North Ages
@northages
Early medieval northern Britain, taking in Picts, Gaels, Britons, Angles and Norse. On this day, feast days, place-names, archaeology news and book releases. Posts by Dundonian bookworm Craig.
July 18: Feast of Teneu (Thenew, Enoch) (6thC), a princess of the Gododdin in south-east Scotland. Her father cast her out after she was raped and fell pregnant. She found sanctuary with St Serf in Culross, Fife, where she gave birth to her son, St Kentigern (Mungo). 📸Mark Worst
Edward the Elder, king of the Anglo-Saxons, died at Farndon, Cheshire, #OTD in 924. His West Saxon-Mercian levies ravaged the north in 909 and bested the Northumbrian Danes in battle in 910. Edward later received the submission of the Northumbrians, Scots and Strathclyde Britons.
Badwulf was consecrated as bishop of Candida Casa / Hwit Aerne, ‘White House’, (Whithorn, Galloway) by Eanbald I, archbishop of York, and Æthelberht, bishop of Hagustaldes ham (Hexham), #OTD in 791. The 8thC Golgotha Stone 📸Historic Environment Scotland
Pehtwine was consecrated as bishop of Candida Casa / Hwit Aerne, ‘White House’, (Whithorn, Galloway) by Ecgberht, archbishop of York, #OTD in 763. 📸AOC Archaeology
The discovery of runes in Maeshowe Chambered Cairn, Orkney, by amateur archaeologist and MP James Farrer was reported by The Orkney Herald #OTD in 1861. In fact, the Neolithic building bears the largest collection of runic inscriptions to survive outside Scandinavia. 📸HES
July 15: Feast of Domnall (Donevald, Donald) (†8thC). Widower who led a religious life with his daughters, known as the Nine Maidens, in Glen Ogilvie, Angus. 📸Mike Pennington
The first pieces of the Lews Castle Hoard were discovered by detectorist Austin Hepburn at the Stornoway site #OTD in 1988. The Viking-Age hacksilver had been wrapped in a linen cloth with fragments from two coins from Normandy and placed in a horn. 📸National Museums Scotland
Æthelstan, king of the Anglo-Saxons, ‘succeeded to the kingdom of the Northumbrians’ #OTD in 927 and, at Eamont, Cumbria, received oaths from rulers including Causantín II of Alba, Ealdred of Bebbanburg (Bamburgh) and possibly Owain of Strat Clut (Strathclyde). 📸Athelstan Museum
July 11: Feast of Drostan († early 7thC), founder-abbot of the Pictish monastery of Deir (Deer). Several dedications to him in NE Scotland including Episcopal church at Old Deer. The old church at Aberdour, Aberdeenshire, claimed his relics. Also Dec 15. The 10thC Book of Deer
I need you all to stop what you’re doing and admire the new Dundee United away shirt.
The Trustees of the British Museum declined to buy the panels of the Franks Casket #OTD in 1858. ‘They had never committed a greater act of folly,’ said the Keeper of Manuscripts. The museum’s Augustus Wollaston Franks – it is named after him – bought it instead. 📸British Museum
The Book of Deer appeared in north-east Scotland for the first time in hundreds of years #OTD in 2022. The 10thC pocket gospel-book was displayed at Aberdeen Art Gallery, on loan from Cambridge University Library. Its Gaelic notes link it to the monastery of Deer, Aberdeenshire.
July 9: Feast of Everild (†c.700). Wessex noblewoman who went north to become a nun with her companions Bega and Wulfreda. They settled on land owned by St Wilfrid called Bishop’s Farm, which he gave them. There they founded a convent. St Everilda's Church 📸Frederick Weeks
Edgar the Peaceable, king of the English, died #OTD in 975. He had ruled Northumbria and Mercia since 957, and became rex Anglorum upon the death of his brother Eadwig in 959.
Edgar Ætheling, having left Flanders, arrived in Scotland, where his brother-in-law Máel Coluim III and sister Margaret reigned, #OTD in 1074. The pretender to the English throne later made for England, where King William I ‘reversed his outlawry and that of all his men’.
July 7: Feast of Boisil († c.661), prior of Mailros (Melrose, Scottish Borders). Bede calls him 'a priest of great virtue, endowed with a spirit of prophecy'. He died of plague. The village of St Boswells is named after him. Cuthbert, whom he mentored, succeeded him as prior.
July 7: Feast of Hædde (†705), bishop of Wintancæstir (Winchester). He was educated at Streanæshalch (Whitby) and consecrated by Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, in 676. Bede remarks on his prudence and innate wisdom.
The first pieces that make up the Staffordshire Hoard were found by detectorist Terry Herbert near the village of Hammerwich #OTD 2009. Subsequent excavations unearthed the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver treasure yet found. 📸The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery
The St Ninian’s Isle Treasure was discovered by schoolboy Douglas Coutts #OTD in 1958. The 28 silver and silver-gilt objects were wrought in the second half of the 8thC; most are considered Pictish. A porpoise's jaw bone also featured in the hoard. 📸National Museums Scotland
Ceolfrith, former abbot of Uuiremutha (Wearmouth) and Gyruum (Jarrow), embarked on the seaborne stage of his pilgrimage to Rome #OTD in 716. His party’s ship was apparently blown off course three times before eventually arriving in Gaul. 📸John Armagh / Stanley Howe
The discovery of the 10thC Skerne Sword was reported in the Hull Daily Mail #OTD in 1982. Archaeologists found it at Skerne, Yorkshire, sheathed in a sheepskin-lined scabbard of willow/poplar. The pommel and guard are decorated with inlaid silver and copper wires. 📸Hull Museums
July 3: Feast of Cilléne Droichtech (†752), abbot of Iona. He renewed Adomnán’s Lex Innocentium, 'Law of the Innocents', which protected women, children and clergy, especially during warfare. Sléibíne mac Congaile succeeded him.
Marching north on a campaign against the Scots, Æthelstan, king of the English, visited the shrine of St Cuthbert at either Cuncacestre (Chester-le-Street) or more likely Ubbanford (Norham) #OTD in 934. He gifted precious items, including books and vestments, to the church there.
July 1: Feast of Servan (Serf) (6thC), bishop. Pictish king Bridei, son of Dargart, and Adomnán are credited with dedicating Culenros (Culross, Fife) and St Serf’s Island, Loch Leven, respectively to him. 📸Oliver Dixon
Holy oil is said to have seeped from John of Beverley’s tomb when Henry Bolingbroke made landfall in Yorkshire #OTD in 1399. The next year, as Henry IV, the king of England carried the Northumbrian saint’s banner into battle against Scotland.