The Last Kingdom (2015 to 2022) is a historical fiction TV series based on Bernard Cornwell's The Saxon Stories novels and adapted for television by English screenwriter Stephen Butchard. With five seasons, the show began as a BBC production and was later acquired by Netflix. Filmed in Hungary and Wales, it is based on English history during the 9th and 10th centuries, as the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms fought against the invading Vikings.
The show follows the life of Uhtred of Bebbanburg (or Bamburgh, as it was actually called at the time), an English warrior and nobleman from Northumbria (northern England). As a young boy, his father is killed by the Vikings, and Uhtred is taken as their prisoner. A Viking family soon adopts him, and he learns to love their culture, customs, and pagan religion. However, when his new family is killed, and the Vikings mistakenly blame him, Uhtred is forced to seek refuge at the court of Alfred the Great (reigned 871 to 899) in the Kingdom of Wessex (southern England).
As an Englishman and a 'heathen,' Alfred is suspicious of him, leading to a turbulent relationship between the two men. Yet Uhtred's knowledge of Viking warfare and culture makes him an invaluable military adviser and commander. In service of the House of Wessex, under Alfred and then his children, Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians (reigned 911 to 918) and Edward the Elder (reigned 899 to 924), he consistently defeats the Vikings, helping his masters build what would become the Kingdom of England, and earning the epithet "The Daneslayer."
The show has been simultaneously praised for its historical accuracy and criticised for inaccuracies. How faithfully the show represents the real historical events and leaders of this period will be discussed below.
Warning: Spoiler Alert - if you have not seen the show yet, you may not want to read further.
There were two real historical figures known as Uhtred of Bamburgh. The first Uhtred is a somewhat shadowy figure who was the brother of Ealdred, Ealdorman of Bamburgh (reigned 913 to 933). All we know of him is that he is recorded alongside his brother fighting the Vikings at the Battle of Corbridge in 918, at a peace conference with the Vikings in the Midlands in 920, and attending King Aethelstan's court in the 930s.
The better-known Uhtred was the Ealdorman of Bamburgh from 1006 to 1016. Known as "Uhtred the Bold," he was the leading magnate in the north under Aethelred the Unready, King of England (reigned 978 to 1016), and defeated the Scots at the Siege of Durham in 1006. However, at the time of the Danish conquest of England in 1016, Uhtred sided with the invading Cnut the Great but was soon killed on the orders of his new master.
While The Last Kingdom's Uhtred and Uhtred the Bold were both warlords from Bamburgh who served the House of Wessex during a period of conflict with the Vikings, they have little in common beyond these basic facts. The show's Uhtred, an English nobleman who converts to paganism and leads King Alfred's armies, is entirely fictional. However, certain aspects of his life in the show reflect elements of real history.
When Uhtred first enters Alfred's service in Season 1 Episode 3, he agrees to serve the king for only one year and to teach his soldiers how to fight the Vikings. In return, Alfred makes vague promises of rewards. Although the show does not use the term, we might regard Uhtred as a mercenary in this context. Such arrangements were consistent with practices during Alfred's reign. A contemporary biographer of the king, Bishop Asser, praised him for hiring men of all backgrounds and nations, including those who were "heathen" – like Uhtred (Cook, 22). Alfred also recruited mercenary sailors from Frisia to man his new ships and possibly to instruct his own warriors in naval warfare.
The Last Kingdom also shows how flexible the loyalties of leading nobles could be in England. After falling out with Alfred in Season 3 Episode 2, Uhtred considers forming an alliance with the Vikings against Wessex. Historically, similar attempts were made by West Saxon nobles associated with Alfred at least twice. The first involved Wulfhere, Ealdorman of Wiltshire, who sided with the Viking leader, Guthrum, when he invaded Wessex in 878. The second involved Prince Aethelwold (Alfred's nephew), who in 902 allied with the Vikings of East Anglia and York to challenge the succession of Alfred's son, Edward.
The Last Kingdom is reasonably accurate in its basic outline of Alfred's reign. After inheriting the throne from his older brother, Aethelred (reigned 865 to 871), he faced Viking raids in Britain, was forced to retreat to the Somerset marshes, and then secured victory at the Battle of Edington (878). He became overlord of the Kingdom of Mercia (the West Midlands) and continued his military successes until his death in 899.
Alfred is first introduced in Season 1 Episode 2, while still a prince. In conversation with a priest, he rebukes himself for having an affair (one of many) with a serving girl: "Do not look at me, Father, I am a sinner. I am a grievous sinner…I am married. I should never have married…I should have joined the church. I should have gone to a monastery." This is a somewhat authentic portrait of the young Alfred. Bishop Asser tells us that Alfred "was unable to abstain from carnal desire" but felt so ashamed that he would secretly visit churches at dawn where "he prostrated himself on the ground, and prayed that God in his mercy would strengthen his mind" (Cook, 21). In The Last Kingdom, Alfred's piety gradually overcomes his womanising ways as he inherits the serious duties of the throne in 871. In Asser's account, however, Alfred's womanising ends earlier, with his marriage to Ealhswith in 868.
Another aspect of Alfred's character, consistent with the historical record, is his poor health. In the show, he suffers from what appear to be stomach cramps. Indeed, the real Alfred also suffered from what Asser described as a "severe disease," which some modern scholars believe resembles Crohn's Disease (Cooke, 21).
The show also captures Alfred's love of literacy and the importance he attached to the written word. When Uhtred first meets him, in Season 1 Episode 2, they visit Alfred's scriptorium – a vast store of information and correspondence from across England. Alfred explains to an impressed Uhtred, "Whatever I discover about my enemies is written down… I have eyes and ears in each of the kingdoms." While there is no evidence of an Alfredian spy network across England, he did set up schools to educate the youth and ordered his illiterate officials to learn to read – or be dismissed. He also hired a team of talented scholars to translate key works of history, philosophy, and theology from Latin into English, allowing his subjects to read them.
Where the show deviates most from history is in Alfred's role as a military commander. While he is shown to have a sound understanding of military strategy, he is never depicted leading troops into battle; instead, he delegates command to Uhtred. This is problematic because Alfred's education as a prince would have focused primarily on preparing him to be a good soldier and to command troops, as was expected of any man of royal status. Furthermore, every primary source recording his role in Anglo-Saxon warfare suggests that he fought alongside his soldiers against the Vikings. His reliance on Uhtred is, of course, central to The Last Kingdom: he needs Uhtred's help despite disliking and often mistrusting him. What makes Alfred such a compelling character is the inner conflict he faces between trusting in God alone, as his holy books instruct him, and trusting in Uhtred (a pagan), who rescues Wessex from ruin on several occasions.
There is also only a passing reference to Alfred's "burghal system," which built fortifications throughout Wessex, with little recognition of its decisive role in the war against the Vikings. Rather, Wessex's decisive asset against the Vikings is Uhtred.
Overall, despite Alfred's lack of martial prowess, he is one of the few kings in the show who is an effective, serious, and responsible ruler. Indeed, his nephew, Aethelwold, despite hating Alfred, tells his Viking allies, "Although afflicted by pain, he is as strong a man as you will find; he is also as clever a man as you will find."
The Kingdom of Mercia, based in the Midlands, was significantly weakened by the Viking invasions. Mercia lost its eastern territories, and its rulers were reduced from proudly independent kings to vassal lords paying homage to Alfred of Wessex.
We are first introduced to Mercian politics in Season 2 Episode 3. Lord Ceolwulf, Mercia's elderly ruler, arrives at Alfred's court, dies shortly afterwards, and is succeeded by one of his young followers, Aethelred (reigned 881 to 911), as the new Lord of Mercia. Before his death, Ceolwulf explains to Alfred his concerns about closer relations between Mercia and Wessex: "What guarantee do I have that Mercia will not become a mere appendage of Wessex?" His fears prove correct. Both historically and in The Last Kingdom, Aethelred governs Mercia as a vassal of Wessex and marries Alfred's daughter, Aethelflaed, to secure dynastic ties between the two realms.
The depiction of Aethelred, Lord of the Mercians, in the show is of an inept ruler and an untrustworthy ally to Wessex. While little is known about his personality historically, Aethelred was stoutly loyal to Wessex (under Alfred and Edward) and was remembered by medieval scribes as an effective ruler. However, in The Last Kingdom, Aethelred's loyalty to Wessex expires with Alfred's death and Edward's succession in 899. "Alfred is gone; therefore, all agreements with Alfred no longer stand," he tells his wife. It is certainly true that oaths of loyalty between overlords (Alfred) and vassal-rulers (Aethelred) in Anglo-Saxon England were made leader-to-leader rather than kingdom-to-kingdom. Thus, the death of an overlord could mean a change in the status or allegiance of the vassal-ruler. However, the real Aethelred's relationship with Edward was much the same as his relationship with Alfred. He attended Edward's court in 901, acknowledging his overlordship, and maintained close military ties with Wessex until his death in 911.
Aethelred's relationship with his wife, Aethelflaed, is also ahistorical. He is depicted as sexually and verbally abusive towards her and even plots to murder her. Such poor relations led to each of them commanding rival factions within Mercia. However, there is no record of disharmony between the couple. In fact, they worked together so effectively that some scholars even speculate they were co-rulers of Mercia, rather than him as ruler and her as consort.
We see Edward as an infant in Season 1, but he is reintroduced in Season 3 as a shy, green boy in his late teens. Alfred is now increasingly ill, expecting to soon die, and his advisors fear that the son will struggle to fill the father's boots. Historically, the situation surrounding the young Edward is slightly different. Around the time of Alfred's death, Edward was in his mid-20s, already an experienced soldier and a regular member of the king's council. There seems to have been little doubt among Alfred's inner circle about his abilities as a future ruler.
One aspect the show captures well is that Edward's succession to the throne in 899 was challenged by his cousin, Aethelwold. As shown in The Last Kingdom, after failing to win support within Wessex, Aethelwold allied with the Vikings of Northumbria and East Anglia to challenge Edward, but died in battle against Wessex.
Season 4 focuses on Edward's early reign. Although he is now a more mature and confident leader, he remains indecisive and dominated by his father-in-law, Ealdorman Aethelhelm. Aethelhelm was a real historical figure. He was a prominent nobleman at Alfred's court, and his daughter, Aelflaed, did marry Edward. However, he died in 897, a couple of years before Edward became king, and therefore was not a royal advisor to him. Historically, the leading members of Edward's council were his brothers (Aethelweard and Osferth) and his bishops (Asser and Plegmund), none of whom are shown in such roles in The Last Kingdom. Aethelweard and Plegmund are not featured at all, and Asser only briefly appears in Season 1. Osferth is a character in the show as Alfred's illegitimate son, but he is mostly kept away from the royal family to avoid shaming Alfred.
Militarily, Edward is portrayed as a warrior king, a capable and brave fighter. But as a commander and strategist, he is depicted as indecisive and highly reliant on Uhtred, as Alfred was. Again, this distorts the historical record, which shows Edward to be one of the most formidable commanders of his generation. Furthermore, the show excludes his conquest of the Viking East Midlands and East Anglia in the 910s, which historian Frank Stenton described as "one of the best-sustained and most decisive campaigns in the whole of the Dark Ages" (335).
Perhaps the most inaccurate part of The Last Kingdom is the final years of Edward's reign – the last few episodes of Season 5. He is depicted going to war with Viking York, executing its king, Sigtryggr (reigned 921 to 927), capturing the northern town, and, characteristically, not knowing what to do with it. He then goes on to conquer Bebbanburg, allowing Uhtred to reclaim his inheritance. In reality, during this period (919 to 924), Edward was not at war with these northern powers. His focus was on fortifying his northern border with Viking York and leading an alliance of Christian powers, including Bamburgh and Scotland, to pressure York into a peace treaty, which it agreed to in 920.
The Last Kingdom features several real Viking leaders, including Ubba, Guthrum, Guthred, Hastein, Sigtryggr, Rognaldr, and some fictional ones, like Ragnar, Skorpa, and Bloodhair. We lack the source material to say much about each individual's life and personality; thus, it would be futile to assess the accuracy of their portrayals. However, there is much that The Last Kingdom gets right about the Vikings in Britain. They were generally divided into armies attached to fortresses (Ragnar at Durham, Hastein at Benfleet), who occasionally allied with one another rather than being a unified force.
The Vikings also exploited internal divisions within the English kingdoms to further their own power, such as the succession disputes between Aelle and Osberth in Northumbria in 866 and between Edward and Aethelwold in Wessex in 899 to 902. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the show's portrayal of Vikings is their view of Christianity. The two Norse rulers in The Last Kingdom who convert – Guthrum and Guthred – are seen by other Vikings as weak and traitors to their heritage. Vikings' views on conversion in the 9th century are difficult to interpret, but these two kings in real history both enjoyed relatively long reigns and were particularly powerful leaders. Conversion could be highly advantageous for Viking rulers. For Guthred, who ruled Northumbria, embracing Christianity earned him the support of the Archbishop of York and the northern church, a wealthy and influential institution. It would also have helped diplomatic relations with English kings, as seen in the treaty signed between Alfred and Guthrum after his conversion.
The Last Kingdom begins and ends at Bebbanburg, the great impregnable fortress in northeast England. Uhtred lost his status as heir to the fortress when the Vikings took him and spent five seasons lusting after it before winning it back in the final episode. For most of the show, Uhtred's uncle, Aelfric, rules Bebbanburg, and after him, his son, Wihtgar. Unfortunately, Aelfric and Wihtgar are both completely fictional characters. However, the show portrays elements of Bamburgh's politics accurately.
While Bebbanburg/Bamburgh, in both the show and history, remains isolated from the battles between Wessex and the Vikings, its location between Viking York and Scotland meant it had links to both these northern powers. In Season 1 Episode 1, when the Vikings first take over York (in 866), Aelfric of Bebbanburg cedes some lands and gives his allegiance to the invaders, an arrangement that ends by Season 2 (or the 880s). This is broadly accurate. After the Vikings conquered York, the ruler of Bamburgh was considered their vassal, but this settlement does not seem to have lasted into the final decades of the 9th century.
Moving forward to Season 5 Episode 6, having succeeded his father, Wihtgar of Bebbanburg, pledges his allegiance to King Constantine of Scotland to protect himself against the expanding Kingdom of Wessex, led by Edward. While there was a real alliance between Constantine and Ealdred, Ealdorman of Bamburgh in the 910s, it was to protect themselves against the Vikings, not Wessex. As previously mentioned, Edward was never in a position to threaten the lords of Northumbria.
Yet in the next generation, when Edward's sons led Wessex's expansion into the north, Bamburgh welcomed their arrival. Both sides, after all, shared a common Christian faith, an anti-Viking agenda, and a similar Anglo-Saxon culture.
Overall, The Last Kingdom provides some accuracy to the general narrative of English history from 865 to 924. It is certainly more faithful to the historical record than Vikings, which covers a similar period. The main inaccuracy, of course, is Uhtred, and his centrality to every key event of the period. Inaccuracies relating to Uhtred also include the limited military leadership and competency of the West Saxon kings, making them reliant on Uhtred; Edward's venture into Northumbria, which allows Uhtred to reclaim Bebbanburg; and the inaccurate portrayal of Aethelred of Mercia, which often allows Uhtred to save the Mercians from their incompetent ruler.