<i>The Last Kingdom</i>

The Last Kingdom

<p><i><b>The Last Kingdom</b></i> is the first <a href="/en/Historical_novel" title="Historical novel" class="mw-redirect wl">historical novel</a> in <a href="/en/The_Saxon_Stories" title="The Saxon Stories" class="wl">The Saxon Stories</a> by <a href="/en/Bernard_Cornwell" title="Bernard Cornwell" class="wl">Bernard Cornwell</a>, published in 2004. This story introduces Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a <a href="/en/Anglo-Saxons" title="Anglo-Saxons" class="wl">Saxon</a> noble who is kidnapped by <a href="/en/Danes" title="Danes" class="wl">Danish</a> <a href="/en/Vikings" title="Vikings" class="wl">Vikings</a> as a young child and is <a href="/en/Cultural_assimilation" title="Cultural assimilation" class="wl">assimilated</a> into their <a href="/en/Norsemen" title="Norsemen" class="wl">culture</a>, <a href="/en/Old_Norse_religion" title="Old Norse religion" class="wl">religion</a> and <a href="/en/Old_East_Norse" title="Old East Norse" class="mw-redirect wl">language</a> before a series of events lead him into the service of <a href="/en/Alfred_the_Great" title="Alfred the Great" class="wl">King Alfred</a> of <a href="/en/Wessex" title="Wessex" class="wl">Wessex</a> and his participation in multiple battles, including the notable <a href="/en/Battle_of_Cynwit" title="Battle of Cynwit" class="wl">Battle of Cynwit</a> before the book's conclusion.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">2004 book by Bernard Cornwell</div>
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<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Author, Country, Language, Series, Genre...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox vcard mobile-collapse-element"><caption class="infobox-title" style="font-size:125%; font-style:italic; padding-bottom:0.2em;">The Last Kingdom </caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span class="mw-default-size"><a href="/en/File:BernardCornwell_TheLastKingdom.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:BernardCornwell_TheLastKingdom.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/75/BernardCornwell_TheLastKingdom.jpg/220px-BernardCornwell_TheLastKingdom.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="253" data-file-height="393" data-file-type="bitmap" height="342" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/BernardCornwell_TheLastKingdom.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/BernardCornwell_TheLastKingdom.jpg 2x" alt="BernardCornwell_TheLastKingdom.jpg"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">First edition cover</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Author</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Bernard_Cornwell" title="Bernard Cornwell" class="wl">Bernard Cornwell</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Country</th><td class="infobox-data"><span class="flagicon"><span class="mw-image-border"><span><img loading="lazy" alt="Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg/23px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="1200" data-file-height="600" data-file-type="drawing" height="12" width="23" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg/35px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg/46px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png 2x"></span></span><span>&nbsp;</span></span><a href="/en/United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom" class="wl">United Kingdom</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Language</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/English_language" title="English language" class="wl">English</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Series</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/The_Saxon_Stories" title="The Saxon Stories" class="wl">The Saxon Stories</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Genre</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Historical_novel" title="Historical novel" class="mw-redirect wl">Historical novel</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Published</th><td class="infobox-data">4 October 2004</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Publisher</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/HarperCollins" title="HarperCollins" class="wl">HarperCollins</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Media<span>&nbsp;</span>type</th><td class="infobox-data">Print (<a href="/en/Hardcover" title="Hardcover" class="wl">hardback</a>, <a href="/en/Paperback" title="Paperback" class="wl">paperback</a>)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Pages</th><td class="infobox-data">400 (hardback), 384 (paperback)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/ISBN_(identifier)" title="ISBN (identifier)" class="mw-redirect wl">ISBN</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1133582631" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}</style><a href="/en/Special:BookSources/0-00-714990-5" title="Special:BookSources/0-00-714990-5" class="wl">0-00-714990-5</a> (first, hardback edition)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/OCLC_(identifier)" title="OCLC (identifier)" class="mw-redirect wl"><abbr about="#mwt15" typeof="mw:ExpandedAttrs" data-mw="{&quot;attribs&quot;:[[{&quot;txt&quot;:&quot;title&quot;},{&quot;html&quot;:&quot;<span typeof=\&quot;mw:Nowiki\&quot; data-parsoid=\&quot;{}\&quot;>Online Computer Library Center number</span>&quot;}]]}">OCLC</abbr></a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56647847" class="external text" target="_blank">56647847</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Followed<span>&nbsp;</span>by</th><td class="infobox-data"><i><a href="/en/The_Pale_Horseman" title="The Pale Horseman" class="wl">The Pale Horseman</a><span>&nbsp;</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer 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The Last Kingdom is the first historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2004. This story introduces Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a Saxon noble who is kidnapped by Danish Vikings as a young child and is assimilated into their culture, religion and language before a series of events lead him into the service of King Alfred of Wessex and his participation in multiple battles, including the notable Battle of Cynwit before the book's conclusion. 