Category: The Dark Ages

Learn about the rise of England, Scotland, and Wales in episodes of the British History Podcast that cover the so-called Dark Ages.

137 – Preaching in the Dark Ages

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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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136 – The Power of Mercia

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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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135 – A Reshuffling of Power

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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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134 – The Power of Northumbria

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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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133 – Scotcast: Part Ten

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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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132 – Scotcast Part Nine: St. Columba and King Brude

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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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131 – Scotcast Part Eight

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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.

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129 – The Life of King Wulfhere

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About a year and a half ago I did a series on the Staffordshire hoard. And talking with the experts and viewing the relics was easily one of my favorite moments from the entire experience of putting together the BHP. As you might remember, the hoard was found in Mercia and it is dated to roughly around the era that we’re talking about right now. In fact, I would be willing to wager that for most of you, the first time you heard the name “Wulfhere” was during those episodes. Because it’s possible that the Hoard had some level of connection to him, and it might have actually been his.

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128 – The End of King Oswiu’s Hegemony

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The episode covers 664 to 670 and the major characters are…

King Oswiu, ruler of Northumbria, son of AEthelfrith, and all around terrifying fellow

King Alhfrith of Deira, Oswiu’s son and one of his probable rivals

Wilfrid, abbott of Ripon, guy who argued for Rome at Whitby, and all around ambitious guy.

and King Wulfhere, ruler of Mercia and son of Penda.

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127 – The Synod of Whitby

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The major players for today will be Hild (who was the daughter of King Edwin’s nephew, Hereric), King Oswiu of Bernicia, Bishop Colman of Lindisfarne, Wilfred the abbot of Ripon, and Bishop Cedd. And they will be, ostensibly, arguing over Easter.

See? Once again, we’ve got Easter causing trouble in Britain. Cadburys chocolate can’t come soon enough. This is getting out of hand.

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