The Anglo-Saxon era is one of the most important in English history covering the period from the end of Roman authority in the British Isles to the Norman Conquest of 1066 in which the very idea of England was born. In The Kings& Queens of Anglo-Saxon England Venning examines the rulers of Anglo-Saxon England beginning with the legendary leaders of the Anglo-Saxon invasion as Hengest & Horsa or Cerdic & Cynric & moving on through such figures as Aethelbert of Kent the first king to be converted to Christianity & his daughter Aethelburh whose marriage began the conversion of Northumbria to Alfred of Wessex & his dynasty the Viking invasions & the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings Harold Godwineson.