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November 11, 2003
How dark is the age
Ever wondered why the period 600 - 1100 AD is referred to as "The Dark Ages"? I frequently do, especially when I am confronted by evidence of some of the fantastic artwork produced in this period.
Recently there was a TV show on the "Viking Age" which discussed and showed some of the fantastic achievements the Celts, Anglo Saxons, Danes, Swedes and Norwegians produced. Contrary to popular (mostly Victorian) belief they weren't all cut throats. The majority were actually traders. That said, the term "Viking" is translatable as "raider". Again they are not a particular people, but a group which worked from the Scandanavian area (including Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) who travelled widely in search of trade.
But I digress, what sparked this thought train was the showing (it is now available electronically from the British Library) of the Lindisfarne Gospels. Stunning. The work of one scribe, it is absolutely amazing and probably took him 10 years to do. The vellum on which it is written comes from 150 cows and the filigree work decorating the covers is the work of an amazingly skilled artist. So for that matter are the decorations in the text.
Then there is the Scandanavian end and the amazingly complete ship which was used as a coffin for a woman. That's right, a woman. And it wasn't a war vessel although it was big enough to be - it was a yacht. In about 900AD. The decorative scroll work on the stem and sternposts, on the barge boards and gunwales is breath taking and it was recovered with all the grave goods and its own fittings intact. It needed 30 oarsmen to row it, but this was the toy of a high status "Viking" woman. Perhaps not so dark an age after all.
Its an interesting fact that when you look at the British Isles, there are no longer any pure English, Welsh, Scots or Irish. The fact is that over the last 2000 years there have been so many intermarriages between Celt and Anglo Saxon, Dane, Norwegian, Spaniard and Norman that we are a real mixed breed now. Recent studies of Regional accents and local word use also suggest that the North East, for example, still has closer linguistic links with Denmark than with the rest of the UK.
Having been born in South Africa of British parentage when I look at my family tree I find the only way to describe myself accurately on a racial monitoring form is as "African Anglo Saxon Hybernian Norman English. And there's some Welsh in there too alongside a large dose of Scot. I wonder if our Dark Ages forbears ever thought it would come to this when the Venerable Bede was writing at Jarrow of the "English speaking peoples". Which brings me back to my original point.
There has been an excellent documentary on the Adventure of English and I was amazed at just how much of the early English and Anglo Saxon I could understand. Then it clicked, it is a Dutch root language and being able to speak some Dutch it didn't take me long to tune in to the pronunciation - hence being able to follow the speech. It was also the language and the age of a first flowering of some of the most amazing poetry. What a pity only fragments survive of most of it. Skills abounded, and a walk through the roof of the Norman Abbey Church I have the good fortune to worship in always leaves me amazed at the workmanship even in the "hidden" places. This abbey was built in 1102 - 1141 and although the Conventual Buildings are gone, the Abbey Church is intact. Have a look at www.tewkesburyabbey.org.uk if you are interested. It has stood for 900 years almost unchanged apart from the demolition under Henry VIII and the restoration work done in 1840 - 1843. Our modern stone masons have had to learn the skills of the Norman masons to keep up the restoration work - which is never ending!
OK, so the Vikings were a bit of a disaster for most communities, but I can't escape the feeling that, in the main, the Dark Ages were not all that bad. They have certainly left us lots to think on. Ever wonder why the Raven is regarded as a bird of ill omen? The Vikings used to carry a cage of them on the raiding ships. When they thought they were close to land, they'd release one. If it could see land it made for it, if it couldn't, it came back to the ship.
If you were tilling your fields/minding your sheep/decorating your latest book and a raven came hurtling in off the sea - you knew you had about an hour to put some distance between you and the rather nasty bunch following the bird.
There you go, another bit of useless information to dazzle/bore your friends with.
And so to sleep.
Posted by The Gray Monk at November 11, 2003 11:20 PM