I'll admit this post is primarily to test out the wordpress ap on the new iPhone. So far it's slow (my fault not being used to these 'keys') and hard to edit. The real bit of medieval news I heard today is that a Jeremy Irons has signed on to play Columba in a major... Continue Reading →
The 300 (or 303)
When you think of 'the 300' you probably think of the recent movie on the famous Spartan-Persian battle of antiquity. Considered by historians all around as a pivotal battle in antiquity, the number 300 either spawned a legend that spread all the way to the British Isles or was such a common symbolic number that... Continue Reading →
Pseudo-History and Historicization
After a long wait, From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795 (New Edinburgh History of Scotland) by James Fraser has been published and arrived in my mailbox this week! Its out in the UK, and should be soon available in the US. I've known about this book for several years so I'm rather eager to... Continue Reading →
Adomnan of Iona Bibliography
An updated bibliography from my old website. There will be a permanent link on the Adomnan page in the left margin of Heavenfield. Primary Sources Sharpe, Richard. Editor and translator. (1995)Adomnan of Iona: Life of St. Columba. Penguin. Anderson, A.O. and Anderson, M.O. ed. and trans., Revised by M.O. Anderson. (1991) Adomnan's Life of Columba... Continue Reading →
The Long Seventh Century
There seems to be a new trend to name certain transitional centuries as "long centuries" because the important events that happened tend to wrap over both century marks. Its not surprising that real life doesn't match our numbering system. I've heard of the long 19th century* - from the American Revolution to World War I... Continue Reading →
Random thoughts on St Oswald at Prayer
From Bede's History III.12 (McClure and Collins, p. 129) "It is related, for example, that every often he [King Oswald] would continue in prayer from matins to daybreak; and because of his frequent habit of prayer and thanksgiving, he was always accustomed, whenever he sat, to place his hands on his knees with the palms... Continue Reading →
Heavenfield 