The roots of England lie within the fertile soil of its earliest kingdom, that of the people of Kent. Here, for a brief moment under King Æthelbert of Kent (c.560-616) this corner of England was transformed into the first Anglo-Saxon and Christian kingdom. But who were the Anglo-Saxons and what happened in Kent during the Dark Ages after the departure of the Roman legions in AD 410?

This book draws archaeological and historical evidence together for the first time in one volume to explain how Kent became the most important place in England, noted for its power, culture, wealth and international contacts and why, by the ninth century, it had become absorbed by its more powerful neighbours, the Anglo-Saxons.