Poetry of History: The Battle of Maldon

BBC Radio 4's and 4 Extra's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive.

The Poetry of History looks at historical events through the poems they inspired.

Jonathan Bate begins on the Essex Coast where the valiant failure of the Anglo-Saxon leader Byrhtnoth against a Viking landing in 991 is remembered best in one of the classics of the Old English cannon, The Battle of Maldon.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2007.