The History Thread

[Alistair20000]

I hope this thread fares better than the Poetry thread I stated some years ago. It was not a success

 

[iscalad]

I hope this thread fares better than the Poetry thread I stated some years ago. It was not a success

Didn't rhyme with me.

 

[Billy The Fish]

I hope this thread fares better than the Poetry thread I stated some years ago. It was not a success

Roses are red
Violets are blue
The poetry thread
Was a bit of a flop

 

[Spoonz Red E]

Roses are red
Violets are blue
The poetry thread
Was a bit of a flop

'That doesn't rhyme' said the dog
But the cat disagreed with the mog,
Explaining that 'that'
Does indeed rhyme with 'cat'.
And the canine was now all agog.

 

[lamrobhero]

Okehampton Town was founded in the valley by the Normans. The church is on a hill away from the town. Presumably where a Saxon settlement was.
Similarly Pinhoe Church is on a hill away from the modern village. Presumably where a Saxon setttlement was ? The current church is almost entirely 15th Century. Two of my relatives were baptised there. Hoskins says the bowl of the font is almost certainly Norman but the lower half may be Anglo Saxon.

 

[Phil Sayers]

There was considerable regional variation. Some towns were immediately abandoned following the Roman exit whereas others (e.g Gloucester) continued to maintain the Roman infrastructure for over a century more until they fell to Saxon conquest. As said previously, the Britons (and later the Saxons) did not have the ability to contine to maintain them - an ancient form of brain drain.

In other places though they made no effort at all to keep Roman infrastructure going in an almost unique scenario - people consciously deciding to revert to a more 'primitive' life style than the 'civilisation' that their parents had enjoyed

 

[haka]

As mentioned above, David Mitchell's book is an enjoyable overview on this, if (like me) you don't want history to feel like homework (too many bad school memories!).

DM also reminds us that Arthur didn't actually exist at all, not even a Cornish version of him. Invented by Hollywood* in the Middle Ages.

(*C+ ... did not finish homework).

 

[Banksy]

Good idea for a thread , really love history. Unfortunately , I’m having to part with a lot of my books now we’re moving as I won’t have room for them in our new set up.One subject I’m really interested in is the American Civil War, sadly a lot of those had to go .Still my favourite charity shops have done well out of it !

 

[fred binneys head]

I was never interested in history at school but the older I've got the more interested I've become. Particular interests are Israel / Palestine, Native Americans and Nazi Germany. But I'm enjoying reading the early posts on this thread about the Romans, Saxons, etc.

 

[Billy The Fish]

Of all the invaders and settlers arriving from North West Europe during the Dark Ages one particular group, the Franks, were renowned for being plain spoken and blunt. From that the phrases " to be frank", "frankly speaking" and the like have endured to this day making them some of the oldest phrases still in everyday use in the English language.