Anglo-Saxon Era
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Anglo-Saxon Era’
Charles Dickens explains how King Alfred the Great overcame the Great Heathen Army in 878, with the help of a little music.
In 865, the Great Army of the Vikings from across the North Sea had been swarming over England, intent on all-out conquest of a country by then better known for its science and art than for its military readiness. But as Charles Dickens tells us, in 878 King Alfred of Wessex turned the tables on his enemy, and not just with battlefield courage.
The Roman Emperor offered to unite the world’s squabbling churches – but it was the kind of offer you can’t refuse.
English bishops met at Hatfield in 680, on the eve of a major Church Council at Constantinople. In the Imperial capital, the talk was all of uniting the world’s churches, but Pope Agatho wanted Britain’s support for something more radical: he meant to declare the gospel, even if he went the way of his predecessor, Martin.
Olaf hears that the ruler of Norway has lost the support of his noblemen, and sails away from England to claim his crown.
Hakon Sigurdarson, Norway’s de facto ruler, has gone to ground after upsetting his noblemen. His rival, Olaf Tryggvason, recently returned from England, guesses that Hakon will seek out Thora of Rimol; but Thora has hidden Earl Hakon and his servant Karker beneath the floor of a pigsty.
Viking raider Olaf Tryggvason, newly converted to Christianity, threw his weight behind a Danish invasion of England.
After converting to Christianity, Olaf Tryggvason renounced his career as a self-employed pagan pirate. But the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that six years later he felt free to ally himself with King Sweyn of Denmark, a Christian, and challenge Ethelred the Unready for the English crown.
Viking raider Olaf Tryggvason, taking a break on the Isles of Scilly, cannot resist the temptation to hear his fortune told.
In 988, Norwegian prince Olaf Tryggvason took a break from raiding the coastal populations of the British Isles, and stayed for some time in the Isles of Scilly. Despite several years of service at Novgorod to Vladimir, Grand Prince of Kiev, Olaf was still a Norse pagan; yet rumours of a Christian hermit who could tell one’s fortune were too intriguing to ignore.
With Christianity faltering in the British Isles, Pope Gregory took the first definite steps towards restoring its vigour.
Romans brought the gospel to Britannia in the late first century, but the influx of pagan Angles and Saxons after the Romans abandoned the province in 410 all but snuffed the Church out. One man was determined to rekindle it, and the Kingdom of Kent was to be the touch-paper.