All three—crystal, enamel, backplate—are encased in a richly executed gold frame that is pierced by Anglo-Saxon (Old English) lettering that reads “AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN” (“Alfred ...

The famous helmet from the ship burial at Sutton Hoo in England may be evidence that Anglo-Saxon warriors fought as mercenaries for the Byzantine Empire in the sixth century, a new study finds.

This story appears in the November 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine. One day, or perhaps one night, in the late seventh century an unknown party traveled along an old Roman road that cut ...