Hertfordshire has seen armies marching, pillaging, and mutinying; battles have been lost and won; royalty held court; aristocrats and merchants had their country estates; while the common man worked, lived, loved and left his mark on the landscape. In this book the entire story from the geology of the area, through the succession of Prehistoric, Celtic, Roman, Saxon and Danish settlers is told. Alfred fortified Hertford and gave the county its name, while the Normans accepted the English surrender at Little Berkhamsted and at St Albans the Magna Carta was drafted.