tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post4895900426519536082..comments2023-10-12T02:21:40.102-07:00Comments on English Historical Fiction Authors: The Christians Are Coming! (The islands of Iona and Lindisfarne)Debra Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03256313302199653185noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-88565049995774671532016-08-15T04:03:57.704-07:002016-08-15T04:03:57.704-07:00Thanks, Elaine. Good luck with the research and th...Thanks, Elaine. Good luck with the research and the writing!Matthew Harffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12994917417232123639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-79728075320621715612016-08-15T04:03:23.343-07:002016-08-15T04:03:23.343-07:00Thanks. It is interesting to downplay the impact o...Thanks. It is interesting to downplay the impact of the Viking raids. I imagine that not only did they destroy and steal much of value, but also there must have been fewer people willing to become monks and sit in monasteries scribbling away waiting for the dreaded heathen Norsemen to fall upon them like rabid wolves! Matthew Harffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12994917417232123639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-83637513750068126032016-08-15T04:00:50.151-07:002016-08-15T04:00:50.151-07:00Thanks, Jayne. Glad you enjoyed it.Thanks, Jayne. Glad you enjoyed it.Matthew Harffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12994917417232123639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-79489136988110277702016-08-15T04:00:26.924-07:002016-08-15T04:00:26.924-07:00Thanks, Samantha!Thanks, Samantha!Matthew Harffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12994917417232123639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-50288220814561509422016-08-15T04:00:05.993-07:002016-08-15T04:00:05.993-07:00Thanks for the stimulating discussion. My portraya...Thanks for the stimulating discussion. My portrayal of religion (and may other things in my novels) is necessarily simplified and simplistic. Partly due to not wanting to get bogged down in nitty-gritty details, and partly due to not being an expert! :-)Matthew Harffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12994917417232123639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-56464420732744227432016-08-15T03:57:54.120-07:002016-08-15T03:57:54.120-07:00Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, Kimb...Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, Kimberley.Matthew Harffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12994917417232123639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-13555508454704448082016-08-15T03:57:14.764-07:002016-08-15T03:57:14.764-07:00Thanks, John!Thanks, John!Matthew Harffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12994917417232123639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-11109675816979719772016-08-04T08:25:14.730-07:002016-08-04T08:25:14.730-07:00With regard to the dna evidence, the lower estimat...With regard to the dna evidence, the lower estimates for germanic markers come in at under 20% (Sykes) whilst upper limits from Weale are at around 40% - with local variations that are higher of course. That still leaves a dark age population with between 60-80+% brittonic markers.Even today brittonic markers are the dominant genetic trait in England.<br /><br />And my point about Bede is not that he denied Cadwallon's christianity, but that he glosses over the high regard he was held in by the other christian nations in the heptarchy, because it did not suit his northumbrian narrative. Temulkarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09376080232781671618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-50225136857813689532016-08-03T04:30:19.035-07:002016-08-03T04:30:19.035-07:00Great post Matthew! I'm so glad I'm still ...Great post Matthew! I'm so glad I'm still writing in mid-fifth century Britain, although differences are already emerging. Sourcing research from religious documents and modern archaeology certainly throws up inconsistencies and makes the writer's role more challenging! Hoping to get to your series soon.E S Moxonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00910986089563223935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-24652488773004191442016-08-03T00:14:53.544-07:002016-08-03T00:14:53.544-07:00In regards to the DNA, the evidence seems to be co...In regards to the DNA, the evidence seems to be conflicting. I have heard of genetic studies that sugggest a large percentage of Germanic/Saxon DNA in the English population, especially that of 'lowland' England. English Ladyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17806974885775295349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-51973764474685854592016-08-03T00:12:40.738-07:002016-08-03T00:12:40.738-07:00Bede did not deny that Cadwallon was a Christian. ...Bede did not deny that Cadwallon was a Christian. He said as much, he was simply horrified that a Christian King would wage war on and kill his fellow Christians and Bede's heroes like Edwin and Oswald. English Ladyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17806974885775295349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-56205988090657516542016-08-03T00:10:56.740-07:002016-08-03T00:10:56.740-07:00Great piece. I am doing some work on the ninth cen...Great piece. I am doing some work on the ninth century at the moment. Its interesting that whilst some historians try to deny or downplay the negative impact of the Viking raids, the sourse I am reading says there was certainly a large decline in the output and quality of English manuscripts at this time. 50 years before the birth of Alfred, England was producing some of the greatest scholars in Europe, like Alcuin of York. Half a century later, there were complaints that priests barely knew their Latin English Ladyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17806974885775295349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-15036844538648906832016-08-02T21:53:06.280-07:002016-08-02T21:53:06.280-07:00Fascinating, well researched article. Love this pe...Fascinating, well researched article. Love this period! Thanks, Matthew. :-)Jayne Castelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13475470490239656017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-51864196918650687772016-08-02T05:45:38.348-07:002016-08-02T05:45:38.348-07:00Great post, as always, Matthew!Great post, as always, Matthew!Samantha Wilcoxsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04473495253682074133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-73398219174553400082016-08-02T03:34:49.473-07:002016-08-02T03:34:49.473-07:00Great article, I really enjoyed that. Although, it...Great article, I really enjoyed that. Although, it should be mentioned that Christianity in the sub roman was very much the professed religion of the Welsh (It's the Age of Saints in Wales after all). Penda was a pagan, but Cadwallon was very much a christian, although Bede liked to gloss over that fact (unsurprising given Bede's patriotic bias). There were enough Welsh Bishops to have a synod with Augustine when he arrived in Canterbury.<br /><br />Prof Wendy Davies has done some amazing work into the Llandaff charters showing religious endowments and celtic christian hierarchy surviving from the Roman into the early medieval in Wales. I think there is very much an argument for continuity of faith amongst the lower strata of even pagan Anglo society before Augustine.There's certainly evidence of continuity of worship in St Alban's from at least the 5th, and place names with Eccles implies more continuity from the Roman.<br /><br />I guess it depends upon how much population displacement was caused by the arrival of the saxons and just how many people arrived in the 5th/6th migration - Gildas says loads on both counts, but DNA evidence is really challenging that depiction. We could be looking at a mass of christian anglo-britons with a pagan Anglo-saxon aristocracy imposed on top.<br /><br />I loved Serpent Sword btw and very much looking forward to reading the new one!Temulkarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09376080232781671618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-63079037148117385192016-08-02T01:22:14.127-07:002016-08-02T01:22:14.127-07:00Really!!! I am very impressed after reading this b...Really!!! I am very impressed after reading this blog. thanks for providing deep information.<br /><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathalievirem" rel="nofollow">Speaker in California</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-44764157610251083992016-08-01T23:37:18.683-07:002016-08-01T23:37:18.683-07:00A terrific piece, Matthew. Great stuff, These plac...A terrific piece, Matthew. Great stuff, These places are well worth a visit and favourites of mine. Great writing.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17469107325611747325noreply@blogger.com