Month: January 2016

190 – House (of Wessex): Everybody Lies

on By 2 Comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This episode is going to be a bit different from most, because I’m going to be addressing something which has been bugging me about the 800s, and Wessex in particular. I feel like I haven’t done a good job pointing something out. So I’m going to explain something crucial about the house of Wessex and Alfred the Great that most of you – unless you have a PhD in Anglo-Saxon history or obsessively read dense scholarly books on this era – will have never heard before.

Sign up for membership to read the full transcript.

Support the Show

189 – What on earth is an English

on By 1 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This episode is going to be a little different from most episodes. We’re going to break from the main story briefly and talk in larger terms about what is going on in Eastern Britain, because I realized that my slavish attention to the main storyline has probably allowed you to miss something truly astounding. And really, it’s hard to see unless you are given an overview that highlights it. But it’s really important for understanding what is happening on the island, what will continue to happen, and why these people are doing what they’re doing.

Sign up for membership to read the full transcript.

Support the Show

188 – Rebellion and Succession in the Kingdom of Wessex

on By

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Before we begin, I’d like to address something from our last episode. I told you about reports of Vikingr armies marching around the countryside near the Wrekin. I offered a variety of methods of reaching the Wrekin, all of which would have involved quite a bit of work. However, as some of you have noted on Facebook and Twitter, I left out the possibility that they may have gone up the River Severn. And I have no excuse for this one, I completely forgot the Severn. I don’t know why, but I did. I’m human, sometimes errors happen and all I can do is make a correction in the subsequent episode. So yeah, those Vikingrs patrolling the Wrekin may have sailed all the way around Wessex and Cornwall, or sailed through the Irish sea, past Wales, and then rowed up the Severn. That would certainly get them much closer to the Wrekin than, say, landing in East Anglia and marching. So fair point. We aren’t given details of how they got there, but that is definitely a possibility.

Sign up for membership to read the full transcript.

Support the Show

187 – The Queen of Wessex: aka The Worst Midlife Crisis Ever

on By 2 Comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

It’s Christmas day 854. King AEthelweard of East Anglia, a king who we know almost nothing about, is dead. The only evidence we really have that he was alive in the first place are his coins, and this is likely due to the fact that, throughout the Viking Age, succeeding bands of Scandinavian pyromaniacs destroyed the East Anglian written records. But coins don’t burn all that well, so at least we have that.

Sign up for membership to read the full transcript.

Support the Show