Cunedda, founder of Gwynedd
The medieval Welsh kingdoms are marked with a cultural beginning, that of the coming of Cunedda. “Historically, Cunedda became king of Gwynedd in North Wales during the first half of the 5th century A.D. and founded a dynastic clan from which Welsh nobility has claimed their ancestry for centuries afterward. Tradition holds that Cunedda originated from the territory of Manau Gododdin, the region around what is now modern Edinburgh in southeast Scotland, and later migrated to North Wales. This movement was apparently at the behest of a higher authority and designed to offer Cunedda land in return for ousting Irish raiders who had invaded and settled along the Welsh coastline in the late 4th century, near the end of the Roman occupation.” http://www.bardsongpress.com/Celtic_Culture/In_Search_of_Cunedda.htm The name of Gwynedd either derives from the Latin Venedotia, or more probably from Cunedda (=Weneda =Gwynedd). http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/CymruGwynedd.htm Read more…
The Fall of Rome
The coming of the ‘Dark Ages’ was predicated on the fall of Rome. Rome had dominated Europe (and parts of Africa and Asia) for nearly 800 years when Alaric, a Visigoth, sacked it. According to the excellent documentary, The Dark Ages (available on Netflix here), Alaric had served in the Imperial forces until passed over for a promotion, at which point, he took his cause directly to the City of Rome. He and his men then camped outside the walls in 408 AD, cutting off all food and succor to the city, for two years, until in 410 the citizens opened the gates. That Rome no longer had the military resources to relieve the city in all that time indicates the extent of its decline. Read a great description of the 40-year lead-up to the sacking here: http://www.mmdtkw.org/VAlaric.html The story Read more…
Killed by a ref . . . in ancient Rome
I had to repost (and link) to this story because of the number of times I’ve listened to my husband shout at the screen while watching soccer. This is part of an article about the discover and translation of a tombstone of a Roman gladiator who died in Amisus, on the south coast of the Black Sea in Turkey: “The tombstone . . . shows an image of a gladiator holding what appear to be two swords, standing above his opponent who is signalling his surrender. The inscription says that the stone marks the spot where a man named Diodorus is buried. “After breaking my opponent Demetrius I did not kill him immediately,” reads the epitaph. “Fate and the cunning treachery of the summa rudis killed me.” The summa rudis is a referee, who may have had past experience as a Read more…
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