Threads from "An Old English Tapestry"

Thinking about other developments, IIRC, it was the Normans who reintroduced stone fortifications to Britain. There have been experiments in heavy cavalry mentioned and what with troubles with the Scots and the Norse, perhaps the English look to refortifying their borders and key settlements on the coast.
 
Thinking about other developments, IIRC, it was the Normans who reintroduced stone fortifications to Britain. There have been experiments in heavy cavalry mentioned and what with troubles with the Scots and the Norse, perhaps the English look to refortifying their borders and key settlements on the coast.

Thankyou.
For sure. The burhs the English have been constructing in Cumberland, Lothian and elsewhere can be likened to 'castles' - some them will be upgraded into stone fortifications.

Apologies for the lack of updates. Bit under the weather. And I discovered that some of marriages were likely to fall within the prohibited degrees of kinship. Might get away with a sixth cousin but second and thirds are pushing it.
 
Thankyou.
For sure. The burhs the English have been constructing in Cumberland, Lothian and elsewhere can be likened to 'castles' - some them will be upgraded into stone fortifications.

Apologies for the lack of updates. Bit under the weather. And I discovered that some of marriages were likely to fall within the prohibited degrees of kinship. Might get away with a sixth cousin but second and thirds are pushing it.
Get well soon.
 
"The Great Chronicle" 1096
Extract from Merefin Swanton (ed.), The Great Chronicle Vol. 20: St Wæburh’s Recension, (Grantbridge: Grantbridge University Press, 2010).
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1096: In this year the king wore his crown and held his court in Winchester at Candlemas; then in Westminster for the Easter and the Pentecost and Lammas.

Here the blessed Wulfric[1] passed away on 23 January; the monks chose Osbeorht and King Edgar agreed. And on Palm Sunday Edward[2] passed away; he held for more than twenty years and is buried at his seat. The canons nominated one of their own, Hugh[3], and after much discussion he was consecrated by Archbishop Æthelmær on Low Sunday[4]. And here there came to Æthelmær a certain monk from St Albans, an Irishman, named Samuel; he bore a letter stating that upon the death of Donagh[5], of happy memory, Murierdach[6] and the clergy and people of Dublin had elected him bishop. On the Feast of St. Winewald[7], Samuel[8] was consecrated by Æthelmær, and sent back to the King and people of Dublin with letters of proof of consecration.

This year also, at Easter, there was a great stir throughout all this nation and in many other nations through Urban, who was called pope although he had nothing of the seat at Rome. And countless people, with women and children[9], set out because they wanted to war against heathen nations.

Here on the Feast of the Assumption[10] King Edgar travelled to the holy land with a great army[11]. And the king and those who travelled with him stayed in the Empire for the winter; but of the people who went by Hungary, many thousands perished miserably there and on the way, and many, pitiful and hunger-bitten, dragged home again against winter[12].

This was a very heavy year throughout all the English race, both through the heregeld[13] and also through a very grievous famine which very much afflicted this country in the year.


[1] Abbot of Winchester (New Minster) and succeeded in that office by the abbey’s sacristan.

[2] Bishop of London who died 6 April.

[3] Son of Albert the Lotharingian, a canon of St Pauls who was Queen Edith’s chaplain.

[4] 20 April.

[5] Donngus Ua hAingliu (d.22 November 1095), a former monk of Canterbury (Christ Church) who was Bishop of Dublin from August 1085 until his death of the plague.

[6] Muirchertach Ua Briain (c.1050-10 March 1119), King of Munster and later High King of Ireland.

[7] 27 April.

[8] Samuel Ua hAingliu (d.1121), was a nephew of the preceding bishop.

[9] Presumably the ‘people’s crusade’ led by Peter the Hermit (c.1050-1115).

[10] 15 August.

[11] Great is a slight exaggeration by the scribe. Recent estimates suggest between 2000 and 2500 troops and included the king’s second son Harold, Prince Rhys of Deheubarth and his son Goronwy, Bishop Osgood I of Rochester, Earl Harold I of Hereford, Edwin and Ælfgar of Mercia, Gyrth of Sussex, Ælfric of Essex, huscarls led by Toki of Wallingford and some 30 Cuthbertines led by Provost-General Hereward.

[12] Presumably the crusaders led by Count Emicho of Flonheim. The army led by King Edgar would also take this route.

[13] The army tax abolished in 1051 by King Edward III ‘the Confessor’ was reinstituted to support the army raised for the First Crusade.
 
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"The Great Chronicle" 1097/98
Extract from Merefin Swanton (ed.), The Great Chronicle Vol. 20: St Wæburh’s Recension, (Grantbridge: Grantbridge University Press, 2010).

_________________________________________________________________________________

1097: Here on the Feast of Candlemas Archbishop Sæman removed Benedict from Selby abbey; the monks chose Gamal the provost to be the new abbot[1].

Then after Michaelmas, on 4 October, a strange star appeared, shining in the evening and soon going to rest. It was seen in the south-west, and the ray that stood from it shining south-east seemed to be very long, and appeared in this way well-nigh the whole week. Many men considered it a comet.

Also in this same year, soon after Michaelmas, the æthelings Eadmund and Ethelred with English support[2] travelled into Scotland with an army, and won that land with a fierce fight and drove out Donalbane[3]; and there Eadmund, who was the second son of King Malcolm and the queen Margaret, was crowned king. And afterwards Sæman consecrated Cathróe as the new bishop for St. Andrews[4].

And following that, after Martinmas, Harold gedwæ and his companions did the most harm within the shires where they lay than a court ever ought to do in a land at peace[5]. This was a heavy year in all things, and over laborious in bad weather both when tilling should have been done and again when the produce should be gathered in, and in excessive taxes that never ceased.

And in this year at Christmas Baldwin, abbot in St Edmunds, passed away; the monks chose the sacristan Wulfred to be the new abbot[6].

Here King Edgar fought at Gvozd Mountain[7].



1098: Here in this year Æthelnoth passed away[8]; he held for three years less 14 days. The canons at St Peter’s chose Ordwulf and Ælmær[9] consecrated him on 1 July. Also in the summer of this year, in Berkshire at Finchampstead, a pool welled up blood, as many trustworthy men said who have seen it.

Also in this year, the head men[10] travelled into Wales with an army, and through some of the Welsh who came to them and were their guides, went deeply through that land with the army, and stayed there from midsummer well-nigh unto August; but there was no success in that, but the waste of money and the loss in men and horses[11].

Before Michaelmas the heaven appeared as if it were burning well-nigh all the night. This was a very laborious year through great rains which did not cease all the year; well-nigh all produce on marsh-land perished.

The English crusaders arrive at Antioch[12].


[1] Benedict deposed 2 February for over-stepping his authority by castrating two monks for theft. He died as a simple monk at Winchester (New Minster) in 1103. For further details of his deposition see: Æthelwold, History of Not So Recent Events, ed. Merefin Stanton (London: Writers and Readers Publications, 1930).

[2] The English army was led by the ætheling Æthelred and Earl Waltheof II of Huntington.

[3] King Donald III (c.1032-99), after being captured in October was blinded and imprisoned.

[4] The scribe has described events back to front; Sæman consecrated Cathróe prior to the invasion which allowed the new bishop to crown Eadmund king at Scone.

[5] Not long after 11 November, Harold Haroldson and his companions, while at New Romney waiting for gales to pass so they could commandeer a ship, committed various outrages that saw the death of two slaves.

[6] Abbot Baldwin of St Edmundsbury died 29 December.

[7] King Edgar and the crusader army assisted his kinsman King Coloman (c.1070-1116) of Hungary in his invasion of Croatia. Interpolation.

[8] Formerly archdeacon of Cornwall he succeeded to Exeter on the death of Bishop Robert 26 June 1095. Æthelnoth unknowingly found himself in the middle of a bloodfeud and was murdered 13 June in the churchyard at St Kew.

[9] Æthelmær I (1057-1120), archbishop of Canterbury.

[10] That is the æthelings Edmund, Edward and Æthelred.

[11] The scribe is only partially correct. The army may not have achieved its objectives in regard to Gwynedd but it did defeat a Norse incursion of Angelsey on 22 July. At the Battle of Menai Straits, King Magnus III ‘Barelegs’ (1073-1103) was forced to retreat with the loss of four of his six ships.

[12] King Edgar arrived in Antioch on 4 March bring crucially needed reinforcements (some 3500-4000 troops, mainly English but also Welsh, German and Hungarians) and supplies. Interpolation.
 
What would a Saxon England's relationship with the Eastern Roman Empire be like?
England was a historical contributor to the Varangian Guard along with Russia and Scandanavia up until the Conquest, where there was a big glut in exiles.
Maybe steadier contact and exchange of ideas? Perhaps the Saxon crusaders might hve scholars and ther agents in the court at Constantinople and contacts in the VG?
 
Random Page "New History of the First Crusade"
Extract from Kenneth Holt, A New History of the First Crusade, (Gloucester: Woodbridge Publishing, 1997).
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5. THE ROAD TO JAFFA

We have seen how the crusaders through a combination of good luck and astute leadership were able to exploit the disunity of Islamic forces to achieve their objective in successfully establishing the Kingdom of Jerusalem. However that very success meant that the crusading coalition was no longer held together by a common goal. The victory against Fatimid forces at First Battle of Ascalon (March 1099), which secured the Kingdom, was the signal for the tensions, suppressed for the most part until this point, to come roiling to the surface.

The most obvious tension was that between east and west and centred on the return, or rather non-return, of former Byzantine territory. A breach between the two was narrowly avoided after the capture of Antioch (April 1098). However the proposal to place Jerusalem under Latin secular and religious rulers following its capture in January 1099 saw the Byzantine forces under Tatikos depart even before the capture of Ascalon. This breach was detrimental to the long-term future of the crusader states for it removed the land bridge connecting the west to the Holy Land.

Another source of tension was the competing agendas amongst the leaders of the west. Some were for keeping their oaths to Alexius I Comnenus, others for breaking those oaths in their greed to carve out lordships for themselves. That greed had already seen a deadly skirmish take place between Flemings (Baldwin of Boulogne) and Normans (Tancred of Lecce) at Mamistra earlier in the crusade (October 1097). That greed, coupled with a desire for revenge and complicated by the various familial/political/religious loyalties, would result in a massive bloodletting of crusaders by crusaders.
 
Random Page 1 "The Road to Jaffa" (fiction)
Extract from the 2005 Commonwealth Book Prize winner: Frida Bulmer, The Road to Jaffa, (Nottingham: Raven Press, 2004).
_________________________________________________________________________

Edgar knew he was smiling like an idiot. He had been smiling like an idiot for the last two days. He couldn’t help it. And he knew he wasn’t alone. He glanced left and right at his companions. Both Prince Rhys and Count Stephen had the same smile plastered to their face. He looked behind him and saw the same smile on the faces of his son Harold and Bishop Osgood and Earl Harold. It was the smile of home. After more than three years he and the men he led, his fellow survivors, were going home.

Edgar knew the question would be asked, was it worth it? And the question when asked by Gunna or Edmund or Sæman wouldn’t be about liberating the Holy Land or righting the relationship with Rome, as worthwhile as those achievements were, but about him. And the answer was yes, a thousand times yes! He felt like his old self again. The doubt that had beset him since Greta’s death, the feeling that God had truly turned away from him, had vanished.

For sure a reckoning was still to be paid for Greta’s death – Edmund, Edward and Æthelred had made a start – but all in good time. Do as I say, not as I do. Yes, well, Edgar had done as Harold did, not said. He had allowed his emotions to rule his judgement, rushing into action and consequently making a grave mistake. He had survived but Harold paid the ultimate price at Hastings. Gunna and her brothers liked to rib him occasionally on what would have happened if Harold had survived… he didn’t like to think about it preferring to keep his memories of Harold teaching him to fly the hawk, to hunt, to ride untainted by idle speculation.

Edgar felt his foolish smile turning into an idiot grin at the thought of Gunna, of holding her, of loving her. Three years was too long-

“My lord king!”

Edgar snapped out of his woolgathering to look into the unsmiling face of the Cuthbertine Hereward, “Yes?”

“We have company lord.”

Edgar cursed himself and then his scouts. The thought of home had blunted their edge… but wait, those horsemen on the ridge were Franks, were fellow crusaders.

As if reading his thoughts Hereward said, “Normans.”

“But they left Jerusalem for home three months ago-”

“Kyrie, eleison, Christe, eleison. Kyrie eleison.”

Edgar became aware of Stephen’s words, “Blois, what is going on?”

“Lord king, I’m sorry. I was sworn to secrecy but I thought my presence here might stay their revenge-”

“What?”

“Lord, they’re charging.”

“Pater noster…”
 
As the life threads of my two favourite anglo-saxons (Edgar the Outlaw and Hereward ‘the Wake’ from OTL) have just been snipped, it is perhaps appropriate to announce this ATL is going on hiatus.

Yes, I mentioned that a family tree for Uhtred’s descendants was in preparation and an update on the general play in Europe being in the works – well, they still are (and hopefully will be the first order of business when this ATL resumes).

I still want to explore the reigns of the ‘Chesterfield Kings’.

And to cover the ‘gebróðor heaðu’ in more detail – I had an idea I might write out Æthelwold’s History of Not So Recent Events in full but I think the introduction (see post #60) may have oversold my abilities to deliver.

Wyrd bið ful aræd.
 
Edmund VI ‘of Oxford’ 3 Oct 1483 S 63
What does the by-name symbolize here, birth place? Oh and I'm quite curious about Edwin II, no epithet, but an excruciatingly long-reign. And not many descendants named after him, was he an exemplary monarch?

king’s third son Harold, Prince Rhys of Deheubarth and his son Goronwy, Bishop Osgood I of Rochester, Earl Harold I of Hereford, Edwin and Ælfgar of Mercia, Gyrth of Sussex, Ælfric of Essex
I'm also curious about Edgar's attitude toward the Godwin, no fear of their power, retention and landed Harold (son of Harold?) in Hereford, even naming his son after Harold? I mean after all, Harold technically "stole" the throne from him, and the whole Godwinson family had really shady dealings in the past for their own benefit.
 
Thankyou for the questions.

What does the by-name symbolize here, birth place? Oh and I'm quite curious about Edwin II, no epithet, but an excruciatingly long-reign. And not many descendants named after him, was he an exemplary monarch?

Yes it does mean his birth place.
Edwin II, like Edgar II (and IMO, Æthelstan I), probably should have the epithet ‘the Great’ but they don’t because of Alfred… even though they were, arguably, greater kings.
The regnal list had six kings named Edwin. More information on Edwin II will appear at some point.

I'm also curious about Edgar's attitude toward the Godwin, no fear of their power, retention and landed Harold (son of Harold?) in Hereford, even naming his son after Harold? I mean after all, Harold technically "stole" the throne from him, and the whole Godwinson family had really shady dealings in the past for their own benefit.

Edgar II is married to Gunnhild, one of Harold II daughters. Her full brothers are all loyal stalwarts of Edgar – mainly because they weren’t at the Battle of Wolverton which changed the political landscape limiting their potential for mischief. One of their half-brothers OTOH…
And Earl Harold I of Hereford is the son of Earl Ralph I (d.1057) and thus Edgar’s second cousin.
 
The regnal list had six kings named Edwin. More information on Edwin II will appear at some point.
Ah sorry I missed that!! Too focused on the Chesterfield cadet branch vs Wilfred (also an unusual name for a Wessex aethling, excuse my keyboard)

Edwin II, like Edgar II (and IMO, Æthelstan I), probably should have the epithet ‘the Great’ but they don’t because of Alfred… even though they were, arguably, greater kings.

Thought Ethelstan was nicknamed "the Glorious" or something, and Edmund was "the Magnificent"? Seemed like much better epithets than "the Great" to me.
 
WARNING: Contains a large amount of drivel – you may want to skip the first two thirds of the post!

Did I “hit the wall”?
Maybe.
Did I consider junking this and starting again? Many times.
Why? In a word err… two words: Unrealistic expectations.
How so? I hesitate to say how long I’ve been collecting info on this TL but new things keep coming to light – for example the death of the abbot of Athelney mentioned in The Great Chronicle for 1071 – no idea of who he was (or when he died) so I chose a name at random. Couple of months after posting I was reading a charter and said abbot was named. What’s more it was confirmed later in a secondary source. Always good to learn something new but after I posted?
Or errors – I never noticed that I mistakenly wrote Harold was Edgar II’s third son until @Black Prince of Britannia quoted part of that post on an unrelated question (and there’s another thing I somehow missed, Athelstan was ‘the Glorious’. Thankyou BTW, always good to learn something new!). OK, both those examples are minor and ultimately have no effect on the narrative (Hah – what narrative?) but they get inside your head… And don’t get me started on dropping the ball on language and spelling.

But I will press on and as promised @Some Bloke here is taster on The Edulfings. Hopefully if you click on the images they will miraculously enlarge so they are readable. And just on the family tree, space was limited so position on the tree does not necessarily reflect order of birth. And some info is missing, which on most branches are the wives and/or daughters, for example Ealdred II had five daughters (including two named Ælfflæda) but I’ve only mentioned three. Or that the ‘high reeve’ of Bamburgh is actually shorthand for high reeve and ealdorman. And the Lords of Spofford were ultimately a best guess scenario in reconciling conflicting info on that particular branch. Actually ‘best guess scenario’ applies to a couple of branches.

Wyrd bið ful aræd.
 
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