"The history of the United Kingdom that you have come to love or hate"

[geetrue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oberon
England has a history of bloody war and conquest, primarily conquest OF England by its neighbours (little wonder that when we finally stopped being invaded we spent the rest of our history invading everyone else). First the Romans, then the Angles and the Saxons, then the Vikings, then the Normans, and then when we got bored of that we had several civil wars, played with republicanism, split from the Pope and went on to become an industrial powerhouse before being thoroughly economically thrashed in two world wars.

The period before the Norman invasion, the death of 'the old ways' and the coming of Christianity, the fight for Brytenwalda. It's quite a fascinating era, one that I've barely scratched the surface of it. Lots of old relics from the era around here though, there's an Anglo-Saxon cemetary complete with burial ship just down the road from here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Hoo) and where I lived when I first moved up here was said to be just across the river from where Boudica made camp on her way south from Iceni territory to sack Camulodunum.

I must admit, that is one thing I do feel sorry for chaps in the US for, a dearth of historical sites and buildings, not that there aren't any, but they are all clustered in a specific era.

I didn't mean to go fishing on someone else's thread, but this subject is so
interesting ... I will start another thread called, "The history of the United Kingdom that you have come to love or hate"

Come on over ... you too Steve

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>

The history channel got me started the other night with a show about Saxon's gold ...

a whole field of gold that some farmer found with a metal detector. It was really a good show too, but I had to look up Saxon and what I found was horrible about the history of poor England and that was just the start of their woes of course.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxons

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by geetrue

you too Steve

My family name is Saxon. No, my last name is not "Saxon". Bradfield comes from Brodfeld, which goes way back. I happen to be a big fan of English history, spanning a little bit of all the periods.

[Tchocky]

My last name is as English as you can get, but where my ancestry isn't fully Irish it's Scottish.

[TarJak]

The part of British history I find fascinating is the period between the end of the Roman occupation, (even that is not really well understood), and the period known as the Middle Ages.

There is still a lot of speculation over whether there ever really was a Saxon "Invasion" largely because of the lack of evidence of widespread fighting during that period. Sure there are battle sites that have been found but certainly nothing that would indicate a widespread invasion.

The lack of written records from that period, just make it all the more difficult to get a handle on what Britain was really like during that time.

I've also keen on the pre-Roman period, who were the builders of Stonehenge and other monuments that predate the Romans?

[Oberon]

Latest word on Stonehenge seems to indicate that the builders came from all over the country for the event. Must have been quite a thing to be able to draw people from as far as Scotland, which would have been several days travel in those times (if not longer).

In regards to my heritage, I think there's a bit of English in me somewhere, certainly from first generation, but when you get back to about the seventh or eighth generation, things get complicated and go continental.
Scotland on the other hand, I owe my surname and a good portion of my fathers side of the family to. Somewhere in there is said to be Vikings, Romanians, Hungarians and Lithuanians too.

Oh, and in regards to what I said in the other thread, Steve, I meant more in terms of medieval era history and Roman era, the grand architectures of the era. However, you have got some beautiful Victorian/Edwardian era buildings that are wonderful to look at, and plenty of history from the original natives. I must admit I didn't know that about the Iroquois, I knew they were advanced and getting more so by the decade but I didn't realise that they'd settled enough to develop their own consitution and Federation. I suppose the influence the British and French had on their during our vying for power would have helped. You certainly hold the trump cards for beautiful geological sites though. Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls (well, some of them), the Rockies.

[TarJak]

The why is the big question and how did the cooperation come about from what would have essentially been a fairly tribal culture as opposed to a centrally governed one.

My surname is from oop North of England not too far from Jim's place. There are two very small villages with our surname near Hexam to the West of Newcastle. Our branch of the family came to Australia via New Zealand and Ireland. But then other parts of my family are from all over the British Isles including Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. Going back far enough I'm sure there are continental connections with the Saxons and Normans as well.

[Jimbuna]

My family name originates from Scotland of all places as does a large portion of my family.

Looking back over the centuries the British Isles was settled by a very wide and diverse collection of differing cultures but I don't think events become all that clear until the Norman period.

[AVGWarhawk]

As odd ball as it sounds, the time of the Black Death is of interest to me. Although it originated in the China and covered most of Europe and the UK, what is known about it and how it affected life over the entire region is very interesting.

[Bilge_Rat]

Originally Posted by TarJak

There is still a lot of speculation over whether there ever really was a Saxon "Invasion" largely because of the lack of evidence of widespread fighting during that period. Sure there are battle sites that have been found but certainly nothing that would indicate a widespread invasion.

I always understood that it was not an invasion as such, but part of a western migration over centuries. What is clear is that the original celtic inhabitants gradually got pushed farther and farther west into Wales and Cornwall.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migration_Period

of course, what is interesting is what role the Huns played in all this. Some have theorized that the western movement by the Huns triggered the Great Migration, but that seems too neat an explanation for me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huns

[Sailor Steve]

I've been reading a short history of Medieval Europe, and that's one of the subjects discussed. Nobody seems to know what triggered the Ostrogoth migration into Visigoth territory, which in turn forced the Visigoths into Roman lands. The best guess anybody had was a mini-ice age up north, which forced normally peaceful nomadic tribes ("The Huns") to move in on the Ostrogoths.

The Visigoths ended up destitute and begging the Romans for help. The emperor Valens saw this as an opportunity to gain new citizens, so he sent them supplies and food, which the local generals promptly tried to charge them for. The Goths rebelled at this treatment, and a war came about. The Visigoths won the battle of Adrianople, killing Valens and destroying his army. The Visigoths then started charging Rome protection money, and finally sacked the city. They were smart, however, and knew that if they destroyed Rome entirely there would be no one to demand tribute from, so the left after three days and let Rome rebuild.

For this the Goths get a false reputation as looters and pillagers, much like the Vandals who came later.

[nikimcbee]

originates from Scotland of all places

I knew it!

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

I knew it!

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

What happens if Kratos finds out?

Your secret if safe with me Jim.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

What happens if Kratos finds out?

Your secret if safe with me Jim.

Kratos looks good in a kilt...I don't

[swamprat69er]

My family name dates way back to 400 AD and Nial of Nine Hostages, (O'Neil). I am not an O'Neil. My family has always been either doctors or teachers, and they doctored for the O'Neils at that time. My mothers' family came from Nottingham, UK.