So the year is 586, and Ceawlin is the leader of the men of Wessex. Wessex has been expanding their holdings to the north and the west, and have been growing in power. Conversely, in the East are the men of Kent under the leadership of AEthelbehrt, who (we are told) has been ruling since he was 8 years old. But the dates are a bit dodgy. And now AEthelbert is 16 years old. Maybe? And he’s growing in power. We know this because Kent...

Ok, we have a battle coming up but things are still changing rather rapidly and there’s some interesting stuff to cover regarding that, such as language, religion, culture, warfare, and that question that’s probably nagging you at the back of your head… if we have wealthy powerful kings in England, why don’t we have anything resembling a Roman empire… or at least a mini Roman empire? And besides, if I just...

Ok, when we left off, Ida had become king of Bernicia and we had the beginnings of regional cultural groups. These groups were the result of a whole host of influences including everything from geographical features, to political decisions, to things as simple as wealth and a sense of cool. But the point is that we have gone from an island that saw itself as essentially Roman, to post-Roman (or sub-Roman, depending on which terminology you...

Saint Patrick’s Day is coming up and I thought you might want to know a bit about the man (or at least the myth of the man) behind the holiday. I hope you all have a fun and safe Saint Patrick’s Day! Podcast: Play in new window | Download Share...

Ok, so I’m going to wrap up the discussion of the development of regional cultures with a talk on an omnipresent (yet often ignored) influence on all of human development. This subject is often ignored in most disciplines, and it is definitely undervalued (unfairly) in many treatises on history. I speak, of course, of Nature. Sure, you can push back against the forests with the axe and the plough. You can create farmland and...

Ok, when we last left off, we were talking about a new class of elites in sub-roman Britain. A group of individuals we identify as anglo saxons and kings, and we also mentioned the class of nobles that was growing up around them. We also talked about how that change, the increase in social stratification, might have come about. This week, we are going to talk about the impact that the stratification would have had on the culture that was...

Today we start with a death. Wihtgar, brother of beloved Stuff, warrior, conqueror of Cerdic’s-Ore, and ruler of the Isle of Wight died in 544. Or did he? There’s a funny thing about dying.  You have to be alive first.  And there’s an argument that Wihtgar might be a mythical character and was created after the fact to establish a ruling dynasty for the Wihtwara, the Men of Wight.  It’s something that we might never know for certain. But...