Episode Five – The King’s Peace and Justice; 1153-93: When Henry Plantagenet returned to England again at the start of 1153, bringing only a small army of mercenaries financed with borrowed money, he relied on the forces of Hugh Bigod and Ranulf of Chester. The churchmen who met him on the Hampshire coast also emphasisedContinue reading “The Bloodied Sword, the Precious Pearl and the Black Cross; Chronicles of the Royal House of Wessex – V”
Tag Archives: Malcolm III (Canmore)
The Bloodied Sword, the Precious Pearl and the Black Cross; Chronicles of the Royal House of Wessex – IV.
Episode Four: Scotland & England, 1093-1153 Scene Thirty-Nine – Dunfermline and Edinburgh, 1093; The Deaths of Malcolm and Margaret: In 1092, the peace agreement between Rufus and Malcolm signed five years earlier, broke down due to the building of another new castle by the Normans at Carlisle, even though the Scots claimed and controlled mostContinue reading “The Bloodied Sword, the Precious Pearl and the Black Cross; Chronicles of the Royal House of Wessex – IV.”
The Bloodied Sword, the Precious Pearl and the Black Cross; Chronicles of the Royal House of Wessex – III.
Episode Three – Rebels and Outlaws Scene Thirty; 1070-71 – The Legendary Outlaws of the Fens: Many of the stories of Hereward the Outlaw that follow these events were written down several generations after his own day, by which time they had already followed a legendary turn of phrase. But the twelfth-century Gesta Herewardi containsContinue reading “The Bloodied Sword, the Precious Pearl and the Black Cross; Chronicles of the Royal House of Wessex – III.”
The Bloodied Sword, the Precious Pearl and the Black Cross; Chronicles of the Royal House of Wessex – II.
Episode Two: Conquest, Flight and Resistance, 1066-70 Scene Twenty; 1066 – The Norman Invasion: After Hardrada’s defeat at Stamford Bridge, Harold was holding a celebratory feast at York, when news arrived of the Norman landing on the beach at Pevensey, 270 miles away. Harold’s army made the journey in under a fortnight, while Harold, onContinue reading “The Bloodied Sword, the Precious Pearl and the Black Cross; Chronicles of the Royal House of Wessex – II.”
The Mysterious Magyar Origins of Margaret of Wessex, Hungary and Scotland
As all Scots know, 30th November is St Andrew’s Day, their ‘patron saint’. However, few people in Scotland, England and Hungary will know that the 17th November is the day when the Church commemorates the saint who links all three countries. Margaret was born in Hungary, the daughter of the exiled rightful heir to theContinue reading “The Mysterious Magyar Origins of Margaret of Wessex, Hungary and Scotland”
The End of Saxon England? Revisiting the Norman Conquest: Chapter I – The Confessor, the Conqueror & the House of Wessex, 1035-1135
The Tragedy of Harold Godwinson: The story of the Norman ‘takeover’ of England has been told very often, most vividly in one of the earliest accounts in the form of Queen Matilda’s tapestry, still kept in Bayeux, which gives it the name it is better known by. French legend maintained the tapestry was commissioned andContinue reading “The End of Saxon England? Revisiting the Norman Conquest: Chapter I – The Confessor, the Conqueror & the House of Wessex, 1035-1135”
Unifying the Kingdoms of Britain: The Kings of Wessex & The Birth of England, 871-1031.
Chaos in Christendom: From the late ninth century until the mid-eleventh century in Europe, internal and external problems steadily weakened western Christendom. The Carolingian Empire had fragmented; no major military power existed in the West. The continued attacks of Muslims from the south, a new wave of attackers from central Asia, the Magyars (Hungarians) andContinue reading “Unifying the Kingdoms of Britain: The Kings of Wessex & The Birth of England, 871-1031.”
Andrew James 