The British History Podcast

In the Seventh century we started to see the growth of monasteries and nunneries in Britain. Sometimes the land they operated on was rented, other times they were gifted big tracts of land in wills and such. And sometimes ancient public lands were handed over to the monasteries, such as what Eadwulf did in 746. This shouldn’t be too surprising, though. Ruling is tough business, and often times it involves a fair amount of sin. So what is a god fearing ruler to do? Well, more often than not, he would rule as he felt he needed to, and then try to curry favor with the all mighty through gifts. Obviously, if you could hand over lands after you died, or hand over lands that weren’t really yours in the first place, that was the best way to go about it. That way it wouldn’t cause you too much inconvenience and allow you to continue to focus on dealing with those troublesome neighbors of yours. ...

Today we have something pretty exciting. Listener Simon put me in contact with Erin Robinson and Fiona Gale, who are currently working on archaeological sites in Denbighshire north Wales, and they were kind enough to agree to speak to me via Skype. So today we are taking a break from our middle ages cultural discussion, and instead we have an interview on the Heather and Hillforts project... a project which focuses on a number of iron age hill forts. I can’t tell you how fortunate we are to be able to talk with Erin and Fiona regarding their project in Denbighshire. The hillforts they’re working on are still somewhat mysterious and unknown. We are still learning a great deal about them and, with luck, we will be learning even more over the coming years. This is really a great opportunity for us. If you'd like to learn more, or you like to find how to get involved, you can go to the websites I've listed below: http://www.heatherandhillforts.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/heatherandhillforts https://twitter.com/HeatherHillfort And if you are in North Wales and see someone off-roading over one of these historic sites, please report them to the police.  These are tremendously important sites and we need to do all we can to preserve them.  After all, the damage these vehicles are doing can never be undone. Support the Show

50 – The Denbighshire Hill Forts

Today we have something pretty exciting. Listener Simon put me in contact with Erin Robinson and Fiona Gale, who are currently working on archaeological sites in Denbighshire north Wales, and they were kind enough to agree to speak to me via Skype. So today we are taking a break from our middle ages cultural discussion, and instead we have an interview on the Heather and Hillforts project... a project which focuses on a number of iron age hill forts. I can’t tell you how fortunate we are to be able to talk with Erin and Fiona regarding their project in Denbighshire. The hillforts they’re working on are still somewhat mysterious and unknown. We are still learning a great deal about them and, with luck, we will be learning even more over the coming years. This is really a great opportunity for us. If you'd like to learn more, or you like to find how to get involved, you can go to the websites I've listed below: http://www.heatherandhillforts.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/heatherandhillforts https://twitter.com/HeatherHillfort And if you are in North Wales and see someone off-roading over one of these historic sites, please report them to the police.  These are tremendously important sites and we need to do all we can to preserve them.  After all, the damage these vehicles are doing can never be undone.  

Over the last month or so we’ve been speaking in detail about food in the Dark ages. Diversified farms dotted the landscape, with even the larger ones probably having a mix of cattle, sheep, pigs etc. In many ways, it’s sounded like an idyllic rural life. Actually, the Venerable Bede in particular loved the pastoral nature of England (and I’m sure he would have loved Wales, too). And all of this food production was a key part of British life and as a result understanding it is necessary to understanding the culture. But while much of the island was well situated for farming, and food production was a major pillar of society, it doesn’t mean that everyone lived on or worked on farms. This was a stratified society and overtime that would continue. So now that we’ve covered, in detail, the production of food and drink, we’re going to transition into the cultural aspects of how that food impacted society. And to start with, let’s talk about the issues of supply and demand by focusing on the towns.

As you might recall, a few months ago I made a challenge. For every thousand likes the Facebook page got, I would release a members only episode to the public. Well, we’re over 1,700 likes right now and I realized something... I never released a members only episode for the first 1,000 likes. So I thought I’d do that right now. Right now over on the members only podcast, in addition to things such as the Anglo Saxon food and drink experiments, we’re doing a series on Saint Patrick.... so I thought that you might be interested in the first part of it. So here we go... this is part one of Saint Patrick.

This is a combination episode covering matters of economies and travel in the Dark Ages.

This is a combination episode covering matters of economies and travel in the Dark Ages. Support the Show

49 – Dark Age Economics

Ok, we’ve spoken about farm life... but that isn’t the only way food can get on the table. So this episode is dedicated to all the food that was left out. So to start out, lets deal with Where the Wild Things Are. There’s plenty of tasty wild things if you know where to look, and from the record it seems that Anglo Saxons had a vague idea of where to look. Today we'll be talking about hunting, fishing, and of course.... beekeeping. It should be a lot of fun!

Ok, so as some of you might remember from the member’s podcasts, Cattle was a big deal among the Celts. Well, it’s also a big deal for the anglo saxons. And actually, cow and calf are anglo saxon words, so is heffer. Anyway, beef.... Everyone loves beef. We also love cheese, butter, and to a lesser extent clogged arteries. So we are going to see a bit of emphasis placed about cattle in the Anglo Saxon world. Today's episode should be pretty fun! Also, tasty!

Ok, so for the last couple weeks we have been talking about drinking. And all this booze has made me hungry. And as soon as I covered beer you must have known I’d have to cover food. If Portland is known for only one thing, it’s... well... it’s probably hipsters. But if Portland is known for three things, it’s still hipsters but also beer and food. We’re a bunch of foodies here. So of course I want to talk about food! Food production and grain were of vital importance to the Anglo Saxons. For example, even when Alfred was in the middle of his war with the Danes, he kept part of his army guarding the boroughs. This might not be news to you, since “an army marches on its stomach” is a rather old notion, but that bit of military history does shed some light on the importance of England’s Breadbasket. So today's episode will be focusing upon that!

Today we’re talking about monks getting about one to two gallons of ale a day per monk. And common people potentially brewing in a modest household brewing 200 gallons of ale every month. That’s 1600 pints (in a modest 16th century household). While it isn’t clear how much early anglo-saxon households would brew, we don’t have records indicating that the early anglo saxons engaged in temperance so they were probably brewing quite a bit at home as well. So we're going to have a lot of drunks in this week's episode!

This is a combination episode focusing upon the food and drinks that the Anglo Saxons enjoyed. Support the Show

48 – Dark Age Diets Combo Episode