Followers

Tuesday, 12 November 2024

King Arthur's Country


 England today is a rich, complex mix of identities, cultures, and heritages. However, in the decades after Roman Britain collapsed in the fifth century, the cultures of the Angles and of the Saxons, with significant degrees of homogeneity, spread rapidly westwards across much of eastern, southern and central England.


Then it stopped. Or was stopped. For the area then still beyond Anglo-Saxon reach is characterized by a network of military and economic links across the island. Perhaps significantly, this includes parts of Britain traditionally associated with King Arthur. Later, the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural kingdom of Mercia, in alliance with British kingdoms in Wales, spread from the Midlands across England under the mysterious King Penda, dominating the earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms with its wealth and military power. The region that gave birth to Mercia is also a region that was a most likely base for the elusive figure of King Arthur.

The authors use historical and archaeological evidence, much of it new, to explore the link between Arthur’s kingdom and the rise of Penda’s Mercia. They seek to locate lost Arthurian battlefields and understand what happened there, with exciting, new results. This is the story of one region, two kings and two centuries that changed England forever.
From here

Sunday, 22 September 2024

Wiglaf 18mm

 Have you seen the Wiglaf range of 1/100th scale Anglo-Saxon warriors?

They are rather nice, designed by Mark Copplestone for author Dan Mersey. Figure selection here in the photos painted by paint master Steve Dean.

You can buy them here:

https://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=306&page=1




Website


The Mystery of King Arthur

 Picked this up for 50p. I have quite a few books on this subject from charity shops. This one is about the various interpretations through history.


Elizabeth Jenkins brings her subject alive in this unique and glowing book, doing full justice through her loving and careful research to history and mystery alike.

Glastonbury Tor by Claire Harrup

 For the book Landmark and Legends. More pics here


Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Was Camelot a Real Place? | Arthur: King of the Britons | BBC Timestamp

 


Here

Although most scholars regard the tales of King Arthur and Camelot as fiction, there are multiple locations that may have been linked with King Arthur’s Camelot. One potential place is in Somerset, whereby four, manmade distinct banks in a hill suggest the existence of a hillfort right next to the Camel villages. Could this be the site of King Arthur’s Camelot?

Tuesday, 25 June 2024

New novel

 



Years have passed since the clash of shield-walls echoed across the land . . .

The Saxons are now the lords of Britain. And yet the bards still sing of Arthur - 'In our darkest time, when we need him most, shall he come again.'

Ageing mercenary Beran has no love of bards' songs. Nor of people. Unless they are paying him to steal or kill. Now he has been ordered to murder a boy. But this is no ordinary child. The son of King Constantine and the grandson of High King Ambrosius, this boy could be the saviour of Britain . . . if he lives.

Betraying his companions and returning to a world he believed he'd forsaken, Beran vows to take the boy to the one place that still holds out against the invader: Camelot.

Hunted by Saxons, Queen Morgana and those he deceived, he will seek the help of Guivret, called the Little King, and the Saracen, Palamedes who once rode beneath Arthur's banner. They will meet the doomed lovers, Tristan and Isolde. And they will fight for their lives and for each other.

For if there's to be any hope for Britain, Beran must deliver the boy to Camelot. And to do that, he must come to terms with his past . . .

Arthur is the breathtaking new novel from the author of the bestselling Lancelot, called 'a masterpiece' by Conn Iggulden . . .

King Arthur's Country

  England today is a rich, complex mix of identities, cultures, and heritages. However, in the decades after Roman Britain collapsed in the ...