Defining Late Antiquity

I've been thinking lately about the coincidence that consensus seems to be developing around c. 750 as the end of "Late Antiquity" is the same time frame for the end of the Plague of Justinian. Do I think this is more than a coincidence? Yes, but not really causal. By that I mean that the...

Being ‘in communion’

In the last post I referred to King Aldfrith and Adomnan of Iona not being "in communion" and it occurred to me that not everyone may know that this short for a specific ecclesiastical meaning. I think at this point in the early medieval period, churches were either in communion or out of communion. Today...

Plague Glossary

Bubo: A bubo is a swollen lymph node where Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis) is multiplying. It is the most characteristic sign of the plague. It usually occurs in three areas: the groin, the axilla (arm pit), or cervical (tonsils or neck lymph nodes). The location of  a bubo can tell you something about the possible...

Kingship in Early Northern Britain

When we write about 5-7th century kings we have this misplaced need to assign them a kingdom. We forget that when their contemporaries in neighboring kingdoms referred to them, they were usually referred to as King of Britons, King of Picts, King of Saxons. Within their people, they do refer to kings of tribes, or...

Kingdoms and Realms

Beware: Arbitrary definitions to follow Technically speaking the words kingdom and realm are interchangeable. As I work on these posts on lost kingdoms it occurred to me that I have a few planned posts on entities that really fall in a gray zone, either because we have little proof they existed or because their location...

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...