1066: A Peek at the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, often comprehensive yet often sparse, provides a wonderful record of what was happening during the times that England was ruled by...
Avebury Hill: More Majestic Than Stonehenge
The bulk of international attention on monolithic rings is often focused on Stonehenge; but to many people, the rings at Avebury are far more...
What the Romans Left Behind: The Baths
One of the main points of focus in Roman life was the bath. The Romans bathed fully only once a week. But because their...
The Beginning of the World?
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which was written by many different writers over a long period of time, has this interesting log entry for 616 A.D.:
And...
Far-sighted Romans, Short-sighted Britons
In the second and third centuries, Roman Empire trade with Britannia was increasingly ravaged by seaborne pirates the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, all of...
Christmas: Resonances in Ancient Britain
Christmas in Britain is taken for granted these days, but it wasn’t so in ancient days. For one thing, the date of the birth...
Danegeld: Another Word for Blackmail
One term used throughout the years of the Viking settlements in Britannia was the Danegeld. This meant any payment made to the Danes (or...
Saxons on Horseback? Why Not?
Why didn’t the Saxons fight on horseback? Some of them were trained in Roman legions, so they must have known how. It’s a mystery...
Into the Void: The Emergence of Ambrosius and Arthur
So this is Britannia in the 400s: Romans gone, Saxons streaming in, Picts threatening in the north, Britons besieged. Vortigern is himself betrayed, not...
The Lindisfarne Gospels: A 7th-Century Thing of Beauty
The world of Anglo-Saxon England was often terrible and violent. People died in the blink of an eye, as the result of a mysterious...