I am series four of #TheLastKingdom on Netflix https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🗡" title="Dolchmesser" aria-label="Emoji: Dolchmesser">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🛡" title="Schild" aria-label="Emoji: Schild">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🕯" title="Kerze" aria-label="Emoji: Kerze">. It& #39;s...not bad, and provides a broadly authentic flavour of life in 8th/ 9th Century England, but historians will find plenty of details to quibble with of course, as with any historical drama I guess. That sort ofhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧵" title="Thread" aria-label="Emoji: Thread">/1

...me because this was my period at university. For one thing I doubt Ælfred cyning (King Alfred) was quite as uptight and pious as he portrayed in the show: he is, for example, recorded as having fought on the front lines alongside his brother Æthelred against the invading /2

... & #39;mycel hæþen here& #39; (great heathen army) led by Viking chieftain Ivarr hinn Beinlausi (Ivarr the One with No Bones - or the One with No Legs) in 1868, before he became King of Wessex. For another, the Vikings had combs people - we& #39;ve found loads! /3

...I highly doubt they went around sporting the heavy metal roadie mane we see here, although I suppose that provides a convenient visual clue for casual viewers. Another thing I noticed - because I& #39;m a nerd, I guess - was the frequent mispronunciation of names containing the /4

... letter & #39;æ& #39;. This occurs in a lot of names from the period, particularly in the element& #39;æðel& #39; (noble). Understandably, perhaps, (some of) the actors seem tohave assumed this is just the letters & #39;a& #39; and & #39;e& #39; next to each other in a stylised way, so Æðelstan ("Noble Stone") is /5

...referred to as & #39;Ethel Stan& #39;: like an old lady or something ! In fact Æ was a separate letter altogether, with its own name (& #39;æsc& #39;, meaning ash tree) and it was pronounced like the vowel in modern English & #39;cat& #39; /6

...I sprinkled a little Old English and Old Norse over this thread because...I just like doing that kinda stuff. It gives you another flavour of the time I think