The Knights Templar by Stephen Howarth

This one I read a while back, as the continuous pre-1066 history was starting to becoming, in a small way, tiresome. I thought it might also help me to settle a growing religious confusion within me, which is the choice between Paganism or Christianity. Funnily enough I found this book about two years ago in a charity shop for £1; ironically, just prior to finding it I was confronted on the street by an evangelical Christian who was protesting outside the local council offices, mainly against abortion. I had a pleasant conversation with him on the topic, as I am also in alignment with the Christian take on the matter, and it finished with him saying a prayer for me before I moved on.

Stephen Howarth makes a statement early on in which he explains that the knowledge of the Templars is constantly evolving and that his own book will no doubt be out of date in a decade or so; it was published in 1982. Perhaps there is a lot more knowledge know on the Templars than the book portrays, or perhaps the book was intended as more of an introduction to the Templars, as it felt very much like a brief history of the Crusades. Of course, the chronology of the Crusades is very important in understanding the history of the Templars, however there was much more focus on this than the customs and attitudes of the knight’s order. This may well be because in the imagination of the laymen the history of such a prestigious order must be bottomless, when in reality there may well have been some very simple and few sets of rules and traditions that they adhered to down the centuries. To join the Templars was to accept a life of celibacy and impoverishment, where the individual would spend his usual week getting up early and labouring intensively, reciting psalms and only eating protein on two days of the week. The lack of elaboration in these areas could well be put down to the fact that the Templars were secretive in their internal affairs. A trait which ultimately led to their destruction.

The events start with Peter the Hermit and his extraordinary rise from peasant to military leader, leading the peasants Crusade which resulted in disaster. Peter himself managed to latch onto the more organised armies of the first Crusade with what troops he had left. The pope had thought up the idea of Crusading with a pragmatic view to resolving unemployment in Europe, and to prevent the brothers of the Christian faith from in fighting; giving them a common foe. The second stage of the first Crusade was fronted by three military leaders with an army each. One of these, called Stephen of Blois, was not keen on going Crusading at all, but was urged by his wife to do so. In the end he chose Crusading over his nagging wife, which we know from the letters he sent her while he was away. He was so unenthusiastic about Crusading that he procrastinated in southern France for a few extra days so that the other two armies would always be ahead of him. Eventually all three armies converged on Antioch, but with a long and protracted siege which placed the armies of Christendom in an almost hopeless position. Stephen of Blois told his comrades that he was ill and had to turn back, along with his army. Unfortunately for Stephen, Antioch fell the following night after he left via a bribed blacksmith opening the gates. This was a double tragedy for Stephen as when he got home the news of the victory had reached the ears of his wife, who was furious with him, and demanded he return to the Holy Land. He obliged his wife, and died in battle shortly after returning. The Authors comedic approach on this saga was much enjoyable.

With the success of the Crusade there became a demand for a standing army that could offer protection for the newly conquered provinces. This is where the Templars became a major force and the dominant power in the area for centuries to come. Once they proved their worth as a religious and military institution, the pope gave them their blessing, thus making them in many ways a personal army for the Papacy. Pope Innocent then issued the papal bull ‘Omne Datum Optimum’ which allowed the Templars to keep all the spoils of war, as well as a bull which stated that those who go on Crusade were excused murdering Muslims, and furthermore they were absolved of previous sins for doing so. This essentially gave the Templars free reign in the Holy Land, and resulted in them acting law until themselves, and frequently disobeying the orders of the Kings of Jerusalem; as we will see with our next interesting character, Reynauld De Chatillon.

Reynauld De Chatillon first appears in the early events following the second Crusade. Antoich which was previously ruled by Raymond (who had died at the battle of Inab), was now being ruled by the child Constance, whose mother, Alice, was acting regent. The issue with this was that Alice was in favour of allegiance with Byzantium and was planning to marry her daughter to the prince, which would have eventually restored Byzantine rule to Antioch. Reynauld was on his way to the Holy Land with an army when a message reached him from King Baldwin asking him to deal with the issue at hand. Reynauld rushed to Antioch and informed Alice that the gates must be opened, and that they had arrived to help defend Antioch from a huge Muslim army which was in the area. He also told her to take cover in the highest tower, and that he would see to the defences. This of course was a lie, and as soon as the gates were opened and Alice was hiding in a tower, Reynauld seized the child Constance and married her there and then, thus making himself Prince of Antioch. Following this Reynauld went frequently raiding and battling Muslim armies, winning many great victories until he became somewhat over confident, and attempted to siege Aleppo with a tiny force of around 500 troops. This naturally failed, and Reynauld was imprison in Aleppo for 15 years. In the book the author makes no mention of how long he has been imprisoned until after he is released, leaving the reader to assume that his exploits end with the siege of Aleppo.

He suddenly appears on the scene again when the King of Damascus releases a group of 150 Templar captives as thanks for Jerusalem helping to lift the siege of Aleppo. Reynauld immediately resumes where he left of, and starts by capturing himself the castle of Karak; using it as an excellent position in which to launch raids on the silk road. He subsequently becomes a big wheel in the Templars due to the immense wealth he starts to accumulate, and then he puts into action the most daring deed of his career yet. He builds five warships on the dead sea and trains a crew to man them, and after doing this, he has the ships transported over land to the Gulf of Aqaba! From this point the ships engage in acts of piracy along the coast, and made Reynauld the richest man in Christendom. These ships remained unmolested for almost a year before Saladin was able to raise a fleet and destroy them. After this Reynauld went back to his life of raiding the silk road, and made the mistake of raiding a caravan which contained Saladin’s sister, leading to Saladin supposedly claiming that he would personally slay him. Reynauld also led the army for King Baldwin IV (the leper king) against Saladin at the battle of Montgisard, resulting in a purely amazing victory which showed 500 knights route an Islamic army of 20,000. After such a spiffing career Reynauld then participated in the calamitous crusader defeat at the Horns of Hattin, and was captured and beheaded by Saladin himself. Many historians portray Reynauld as an idiot who destroyed Jerusalem by continually breaking treaties signed with Saladin, but some have attempted to renovate him, as the only man who was doing anything to stop Islamic expansion. An interesting point by the authors brings up the crimes of Richard the Lionheart and compares them with Reynauld; then going on to explain that if Reynauld had started out with the reputation that Lionheart had, he would have been hailed as a hero instead of demonised as a villain.

These are the most interesting parts of the chronology of the Crusades. Frederick and the IV crusade is also very interesting, in that it was not sanctioned by the pope, and Frederick himself became excommunicated, and it was Templar law that anyone who socialised with a person excommunicated would result in themselves enjoying the same status. However, when it became apparent that Frederick was going to successfully reconquer Jerusalem, it produced the humorous movement which seen the Templars march alongside Fredricks army with a mile different between the two. They claimed they just happened to be marching in the same direction… Unfortunately, Saladin had Jerusalem’s walls demolished, and so any future occupation by crusaders would be short, as it would prove impossible to defend the city in the long term.

In Europe the Templars had become a major economic powerhouse, holding incredible power. This, coupled with the secrecy of the order eventually resulted in their downfall. Philip ‘The Fair’ of France had already borrowed a significant amount of money from the Jews, and following this he physically removed them from the country, so that the loans would not have to be repaid. Philip was debasing his currency fast, and so needed a fresh source of income. Philip simply repeated his tactic with the Templars, and with him being the most pious king in Europe he hoped he could also claim all their assets. Rumours were first spread about how behind closed doors the Templars were sodomising each other, and were worshiping heathen idols. There was no validity to these claims, but Philips strength of words and action eventually got him what he wanted, or at least partially. He had all the Templars arrested, with only 20 evading capture in France, and demanded all other Christian nations do the same, of which most did. He then extracted confessions under torture, strengthening his case. In England, Edward the II and public opinion did not believe the accusations, and so the Templars were put on a loose form of house arrest. Furthermore, when Philip tried to have all the Templars in Europe expedited to France, he found in England that he could not do this as the English common law was valued above any international religious laws, and so the Templars in England were let off lightly. Eventually after years of squabbling Philip got what he wanted, and all unrepentant Templars were burned at the stake and thus bringing an end to the order. Unfortunately for Philip though, the pope had all the assets of the Templars transferred to the Knights Hospitallers, who managed to adapt to life after the fall of Outreamer much better than their counterparts. The last Master of the Templars was Jacques De Molay, and he had been in the order for about 50 years when he was burned at the stake. He is blamed in some ways as being responsible for the downfall of the order, as his age and past experience made him stubborn to a changing world.

This was a mighty fine read, even if there were a few inaccuracies. Some of the facts have appeared to change in the years since this was written, and it looks like there are much more in-depth books on the market, in terms of the customs, traditions and rituals of the Templars. But in all I was deeply impressed, and it has led me to discover books on some of the historical figures mentioned. Such as ‘God's Wolf: The Life of the Most Notorious of All Crusaders: Reynald de Chatillon’ by Jefferey Lee, which I will purchase when I feel in the mood for another non-Celtic or Anglo-Saxon read. It was also somewhat shameful of me not to have read at least some basic history of the Crusades up until now, so it was nice to have also ticked that box when enjoying this title.

Looking for the Lost Gods of England by Kathleen Herbert

At the time I purchased this book I was already half way through Hengist by Bryan Evens, and I had decided that it was so good that I ought to pick up some of the other books published by the ‘Anglo-Saxon Books’ company. At the time I was unable to get myself a hardback copy of Brian Branston’s ‘The Lost Gods of England’ for a reasonable price, and so I thought I would get this fifty page book on the same subject. It was of a price and size of which I could introduce myself to Anglo-Saxon Paganism, and thus decide if I wanted to go deeper with larger studies. Subsequent to reading this, I have actually managed to get myself a copy of Brian Branston’s work for the total price of £7, with the only issue being a slightly sun damaged cover. However, the highly recommended book on Anglo-Saxon Paganism by David Wilson still evades me, and is likely to do so for some time with its asking price of £120.

We are first introduced to the books subject matter, and what will and will not be included in the discussion. Kathleen tells how much of Anglo-Saxon Paganism is really just Norse Paganism, with a number of slight name differences, and that those gods and customs will not be discussed at length in her work. What ‘Looking for the Lost Gods of England’ intends to do is to look at what elements of the Pagan tradition were unique to England. Unfortunately what we know about these unique elements is somewhat limited, as the literate people in society were the Christian Priests who looked upon Paganism with a biased view, and furthermore were reluctant to write about Pagan practices at all. Herbert does give a short overview of some of the classic gods in their Anglo names, such as Woden, Thunor, Tiw, Freya and Frey, the latter of which she suggests was of special significance to the English.

Much of what we know about Anglo-Saxon Paganism is through what has been morphed into the Christian religion. We know for example, the Pagan idea of an eye for an eye was a problem which the Church of Rome found impossible to make a dent in rectifying. The idea of ancestral worship was also an idea that persisted through the Anglo-Saxon period, as even the converted kings still claimed descent from Woden; although Alfred the great had his family tree altered so that it also claimed descent from Adam. The main emphasis the English seemed to place on their religious practices was fertility and harvest. Herthus provided both of these blessings, and is said she resided in her sacred grove on an island along with her holy cart which brought a bountiful harvest to the places she chose to visit. There are a great number of traditions that survived the transition to Christianity such as the festival of ‘Samhain’, which was the slaughtering of animals before the winter period so as to lower the maintenance of livestock over the harsh months; this has survived as Halloween. There was also the idea of cleansing the earth, which involved cutting out a square patch of land and taking it to the local shrine to have an antidote of some sorts transferred to the patch before it was returned to the field it came from.  The author suggests it may have even had a Rune inscribed on the underside before it was returned.

As the end of the book drew near the author also touched upon some of mythical elements that had an impact on the religion, such as ‘Elves’ which were described as being beautiful but also deadly, with the ability to seduce men to their deaths. Erik the Wild was such a person said to have been seduced, according to folklore. Erik the Wild was an earl and a resistance fighter during the Norman Conquest, along with his contemporaries Hereward the Wake and Earl Morcar. Like Earl Morcar, Erik simply disappears from the historical records and his name is thus replaced by a French one. However, it is said that the ghost of Eric and his soldiers is seen marching towards the south coast whenever England is being threatened with invasion. Definitely a character I will be looking out for in more detail in the future.

The Life and Times of Hengest by Bryan Evans

Once finishing Lloyd Liang’s book ‘The Origins of Britain’, it was tempting to go straight onto his sequential book ‘Celtic Britain’. If I had not had my fill of archaeological evidence for the time being then this is exactly what I would have done. Instead, I decided it was time once again to turn to the Saxons, and to go to the earliest point in time; this being the arrival of Hengest. When reading Leonard Dutton’s work on the power struggles in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, I was most excited with the coming of the Saxons and the crisis developing in Britain. A time in which the Romano-British had both enemies within and without, and ultimately their inability to put differences aside and unite against a common enemy proved to be their downfall once more. I understood when picking Bryan Evans’ book up that there was very little information available on Hengest, and that it is even a possibility that the legendary figure did in fact not exist at all, as explored and debated in the book he could well have been manufactured as part of an origin Myth.

The events prior to the arrival of the Saxons capture a great deal of atmosphere, and much more detail than was contained within Leonard Dutton’s work. It goes through all the events surrounding the battle of Catalonian Fields, giving the right amount of depth to the important peoples involved during the battle. Interestingly, Bryan Evans differs from Leonard Dutton on the importance of Votigern’s concerns that Rome might return to Britain. Dutton says that Votigern invited the Saxons with the sneaking intention to use them against Rome when they decided to return, but that he realised all too late the mistake he had made (that a Roman return was impossible) once he had given the Saxons a foothold in Kent. Bryan Evans doesn’t attempt to contradict this, but he does mention an alternative which I found most captivating. He assumes that many elements of the Roman style of government still persisted in Britain after they separated from the empire, and that the British government simply adopted the conventional Roman policy for putting a stop to foreign invaders. The Picts, Irish and Saxons were frequently raiding over the border and on the coast, and so the Romano-British administration created Foederati troops like their cousins back on the continent. This will have removed much of the threat of the Saxon invaders, as they now became the mercenaries; their might used to destroy the Pict and Irish invaders. This policy proved in the end to carry more negatives than positives, as is seen with the decline of Rome in general, when you fail to pay your mercenaries then they become a law unto their own.

Hengest himself is said possibly to have been a Foederati soldier in the service of Rome on the mainland in Gaul prior to coming into the service of Votigern. Evans puts forward this hypothesis during a chapter scrutinising the validity and meaning of the Finnsburg fragment. The Finnsburg fragment being 48 lines of an Anglo-Saxon poem discovered by George Hicks in 1700. It was quickly copied down but then subsequently lost almost right away. Whether this poem truly existed does not seem to be disputed by historians, as George Hicks was renowned for translating a lot of Anglo-Saxon literature throughout his career, and the fragment contains all the usual translation mistakes that his other work accommodated. The latter events of the poem are also known to us through an episode in Beowulf when the poet speaks of the story of Finn and Hengest in the great hall. The part of the story which is available to us speaks of the leader Hnaef and his second in command, Hengist, being besieged in a great hall by the warrior Finn. The author picks over the piece and deduces some interesting likelihoods about the events Hengest found himself in. The problem with the poem is first of all proving that the Hengest in the fragment is one and the same as the Hengest who become king of Kent. Secondly we also have to assume that the events in the poem are a fictionalised account of some historical events. Bryan Evans makes a great case in favour of the events being real, and that this is the same Hengest that arrived with Horsa on Thanet. This is not a case I shall make here, as I don’t believe I could do it justice, but he does spend a good deal of the book analysing how legitimate contemporary sources are.

Coming to the chapter about contemporary sources; Evans takes Gildas, Nennius, Bede and the Chronicle; giving them a thorough going through in relation to how accurate and seriously we can take them. Gildas’ work ‘On the Ruin of Britain’ was never meant to be intended as a source of history, but was in fact a polemic of the day reeling against the sins of Britons and the acts of decadent kings; and so it comes with many of the biases any political treatise would have. Evans makes the point however, that if looked at in the correct light then one can pick gems of correct information out from these sources. I may have mentioned this once before in a previous post, but the importance that Bede placed on careful attention to the truth in his book ‘History of the English Church and People’ is something that I believe every historian of early medieval England is eternally thankful for. Obviously Bede is not infallible, but he is a strong exception of the times and his work should be taken very seriously. In fact where Bede has used the oral tradition as a source for information, he even makes it clear that it is not certain that these events happened, but ‘that it is said’ that they happened. Bryan Evans follows up with analysing the oral tradition which stretched back hundreds of years, and he concludes that although there will have been many mistakes, the oral traditions will have been much more honed and accurate than oral tradition in a nation which could rely on literacy to replace memory.

There is one other area of which I found interesting enough to mention. It was an analysis of the origins of the Anglo-Saxons prior to the migration, as well as the size of the migration. It was said the decline of the Roman Empire happened during a mini-Ice Age, and although Bryan Evans does not mention this, he does talk about the erratic changes to the sea level. This can be demonstrated through the archaeological records which show that Saxon settlements on the coast of Old Saxony were built up on mounds of earth to survive the rise and fall of these changes. This combined with the pressure from the expansion of the Huns is said to be some of the reasoning for the Saxons search for a new homeland. The estimates for immigration given by Bryan Evans is around 50,000 – 100,000 Anglo-Saxons and Jutes settling in England, compared to a native population of around two million. The enigma is that modern DNA tests give a result of just over 50% Anglo-Saxon DNA for the average Englishman. According to Evan this percentage could not be achieved with such small numbers, but he gives a few hypotheses including an apartheid system which would have reduced the birth rate of native Britons and thus favour the rate of the Saxons.

When I purchased this book I was sceptical of a number of things. First that the information available for Hengest was so negligible that the book would have very little to do with the actual man, and more with the times in which he lived. This was in part true, but all the information presented was incredibly interesting and all related to the search of identifying Hengest and the life he led. The author also reconstructed the Finnsburg saga and filled in the gaps himself to create a frilling story, and although the cover art is truly atrocious and there are frequent typos located within; I have to say that this is the best Anglo-Saxon history book to date that I have read. There appears to be an air of professionalism that the publishers, ‘Anglo-Saxon books’, has about what it chooses to print, and I will be certainly checking out more of their products in the future.  

The Origins of Britain by Lloyd and Jennifer Liang

Another archaeologist that was frequently named in Francis Pryor’s ‘Britain BC’ is Llyod Liang, of which I have three of his books in my pre-Saxon collection. ‘The Origins of Britain’, ‘Celtic Britain’ and ‘Anglo-Saxon Britain’. I have to say, that this is probably the best book I have read thus far on Prehistoric Britain. Initially I was exhaling at the fact I was going to put myself through yet another book that recites the list of pottery that was found in each dig site, but in fact it was much more exciting than this.

In much the same style as David Barrowcloughs ‘Prehistoric Cumbria’, ‘The Origins of Britain’ opens with a chapter that focuses on the history of the archaeologists themselves, except this time I was thoroughly intrigued in the development of technology and method of analysis. Piltdown man for example was the hoax of a fossilized early human which was likely placed in a quarry by Charles Dawson in 1912. The parts turned out to consist of Orangutan teeth and mandible, as well as the small skull of a human along with some early flint tools. What’s amazing about the Piltdown hoax is that it remained unexposed for 41 years. The most fantastic part of the history of archaeologists however, is that of General Pitt-Rivers, who inherited 29,000 acres of land through marriage. He then set about conducting his own archaeological digs on this land, contributing many new innovations in archaeology, and even conducted a dig at the Grimes Graves flint mines.

The book is very concise and well-illustrated, making it a pleasure to turn each page, and once you get to the later part of the Stone Age then the information becomes particularly delightful. To return to the Grimes Grave flint mine, it is located in Norfolk and the shaft goes down 12.8m, which leads to a gallery that has many subsidiary tunnels that were dug in speculation of finding flint seams. The mine is so sophisticated that it had archaeologists thinking for years that it was perhaps dug in the Elizabethan times, when in fact it was dug around 2500BC to 2200BC. More amazingly, one of the tunnels which failed to turn up any flint was converted by the miners into a chamber for worship, in which the archaeologists found a fertility statue sitting on a ledge, in the very same place it was left thousands of years earlier.

The next piece of captivating information came in the Bronze Age comes in the form of the ‘Wilsford Shaft’, which was a thirty metre deep shaft used to make offerings to the gods, and it appears to have been kept open for around 2000 years during which time it was being filled in with pottery, daggers and other such materials. The period in which the shaft was in use is known by the fact it took two years to excavate, in which time Roman pottery was found at the top and early Iron Age pottery and wooden offerings were found at the bottom. However, the true element of surprise about the Wilsford shaft is the level of mathematics involved in its construction; apparently the people who constructed it dug the shaft in sections. When the section was dug incorrectly, the margin of error was worked out and then corrected in the next section. Additionally it is noted that at 1600bc the spoil could have only been removed with winching gear and that after only a small number of metres the bottom of the pit was pitch black. It took a fifteen minute trip for the archaeologists to climb to the bottom once it had been fully excavated.

As in previous posts about prehistory, I once again go back to the Orkney Islands. This time it is in relation to the ‘Maes Howe’ Barrow, which is described as the best preserved chambered tomb in the whole of north-west Europe. There is a fourteen metre entrance which must be crawled through in order to get inside, in which the tomb is almost perfectly preserved and the brickwork being so fine that a knife can apparently not be slid in-between many of the gaps. The only damage done to the tomb comes in the form of Viking Runes which were inscribed into the wall when the Orkneys was invaded and conquered. Apparently the Vikings found many great riches inside the tomb, which is incredibly unlikely; they will most likely have just found piles of assorted bones.

As we progress into the later part of the Bronze Age, we start to discover evidence of immigration and more advanced Pagan worship. The Beaker people who landed in Britain are said to come from many parts of Europe, but in Llyod Liang’s book he describes them as coming from Spain. Interestingly he says that Beaker people can be identified by their more rounded skulls, as opposed to the native Britons, who had longer and thinner skulls. This isn’t just a piece of Victorian pseudo-science either, as Liang and Francis Pryor say that this interpretation is just as valid now as it was then. The most interesting aspect of the Beaker people is that they are said to have worshiped a sun god, which is made clear by their neck-ornaments known as ‘Lunula’. I found this fascinating, as it’s the first solid evidence of some sort of religious practice outside of the hitherto ancestral worship made apparent through Barrows, Cairns, Henges etc.

There was also a period in the Bronze Age, dating from around 1800bc to 1400bc where gold became a symbol of power, and chieftains started emerging; particularly in Wessex. This is known to have created the ‘Wessex Culture’ although outside the introduction of gold and advanced power structure, there is little to suggest there was any real separate culture from the rest of Britain. What the most interesting part of this period is is that almost all of the gold ornaments found from this period were created by a single craftsman around 1800bc. These were then handed down through the ruling families, and by around 1400bc all of the objects had been buried with their owners to accompany them to the afterlife. Around this period there was also unearthed what is known as the ‘Mold Pectoral Gold Cape’ which is noted by the fact gold capes only appear in one other place, Ancient Egypt. This had led some people to believe the Britons were descended from Egyptians. As an additional thought about Pagan Rituals of prehistoric Britain, I happened to be reading the part of this book about the ‘Bromley Horn Dance’ just at the exact time in which it was being annually conducted. This is every year on the Monday after the first Sunday following September the 4^th, in which the horn dance is acted out using ‘Antler Frontlets’. The Frontlets currently in use are said to have been brought over by the Vikings, but the ritual itself is said to have been conducted every year unbroken since it was started in the Stone Age.

This is possibly the best book I have read so far on the prehistory of Britain. It includes so much information that hasn’t appeared in any of the other books I have read, and it spares the reader of any of the tedium of endless pottery or metal work findings. I could literally go on for much longer with this post on the amount of interesting stuff which I learned, and so I will leave you with one last nugget that I believe requires more attention of my time in the future. In Barry Cunliffe’s ‘Iron Age Communities in Britain’ he mentions that the Phoenician’s possibly visited an island off the coast of Britain to acquire tin through trade. In Llyod Liang’s book he gives a name to the island, which is ‘Ictis’. Although the likelihood of the Phoenician’s ever visiting Britain is unlikely, it is still an area which may require more attention in the future.

Iron Age Communities in Britain by Barry Cunliffe

I started this before having read Leonard Dutton and Paul Hill’s books on the Anglo-Saxons. But now I have finished those I felt it a necessity to get this one finished. As I have previously stated in Prehistoric Cumbria it can be a little tiresome reading endless pages of archaeological evidence in which sometimes there is no interpretation to be gained from it. With there being so little to go on sometimes the author simply has to describe what has been found, leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions. This makes Barry Cunliffe’s book on Iron Age Communities an essential piece to have for young aspiring archaeologists who are in need of reference material to support or disprove their own theories, as well as being a great spring board for alerting the reader of interesting areas they might decide to search for in more depth within other literature.

One such area of which I was alerted to was the names of some of the prominent Celts which appear as we get closer to historical records. One name in particular during the Claudian invasion is Verica, who was King of the Atrebates and is described in sources as a ‘client king of Rome’. This led me to finding the book ‘The Heirs of King Verica’ by Marin Henig, of which I am yet to read but has been added to my pre-Saxon reading list. With the written sources being so sparse I was unable to find anything outside of essays on other contemporary figures such a Cunobeline, Carractacus, Cassivellaunus etc, but with already knowing this, finding the Heirs of Verica was more than what I had hoped for.

Back to the archaeological evidence, there were three chapters that go me particularly interested. As I have mentioned in Francis Pryor’s ‘Britain BC’, Scotland and the Orkney islands are extremely interesting due to their structures made almost entirely from brick, especially in the Orkney’s where there is a lack of wood. What was interesting to learn about in Iron Age Communities was that not only were these buildings made from brick, but that they were also capable of having multiple floors, with some of the illustrations depicting three floors with the platforms made from wood. This level of technology is staggering, and unfound in other parts of Britain, making the dwellings of Scotland probably the most interesting of the entire prehistory when combining them with the amazing island homes knows as ‘Lochs’.

The everyday life of the Briton was not something I would have envisaged capturing my imagination prior to reading the book. Surprisingly when I started learning about composition of diet and the changes of the eras which can be noted through the frequency of animal bone finds then I became somewhat curious to how the livestock was maintained over winter months. Prior to winter the inhabitants would usually have a cull of some of the older animals, so as to reduce the numbers they would have to feed during the winter months. Food itself was stored in storage pits, which were small shafts that were dug, and had a lid to cover them. These would keep the food cool and act for greater preservation.

As the end of the book was approaching there was a great deal on the emergence of Hill Forts. Some of which could be dated as far back as the early iron age, and had since been amended and added to right up until the Roman occupation. Many were simple but impressive earthworks, but as the times progressed then some of the larger forts started incorporating brickwork into the outer layer. The defensive tactics of the Celts were also made apparent. The usual weak spot in the fortifications were the entrance(s), and so it is possible to see the evolution of the earthworks where alterations were made to adapt to problems. Earthworks would usually start pointing outwards or inwards around the entrance, thus creating a long corridor in which the enemy would have to travel down before reaching the settlement within; during which they would be vulnerable to missile fire from above. The impressive illustrations came into their own during these chapters, and were very much needed in helping me understand the information. Another very interesting aspect of Hill Forts is the population density within, sometimes containing as much as 300 roundhouses, and a shrine, or which interestingly the Romans simply converted when they took over, rather than destroyed.

I have mentioned little in this entry about metal working, which I think was covered in much a similar manor to Francis Pryor’s ‘Britain BC’, and so I decided to focus more on the aspects that captured my attention. In all this is a fantastically researched and compiled book, complete with some of the finest illustrations I have seen in and prehistory literature. As I have mentioned it can be a little longwinded at times reading archaeological evidence, and so I will leave you with a humorous quote from the very start of the book which touches on the complications of writing about such dark eras of history.

‘When, in 1969, I mentioned to my colleague Leo Rivet that I was thinking of writing a book on the British Iron Age, he said that it could not be done. Now that I have finished my work, I am inclined to agree with him’.

The Anglo-Saxon’s at War 800-1066 by Paul Hill

Considering that Leonard Dutton’s ‘Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms’ covered the periods from Hengist to Ecgbert, it made excellent sense to then follow up with reading Paul Hills book which covers the next period from 800-1066. However, the book was not exactly what I was expecting. What I was expecting was for much the same format as the Dutton’s book in which it followed all military events and activities in chronology, but instead we have a book divided up into sections. These sections cover such things like the composition of the army and the equipment they would have used, and then later it deals with selective campaigns of the period from 800-1066. Mainly classic campaigns involving battles like Maldon and Hastings, but nevertheless campaigns of which I am still shamefully under-read.

It starts by introducing the reader to the subject of Anglo-Saxon warfare by informing him of what the armies of the time would have looked like, and fought like. As I may have mentioned in the previous post I am more of a visual learner, and having a map to hand when reading history is an essential for making sure that I remember all the events. So being able to picture exactly what the Anglo-Saxons would have looked like in battle was a very handy way of making me (the reader) fully engaged. Along the way the author also raised questions in which the answers were a little ambiguous, but where he managed to supply valid theories, such as the role of cavalry in Anglo-Saxon England where it is concluded that many warriors dismounted for battle but then remounted to chase a defeated foe.

What would be later called ‘levies’ in medieval England were initially called ‘Fyrds’, which were essentially freemen who would mobilise when called upon by their lord. These soldiers were usually very lightly armoured and will have been likely only to carry a spear and shield at best. However, some troops were much better equipped. Depending on your status in society would depend upon what was equipment would have to be pledged to upon death. What I mean by this, is that if you were an Earl you may have to fulfil a requirement of gifting equipment enough to fit out five Huscarls upon your death. The requirements would alter depending on current event. For example during the reign of Aethelred the unready the number of equipment which needed to be donated upon death was at an all-time high. This system was a very handy way of ensuring that there was always a sufficient amount of heavy infantry on the battlefield, but heavy infantry is not always what is required. One of the select military campaigns the book decides to deal with is Harold Godwinson’s invasion of Wales in 1063 to deal with the brigand Llywelyn Ap Gruffydd who had been raiding the midlands for many years. According to John of Salisbury (a 12^th century Bishop and author) Harold fashioned his troops with light leather armour and smaller shields to cope with the difficult terrain of the Welsh hills. He stated:

‘light armaments shod with boots, their chests protected with straps of a very tough hide, carrying small round shields to ward off missiles, and using as their offence weapons javelins and a pointed sword’

One can’t help but wonder if this is the description they used for those abysmal uniform like costumes the Saxons wear in the TV series ‘Vikings’.

Some of the other military campaigns covered include the bloodbath at Maldon, where the Vikings made their return to England, which started a series of events that would eventually lead to a line of Danish kings lasting almost thirty years. Paul Hill argues that the period of prosperity that followed when all the English Kingdoms were united, may well have caused the subsequent Vikings conquest. Edgar ‘the peaceful’ was named such, not because he was a pacifist, but because the English naval power started under Alfred was so mighty that the Vikings would not dare attempt a landing on English soil. This period of prosperity is argued, as I have seen in many other books, that it led to the Anglo-Saxons becoming weak, complacent and almost decedent; making them ripe for conquest when the naval power could not be maintained, as was the case under Aethelred the unready.

Two classic conflicts covered are Hastings and the early period of Alfred the Great. The battles discussed were nothing particularly new to me, but there were some incredibly interesting aspects that merit further investigation. Unlike in Leonard Dutton’s book, Paul Hill establishes that most battles of the early Anglo-Saxon period were between no more than a few hundred troops on either side. This makes for extremely interesting reading when you put this information alongside Alfred the Greats reforms, and in particular the border fortifications he erected that had a standing army of almost 30,000 troops occupying them collectively at any one period of time. At Hastings the book deals with some of the misconceptions of the Saxon defeat. Although Harold Godwinson ordered the plunder from Stamford Bridge returned to the capital, without giving his troops a fair share, resulting in desertion on his speedy march south. We still know that despite of this that Godwinson had more than enough men once he came to battle. Literally more than enough, as described in the ‘Carmen de Hastingae Poelio’ which details how the Saxon army was so tightly packed that those slain by arrows were rooted standing on the spot by those next to them. Paul suggests this lack of mobility and vulnerability to missile fire may well have caused the panic that led to defeat.

Although the book did not follow all the events in chronologic order or set itself out in a way like Leonard Dutton’s ‘Power Struggles’, it did successfully fulfil all my requirements for giving me the major events of the years from 800-1066. It has also gifted me the appetite I wanted for when it comes time to read about the later Saxon period. In particular I want to learn more about the family of the Godwinsons, which seems to be a slow but continual rise to power from as far back as Aethelred’s reign. For this I have a multitude of material in my library including ‘The Life & Times of Godwine Earl of Wessex’ by Hubert Grills, ‘Harold II: The Doomed Saxon King’ by Peter Rex, ‘Harold the Last Anglo-Saxon King’ by Ian Walker, ‘The Godwins’ by Frank Barlow and finally ‘The House of Godwine’ by Emma Mason. 

The Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: The Power Struggles from Hengist to Ecbgerht by Leonard Dutton

Although I had initially set out a list of pre Anglo-Saxon books to read before going into the Saxons themselves, I decided that I could not wait any longer. And although I am still half way through Barry Cunliffe’s Iron Age Communities in Britain, I decided that my Anglo-Saxon book collection was so big that it was a little embarrassing that I had not started on any of them yet. I decided to commence with one that looked like a basic overview and chronology of the Anglo-Saxon period, and Leonard Dutton’s book seemed a perfect place to start. I had initially bought it because I was compiling sources on Egbert of Wessex, so that I could possibly attempt to write a book on him sometime in the future. However, these dreams were squashed when I was in conversation with the owner of a publishing company who has already written two thirds of a book on the very same King. He mentioned that he had translated all of Egberts charters, and that he had discovered something significant in one of them which has been overlooked by previous historians. The fact alone that he was able to translate old English led me to the decision that I ought to leave this idea of writing a book alone for the time being.

What first struck me was how the chronology of events is limited almost entirely to the military aspect of Anglo-Saxon history; only straying into other areas when essential. This was something I enjoyed immensely, as the military history and reign of the kings provides the bare bones of the subject, in which I can start adding the meat later with more specific books. There were also multiple illustrated maps throughout, depicting the current political situation, positioning of fortification and where possible, maps of battlefields. I consider myself somewhat of a visual learner, and can get easily confused if I do not have a map of the area I am reading about close to hand, so this was ideal for making all the information go straight into the long term memory bank.

The Anglo-Saxon has seemed to me to be the ultimate incarnation of the Englishman, but while reading this book I couldn’t help but have sympathy with the native Britons who were having their homeland taken from them. I found myself simultaneously supporting all parties, form Aurelianus and King Arthur to Hengist and Oswald of Northumbria. One person I took a charm too in particular was King Urien of Rheged, who was described by Leonard Dutton as ‘a latter day Arthur’. He was a native British leader of one of the last regions to resist being absorbed by the Anglo-Saxons, which also happen to be my home county of Cumbria. At its height Rheged stretch from southern Scotland to Liverpool, and during the reign of Urien they almost dispelled the Angles from Northumbria. Urien pushed King Ida and his men all the way back to the island of Lindisfarne, and besieged them there until Urien was assassinated at the behest of one of his own allies who had grown jealous of his militaristic skills. Following this Ida managed to gain a beachhead and then finally defeat the Brittonic alliance. Rheged remained independent until sometime around 750, where is said to have been peacefully integrated into the kingdom of Northumbria through inheritance.

Another matter, even earlier than when Uriel lived, was the stupidity of the British king Votigern who invited the Saxon mercenaries Hengist and Horsa to Kent so that they would help the Britons defend their borders. There was also a more sinister purpose to this invitation however. In the previous year Flavius Aetius had defeated Attila the Hun at the battle of Catalonian fields, and for a while it seemed likely that the Romans could return to Britain. Votigern was the leader of the anti-Roman faction in Britain, and inviting the Saxon mercenaries over would be of great help in ensuring that the Romans couldn’t return. A year after this however it was realised that Rome’s decline was terminal, and there would no return. Votigern had already made his mistake however, and it didn’t take long for the mercenaries to betray him and start to pillage and settle in the lands of Kent. The mess was mainly left to Ambrosius Aurelianus, leader of the pro-Roman faction, to clean up. Ambrosius and his successor, King Arthur, managed to stem the flow of Saxon expansion, but only temporarily.

Aside from these two account of the native Britons, the rest of the book focuses on stories of Anglo-Saxon kings. These proved very informative, as kings such as Oswald of Northumbria, who Tolkien had based Aragon on will make the reader sympathise with the journey taken to reclaim a kingdom. Although it is easy to see the opposing side to Oswald’s story, as King Edwin, who succeeded Oswald’s father was only reclaiming his own lands as well. Oswald is also remembered for destroying the famous British rebel Cadwallon ap Cadfan, but was himself defeated after an eight year reign by the great Pagan king of Mercia, Penda. King Ine of Wessex and King Caedwalla of Wessex are two other interesting characters, who I thought ought to have books written about them. I found a short fifty page book on Ine by Ray Gibbs which I believe focuses on many of his successful law reforms. Although Ine is said to have been lacking skill militaristically, he is credited with having an unusually long reign for the time, and for preventing his subjects from making slaves of fellow Englishmen.

The book takes us up to the reign of Ecgbert of Wessex, leaving us at the start of the age of the Vikings. From this point on the narrative of England’s history changes, and so I have prepared a book which starts from the point that this one leaves us. Next I will be reading ‘The Anglo-Saxon’s at War’ by Paul Hill, which will look at military campaigns and army composition up until 1066. Although I decided to read these two books for the chronology of the Anglo-Saxons, I have found myself building a stronger admiration and interest for the struggles of the native Britons, and so I will continue to amass some more books on the post-Roman Celts.