird, chaotic world and that's even before the Danes (i.e. Danish Vikings) came in and conquered the lot at one point.
I keep being tempted by The Last Kingdom historical fiction series by Bernard Cornwell, which is set in this era, but it is so long. However, I can see the appeal of writing during the Anglo-Saxon period so might give it a shot, though I've been dodging long series ever since I abandoned A Song of Ice and Fire (aka A Game of Thrones). At least Cornwell's series is finished.
