The Bone Chests: Unlocking the Secrets of the Anglo-Saxons cover art

The Bone Chests: Unlocking the Secrets of the Anglo-Saxons

Unlocking the Secrets of the Anglo-Saxons

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Bone Chests: Unlocking the Secrets of the Anglo-Saxons

By: Cat Jarman
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

A TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘A diligent historian and a superb writer’ THE TIMES

A gripping new history of the making of England as a nation.

In December 1642, during the Civil War, Parliamentarian troops stormed Winchester Cathedral and smashed ten beautifully decorated wooden chests to the ground, using the bones inside as missiles to shatter the cathedral’s stained glass windows. Afterwards, the clergy scrambled to collect the scattered remains: the bones of ancient kings, bishops and one formidable queen.

Bestselling historian Cat Jarman builds on the ground-breaking work of forensic archaeologists to lead us through more than a millennium of history. Alongside the cutting-edge investigation to unlock the bones' secrets, this is a thrilling and sometimes tragic tale. It tells the story of both the seekers and the sought, of those who protected the bones and those who spurned them.

Archaeology Civilization Europe Great Britain Medieval Politics & Activism Royalty World Middle Ages England Thought-Provoking Viking

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Burgundians cover art
In Search of the Dark Ages cover art
Twilight Cities cover art
Voices of Rome cover art
Homer Box Set: Iliad & Odyssey cover art
Winters in the World cover art
Æthelflæd cover art
The King in the North cover art
Conquered cover art
X Marks the Spot cover art
Children of Ash and Elm cover art
The Anglo-Saxon World cover art
Rosicrucian America cover art
History of the Lombards cover art
The Emperor Charlemagne cover art
Kings & Queens of Early Britain cover art

Critic reviews

A TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘Beguiling … I adored [River Kings] so felt like a young boy on Christmas morning when I first opened The Bone Chests … Jarman’s investigation has something of a Dan Brown quest to it … she’s a diligent historian and a superb writer’

The Times

'This is the best kind of popular history, retelling the story of early medieval England with an equally good grasp of textual sources, archaeology and forensic analysis, and a love of Winchester’

Ronald Hutton

‘Through their story, we can recapture the spirit of the Anglo-Saxon age and, as Jarman writes, learn about the ‘past lives of people who were a little bit like us, who lived, loved, and left an imprint on the generations that came after them’, and who in their vexing anonymity encourage us to find out more’

Literary Review

‘An engaging account of England’s pre-Conquest monarchs, from famous figured such as Alfred the Great to long-forgotten kings Cynegils and Centwine’

i News

PRAISE FOR RIVER KINGS:

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER (September 2021)

Waterstones Book of the Month (October 2021)

‘A masterly history … River Kings is a mystery and an adventure, the tale of a quest that took Jarman from Repton to Scandinavia, across the Baltic Sea, over to Baghdad and finally to India. I was held captive … In addition to being a wonderful writer, Jarman is a skilled bioarchaeologist … River Kings is like a classical symphony, perfectly composed and exquisitely performed. Tiny trills of detail give way to pounding drums of drama’

Gerard deGroot, Times

‘Cat Jarman will transform the way you think about the Vikings’ Dan Snow

All stars
Most relevant
Great exploration of up to date archaeological and ancient DNA evidence relating to the early kings of England

Up-to-date examination of Archaeogenetics

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Cat Jarman is a good author ( I enjoyed River Kings) but an indifferent narrator she so often stresses the last word of a sentence without consideration of the sense of the story. She cannot surely listen to what she has herself read without realising this. Consequently the mind tends to.wander.
In future she would be advised to use a professional.

The poor quality of the delivery

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I have wondered about the contents of the bone chests for decades. especially since a visit in the 1980s.
this book explains early medieval English history in a way that is enjoyable and very informative.

fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Liked the information about our monarchy and relations to certain cathedrals and castles. Easy to understand and left on a cliffhanger concerning the identity of the bones.

Enjoyable gentle walk back to lesser known parts of history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Just great nicely done and spokena very technical subject. It also roams through the early centuries of post Roman Britain with ease

Excellent superb account of re Norman history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews