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...

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...

The Horsemen

If you look at the map above, there is a tribe named the Epidii in the western isles of Scotland. This tribe as been a bit enigmatic because the name has never appeared on any maps or referred to in any writings after Ptolomy's survey during the Flavian era. The name Epidii has as its...

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...

The Red Ravagers

Welsh lore often presents a very different version of Arthur than is commonly found in most post-Geoffrey Arthurian literature. I ran across this the other day while browsing Bromwich's Trioedd Ynys Prydein: Traid 20 W: Three Red Ravagers of the Isle of Britain Rhun son of Beli; and Lle(u) Skilful Hand, and Morgan(t) the Wealthy,...

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...