The British History Podcast

Today we start with a death. Wihtgar, brother of beloved Stuff, warrior, conqueror of Cerdic’s-Ore, and ruler of the Isle of Wight died in 544. Or did he? There’s a funny thing about dying.  You have to be alive first.  And there’s an argument that Wihtgar might be a mythical character and was created after the fact to establish a ruling dynasty for the Wihtwara, the Men of Wight.  It’s something that we might never know for certain. But at least according to the Chronicle, Wihtgar died.  Presumably someone took over... maybe it was Stuff?  Maybe Wihtgar had some kids?  Or maybe it went to someone else.  We can’t be sure because the rulers of Wight are left unmentioned for over 100 years following Wihtgar. And while extreme longevity is quite unlikely, I like the idea that the entire period was filled by Stuff.  So that’s what’s going on in the far south.  Stuff.  But largely unknown stuff.

76 – Developing Class

Today we start with a death. Wihtgar, brother of beloved Stuff, warrior, conqueror of Cerdic’s-Ore, and ruler of the Isle of Wight died in 544. Or did he? Support the Show

Alright, so when we left off, Cerdic and his son had recently arrived on the island and the Battle of Mons Badonicus had just taken place. So that’s exciting. And Gildas says that it was followed by peace, and procopius tells us that Germans were fleeing from Britannia as late as about 30 years later. And from the archaeological record, and the scattered references in written texts, it doesn’t seem like there were a lot of military warbands invading... but rather, as we will discuss in this episode, this looks more like farmers who were migrating. And this might have been happening for quite some time, since we’re told the Saxons had been landing on British shores for at least 100 years. Support the Show

75 – Cerdic and Cynric: A Story of… well… Probably Farmers

Alright, so when we left off, Cerdic and his son had recently arrived on the island and the Battle of Mons Badonicus had just taken place. So that’s exciting. And Gildas says that it was followed by peace, and procopius tells us that Germans were fleeing from Britannia as late as about 30 years later. And from the archaeological record, and the scattered references in written texts, it doesn’t seem like there were a lot of military warbands invading... but rather, as we will discuss in this episode, this looks more like farmers who were migrating. And this might have been happening for quite some time, since we’re told the Saxons had been landing on British shores for at least 100 years. And actually, when we look at the written record, it seems like, even though Gildas claimed that the period after Mons Badonicus was peaceful, that things were going on. So lets go to the point after Mons Badonicus and talk about what we’re told was happening.

Right, so here we are right in the middle of all the drama and bloodshed that has been called the Anglo Saxon invasion. We have famous names such as Hengest and Aelle showing up. Support the Show

74 – When Neighbors Attack: A Story of “Kings”

Right, so here we are right in the middle of all the drama and bloodshed that has been called the Anglo Saxon invasion. We have famous names such as Hengest and Aelle showing up. And most everyone who is interested in this story is probably already familiar with the story of how (following the issue with Hengest and Vortigern) you had warlords like Aelle and Cerdic showing up and parcelling out the land. The north was taken by the Angles, the South was mostly taken by the Saxons, and then the Jutes took a little bit in the south as well. But the thing about this story, the thing that makes telling it really difficult, is that there’s a not insignificant chance that it’s utter bollocks. So what do we know? Well, we know that Gildas, Bede, and others have told stories about invasion. We know that at one point most of the Britons in the area were speaking Latin and some sort of Brythonic language, and it didn’t take too long before they were speaking Old English (which is a Germanic language... which comes from the same group of peoples that we’re told invaded). We know that Christianity, which was present in the lands that would become England, largely died out and paganism (which still held on in the homelands of the Anglo Saxons) became resurgent.

Today we have murder, battles, ransacking, booze, greed, and shame.  No, it's not an episode of The Tudors... it's a return to the political story of Britain in the post-Roman period.

Ok, it's been a while since we've spoken about the story. Instead, we've been chatting about the culture and the people, we've been speaking about digs and hoards, we've been discussed booze and horse dung. But we haven't spoken too much about the politics of the time. Support the Show

73 – And This Gives You Power Over Me?

Today we're wrapping up the Staffordshire Hoard project. We have been given an amazing amount of depth and detail thanks to the wonderful experts who took the time to talk with us. And today, we're going to hear from Dr. Kevin Leahy. You might have read his scholarly articles or his books, some of which are about the Hoard itself. Dr. Leahy is an incredible resource and is an excellent way for us to wrap up this project. The Staffordshire Hoard: www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk The Potteries Museum: www.stokemuseums.org.uk/pmag The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: www.bmag.org.uk Support the Show

72 – Staffordshire Hoard: Wrapping Up with Kevin Leahy

Today we're wrapping up the Staffordshire Hoard project. We have been given an amazing amount of depth and detail thanks to the wonderful experts who took the time to talk with us. And today, we're going to hear from Dr. Kevin Leahy. You might have read his scholarly articles or his books, some of which are about the Hoard itself. Dr. Leahy is an incredible resource and is an excellent way for us to wrap up this project. The Staffordshire Hoard: www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk The Potteries Museum: www.stokemuseums.org.uk/pmag The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: www.bmag.org.uk