Alex Harvey
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alexharvv.bsky.social
Alex Harvey
@alexharvv.bsky.social
Author, artist, archaeologist; I write about the ‘Dark Ages’. Views my own.

New book, LITTLE KINGDOMS, out now!: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Little-Kingdoms-Hardback/p/56542

Published w/ Cambridge Uni, Pen & Sword, Amberley
Me when I’m out with the 1066 lads and William asks where we’re eating
November 11, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Little Kingdoms-core

Ch.8 of Fellowship Of The Ring is my favourite of the bunch; dripping in Tolkien’s signature melancholic references to Bronze Age > Early Med. tombs, dust-laden accursed hoards, and the long forgotten borders of half-mythologised realms belonging to ancient stunted bloodlines
November 11, 2025 at 5:56 PM
We even hear of one such, the *Ceolmundingas in a ninth century charter describing the outer environs beyond London’s extant Roman walls

Saint Eorcenwald, bizarrely remembered in a 13th c. Middle English poem, may have perambulated their domains in a cart, preaching to the ‘pagan’ wildfolk…
November 11, 2025 at 10:10 AM
I found an endangered species - the FORGOTTEN VIKINGS hardback - in Norli on university st. Oslo, sandwiched between @danelawdawn.bsky.social and Kim Hjardar, 2 authors who heavily inspired the book itself.

Now signed!
November 11, 2025 at 10:04 AM
The FORGOTTEN VIKINGS spotted and remembered in Kemp’s Books in Wetherby! Alongside legends like Hadley, Parker, Williams, et al.
November 10, 2025 at 7:46 PM
‘I would suggest this book to anyone interested in the communities that made up England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland in the medieval era […] This was an insightful read that I gained so much from.’

And from Megan Craddock, thank you!
November 10, 2025 at 4:04 PM
I have no words! What a superb review, thank you to Angelina.

‘like sitting down at a pub chatting with a friend […] it mixes in humor and plenty of interesting little tidbits. You can tell an incredible amount of research went into writing it; everything is well supported by sources and analysis’
November 10, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Happy to hear that my net worth is now at a comfy $10 million according to Bing AI

(it isn’t)
November 10, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Fortriu and several other Pictish realms feature across my book and it is thanks to brave scholars like Fiona that we can learn about this most beguiling dominion, long painted as ‘barbarians’ by the semi-permanent Roman ethnography paintbrush!
November 10, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Random TDK (2007) cameo in a pub in Surrey
November 9, 2025 at 8:08 PM
The fallen leaves tell a story…
November 9, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Eirch is an unknowable micro-‘polity’ said to belong to Urien’s arsenal of under-kingdoms. It was one of many places over which he claimed dominion

We can never know huge amounts of details regarding the placements of these legendary realms, so ‘Eirch’ features on no maps, and is barely remembered
November 9, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Dettori comes from the Milton Keynes area but spent most of her life in the little kingdom of Lindsey, which is where we met.

In March 2023 I was moaning that I didn’t do much outside of work/hobbies to which she said ‘why don’t you just write a history book’; now I’m on my 3rd! Thank you as ever
November 8, 2025 at 2:28 PM
FORGOTTEN VIKINGS paperback out in the wild at Limestone Books, in Settle, in the Yorkshire Dales!

Keeping good company too, alongside @marcmorris.bsky.social @theduncanmackay.bsky.social @catjarman.bsky.social etc!
November 8, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Newly spotted and signed by yours truly; the last copy of the LINCOLNSHIRE FOLK TALES ANTHOLOGY: REIMAGINED by @fiveleavesbooks.bsky.social and @rorywaterman.bsky.social, to which I contributed my piece ‘THE HOOD’

Safe and secure in The Rabbit Hole bookshop, Brigg, North Lincs.
November 8, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Here are cows, rugged mountain borders, rich streams and pastures for transhumance, more cows, shepherds, early church dedications a-plenty, and even more cows

A home for the ‘Peninsula Men’, perhaps? Or even more unknowable legends. Thank you again to Caroline for the help with this chapter
November 7, 2025 at 12:36 PM
…the ‘Deiri’ (roughly Yorkshire) and the ‘Bernici’ (his favourites, around the Tyne); nowhere are these specified as places, but people, throwing some shade over our modern conceptions of populations and fixed abodes

Simply put, I wouldn’t have been able to write most of the book without ol Bede
November 6, 2025 at 10:55 AM
The name derives from the Latin Aesica (Great Chesters, Northumberland), hinting at the clustering of a farmland community around the stone remnants of Hadrian’s Wall

In preaching to the locals, Cuthbert spent a fleeting moment in this little kingdom, as does my book; there are 61 other chapters!
November 5, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Spotted out in the wild! The Forgotten Vikings paperback alongside Jamie Oliver

(Forgive the poor quality: its a screenshot of a text message)
November 5, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Little Kingdoms + big local ales! Name a better combo:
November 4, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Oh yeah, the gang’s all here

2023-2025 books so far*

*plus a contribution in an anthology
November 2, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Brussels

Beer
November 1, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Spotted the lads in Brussels!
November 1, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Even Brussels’ street signs have heard about the upcoming release date of my next book: LITTLE KINGDOMS! (30/11/25) as expertly advertised by my wife
October 31, 2025 at 8:16 PM
October 31, 2025 at 1:50 PM