Filling the Gaps: Strathclyde and the Anglo-Saxons

Tim and I have been chatting about Strathclyde for longer than either of us would probably care to admit (even before his name was on the cover of any books!). So I was thrilled to tuck in with his latest book Strathclyde and the Anglo-Saxons in the Viking Age in the days running up to Christmas....

The Bone Thief: Stealing St Oswald

[I didn't intend to be gone this long. I hope someone is still out there!] Its been years since I've taken much time to read novels. I'm embarrassed to say how few I've read in the last couple years, but the Bone Thief finally was a temptation too great. How could I resist a novel...

Heavenfield Round-up 7: June Links

I'm not sure where June went. I wish I had been more productive, but luckily some of my fellow bloggers have been  much busier. Bamburgh Research Project has been out in the field for most of June. Various updates have been posted on their blog. Curt Emanuel, the Medieval History Geek, has posts on late...

King Ina’s Food Rents and the Tribal Hidage

I've been reading Kathy Pearson's "Nutrition and the Early-Medieval Diet", which is just full of interesting information. Assessing the livestock available in early medieval northern Europe, Pearson quotes  from King Ine's law code on hide (land) rents. From every 10 hides of land, King Ine demanded "2 full-grown cows or 10 wethers, 10 geese, 20...

Confirming Queen Eadgyth

Six months ago I wrote about the discovery of the remains of Queen Eadgyth of Germany, half-sister of King Æthelstan of England and grand-daughter of Alfred the Great in Magdeburg Cathedral. Eadgyth was the first wife of Otto I of Saxony, later after her death he became the first German Holy Roman Emperor. Through her...

Saxon Gloucestershire

The discovery of a new Anglo-Saxon site in Gloucestershire was reported in the Medieval News today. It is basically one good size hall (11 meters or 36 feet long) with a couple ditches, a pit with Anglo-Saxon pottery, and two skeletons that may be Anglo-Saxon. The article suggests that the site dates to the 6th...