HISTORY

I’ve been reading a biography of Charlemagne by Matthias Becher, and while I think that he has done a pretty good treatment so far (I’m about half way through the book), he doesn’t provide much background detail. What I’m particularly interested in is the people of Saxony, their religion and culture, at the time of Charlemagne’s conquest (circa. 770-800). The only details I was able to pick up from Becher was a devotion to the gods Woden and Saxnot, and the Irminsul -- “a wooden column that was venerated for supposedly being a pillar of the universe.” Such sketchy details has perked my interest. I’m looking, as usual for book suggestions and websites, and also thoughts an…

:bbfft: The reign of Karl der Grosse, or Charlemagne, was a cumulative period in early medieval history (a period that covers roughly AD 476 to the ninth and tenth centuries). It marked an important turning point in western civilization, from the fall of the western Roman Empire and the “barbarian” migrations to the adoption of feudalism, from the missionary and evangelizing period of western Christianity to the establishment of a bond (for good or for worse) between secular and spiritual powers, from a time of relatively meager historical documentation to a time of tremendous written output. This forum is for all discussions pertaining to this period, unfortunately ca…

Ananova: Clan's mountains and castle may become national property One of Scotland's best known mountain ranges and most historic castles could become national assets. Clan chief John MacLeod of MacLeod has confirmed he is in negotiations over the future of the Cuillin mountains and his clan seat Dunvegan Castle, on Skye. Under the proposals, the mountains would be handed over to the people of Scotland to become national property while the castle would be transferred to a charitable trust. The announcement came after Mr MacLeod put the mountain range on the market for £10 million three years ago to raise funds to carry out repairs at the castle, Scotland's ol…

How Vikings Might Have Navigated on Cloudy Days Corey Binns Special to LiveScience LiveScience.comSat Mar 3, 12:01 PM ET Vikings navigated the oceans with sundials aboard their Norse ships. But on an overcast day, sundials would have been useless. Many researchers have suggested that the on foggy days, Vikings looked toward the sky through rock crystals called sunstones to give them direction. No one had tested the theory until recently. A team sailed the Arctic Ocean aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden and found that sunstones could indeed light the way in foggy and cloudy conditions. Would have worked Crystals such as cordierite, calcite or turmaline work …

Flying under the clouds of the Hess mystery flight IAIN LUNDY EVEN at face value, at its most simple, the story of Rudolf Hess - Hitler's "lone nut" deputy, and his 900-mile wartime flight from Germany to Scotland on an apparent peace mission that ended with his plane crashing into a field in Renfrewshire - is one of the most bizarre and intriguing tales of the 20th century. The history books tell us that in 1941 Hess, in the so-called lone nut theory, took it upon himself to fly to Scotland and try to meet the Duke of Hamilton in the hope of brokering a peace deal, only to crash his Messerschmitt-110 near the village of Eaglesham before being captured and held as a p…

Historic Places Wed 6 Jul 2005 The Glasgow Necropolis has attracted more than just the dead. Hundreds of tourists walk the vast garden cemetery every year. Digging into Glasgow's buried past RONNIE SCOTT THE ITALIAN cultural historian Carlo Ginzburg has written that "the attempt to gain knowledge of the past is also a journey into the world of the dead". This has certainly been true for me, on my four-year journey of research into the origins of the Glasgow Necropolis, the first garden cemetery in Scotland. As anyone who has ever undertaken research knows, you begin with what you know you don’t know, then quickly get to the stage of finding out facts and opini…

A good site with lots of information not commonly found on the net www.lothene.demon.co.uk Warrior Women in Scotland These include the Celts, Aife of Alba and Scathach of Skye. Isabelle of England: (A.D. 1285?-1313?) took up arms against her husband and she was forced to flee to Scotland by Edward III. In 1297 the Countess of Ross led her own troops during William Wallace and Andrew de Moray's battles with the English. Isobel MacDuff, Countess of Buchan (1296-1358) fought for Robert de Bruce. Christian, Lady Bruce defended Kildrummy Castle from the English during the Wars of Independence. During the same war, the widow of David of Strathbogie defended the isla…

East Anglian Daily Times December 15, 2005 07:59 Pieces of worked flints excavated from the shoreline near Pakefield, north Suffolk, which have been dated to around 700,000 years ago by scientists with the help of new technologies THE remarkable discovery of stone tools on the East Anglian coast has shown that human activity was present in northern Europe 200,000 years earlier than first thought, scientists have revealed. Working at low tides, archaeologists excavated 32 pieces of worked flint from exposed geological beds along the shoreline near Pakefield, north Suffolk. New techniques have allowed scientists to date the tools to around 700,000 years ago. …

Brian Handwerk for National Geographic News December 1, 2005 In July a team of English researchers reported the discovery of human footprints in Mexico that appeared to be 30,000 years older than when most scientists believe humans arrived in the Americas. Researchers commonly accept that humans came to the Americas some 11,500 years ago. But new dating of the Mexican find suggests that the features are in fact 1.3 million years old. If the new dates are correct, the footprints could be among the most incredible hominid traces ever discovered—or, more likely, not footprints at all. "One-point-three million years is a lot older than I expected," said Paul Renn…

The day every Scot should celebrate our unique culture IAN MARLAND Key points • Did you know that today is St Andrew's Day? • Scotland is slowly waking up to the significance of 30th November • 41 events to be celebrated world-wide "Internally, there is still a reluctance among Scots at home to celebrate St Andrew's Day, perhaps because it is perceived as a Nationalist totem. Leaving that aside, externally, it is important that at every opportunity we market Scotland to the rest of the world." - Kenny MacAskill, of the SNP THE majority of Scots are likely to go about their business today without a thought for the significance of the date, and without any plans …