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The Last Kingdom is a popular television series recently released by the BBCand the show has strived to portray an accurate depiction of the time and reign of Alfred the Great. It depicts The show focuses the life of Uhtred, son of Uhtred, who is a fictional character based on an amalgamation of several historical characters, during the Dane invasions of England during the 9th century. The events depicted in <i>The Last Kingdom</i> were critical early steps in forging what became England. <i>The Last Kingdom</i> is a reference to the Kingdom of Wessex, which was the last Anglo-Saxon kingdom to stand in the way of Dane conquest of England. Uhtred is from Bebbanburgh (modern Bamburgh), a part of Northumbria. The season begins with Uhtred's father being killed in a battle at York, where Uhtred was taken as a slave by the Danes. Uhtred's uncle then usurps the control of Bebbanburgh, where Uhtred was the rightful heir.

Some of The first episode focuses on the events Danes invasion of conquest are not accurate or not explained, such as Northumbria. During the Danish army coming from East Anglia after having landed there first, but Ultred's father and his army are slaughtered by the general events are trueDanes soon after arriving. The Danes did fear loosing warriors, as shown in the series, despite their fierce reputation, as they could not spare loosing too many men. On the other hand, first episode portrays the Anglo-Saxons were often shown as weak warriors unprepared for war with the Danes and too dependent on their priests, something Uhtred criticizes, to save them. There is some truth to this, as much of the Anglo-Saxon army lacked professional warriorsand the show states that the Danes believed the English were primarily farmers. HoweverIn the first battle of the show, the Anglo-Saxons lost the battle because they were probably able to form incapable of defeating a shieldwallDanish shield wall. However, the Anglo-Saxon armies most likely were capable of properly forming a form of defense shield wall and attack used they would not have been completely confounded by Medieval armiesit. The show ignored this reality because it allowed the lead character, Uhtred, whereas The Last Kingdom depicts to teach the Anglo-Saxons as hapless because they were confounded by later in the shieldwall in battleseason to both form and defeat a shield wall. In this case historical accuracy was sacrificed to create a more compelling story.<ref>For more on Anglo-Saxon fighting methods, see: Lavelle, R. (2010). <i>Alfred’s wars: sources and interpretations of Anglo-Saxon warfare in the Viking age</i> Woodbridge: The Boydell Press.</ref>

The Last Kingdom has done very credible job depicting Danes and Anglo-Saxons. While the Danes have often been to referred to as Vikings; the show makes it clear that they were more than just Vikings. The Danes willingness of the Danes to settle in England demonstrated that unlike actual Vikings, they did did not want survive simply by raiding. The Danish characters make it clear that they left Denmark because it was inhospitable to farming.<ref>For background on the Danes, see: Jones, G. (2001). <i>A history of the Vikings</i> (2nd ed). London ; New York: Oxford University Press.</ref> The Danes were are shown as more fun-loving, while the Anglo-Saxons are solemn and, at times, pious. This difference is a result of conflicting faiths of the Danes and Anglo-Saxons. The Danes at this time were polytheists and Anglo-Saxons were Christian. The series often depicts these cultural differences between the Danes and Anglo-Saxon and the resulting war between these societies as broader conflict between the Christian faith and the Danish gods. The character of Uhtred is used by the show to demonstrate this dichotomy. Uhtred, an Anglo-Saxon, prefers company with the Danes, but he later swears an oath to Alfred, king of Wessex and last remaining Anglo-Saxon king.

The Danes were also shown as more fun-loving then Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons could best be described as solemn, pious and fairly dreary. This difference results from the conflicting faiths of the Danes and Anglo-Saxons. The Danes at this time were polytheists and Anglo-Saxons were Christian. The series often depicts these cultural differences between the Danes and Anglo-Saxon and the resulting war between these societies as broader conflict between the Christian faith and the Danish gods. The character of Uhtred is used to demonstrate this dichotomy. Uhtred, an Anglo-Saxon, prefers company with the Danes, but he later swears an oath to Alfred, king of Wessex the last remaining Anglo-Saxon king.  The Danish beliefs did not involve a strict moral code like Christianity. At times, this loose moral code has shown that allowed the Danes as could to be more playful than the Anglo-Saxons, but this lack of moral code also has a dark side. In one scene, the Danes killed the East Anglian king, Edmund, with a volley of arrows after he was captured. The Danes were testing whether Edmund's god was as powerful as he claimed.<ref>For more on Edmund, see: Pinner, R. (2015). <i>The Cult of St Edmond in Medieval East Anglia</i>. Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press.</ref> Not only did this event occur, but Edmund was canonized for it. Other Anglo-Saxon leaders are shown as tortured and murdered when captured and this would have likely occurred . The Danes were fairly ruthless when Danes they captured major Anglo leaders, although but the accurately depicts that some would be spared to act as puppet leadersif they cooperated with the Danes and provided them with food, silver and land.

After the battle at York, several other key battles occur during the series. The first is the battle where Alfred's brother (Æthelred), who was the king of Wessex, dies, although the Anglo-Saxons are successful in temporarily halting the Danish advance. There is truth to Alfred's brother perhaps being injured and killed in battle as depicted in the series. Rather than the son of Æthelred taking power, it was Alfred that was chosen, something unexpected and discussed in the series, as he was seen as more fit to rule. However, the battle where Æthelred is fatally injured might be fictionalized or is could based on several battles where the Anglo-Saxons did have some success in limiting the Danish advances. Still, Wessex failed to stop the Danes completely and had to pay off the Danes for temporary peace. The show depicts the peace conference between King Alfred and Ubba.<ref>For more on Alfred, see: Smyth, A. P. (1995). King Alfred the Great. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.</ref>

The next major encounter in the show was the Battle of Cynwit, which occurred in 878. The battle in the series depicts the Danes besieging the Wessex forces led by Odda the Elder. The Danish leader was Ubba, who was killed in the battle. The Danes had surrounded the Anglo-Saxon army on a hill and likely expected them to surrender, as they had little water, but the Wessex army attacked and were able to defeat Danish army. The Raven banner was taken by the Anglo-Saxon army and it was a major battle in which the Wessex king Alfred did not lead. In the series, the year of the battle is different and the credit for killing Ubba went to Uhtred. However, as shown in the series, it was an important battle for the Wessex kingdom and Odda was the likely leader of the Wessex during the battle. In effect, it is likely that the Anglo-Saxons being up were encamped on a the hill during the real battle. Additionally, it is possible that Odda and his army were still able to surprise the Danes with their resilience and win the battle is accurate.<ref>For more on the Battle of Cynwit, see: Jones, G. (2001). <i>A history History of the Vikings </i> (2nd ed). London ; New York: Oxford University Press, pg. 238.</ref>

The Danes also attacked in January 878 the town of Chippenham, which is where Alfred held his court at the time. The series depicts diverges from reality and has the Danes attack Winchester, instead. The show had already established the Winchester as the more common capital of Wessex, as being attackedand most likely sought to simplify the narrative instead of adding a new location for this battle. However, the attack did not occur there. The events, though, are generally accurate in that the Danes did attack in a surprising fashion at the height of winter, a period during when armies rested and did not launch invasions. Alfred was depicted as fleeing to the marshes of Somerset, barley escaping with his life, which was true and he did flee after the battle to hide from the Danes and reorganize his forces.<ref>For more on Alfred's flight to the marshes of Somerset, see: Swanton, M. (Ed.). (2003). <i>The Anglo-Saxon chronicles Chronicles</i> (New ed., paperback rev. ed., 5. impr). London: Phoenix Press.</ref>

The next major encounter was the Battle of Edington (Figure 2), which pitted Guthrum of the Danes against Alfred. The Danes had likely assumed Alfred to be significantly weakened after being forced to flee. The battle was characterized by Alfred summoning his fyrds, or the popular army from different parts of his kingdom, that gathered to fight the Danes. This allowed Alfred to create a greater force and demonstrated he retained the loyalty of his ealdormen despite his earlier losses. Egbert's stone was used as the meeting point for the fyrds in the series as well as in the chronicles describing the events. In effect, much of these events are true historically. The battle, unlike the series, involved an encounter of the armies where the Danes were driven into a fort and were besieged afterwards. In the series, the main battle is only depicted and not the siege. In both cases, after Dane leader Guthrum was defeated he was and baptized, as a condition of the peace, and led his remaining army away. Eventually, the Danes formed another kingdom called Danelaw that represented areas where the Danes ruled for nearly another 100 years. For now, there was peace between Wessex and the Danes. The result was also the Danes were finally and decisively defeated, never to threaten Wessex seriously again.<ref>For more on the Battle of Edington, see: Hunter Blair, P. H., & Keynes, S. (2006). <i>An introduction to Anglo-Saxon England Englan</i>d (3. ed., repr). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, pg. 111</ref> Arguably, this was the battle that may have prevented all of England falling to Danish hands in the 9th century.