A Chronological History of Britain
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Ok, so we ended our last episode with the death of King Ceolred at a banquet. And he went out swinging… or at least gibbering and cursing the heavens. Let’s face it, Ceolred was a colorful character and really brought his A game right until the end. I mean, you really have to work hard to completely destroy Penda’s dynasty.
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Ok, so recently we’ve chatted about some cultural matters and I’ve also given you a broad overview of the failed dynastic politics of Northumbria and where this is all headed. But we really didn’t cover too much of what was going on elsewhere. We hinted at it, but I’m sure you’re curious about the other heavy hitter in England. Mercia. As Northumbria lost steam faster than a boy band approaching its 30’s… Were the Mercians going through a similar collapse?
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Often times, the way the Middle Ages are presented, are as an era where everyone was lily white and a time when men were men and women were women. A time of hyper masculinity where all the guys were muscle bound warriors with big bushy beards and a bone structure that makes them look like extras from Clan of the Cave Bear.
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Now today is going to be a little complex. But if you keep the theme in mind, you should be largely ok… and that theme is the bloody dynastic politics in the midlands and the north are getting completely out of hand. And Wilfrid is Wilfrid.
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Ok, when we left off, Bishop Wilfrid was jilted out of the Archbishopric of Canterbury, and instead Abbot Beorhtwald became Archbishop Beorhtwald. So Wilfrid readjusted and made an attempt to reunify the Bishopric of York and then head it up. But King Aldfrith didn’t agree and, presumably because the Wilfrid wouldn’t let it drop, he banished Wilfrid out of Northumbria. And then, when Wilfrid fled to Mercia and became the Bishop of the Middle Angles, King Aldfrith reclaimed the lands at Ripon which were once held by Wilfrid.
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Today’s episode will take place in the turbulent years from 686 to 692 and the main characters will be…
Aldfrith – King of Mercia, son of Oswiu, brother of Ecgfrith, and scholarly dude.
Wilfrid – Former Bishop of York, friend of the terrifying pagan king Caedwalla, and man you really don’t want to cross.
and Aethelred – King of Mercia, son of Penda, brother of Wulfhere, and (despite his rather pious upbringing) he really was his father’s son.
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This episode will roughly cover the eventful years between 685 and 689.
The main characters today will be two kings, two wannabe kings, and a bishop… here we go:
First we have King Aldfrith of Northumbria – He was the brother of the slain King Ecgfrith and also the son of King Oswiu, and he was ruling over Northumbria.
Then we have King Hlothere of Kent – He was the brother of Ecgberht, who was the former King of Kent.
And we’ll also be talking about Eadric – who was the son of King Ecgbert of Kent, and was also the nephew of King Hlothere. So he was a claimant to the throne… but you’ll note that he’s not a King.
And then we have Caedwalla – Who was the exiled son of a former King of Wessex and also a staunch Pagan.
and finally we have Bishop Wilfrid – Yep… he’s back. He was the former Bishop of Northumbria, the same guy who got involved in Northumbrian politics and even had his own army, and then when it didn’t work out he went and complained to the Pope , and despite having the Pope on his side, he still found himself imprisoned and then exiled. Apparently he also got into a fight to the death with some of the southern English after a shipwreck… this guy had a hell of an eventful life. And currently, he’s operating in the south and is rather grouchy with the Archbishop of Canterbury for not backing him up when he started throwing elbows in Northumbria.
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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.