It is at the inn The Prancing Pony in the village of Bree that the Hobbits hope to be safe from the screeching Nazgûl on their coal-black horses. The Prancing Pony is also where the Hobbits meet Strider, a wanderer who, in fact, is named Aragorn, the future first king of the Reunited Kingdom. Horses,Continue reading “Hengist and Horsa – Frisian horses from overseas founded the Kentish Kingdom”
Category Archives: anglo-saxons
The Chronicles of Warnia. When history seems a fantasy story
The fate of tribes and tribe names during the age of the Wandering of Peoples, between the fourth and the sixth centuries, was uncertain. Most ceased to exist. Many Celtic and Germanic peoples disappeared from the scene. Some were defeated by confederations of tribes. Others merged into new tribes. Yet others simply vanished into thinContinue reading “The Chronicles of Warnia. When history seems a fantasy story”
The Deer Hunter of Fallward, and his Throne of the Marsh
Close to a terp named Fallward near the village of Wremen in Land Wursten, archaeologists discovered a unique site offering a rare glimpse into the world of the Migration Period. A view into the world of the Old Saxons who lived on the tidal marshlands of the Wadden Sea at the mouth of the RiverContinue reading “The Deer Hunter of Fallward, and his Throne of the Marsh”
Scratching runes was not much different from spraying tags
Carving runes into combs and stones is basically the same as spraying tags on subway cars and bicycle tunnels. Those who create runes or graffiti are called writers. More precisely, rune writers and graffiti writers. The word graffiti stems from the Italian word graffio, which means ‘scratch’ and invented in the context of the PompeiiContinue reading “Scratching runes was not much different from spraying tags”
Who’s afraid of Voracious Woolf?
Who’s afraid of Jóða Fenris ‘the offspring of Fenrir’? Afraid of hund hrynsævar hræva ‘the hound of the roaring sea corpses’? Who, today, is afraid of the wolf? The dark creature that has lived for so long in the shadowy forests of the east, is on the rise again in Europe. Almost two centuries haveContinue reading “Who’s afraid of Voracious Woolf?”
♪ They want you as a new recruit ♪
‘In the navy’, is a song of village people. Of the small villages along the southern coast of the North Sea. A water people once united in the mythical Seven Sealands. And, a people who laid the foundations of two of history’s most impressive navies. That of England, and that of the Republic of theContinue reading “♪ They want you as a new recruit ♪”
Rowing souls of the dead to Britain: the ferryman of Solleveld
In 2004, a unique discovery was made at the early-medieval grave field of Solleveld, just south of the city of The Hague: a boat grave. Exactly two hundred kilometers, perfectly east, across the North Sea, from the legendary boat burial of Sutton Hoo. With this one-of-a-kind find, the Netherlands joined the ranks of ship burialContinue reading “Rowing souls of the dead to Britain: the ferryman of Solleveld”
It all began with piracy
The arrival of the Romans in northwest Europe at the beginning of the era, with the River Rhine as frontier, was the starting signal for five centuries of widespread piracy. Piracy not only affected the coasts of Britannia and Gaul, but also stirred things up as far as the coast of the Mediterranean and theContinue reading “It all began with piracy”
Merciless Medieval Merchants and Slave Traders
Earliest proof of Frisian merchants, or kāpmon in the Old Frisian language, trading in slaves dates from the first half of the seventh century. None other than Venerable Bede himself, the Father of English history, documented this criminal act. It was a merchant who was doing business in the London markets and also traded in slaves.Continue reading “Merciless Medieval Merchants and Slave Traders”
The Abbey of Egmond and the Rise of the Gerulfing Dynasty
Monk Ecgberht of Ripon was the driving force behind the Christianization of the headstrong heathens of Frisia. From the influential monastery Rath Melsigi in Ireland, he released salvo after salvo of monks, priests, and other clergymen on Frisia. Monks Willibrord and Adalbert were yet another two of his spiritual soldiers. After having received their educationContinue reading “The Abbey of Egmond and the Rise of the Gerulfing Dynasty”
Frisia Coast Trail 