bunn | Entries tagged with saxons

Once upon a time, JRR Tolkien wrote a fairy-tale retelling, an attempt to reconstruct an alternative version of the ancient poem called Beowulf*, and he called it Sellic Spell: 'strange tale' or 'wondrous tale'.

Once upon a time, on the long road home from the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf travelled with Beorn to his home and spent the winter with him before they crossed the mountains. On a winter's night while the snow fell, Beorn told a tale of his forebears.

The Wondrous Tale of the Bee-Wolf (8635 words, gen)

* flavoured with a 'foundling in a bear cave' plot device from Hrólfs saga kraka.

I decided I'd like to practice a sort of portrait / still life type painting, and so* I painted an old lady preparing to practice the charm Wið færstice 'against a sudden stabbing pain'. It's a bit of a mish-mash of ideas : her clothes and beads and knife are from Anglo-saxon Wessex, I think, but the bottle, candle and the glass globe full of melted butter are clearly more or less modern. I think the cat could be from any period. There's no dating cats. She also has feverfew, red deadnettle and some plantain plants, though you can't see them very clearly through the steam.

*I'm aware this is a non sequitur but I'm hoping if I type it really fast you won't notice

I was just reading this interesting blog about possible origins of the place name Teversham, and came across this quote from Eilert Ekwall:

Old English tīefran ['to paint'] corresponds to German zauburn, Dutch tooveren 'to practice sorcery', and Old English tēafor 'red pigment' to Old High German zoubar, Old Frisian tāver, Old Norse taufr, 'sorcery'.

I had come across the idea that pagan Saxon magic involved singing before, but this was the first time I'd come across the idea of sorcerous Saxon painting.

I was reminded of the magical painting in Over Sea, Under Stone: "He has painted his spells!" Now I want to use this idea in a story.

"The justice of a consecrated king is that he condemn no man [unjustly?]* ; and that he defend and protect widows and orphans and foreigners; and forbid theft; and correct adulteries; and separate those who commit incest; and completely forbid witches; destroy spells; drive kin-murderers and perjurers out of the country; feed the needy with alms; have the old and wise and temperate as his counsellors; and appoint righteous men as officers; because, whatever they do unjustly by means of his might, he must give a reckoning on judgement day for all of it."

(Coronation oath for either Edward the Martyr (r. 975-978) or Æthelred II (r. 978-1016) )
http://www.earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk/laws/texts/sacr-cor/view/#edition,1/translation,1

*one would really hope.

Just came across this news story from March.

"Scientists recreated a 9th Century Anglo-Saxon remedy using onion, garlic and part of a cow's stomach.

They were "astonished" to find it almost completely wiped out methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, otherwise known as MRSA.

Their findings will be presented at a national microbiology conference."

Go, Bald! Onion, garlic and cow's stomach, eh? And early practitioner of the scientific method? Well, I suppose modern science is woefully lacking in techniques to deal with all those problems caused by malevolent elves, for a start.

Well, OK, hurray Saxons, hurray Vikings. But why does it all have to be so *muddy* ? Here we are at the tragic end as Northumbria's Golden Age finally ends in fire, can we not have some leftover bling? Or at least some nice embroidery? Silk hangings? The odd fancy woodcarving, or some nice trim around a tunic at least? Even the box of treasure looked kind of manky, and for some mysterious reason, even though we were clearly around for several years of Uhtred's growing up, everything took place in late autumn, so there wasn't even much colour to the grass or trees. :-(

I suppose fancy objects are expensive. But I still have my fingers crossed that there will be a bit less mud in Wessex. At least outside of the Somerset marshes.

Here is a thing I painted.

( Read more... )

( Preparing to weave the crimson gown )

Photo borrowed from this article about Anglo Saxon Churches.

And a quote from lower down *the same page as this photo* - and phrased, I thought, somewhat emphatically given that it is talking about a period over a thousand years ago, where the vast majority of the buildings that were standing then, are standing no longer.

"there are NO pointed arches from the Anglo-Saxon and Norman periods: they simply did not exist."

The reason I found this article was that I was trying to work out why all the descriptions of early Anglo Saxon houses are emphatic that they had no windows. I still can't figure this out. OK, no window glass. But lack of glass surely does not mean lack of windows. So far as I can see, all the evidence of Anglo Saxon houses that exists is pretty much holes with post-holes in them, and clearly they did know about windows in churches...

I looked at a bunch of reconstructions. So far, all the ones I've found either have very dodgy-looking walls, so that lots of light comes through the chinks (brrr!) or they have left half a wall off so that people inside can see what they are doing. Neither of these strike me as likely solutions. A 'weaving-shed' where you can't actually see your loom seems impractical.

( Cut for painting )

I may have a go at this : http://bmagblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/staffordshire-hoard-challenge-for-museum-cake-day/ The idea is basically that you make a cake in the form of / inspired by the Staffordshire Hoard - that is the huge Anglo Saxon hoard from 7-8th century Mercia that turned up a few years ago - and then tweet or Facebook it to them by June 19th.

I reckon I could do quite a good Dave the Silver Gilded Pommel Cap, in chocolate fudge, although it's rather tempting to try to recreate an entire object that the odds and ends found in the hoard would originally have belonged to. In cake. I don't think I could work in biscuit. Too crumbly. :-D

Kathleen Herbert wrote a selection of fascinating academic books about interesting topics - Women in Early English Society, Lost Gods of England, English Heroic Legends. All of these are topics where the available evidence is, like the books, a bit slim, but she packs what information there is in and they make a nice change from the usual endless ecclesiastical stuff that fills books about Anglo Saxon England.

So, when I discovered she had also written some historical novels set in seventh century Northumbria and Mercia, I was really keen to read them. These are : Queen of the Lightning, and the sequel, Ghost in the Sunlight.
( Apparently I had a very great deal to say about these rather obscure books. )

"Ecgfrith sent an army under his general, Berht, to Ireland in 684 where he ravaged the plain of Brega, destroying churches and taking hostages. The raid may have been intended to discourage support for any claim Aldfrith might have to the throne, though other motives are possible.

Ecgfrith's two marriages—the first to the saintly virgin Æthelthryth (Saint Audrey), the second to Eormenburh—produced no children" (Wikipedia)

1) a general called Bert! Bert the warrior! Bert the slayer! All hail Bert!
(That little h really makes all the difference).

2) 'Other motives are possible'. I love that. Stag weekend that got out of hand...? I Know I Put My Keys Down Here Somewhere?

3) Only in one period does someone called Ecgfrith marry someone called Aethelthryth and we are expected to be able to untangle them. Maybe Bert's parents chose his name because they were reacting against the whole 'tongue in celtic knots*' problem. Also, wikipedia thinks Oswy had two sons, one called Aldfrith and one called Alhfrith. If this is true, it just seems like asking for trouble.

*perhaps more appropriately, Northumbrian Renaissance knots, but nobody ever says this.

Words : 7974
Taking off point: Rosemary Sutcliff's The Lantern Bearers
Written for sutcliff_swap 2012

Flavia, brought up in the last lingering light of Roman Britain, was carried off from her burning home by a 'laughing giant' of a Saxon, in a raid during which her father and friends were brutally killed. Three years later, her brother found her again - married, and with a child by that same 'laughing giant'. Given the chance to escape back to the remnant of Roman Britain with her brother and her child, she chose to stay with her husband rather than go with her brother. This story explores what those years were like for Flavia, and how she came to make that choice.

Although there is a threat of rape in this story, it's not graphically violent. Contains suicidal thoughts, Christianity, culture clash, Anglian pagan religion, magic.

Many thanks to carmarthen, inzilbeth_liz and particularly seascribe for beta reading and brainstorming help.

------------------------------------------------------------

Flavia had been waiting for the end of the world all her life. They all knew it was coming. This year, next year, in three years time perhaps - the Saxon tide would sweep in and carry away the beloved little farm on the Downs, like a sandcastle in a wave.

( Read more... )

( Historical notes & Witterings )

Current Mood: cheerful

Someone or other -

ladyofastolat possibly? I think posted a rantlet a while ago about how in fiction people are constantly noticing each other's eye colours, when most eyes are undistinctive. And I said, I think, that I did tend to notice people's eyes, but ever since then I've felt slightly insecure about it, as if maybe I didn't notice people's eyes really, but somehow think I do.
( But I DID notice them! I did! )

In other news, Footie cat has conjunctivitis and needs eye drops. I really don't think I'm going to be able to do them singlehanded. I did them once by surprising him, but he's wise to me now. :-/

Current Mood: surprised

Does anyone have any idea how long it would take to sail from the Solent to Thanet? I do not mind about the tides, can adjust them to whatever is handy. It's summer time, and there is a fair bit of wind.

The ship would be a smallish one, and I am assuming for the moment that the sailors are in something of a hurry, and therefore may employ both sail and oars at least to get offshort in a hurry. Oh yes, and they are Saxons. :-D

I am assuming that Saxon ships did have sails, because I think the argument they didn't is more than a bit weak, although I'm guessing very likely they would be restricted in their ability to tack or sail close to the wind.

( I have been meaning to carve a Saxon dragon-ship figurehead for approximately 20 years now, and I still have not done it. Maybe one day...)