Emperor Justinian and the British Kings, c. 540

Roman historian Procopius had a lot to complain about in his Secret History. Its pretty easy to say that he did a hatchet job on his bosses, Emperor Justinian and General Belisauris. Procopius was the Late Antique equivalent of a severely conservative 'think tank' founder, you know the type that queue up to appear on talk...

King Offa’s tomb

How does one leave a legacy? All leaders care about their legacy. Modern politicians seem preoccupied by both leaving a legacy and what it will be. Medieval kings did not count on historians to keep their legacy or even memory alive. Most early medieval kings are known only as a name in a list, a...

The Makers of Scotland

Tim Clarkson, The Makers of Scotland: Picts, Romans, Gaels and Vikings. Edinburgh: John Donald, 2012. 224 pg. In his third book, Tim Clarkson takes on the first thousand years of recorded Scottish history. It's a huge task, but Tim was more than up to the challenge. I really enjoyed it. I tend to focus so...

All Cadwaladr’s Mothers

[From the archives with a new title: a little bit of folklore for the first Friday in June.] Cadwaladr the blessed is one of my favorite Old British folklore figures so I can't leave 2007 behind without one long post on him. A paraphrase translation follows of some matrilinear notes on Cadwaladr in the Bonedd...

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...

Heavenfield, Hefenfeld, and Caelestis Campus

Not the cross at Heavenfield! A little while ago Tim Clarkson of Senchus brought an Andrew Breeze paper  about the history and derivation of the name Hefenfeld*, the Old English version of Heavenfield, to my attention. Its taken me a while to get to it but here is what I think. It is clear to...