A Chronological History of Britain
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Alright, so last week we talked about how uneven and confused the conversion of Britain was. And how the beliefs of one village might not bare all that much similarity to the beliefs of another village even though they both might profess to worship the same god.
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Today we’re going to cover the crazy environment that early Christian converts found themselves in during the Dark Ages, and some of the bizarre notions they might have gotten regarding their religion thanks to poor access, education, and stubborn attachment to old pagan traditions.
Also: we learn why mothers don’t stuff their feverish daughters into ovens anymore. Seriously, that’s something they used to do.
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This episode will cover the years 678 to 685 and its major characters will be…
King Ecgfrith of Northumbria, the man who brought down Wulfhere, was wielding supreme power in Northumbria and was arguably exercising quite a bit of power south of the Humber as well.
King AEthelred of Mercia, son of Penda and brother of Wulfhere. And a frighteningly savvy King, quite possibly the most like his father out of all of the sons of Penda. And he has been busy securing his religious flank while also working hard to secure his border territories.
King Bridei of Pictland, the cousin of King Ecgfrith… and frankly, he probably owed his throne to Ecgfrith’s military intervention.
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Today we’re going to cover the eventful years of 675 to 678, and our main characters will be…
King Wulfhere of Mercia, Son of Penda and tough guy with a bloodied lip.
King Ecgfrith of Northumbria, Son of Oswiu and guy who bloodied Wulfhere’s lip.
And Bishop Wilfrid… the Northumbrian Bishop who was a key player in converting Northumbria to Roman Catholicism and also a key player in keeping King Ecgfrith childless. A remarkably stupid move for someone who was reported to be intelligent.
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This episode covers the years 670 to 685.
The main characters are:
King Ecgfrith of Northumbria – son of Oswiu, former hostage of the Mercians, and generally tough dude.
King Wulfhere of Mercia – son of Penda, veteran warrior, and leader of a growing southern Hegemony.
Queen AEthelthryth of Northumbria – Queen of Ecgfrith’s, unhappy wife, and aspiring nun.
Bishop Wilfrid – The most powerful man in the Northern Clergy
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To start with, we have nine praise poems that tell us of a mighty king of Rheged named Urien, who reigned in the 580’s and 590’s. Urien was no slouch and from the records, it appears that his kingdom stretched all the way to the Solway and he was also given the title of “Defender of Aeon” or Ayrshire… so we’re talking about a king who controlled an enormous stretch of land that included territories on both sides of the Wall.
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This episode will cover the years 506 to 584 and will focus primarily upon:
King Brude (also known as King Bridie), the King the the Northern Picts … also referred to as King of Fortriu
and St. Columba, the man credited with converting the Northern Picts… and lesser known monster expert.
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So we will begin the account of what was going on with the Picts following the withdrawal of Rome with a rather discouraging fact… isn’t it nice when I can start an episode on an up note? In the Group A version of the Pictish Chronicle there are only 3 Pictish Kings before Kenneth MacAlpin who had any of their deeds recorded. Just three.
