St. Mary’s in Castro (Saxon Church at Dover)
We talked about Dover Castle last season, but it’s worth revisiting, in large part for the same reason we devoted a video to it before: the long history of occupation. Specifically, in regards to the Saxons, Dover was one of the first places William the Conqueror conquered—and thankfully, he left the original Saxon church intact for us to visit to this day and, according to English Heritage, is the ‘largest and finest Saxon building in Kent’. The first record of the church at Dover is around 630 AD, when the records talk about a church built within the castle, which is where it gets its name Saint Mary in Castro. This is in the time of Eadbald, son of Æthelberht, the first Saxon king to convert to Christianity. Credence is given to the idea that the structure we see today Read more…
The Danes
Danes, otherwise known as Vikings, raided the shores of Europe for centuries. A few years ago, a story came out about 51 headless Vikings unearthed at a site in Weymouth, England. http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/03/12/viking.olympics/index.html “On Friday, officials revealed that analysis of the men’s teeth shows they were Vikings, executed with sharp blows to the head around a thousand years ago. They were killed during the Dark Ages, when Vikings frequently invaded the region.” Researchers have dated the remaines to the period between 890 and 1030 AD, postulating that it was a raiding party that was executed once it was caught too far from its boats. During this period, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were well established in England. Weymouth would have been in Wessex, one of the primary and most powerful kingdoms at the time. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1257333/Decapitated-Viking-skeletons-Weymouth-ditch.html Kings of the period include Alfred the Great (871-899), Read more…
The Beginning of the Dark Ages in Britain
The Beginning of the Dark Ages in Britain: the ‘Dark Ages’ were ‘dark’ only because we lack extensive (or in some instances, any) historical material about the period between 407 AD, when the Romans marched away from Britain, and 1066, when William of Normandy conquered England. “Initially, this era took on the term “dark” . . . due to the backward ways and practices that seemed to prevail during this time. Future historians used the term “dark” simply to denote the fact that little was known about this period; there was a paucity of written history. Recent discoveries have apparently altered this perception as many new facts about this time have been uncovered. The Italian Scholar, Francesco Petrarca called Petrarch, was the first to coin the phrase. He used it to denounce Latin literature of that time; others expanded on Read more…
The Normans in Wales
The leader of the Normans, William the Bastard (William the Conquerer, William the Norman), won his first battle for the conquest of England at Hastings in October of 1066. He defeated the army of King Harold Godwinson, who’d force-marched his men from Stamford Bridge after defeating an invasion by King Hardrada of Norway. Harold’s forces almost held, but in the end, his discipline did not and he himself died on the battlefield. http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/william-the-conqueror.htm That was only the beginning, however, and it would be another six years before England was truly conquered. Wales, however, took a bit longer. The Welsh fought what amounted to a guerilla war for over 150 years against the Norman/French aggressors. Although the documentation of this war is mostly on the English side, it is interesting reading from the perspective of the Welsh. In the Chroncile of Read more…
Traveling on Medieval Roads
Traveling on medieval roads meant traveling on surfaces as varied as stone, gravel, grass, and dirt. There have been roads across Britain for as long as people and animals have traversed the landscape. The original roads were tracks, created by years, decades, and millennia of people and wheeled vehicles, wearing a passage through forests, fields, and mountainous terrain. One of the first videos we produced was about Bwlch y Ddeufaen, an ancient road across north Wales marked by two standing stones, dating back thousands of years. Because of the difficult terrain, rather than build a new road entirely, the old one was improved by the Romans and then was in continuous use up until the modern era when a new road along the coast line was blasted through the mountains. One of the most lasting effects of the Roman occupation Read more…
How did Latin get into English?
It was the Romans right? Well, ultimately, but not necessarily because they conquered Britian in 43 AD. The Romans controlled Britain from 43 AD to when they marched away in the beginning of the 5th century. During that time, they built roads, towns, forts, and established a government. Upon their departure, the ‘dark ages’ consumed Britain, with the assistance of several invading groups (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, plus Picts, Scots, Irish). The people who lived in Britain at the time were Celtic and spoke a language that eventually became what we know today as Welsh. As the story goes, these invading groups pushed the Britons into Wales until a real wall (Offa’s Dyke) permanently created a barrier between them. Latin had been spoken by the Romans, of course, and had entered the Welsh language as a result. “These borrowed words are Read more…
Anglo-Saxon Law (to 1066)
Anglo-Saxon law didn’t come to an end with the coming of William of Normandy in 1066, but it was definitely changed. Norman law was based in feudalism and heavily influenced by the Church. Anglo-Saxon law had been developed over a long period of time and while influenced by Christianity in later centuries, was more egalitarian. It was based on a system of courts, the main one being the ‘hundred court’. “The hundred court met every four weeks, in the open if possible and usually at a prominent local landmark that gave its name to the hundred. The king’s reeve usually presided over the court. It had many functions, and was a mixture of parish council business meeting, planning enquiry, and magistrates’ court. . . Edward the Elder decreed that the hundred courts were to judge the worthiness of every law-suit and Read more…
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