Clay Lane
Posts in The Copybook credited to ‘Clay Lane’
Britain’s ties to the rulers of Russia go back to the time of the Norman Invasion.
The story of Russia began when Vikings established a Princedom in Great Novgorod just across the Baltic Sea. At the same moment, the Vikings’ Great Army was also swarming over England, and King Alfred the Great was preparing to do battle; but a Viking past is not all that the two nations have in common.
Roman Emperor Julian was ready to destroy an entire Christian community over his wounded pride.
This story was told to his congregation by Elfric of Eynsham (955-1010) on the Feast of the Dormition of Mary. It is quite true that in 363, Julian the Apostate, pagan Emperor of Rome and cruel persecutor of Christians, was mortally wounded by an unknown assailant wielding a spear.
The Scots paid a heavy price for honouring their ‘Auld Alliance’ with France.
In September 1513, King James IV of Scotland found himself torn between ties of family and obligations of state. He chose the latter, and on a cold and lonely field in Northumberland, James and thousands of his loyal subjects paid dearly.
Out of a restless alliance between two 6th century kingdoms came a civilisation that defined Englishness.
Northumbria was a kingdom in northeast England, from the seventh century to the ninth. More than any other of the seven kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, Northumbria shaped the political, social and religious identity of a united Kingdom of the English in the 10th century.
Scandinavian warrior Leif Ericson was sent to bring Christianity to Greenland, but accidentally discovered North America instead.
A Viking settlement dated to around AD 1000 was uncovered in 1960 on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, with more sites in the region tentatively identified in 2012. Suddenly, a tale from the Norse sagas, routinely dismissed as myth, looked very different.