Who Is Your Favourite Dark Age Briton?

[Nagel]

Does Boudica count? Or what about Saint Hilda of Whitby Abbey?

 

Wot abou' the wimin?

 

Boudicca doesn't count because she wasn't from the Dark Ages, she fought the occupying Romans remember? Saint Hilda counts. Didn't she decide when Easter was and turn snakes into ammonites?

[backwardben]

Edmund Blackadder all round good man a man with history and courage.

[Mr Bloke]

... Saint Hilda counts. Didn't she decide when Easter was and turn snakes into ammonites?

I'm not sure...

 

... I must have missed that episode of Corrie...

[mjw47]

I read it after posting, oh well, not the end of the world.

 

 

 

St Patrick? I thought he came from Ravenglass in Cumbria. That's one theory anyway.

 

Is it known that he's a Dark Ages figure? He was from the 5th C so probably from before the Romans cut loose from Britain.

 

No problem, done the same myself in the past.

 

The truth is no one actually knows but of the various theories the French one makes sense to me.

 

It is proven he was in the south of France after escaping from Ireland to study prior to returning to convert the heathen Irish, who were having a great time til he rolled up with all that guilt complex crap!

 

Why make a nearly two thousand mile round trip and have to learn French before being able to return?

 

If he was from Britain that's where he'd have gone back to.

 

Leaning more and more toward Egbert, not only did he effectively unite England for the first time at Dore, he captured the London mint and issued his own coins.

 

I like the cut of his jib, and think the name should be revived.

 

" Egbert! time for tea, get in this house now!"

[tzijlstra]

Funny thing about this thread is that it proves migration was common even back then .

 

The most significant man of that era was, in my opinion, the Roman general who forced the border north, including what is now England and much of North France and South Germany.

 

We wouldn't know a lot about the era without Tacitus, a Roman Historian and Senator. But my favourite Briton didn't actually exist, King Arthur.

[donotremove]

But my favourite Briton didn't actually exist, King Arthur.

 

What a strange thing to say then. My favourite, Widgy Woo, did not exist either. I've just made him up.

[tzijlstra]

What a strange thing to say then. My favourite, Widgy Woo, did not exist either. I've just made him up.

 

Why is it strange? Relating to a fictional character is about as normal as relating to a character who has been dead for centuries. To elaborate though, it is the legend and the potential origin of the story in the dark ages that I find interesting.

[SiSiSi]

Not only that, few women could read or write, so their exploits tended to go unrecorded.

 

They would only have wasted it on writing out shopping lists & Xmas cards.

[donotremove]

Why is it strange? Relating to a fictional character is about as normal as relating to a character who has been dead for centuries. To elaborate though, it is the legend and the potential origin of the story in the dark ages that I find interesting.

 

You'd soon drop King Arthur once you read about Widgy Woo and his adventures. I just need to transfer them from my head and write them down.

[aliceBB]

You'd soon drop King Arthur once you read about Widgy Woo and his adventures. I just need to transfer them from my head and write them down.

 

You clearly haven't quite grasped the point tzijlstra was making about the enduring power of ancient literature and creative endeavour.

 

If your - as yet unpublished - tales of Widgy Woo can rival the imaginative power of King Arthur or Beowulf, I look forward to seeing him burst onto the world stage.