The author touches upon problems of the political history of England at the turn of the early and classical Middle Ages, little studied in domestic historiography, placing them in the context of the general historical development of the entire northwestern region of Europe. Much attention is paid to Anglo-Scandinavian relations and the cultural integration of pre-Norman England into the “Viking world”. The history of England is viewed through the prism of two turning points, which entailed both significant and different consequences - the conquest of England by the Danes at the beginning of the 11th century. and the Normans in the second half of the 11th century. The author meticulously reconstructs the facts of these events, which is especially valuable against the backdrop of the well-known paucity of the source base for the issues presented. The economic, political, social and ethnocultural consequences of the two conquests are examined in detail - radically different, which is due to the peculiarities of the socio-economic way of life of the conquerors themselves. Much attention is paid to historical personalities, the role of elites and the nature of ethnopolitical fragmentation are examined in detail. The most important aspect of the research is the topic of displaying events and their consequences in the mass consciousness of contemporaries and subsequent generations, in medieval literature, in language and historical memory, analysis of the ethnic identity of early medieval societies and the problem of historical alternatives. The monograph uses modern achievements in the genre of political history - comparative analysis , a comprehensive consideration of the issues under study using approaches from the arsenal of social and cultural anthropology, history of mentality, microhistory, intellectual history.