The British History Podcast

Return of the Pub Quiz! The Wales edition!

Return of the Pub Quiz! The Wales edition!

It has been nearly two hundred years since Rome withdrew from Britannia setting this small island at the edge of the world on a course that could not have been predicted. Over the generations, a new culture has developed in the lands that will one day become England, and with that new culture came new gods. Gods with famous names like Thunor and Woden. Gods of war and death, to match the warrior society that now ruled over eastern Britannia. But while the Anglo Saxons were finding a new path in this Brave New World... far to the East, in Rome, things were changing as well. Christianity had survived the fall of the Western Empire and has flourished thanks, in no small part, to an ingenious religious innovation... the concept of one true god, and an utter lack of tolerance for variations in dogma. And now, after two centuries of separation, Rome will once more reach out and attempt to bring Britannia back under its dominion. A ship will soon set sail, carrying within it a man who’s sole task is to bring the Anglo Saxons under the control of the church. But will the pagans listen? And what will they think of a god who is proclaimed as the prince of peace? And if they convert, how will they interpret the absolute demand for religious unity? We have seen these people become increasingly more warlike... and one thing is certain with this new religion will come new reasons for bloodshed... as we enter BHP, Season Three... The Warriors of God. Support the Show

It has been nearly two hundred years since Rome withdrew from Britannia setting this small island at the edge of the world on a course that could not have been predicted. Over the generations, a new culture has developed in the lands that will one day become England, and with that new culture came new gods. Gods with famous names like Thunor and Woden. Gods of war and death, to match the warrior society that now ruled over eastern Britannia. But while the Anglo Saxons were finding a new path in this Brave New World... far to the East, in Rome, things were changing as well. Christianity had survived the fall of the Western Empire and has flourished thanks, in no small part, to an ingenious religious innovation... the concept of one true god, and an utter lack of tolerance for variations in dogma. And now, after two centuries of separation, Rome will once more reach out and attempt to bring Britannia back under its dominion. A ship will soon set sail, carrying within it a man who’s sole task is to bring the Anglo Saxons under the control of the church. But will the pagans listen? And what will they think of a god who is proclaimed as the prince of peace? And if they convert, how will they interpret the absolute demand for religious unity? We have seen these people become increasingly more warlike... and one thing is certain with this new religion will come new reasons for bloodshed... as we enter BHP, Season Three... The Warriors of God.

93 – Chapter Three: The Warriors of God

Alright, so we have two more kings of Wales before we leave Gildas and his spittle flecked rantings. And something that you might notice as we go forward is that we don’t haven’t been provided a Tyrant of Powys nor are any of the Eastern Kingdoms listed. Sure, we don’t know where Aurelias Conanus ruled, but there’s not affirmative statement of a king of Powys, Rheged, or other kingdom by Gildas. He was just an unknown ruler (or maybe just a failed usurper). Support the Show

Alright, so we have two more kings of Wales before we leave Gildas and his spittle flecked rantings. And something that you might notice as we go forward is that we don’t haven’t been provided a Tyrant of Powys nor are any of the Eastern Kingdoms listed. Sure, we don’t know where Aurelias Conanus ruled, but there’s not affirmative statement of a king of Powys, Rheged, or other kingdom by Gildas. He was just an unknown ruler (or maybe just a failed usurper). I think it’s really important to keep aspects like that in mind. In today’s age, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to find out who is the leader of the various countries in the world are. Nothing more than a couple keystrokes, really. The world is really interconnected and information is readily accessible for most things. And, if you’re with the NSA, pretty much all information is accessible. But at the time of Gildas, that wasn’t the case. So when we’re hearing about how awful things are, why they’re terrible, who the worst people were, and what their love lives looked like... I think we should keep in mind how limited our view is. We’re just hearing the thoughts of a deeply religious writer who was writing from a monastery in Wales. He was educated, certainly, and he’s definitely useful... but due to the constraints of the era, he just didn’t have as much information available to him as we’d like. And some of the information he was relying upon could very likely have been passed along through the rumor mill. So, I’m still banging on that same old drum... Gildas isn’t entirely reliable. And simply because we aren’t hearing about the awful rulers of Powys and the east doesn’t mean that their rulers were fantastic. Gildas just might not have heard of them. Conversely, not everything that we’re being told should be taken as absolute fact because we have no idea from where our nutty little monk is drawing his information from. Ok, now that I’ve given you the usual reminder... lets see what Gildas has to say about King Cuneglas.

92 – WelshCast Part Five: More People that Gildas Hated

Today, we’re going to talk about some of the people who were really pissing Gildas off. People that drove him so batty that he just couldn’t contain his rage. And since Gildas was Welsh, he was predictably focusing his ire upon the Welsh kings. Though, like I mentioned earlier, the term “Wales” isn’t something that would be used at this time. Right now, they’re British... and saw themselves as part of the various kingdoms that populated Wales but not of any singular political body that we’d recognize as “Wales.” But regardless, all the action takes place in the Celtic West. So needless to say, this fits right in with the WelshCast. Support the Show

91 – WelshCast Part Four: Three Kings of Wales Who Really Annoyed Gildas

Today, we’re going to talk about some of the people who were really pissing Gildas off. People that drove him so batty that he just couldn’t contain his rage. And since Gildas was Welsh, he was predictably focusing his ire upon the Welsh kings. Though, like I mentioned earlier, the term “Wales” isn’t something that would be used at this time. Right now, they’re British... and saw themselves as part of the various kingdoms that populated Wales but not of any singular political body that we’d recognize as “Wales.” But regardless, all the action takes place in the Celtic West. So needless to say, this fits right in with the WelshCast. Now you’ve heard me talk about Gildas quite a bit in this show, and what a tinfoil nutter he was, but you’ve never heard any of his accounts. So I thought that this episode would be a good time to introduce you to Gildas, via a translation of his works done by John Allen Giles that was done in the 19th century. And as I read from Gildas, I’m going to try to give it the appropriate fire and brimstone flair, rather than my usual geeky excitement. Just a heads up. And actually, why don’t we start out with what Gildas has to say about the state of Wales.

As you probably remember from the main podcast, before we had the appearance of major Anglo Saxon kingdoms, there was an initial migration and invasion in the sub-Roman period, with famous Germanic leaders like Hengest, Horsa, and Aelle appearing in Kent and Sussex. But there was also a staunch British resistance to these incursions lead, in part, by a man by the name of Ambrosius Aurelianus (who might have also been known as Riothamus and might have even been the inspiration for Arthur... but only maybe, because Arthur is a bit of a mystery). Support the Show

90 – WelshCast Part Three: The Silent Treatment

As you probably remember from the main podcast, before we had the appearance of major Anglo Saxon kingdoms, there was an initial migration and invasion in the sub-Roman period, with famous Germanic leaders like Hengest, Horsa, and Aelle appearing in Kent and Sussex. But there was also a staunch British resistance to these incursions lead, in part, by a man by the name of Ambrosius Aurelianus (who might have also been known as Riothamus and might have even been the inspiration for Arthur... but only maybe, because Arthur is a bit of a mystery). The resistance culminated in a battle described by Gildas as Mons Badonicus, but in the Arthurian legends it's known as the Battle of Baden Hill. And Gildas tells us that following that fight there wasn't any further conflict between the British and the Germanic migrants. And to support this story, we have accounts from the continent that indicate that there was a reverse migration. That Germanic migrants were packing up and saying "Ugh, enough of this Britannia thing" and heading back to mainland Europe. All of that paints a story of resistance, violence, and possible expulsion. Though, the reverse migration could also just be a response to the other factors (or just the air of violence) rather than any specific act of expulsion by the Brits. But the point is that by the time that Gildas was writing in Wales, the expansion of the Anglo Saxons had been halted. At least, as far as he knew. Complicating the matter, though, is that we know that at least two major English dynasties had already been founded in the East and they would turn out to cause all manner of trouble for the Brits. The first was founded by Cerdic, in Wessex. And the second was founded by Ida, in Bernicia. But the fact that Gildas wasn't concerned about them, reflects how small they must have been at around the middle of the sixth century. And don’t forget that, at least judging by the archaeological and written record, it seems like those early kings like Cerdic were more farmers than they were warriors. And that plays into this possibility that the early kingdoms were, in fact, quite small... possibly not much more than a village. Now Gildas’s silence /could/ reflect other things, such as how isolated he was or his biases... and I'm sure that those aspects did play at least some role. But in general, if Cerdic and Ida were causing trouble, Gildas probably would have been talking about them. At the very least I think he would have mentioned how they were god's judgment against the godless britons for failing to live without sin.

Here's the first full length pub quiz! Don't forget, they release on the last friday of every month. I hope you have fun! :)