tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76450393363068018842024-03-13T10:16:17.681+00:00Caitlin GreenThe personal website & blog of Dr Caitlin GreenUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-84284096097121574742022-09-22T17:12:00.001+01:002022-10-02T10:42:36.826+01:00Al-Idrīsī’s twelfth-century description and map of Lincolnshire<p><i>The following short piece was originally published in the Lincoln Record Society News
Review, 18 (2021), pp. 2–4; the version presented below is the fully-referenced version of this text.</i></p><p>The aim of the following note is to direct attention to an often-overlooked Arabic account and map of Lincolnshire found in the <i>Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī khtirāq al-āfāq</i>, ‘The book of pleasant journeys into faraway lands’, of the Muslim scholar al-Idrīsī, composed <i>c</i>. 1154 for Roger II of Sicily.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn1">1</a>)</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLxoxoEGzMUOHHZ5HtTK0I6OsdtoNT-Far7s9mEEi4frVXtywUGt2sh9TNQ69vBf3bIA1L1Ser9-k3BpX84nI3gACdPIwATsog3u2fHNK6Pf2nveeZNZflRzSy9ghS5oy6b-JQl62gPOPTsHuytYGQaiKPH8cZgNKU2__SuSXiB0LdGofJFxdHO8EB2g/s2262/Mu_ammad_ibn_Mu_ammad_al-Idr_s__Nuzhat_%5B...%5DIdr_s__Muh_ammad_btv1b6000547t_623.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1097" data-original-width="2262" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLxoxoEGzMUOHHZ5HtTK0I6OsdtoNT-Far7s9mEEi4frVXtywUGt2sh9TNQ69vBf3bIA1L1Ser9-k3BpX84nI3gACdPIwATsog3u2fHNK6Pf2nveeZNZflRzSy9ghS5oy6b-JQl62gPOPTsHuytYGQaiKPH8cZgNKU2__SuSXiB0LdGofJFxdHO8EB2g/w400-h194/Mu_ammad_ibn_Mu_ammad_al-Idr_s__Nuzhat_%5B...%5DIdr_s__Muh_ammad_btv1b6000547t_623.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The North Sea and the east coast of England on al-Idrīsī’s mid-twelfth-century Arabic map, from a mid-thirteenth- to early fourteenth-century copy. Note, north is at the top and south at the bottom; the river running across the centre of the image is the Witham with Boston on the left and Lincoln on the right, whilst Grimsby is shown on the coast to the north of the river (Source: <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6000547t/f623.item">Bibliothèque nationale de France</a>, Département des Manuscrits, Arabe 2221, f. 338v–339r; Public Domain)</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Al-Idrīsī was a descendant of the eleventh-century Ḥammūdid dynasty of Málaga in al-Andalus (Spain), a distant branch of the Idrīsid family that ruled Morocco from the late eighth to late tenth centuries, and his <i>Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī khtirāq al-āfāq </i>is one of the great geographical works of the medieval period.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn2">2</a>) Preserved in ten manuscripts dating from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, this work was written in Sicily for Roger II (1112–54) and gathered together a vast array of information on the various regions of the world known to its author and was illustrated by a series of 70 maps. As part of this, al-Idrīsī included a brief description of eastern England that runs as follows:</p><blockquote><p>Herein is the second section of the seventh climate, containing a portion of the Ocean wherein lies the island of <i>lnqlṭrh </i>[England, <i>l’Angleterre</i>]… From the town of <i><span style="font-family: arial;">ǧ</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">rnmūdh</span></i> [Yarmouth, <i>Gernemutha/Gernemuda</i>] to the town of <i>nrġīq</i> [Norwich, <i>Norwic</i>] is ninety miles. The town of Norwich is distant ten miles from the sea, and from there to <i>aġryms</i> [Grimsby] is a hundred and fifty miles by sea. From the said town of Yarmouth the sea[-coast] curves round in a circle, but still tending northwards. From the said town of Grimsby to the town of <i>afrwīk</i> [York, <i>Evrvic</i>] is eighty miles. The latter lies at a distance from the Ocean, and on the border of the peninsula of <i>sqwsyh</i> [Scotia], which is contiguous with the island of England… From the town of York to the estuary of the river of <i>bskh</i> [Boston] is a hundred and forty miles, and Boston is a fortress (<i>ḥiṣn</i>) situated on this river twelve miles upstream from the sea. From the aforementioned of Grimsby to the town of <i>nqwls </i>[Lincoln, <i>Nicolas</i>] inland is a hundred miles; the river flows through the midst of it and flows out of it towards the town of Grimsby, but flows into the sea on the south of the latter, as we have mentioned before. From the inland Lincoln to the town of York is moreover ninety miles, and from thence to the town of <i>dūnālma</i> [Durham, <i>Dunelme</i>] eighty miles northwards.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn3">3</a>)</p></blockquote><p>Al-Idrīsī was by no means the first author of an Arabic text to discuss and describe this island, as I have discussed elsewhere, but he was the first to name it <i>Inqalṭāra</i>, England (<i>Angleterre</i>), rather than Britain and the first to leave us a description of places in Lincolnshire.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn4">4</a>) In terms of his knowledge of this area, which has been considered to derive either from one or more informants or even from a visit to England by al-Idrīsī himself,(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn5">5</a>) we can highlight several points of interest.</p><p>First, Lincoln appears as <i>Nqwls</i>,(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn6">6</a>) reflecting the French name for the city, <i>Nicole</i>, that is recorded from early twelfth century through to the late fourteenth and which shows the Anglo-Norman interchange of <i>n/l </i>arising from dissimilation.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn7">7</a>) Lincoln is described in the text as being located on both sides of the River Witham, something that accurately reflects the twelfth-century situation with the old walled city to the north and the medieval suburb of Wigford to the south, and this is replicated on al-Idrīsī’s accompanying map of England, where Lincoln is the only city depicted straddling a river (see Fig. 1). Al-Idrīsī’s claim that this river both flows into the sea to the south of Grimsby and ‘flows through the midst of it [Lincoln] and flows out of it towards the town of Grimsby’ is similarly of interest. This has been described as ‘a major error’ and a result of confusion, but this need not be the case.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn8">8</a>) Rather, it could again reflect a degree of genuine knowledge of the Lincoln region in the first half of the twelfth century, as Lincoln and Grimsby were indeed connected by inland waterways in the twelfth century, with one being able to travel by boat from the Witham at Lincoln north-westwards along the Foss Dyke and then down the Trent and the Humber through to Grimsby after 1121, when the Foss Dyke was renovated and made navigable again by Henry I.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn9">9</a>) That al-Idrīsī (or his informant) was indeed aware of this route is confirmed by his statement that ‘from the inland Lincoln to the town of York is moreover ninety miles’, something that is certainly not true via road or sea, but is almost exactly true if one travelled to York by boat via the Foss Dyke, the Trent and then the Ouse.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn10">10</a>)</p><p>Second, Boston appears as <i>Bskh/Bska</i>(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn11">11</a>) and is shown situated just inland of the sea and located on the same river as Lincoln on al-Idrīsī’s map of the east coast (Fig. 1). Interestingly, Boston is described as a <i>ḥiṣn</i>, a ‘fortress, stronghold, entrenchment’,(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn12">12</a>) in contrast to Lincoln and Grimsby, which are each described as a <i>madīna</i>, a ‘town, city’.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn13">13</a>) The reason for this description is open to question, but it is worth noting that the Barditch around the town is thought to date from the eleventh–twelfth centuries and has been interpreted in the past as a ‘defensive ditch’; needless to say, al-Idrīsī’s comment may well add further weight to this interpretation.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn14">14</a>)</p><p>Third and finally, it seems clear from both al-Idrīsī’s text and his map that the area from Yarmouth to York, including Lincolnshire, was the part of the east coast of England in which he was most interested. There is, for example, nothing depicted or mentioned to the south of Yarmouth until one reaches the mouth of the Thames and, moreover, little evidence for any knowledge of any sites north of the Humber aside from Durham (which is wrongly mapped on the western side of England, not the east), with the northern bank of the Humber being omitted entirely so that York is consequently placed on the coast and close to the border with Scotland. Similarly, it is noteworthy that the only river depicted between the Thames and Scotland is the Witham. Quite why the <i>Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī khtirāq al-āfāq</i> was particularly interested in this area of England is unclear, but we might tentatively wonder whether Lincolnshire’s well-known role in the medieval wool trade from the pre-Conquest period onwards might not have somehow motivated this interest.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn15">15</a>) Certainly, the early fourteenth-century <i>Taqwīm al-buldān</i>, ‘Survey of the countries’ (1321), of Abū l-Fidāʾ, which makes explicit use of a thirteenth-century Arabic description of England by Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī (1213–86), praises the quality of English wool, noting that in England ‘is made the fine scarlet cloth from the wool of their sheep, which is fine like silk’.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn16">16</a>) The fame of English wool and the regard in which it was held in medieval Europe is well-known, but this reference and two further ones in the early fourteenth century from Rashīd al-Dīn and Banākatī to ‘exceedingly fine scarlet cloth’(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2022/09/al-idrisis-twelfth-century-description.html#fn17">17</a>) from England imply that the renown of English wool products reached well beyond Europe and the Mediterranean in the medieval period.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGp-0-js8_4hs_U7v5U55yCAYNz4MtQO2OUdM9mBTy8ko2gCT4dll7PEPg7BldsjAfNfhaXk1JUl8Y4dlCM9Mx0Duminue6Wn982U2NydoUaFNiNWatrkrMyZ6fR9uvXodB-B30G_SdUUfguxeN-uu-LVO8AjIrvx7xuO2ZGKHosoX0V-18V8fh0ct7A/s1812/Boston1830.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1812" data-original-width="1383" height="525" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGp-0-js8_4hs_U7v5U55yCAYNz4MtQO2OUdM9mBTy8ko2gCT4dll7PEPg7BldsjAfNfhaXk1JUl8Y4dlCM9Mx0Duminue6Wn982U2NydoUaFNiNWatrkrMyZ6fR9uvXodB-B30G_SdUUfguxeN-uu-LVO8AjIrvx7xuO2ZGKHosoX0V-18V8fh0ct7A/w305-h400/Boston1830.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Plan of Boston, England', by Thomas Moule, 1837, slightly cropped, showing the Barditch around the town (Source: The Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library; licensed for reuse under a Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) licence via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/normanbleventhalmapcenter/2675702130/in/photolist-55rF2m">Flickr</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><p><i>Footnotes</i></p>
<p><span id="fn1"><i>1</i>.</span> The only reference to it by a modern Lincolnshire historian that I am aware of is in Stephen H. Rigby’s <i>Boston, 1086 –1225: A Medieval Boom Town </i>(Lincoln, 2017), pp. 8, 19, 61, who encountered it via an earlier version of this paper posted on my academic blog at <<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/03/al-idrisi-twelfth-century-map.html">https://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/03/al-idrisi-twelfth-century-map.html</a>>.</p>
<p><span id="fn2"><i>2</i>.</span> For al-Idrīsī, see J.-C. Ducène, a'l-Idrīsī, Abū ʿAbdallāh', in <i>Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE</i>, ed. K. Fleet, G. Krämer, D. Matringe, J. Nawas, and E. Rowson (Leiden, 2018), consulted online on 25 February 2021 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_32372>.</p>
<p><span id="fn3"><i>3</i>.</span> A. F. L. Beeston, 'Idrisi’s Account of the British Isles', <i>Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies</i> 13.2 (1950), 265–80 at pp. 278, 279–80, with minor modifications; note, I have included the transliterated Arabic names as read, discussed and identified by Beeston, pp. 273, 275–7. Grimsby is mentioned by name in the previous section by al-Idrīsī, although without any further details, see <i>Recueil de Voyages et de Mémoires Publié par la Société de Géographie: Géographie d’Édrisi</i>, ed. P. A. Jaubert (Paris, 1840), vol. 2, p. 374.</p>
<p><span id="fn4"><i>4</i>.</span> On the name of England in Arabic works, see also D. G. König, <i>Arabic-Islamic Views of the Latin West: Tracing the Emergence of Medieval Europe</i> (Oxford, 2015), pp. 277–8. For an earlier Arabic text that mentions Britain and gives more than just names, see C. Green, 'Britain, the Byzantine Empire, and the concept of an Anglo-Saxon ‘Heptarchy’: Hārūn ibn Yaḥyā’s ninth-century Arabic description of Britain', in <i>Global Perspectives on Early Medieval England</i>, ed. K. L. Jolly and B. Brooks (Woodbridge, 2022), pp. 94–114. See also D. N. Dunlop, 'The British Isles according to medieval Arabic authors', <i>Islamic Quarterly</i> 4 (1957), 11–28.</p>
<p><span id="fn5"><i>5</i>.</span> For the latter suggestion, see C. Loveluck, <i>Northwest Europe in the Early Middle Ages, c. AD 600–1150: A Comparative Archaeology</i> (Cambridge, 2013), p. 323, who accepts that al-Idrīsī ‘had visited England prior to his arrival in Sicily in c. 1138’; for the former, see Beeston, 'Idrisi’s Account', p. 280.</p>
<p><span id="fn6"><i>6</i>.</span> Beeston, 'Idrisi’s Account', pp. 269, 277.</p>
<p><span id="fn7"><i>7</i>.</span> K. Cameron, <i>The Place-Names of Lincolnshire: Part One, The Place-Names of the County of the City of Lincoln</i> (Nottingham, 1982), pp. 2–3, and see, for example, <i>A Survey of the Antiquities of the City of Lincoln</i> (Lincoln, 1848), pp. 23–4.</p>
<p><span id="fn8"><i>8</i>.</span> M. Ferrar, 'Al-Idrisi; The Book of Roger The description of L’Angleterre', <i>Cartography Unchained</i>, website, December 2020, consulted online on 25 February 2021 <https://www.cartographyunchained.com/pdfs/cgid1.pdf>, p. 10.</p>
<p><span id="fn9"><i>9</i>.</span> F. M. Stenton, 'The road system of medieval England', <i>Economic History Review</i>, 7 (1936), 1–21 at p. 20; M. J. Jones, D. Stocker and A. Vince, <i>The City by the Pool: Assessing the Archaeology of the City of Lincoln</i> (Oxford, 2003), pp. 116, 241; Simeon of Durham, <i>Historia Regum</i>, s.a. 1121: ‘In the same year, king Henry cut a large canal from Torksey to Lincoln and by causing the river Trent to flow into it, he made it navigable for vessels’, trans. J. Stevenson, <i>Simeon of Durham: A History of the Kings of England</i> (Felinfach, 1987), p. 188.</p>
<p><span id="fn10"><i>10</i>.</span> Interestingly, the distance given from Grimsby to Lincoln is approximately correct too, in this case if one sailed down the east coast of Lincolnshire and up the Witham via Boston.</p>
<p><span id="fn11"><i>11</i>.</span> See Beeston, 'Idrisi’s Account', p. 277 n. 55 and Arabic text at p. 269, line 55; <i>Géographie d’Édrisi</i>, ed. Jaubert, vol. 2, p. 425. The form here suggests that the name encountered may have been one in which the town’s name had already been shortened to <i>Boston</i> or similar, rather than the original <i>Botuluestan</i> etc., although according to Victor Watts this form is only recorded in England from 1235: V. Watts, <i>The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names</i> (Cambridge, 2004), p. 71. With further regard to the name as given by al-Idrīsī, it may also be worth noting that Boston was ‘established within lands belonging to Skirbeck’, just to its south, which derives from Old Norse <i>skirr</i> + <i>bekkr</i>, ‘the clear stream’: K. Cameron, <i>A Dictionary of Lincolnshire Place-Names</i> (Nottingham, 1998), p. 111; N. Grayson, <i>Lincolnshire Extensive Urban Survey: Boston</i>, Historic England/LCC project no. 2897 (Lincoln, 2019), p. 4; Rigby, <i>Boston</i>, pp. 4, 20. The name ‘Boston’ does, of course, appear in a variety of forms on early maps—for example, on the map of England attributed to the Genoese cartographer Pietro Vesconte in Marino Sanudo Torsello’s <i>Liber secretorum fidelium crucis</i> of c. 1321, Boston is <i>Sanbetor</i> whilst the Wash is labelled as the <i>Gulffo de Sanbetor </i>(British Library, Additional 27376 f. 181).</p>
<p><span id="fn12"><i>12</i>.</span> H. Wehr, <i>A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic</i>, ed. J. Milton Cowan, 4th edn (Wiesbaden, 1979), p. 214.</p>
<p><span id="fn13"><i>13</i>.</span> Wehr, <i>Dictionary</i>, p. 1055.</p>
<p><span id="fn14"><i>14</i>.</span> D. M. Owen, 'The beginnings of the port of Boston', in <i>A Prospect of Lincolnshire</i>, ed. N. Field and A. White (Lincoln, 1984), pp. 42–5 at p. 43; Grayson, <i>Boston</i>, p. 5; Rigby, <i>Boston</i>, p. 14.</p>
<p><span id="fn15"><i>15</i>.</span> On the early medieval roots of the Lincolnshire wool trade, see for example R. Faith, 'The structure of the market for wool in early medieval Lincolnshire', <i>Economic History Review </i>65.2 (2012), 674–700. Note, in about 1200 Boston was second
only to London in the scale of its overseas trade, with its trading activity
being initially largely based around the wool trade, for which it was England’s most important port at that time: Rigby, <i>Boston</i>, pp. 1–2; S. H. Rigby, <i>Boston and Grimsby in the Middle Ages</i> (University of London PhD Thesis, 1982), pp. 175–6, 195–6.</p>
<p><span id="fn16"><i>16</i>.</span> Dunlop, 'The British Isles', p. 25; M. Reinaud, <i>Géographie d'Aboulféda</i>, 2 vols (Paris: A L'Imprimerie Nationale, 1848), vol. 2, p. 266.</p>
<p><span id="fn17"><i>17</i>.</span> Dunlop, 'The British Isles', p. 26.</p><p><b>The text content of this post and page is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2022, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-47648281006054762192021-02-19T20:00:00.005+00:002021-02-24T12:54:09.823+00:00Macamathehou in Lincolnshire and the evidence for people named Muhammad in medieval England<p>The aim of the following draft is to offer some thoughts on a local name from thirteenth-century Lincolnshire, <i>Macamathehou</i>, that involves a version of the Arabic name Muhammad (Middle English <i>Makomet/Macamethe</i>, Old French <i>Mahomet</i>). Whilst it has been plausibly seen as an instance of a variant of the name of Muhammed being used to mean 'heathen', 'pagan idol' or similar (based on the false but common medieval Christian belief that the prophet Muhammad was worshipped as a god), here in reference to a barrow that was considered to be a pre-Christian site, it is worth noting that there are a small number of people with names and surnames derived from Arabic <i>Muḥammad</i> apparently living in twelfth- to fourteenth-century England.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBNIIrsiQ8YXiCIxAG-bYHcxPZb_gPgjWejVVUh1KgTN_lIBx75o2YEuY8LYEYeVn64dYWYpoc-1TVORC_M0h54Ck6WaA6eFVAATM_J-YCp-Xcsfpwutrz4MvPxjyj0R4C7TT3_iP3HOA/s879/macamathehou-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisEOpBN0O5DAsJBa5wrV7cnR7EBL2i5YlfQc0Ocik1KUcBcGVnmnVSiLut9je4fKtTyN6aqKrWs9C9OUmPDqqZo9XO_7D51IR2dzFIoLhLYlBbNzXBFxUTlybTFrn3GsXjFiDkdP7SUeTu/s16000/macamathehou-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Figure 1: the location of Macamathehou between Spridlington and Faldingworth parishes in Lincolnshire; click the image or <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBNIIrsiQ8YXiCIxAG-bYHcxPZb_gPgjWejVVUh1KgTN_lIBx75o2YEuY8LYEYeVn64dYWYpoc-1TVORC_M0h54Ck6WaA6eFVAATM_J-YCp-Xcsfpwutrz4MvPxjyj0R4C7TT3_iP3HOA/s879/macamathehou-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version (image: C. R. Green/OpenStreetMap and its contributors).</i><i> </i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>The existence of the intriguing local name <i>Macamathehou</i> in the parish of Spridlington, Lincolnshire, was first noted in 2001 by Kenneth Cameron, John Field and John Insley in <i>Place-Names of Lincolnshire VI </i>(<i>PNL</i>), with both attestations of the name dating from the thirteenth century (the reign of King Henry III, 1216–72).(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn1">1</a>) They identify the two elements of the name as being Old Norse <i>haugr</i>, 'mound, barrow', and Middle English <i>Makomet/Macamethe</i>, which derives from the name of the prophet Muhammad (Medieval Latin <i>Machometus/Mahumetus</i>, Anglo-Norman <i>Mahumet/Mahomet/Machomete</i>, Old French <i>Mahomet</i> < Arabic <i>Muḥammad</i>, probably via an Arabic regional form <i>Maḥammad</i>).(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn2">2</a>) Needless to say, this solution is most intriguing and has, moreover, found favour with other place-name specialist, including the <i>Vocabulary of English Place-Names </i>(<i>VEPN</i>) and Richard Coates.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn3">3</a>)</p><p>As to the import of this name, the easiest conclusion—and the one endorsed by <i>PNL</i>, <i>VEPN</i> and Coates—is that the first element, <i>Macamethe/</i><i>Maumate</i> etc, is not functioning simply as a normal Middle English rendering of the name Muhammad/<i>Mahomet</i>, but rather as a word indicative of heathen or pagan idolatry, based on the false but common medieval Christian belief that the prophet Muhammad was worshipped as a god. So, <i>PNL </i>describes the name as meaning 'the heathen mound', with the first element being 'a corrupt ME [Middle English] form of the name of the prophet Mohammed, for which <i>v.</i> MED [<i>Middle English Dictionary</i>], s.v. <i>Makomete</i>, also used to denote a pagan god or an idol'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn4">4</a>) This is taken up by Richard Coates, who says that it has been suggested, 'with great plausibility', that <i>Macamathehou </i>in Spridlington parish 'is a Middle English name meaning "Mahomet mound", i.e. "heathen mound"', and points to 'the repeated compound of OE <i>hæðen </i>+ <i>byrgels "</i>heathen burial"' as a potential comparison.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn5">5</a>) Likewise, the <i>VEPN</i>'s draft section on M includes the following discussion:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote><b>makomet </b>ME, 'idol, pagan god', an application of the name of the Arab prophet Mohammed (commonly though mistakenly believed by medieval Christians to have been worshipped as a god)... It occurs early in
<i>Macamathehou </i>(f.n.) 1216–72 L:6·211 (<b>haugr</b>), presumably to be
interpreted as 'heathen mound'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn6">6</a>)</blockquote><p></p>
<p>On the whole, this interpretation is probably the safest option. There are certainly a handful of references to 'heathen' barrows in Old English charter bounds, for example <i>of leofwynne mearce to þam hæþenan beorge</i>, 'from Leofwine's boundary to the heathen barrow', in the charter S956 relating to Drayton, Hampshire, and dated AD 1019, although none are recorded from Lincolnshire.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn7">7</a>) It has also been suggested that the Lincolnshire names Bloater Hill (North Willingham) and Blod Hou (Barrow-on-Humber) derive from Old Norse <i>blóthaugr</i>, 'a sacrificial mound', whilst other names involving <i>haugr</i> certainly refer to supernatural/demonic creatures—for example, <i>Gasthehowe</i>/<i>Gastehowe</i>, Ashby Puerorum (Lincolnshire), recorded in the thirteenth century and deriving from Middle English <i>gast</i>/Old English <i>gāst</i>, 'ghost, dead-spirit', or names like Scratters (<i>Scrathou</i>, in Hayton, East Riding of Yorkshire) and Scrathowes (<i>Scrathou</i>, in Osmotherley, North Riding of Yorkshire), which derive from Old Norse <i>skratti</i>, 'devil, wizard' + <i>haugr</i>.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn8">8</a>) Furthermore, the Old English compound <i>hæðen </i>+ <i>byrgels</i>, 'heathen burial', does indeed recur frequently in Late Saxon charter bounds, with these names often said to be identifiable with barrows in the landscape.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn9">9</a>)</p><p>On the other hand, there are some possible issues with this explanation, and other interpretations are possible of Spridlington's <i>Macamathehou</i>. First, the comparison with the many instances of the OE compound <i>hæðen </i>+ <i>byrgels</i>, ‘heathen burial’, is perhaps not as convincing as it might seem. Not only is a link between this term and barrows only demonstrable in a handful of instances, but Andrew Reynolds has also suggested that the sense of the term was primarily not ‘pagan’, but rather ‘unconsecrated’, and that it denoted burials of executed offenders and other social outcasts, which renders the proposed value of these names as support for interpreting <i>Macamathehou </i>as meaning ‘heathen mound’ open to significant debate.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn10">10</a>) Second, if the above is correct, then this would be the only known instance of a derivative of the Arabic name Muhammad being used in a place-name to indicate a 'heathen mound' or similar, which is potentially concerning—the other elements noted above all recur in multiple names. Third, the element identified by <i>PNL </i>and <i>VEPN</i> as being present in <i>Macamethehou</i> is Middle English <i>Makomet(e)</i>. The <i>Middle English Dictionary</i> (<i>MED</i>) on <i>Makomet(e)/</i><i>Macamethe</i> etc, however, makes it clear that the primary use of this word in Middle English is as a form of the name Muhammad, not as a word referring to an 'idol'/'pagan god', with the vast majority of quotations provided by the <i>MED </i>referring either the prophet Muhammad or people named Muhammad; the only exceptions are a single quotation from Layamon's <i>Brut </i>(<i>c.</i> 1200, <i>mahimet</i>, lacking the <i>-c-</i>), and three from two later texts.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn11">11</a>) The form of the name Muhammad that <i>was </i>primarily—although not exclusively—used in the sense 'pagan deity, idol', is rather <i>Maumet/Maumate</i>, mentioned above, deriving from Anglo-Norman <i>Maumet</i>, a reduced form of <i>Mauhoumet</i>, Old French <i>Mahomet/Mahommet</i>.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn12">12</a>)</p>
<p>In this light, it is worth considering whether it is possible that the name <i>Macamathehou</i> could somehow be named from a person named <i>Makomet</i>/Muhammad or similar living in medieval England. Certainly, it should be noted that multiple local names relating to mounds/barrows do seem to be named after people who owned estates or land in the area. For example, Andrew Reynolds draws attention to the bounds of a mid-tenth-century charter for Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire (S468), that records the burial site of a seventh‐century woman whose grave had been cut into an existing mound as <i>Posses hlaew</i>, noting that 'Poss is a male name, and thus the mound is apparently not named after its Anglo‐Saxon occupant', implying that it was instead named after a later estate owner.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn13">13</a>) As Irene Bower long ago pointed out, such a situation can be credibly paralleled in Lincolnshire, with a number of Lincolnshire names involving <i>haugr</i> seeming to contain the same personal-name as is found in the same or a neighbouring parish-name—so, <i>Scalehau </i>(<i>Skalli </i>+ <i>haugr</i>) was located near to Scawby (<i>Skalli</i> + <i>bȳ</i>), with Kenneth Cameron commenting that the two were 'no doubt named from the same man'; <i>Leggeshou</i> (<i>Leggr </i>+ <i>haugr</i>) was located on the boundary of Legsby parish (<i>Leggr </i>+ <i>bȳ</i>); <i>Katehou/Catehowe </i>(<i>Kati</i> + <i>haugr</i>) was located in South Cadeby (<i>Kati </i>+ <i>bȳ</i>); and a <i>Grimaldeshawe</i> (<i>Grimaldi </i>+ <i>haugr</i>) was recorded in the neighbouring parish to Grimoldby (<i>Grimaldi</i> + <i>bȳ</i>), perhaps on the boundary between the two.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn14">14</a>)</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQ-WqEuFGMO93Mo6bWAiMeRtvcBENTXGnq1eAlVQd_969HcApTkd7tzas-bp1HXXmEOAenaoafuSoSvZpp0mQXsycCv7Rcf9QkQp5UjmYlPnr4ksSpZ8lU2uBj-0-l27Gb42FQM1Db-AU/s1296/PipeRoll-Mahumet1160-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbnb6EhtFc7rSE9aTvfRif3rS6t4lty7pwtoxhIyueDE86DDOeZ34BPjuy74QYF-SgYQcO1Xj18DQI46QQwti2GOM0X7M2VhnLmHtQkAY_sfbE-59eMqTHRoEbrOO8s88z1MyKFd7iDZ9q/s16000/PipeRoll-Mahumet1160-1-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Figure 2: Section from the Pipe Roll Society publication of The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Seventh Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1160–1161 (London: Wyman & Sons, 1885), p. 10, dealing with Mahumet of Wiltshire (image: <a href="https://archive.org/details/piperollsociety04pipeuoft/page/10/mode/2up">Internet Archive</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>As to the likelihood of someone named Muhammad or one of its Anglo-Norman/Middle English variants (<i>Mahumet</i>,<i> Makomet</i> and similar) actually living in medieval England, this is perhaps less far-fetched than might be assumed. Katharine Keats-Rohan and John Moore have directed attention to the Wiltshire entries of five consecutive Pipe Rolls of Henry II (1160/61–1164/65) that refer to a man named <i>Mahumet, </i>whose name-form Moore considers very difficult to explain as anything other than a rendering of Muhammad and which is accepted as such by the <i>OED </i>and <i>MED</i>. This <i>Mahumet </i>is recorded in the Pipe Rolls only because he was fined for his part in an unlicensed duel with a John de Merleberge, probably in or near Marlborough Castle, and it seems he was not an especially wealthy man, as he was pardoned the last mark of his fine due to his poverty.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn15">15</a>) Furthermore, <i>Mahumet</i> of Wiltshire was not the only man with this name for whom we have evidence from medieval England. For example, a Theobald <i>filius Mahumet</i> (or <i>filius Mahomet</i>) is recorded from early thirteenth-century Hampshire in the Pipe Rolls of Henry III for 1222–24; another man named <i>Mahomet </i>is recorded in 1327, when Edward III issued him and six others a pardon at Newton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire, for 'offenses in Ireland'; and a <i>Mahummet Saraceno</i> occurs in the Close Rolls of Henry III for 1254. Furthermore, a number of people surnamed <i>Mahumet </i>and similar are recorded in documents of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, for example a Humphrey Mahumet in a charter of Southwick Priory, Hampshire, a Herbert Maumet who was sergeant of Portsmouth in the mid-thirteenth century, and a Radulphus Maumet who is recorded in the reign of King John.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn16">16</a>) Moore also notes the presence of someone bearing another 'apparent Arab name' in twelfth-century Hampshire, a certain <i>Paucamatus</i>, a name that he considers to probably reflect <i>Bakmat</i>, who is recorded in Winchester from 1159/60 until 1183/4 and who is associated with a man named <i>Stephanus Sarracenus</i>, one or both of whom may be of some relevance here.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn17">17</a>)</p>
<p>Looking more generally at the question of the presence of people who were Muslims or of potential Muslim ancestry in medieval England, and so who might bear names like <i>Mahumet/Makomet</i> and similar, Richard of Devizes in his description of London from <i>c</i>. 1192 certainly implies that there were 'Moors' in that city then, when he writes that:</p><blockquote><p>You will arrive in London... do not mingle with the throngs in the eating-houses; avoid dice and gambling, the theatre and the tavern. You will encounter more braggarts than in the whole of France. The number of parasites is infinite. Actors, jesters, smooth-skinned lads, Moors, flatterers... All this sort of people fill all the houses.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn18">18</a>)</p></blockquote><p>We do need to be careful here, however. The word translated ‘Moors’ here is actually <i>garamantes</i>, which may indicate an origin for this section in a classical or literary source, rather than reality, especially as influence from Horace’s <i>Satires </i>has been identified in the subsequent sections of Richard’s description of London.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn19">19</a>) More certainly relevant may be recent archaeological excavations at the medieval cemetery of St John’s Hospital, Lichfield, which revealed the burials of between two and five people of African ancestry, some of apparently high status, and at Ipswich, where nine people out of a total of a total of 150 excavated from a cemetery there appear to be of 'sub-Saharan' African descent, spread across thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, with the earliest having oxygen isotope results consistent with an early life spent in North Africa/Tunisia.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn20">20</a>) Likewise, recent work on burials in a mid-fourteenth-century cemetery at East Smithfield, London, indicated that 29% of a sample of 41 people buried there were of ‘non-White European ancestry’.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn21">21</a>) </p><p>In the above light, it may also be worth noting that both Henry II and his son Richard I seem to have had 'Saracen mercenaries' in their employ, the latter having as many as 120 such mercenaries and apparently including at least some of them in the garrison of Domfront, Normandy.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn22">22</a>) Similarly, it is intriguing to note that knowledge of the location of medieval Lincoln on either side of the River Witham and the existence of the Foss Dyke as a waterway between that city and the River Trent seems to have reached the great Muslim scholar Muhammad al-Idrisi, who included these facts in his geographical encyclopaedia <i>Nuzhat al-mushtaq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq</i>, written for Roger II of Sicily and completed in 1154—indeed, it has been suggested that al-Idrisi probably travelled to England himself during the first half of the twelfth century, which is a point of some significance.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn23">23</a>)</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy3xItvO9knqTIYdiAhaHVvQAnGtzInR5oLHlF81aDiLOUhN1jKYy3EDuiiERK147mpxQv9Cn4Dgbzn0dt1ZppFZjh1ZyfsNFsuqOZ2de8n5m1tHsOXfxHx_vROXlQnoCC82UczCCRXJeF/s901/idrisi-map-pococke375.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV3dgLTlpzhtkj9-dsYVPAemKk1bUw1GroTotzNDrvKGPgeA66hkjb_hzlINHNk050_zX3ztkz5qT6x_2T1yMiExHOSggYl08tKaauILOB80puGABbykuvECL0i-w4idNUa8NwSBPOpHYT/s16000/Al-Idrisi12thC-reconstructed-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Figure 3: Al-Idrisi's mid-twelfth-century Arabic map of Britain, from a late sixteenth-century copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford; the map is split across three different drawings which have been combined together here so that the whole island can be seen (Bodleian Library MS. Pococke 375 folios 281b-282a, 308b, 310b-311a)—click the image or <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy3xItvO9knqTIYdiAhaHVvQAnGtzInR5oLHlF81aDiLOUhN1jKYy3EDuiiERK147mpxQv9Cn4Dgbzn0dt1ZppFZjh1ZyfsNFsuqOZ2de8n5m1tHsOXfxHx_vROXlQnoCC82UczCCRXJeF/s901/idrisi-map-pococke375.jpg">here</a> for a larger view. Lincolnshire is on the left hand side, as the map is orientated with north at the bottom; the river flowing nearly horizontally from the left to right is the Witham, with Boston near the sea and Lincoln upstream, where the river flows through the town, just as it did in the medieval period when it divided the old Lower City from its medieval southern suburbs (image: <a href="https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/p/d5644cb8-cccb-4429-8fc0-d86d64b0771b">Bodleian Library</a>)</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Finally, attention might also be directed to the evidence for at least some 'Saracens' having been unwillingly brought into England in the medieval period, although this is perhaps less directly relevant to the current enquiry. So, the <i>Flores Historiarum</i> under the year 1271 makes reference to Thomas de Clare having returned to England from the Holy Land with 'four Saracen prisoners',(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn24">24</a>) and the Calendar of Patent Rolls for 1259 includes a mandate for the arrest of a runaway 'Ethiopian... sometime a Saracen' who had apparently escaped his master:</p><blockquote><p>Mandate to all persons to arrest an Ethiopian of the name of Bartholomew, sometime a Saracen, slave (<i>servus</i>) of Roger de Lyntin, whom the said Roger brought with him to England; the said Ethiopian having run away from his said lord, who has sent an esquire of his to look for him: and they are to deliver him to the said esquire to the use of the said Roger.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/macamathehou-in-lincolnshire.html#fn25">25</a>)</p></blockquote><p>In sum, whilst we can point to no specific man named <i>Mahumet/Makomet/Macamathe/Maumet</i> (< Muhammad) present in twelfth-/thirteenth-century Lincolnshire after whom <i>Macamathehou</i> in Spridlington might be named, it seems clear that it is not entirely impossible that someone bearing such a personal name or something similar could lie behind this mound-/barrow-name, rather than it simply being a folkloric name intended to convey the meaning 'heathen barrow' or similar. Although such a usage of the name Muhammad might parallel names such as <i>Scrathou </i>and <i>Gastehowe</i> and be reflected in the usage of the medieval form <i>Maumet</i> and similar to mean 'pagan deity' or 'idol' in Middle English, there is significantly less evidence for the form <i>Makomet </i>being used in this way. Furthermore, not only are there no other instances of <i>Makomet </i>or <i>Maumet</i> being used in local names to indicate a perceived 'heathen' or 'pagan' character for landscape features such as mounds and barrows, but there <i>is </i>evidence for at least some people named variants of Muhammad living in medieval England between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries. Additionally, there is also a small amount of textual evidence for Muslims and people of potential Muslim origins being present in England and Normandy in this era, some being clearly captured or enslaved, but others potentially living in cities such as London, Ipswich and Lichfield, and some even perhaps being relatively high-status or in the employ of the king. Such people were probably not present in England in great numbers, but the evidence we have for this is not insignificant, and it may at least give us further pause for thought when considering just what the meaning of <i>Macamathehou</i> might be. </p>
<p><i>Footnotes</i></p>
<i><span id="fn1">1.</span></i> K. Cameron, J. Field & J. Insley, <i>The Place-Names of Lincolnshire: Part Six, The Wapentakes of Manley and Aslacoe</i>, Survey of English Place-Names LXXVII (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 2001), p. 211; the name appears as both <i>Macamathehou</i>, which they treat as primary, and <i>Mornmatehou</i>.<br />
<i><span id="fn2">2.</span></i> Cameron, Field and Insley, <i>Place-Names of Lincolnshire VI</i>, p. 211; Oxford English Dictionary, 'Mahomet, n.', <i>OED Online</i>, third edition, Oxford University Press, September 2020, <i>www.oed.com/view/Entry/112410</i>, accessed 10 November 2020; 'Makomet(e), n.', in S. M. Kuhn & Reidy (eds), <i>Middle English Dictionary: Part M.1</i> (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1975), p. 83. On <i>haugr</i>, see M. Gelling & A. Cole, <i>The Landscape of Place-Names</i> (Stamford: Shaun Tyas, 2000), p. 174.<br />
<i><span id="fn3">3.</span></i> R. Coates, 'Azure Mouse, Bloater Hill, Goose Puddings, and One Land called the Cow: continuity and conundrums in Lincolnshire minor names', <i>Journal of the English Place-Name Society</i>, 39 (2007), 73–143 at p. 85; VEPN, <i>The Vocabulary of English Place-Names: M</i>, draft version, online edition at <i>www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/ins/documents/vocabulary-of-english-place-names-m-draft.pdf</i>, accessed 10 November 2020, p. 14.<br />
<i><span id="fn4">4.</span></i> Cameron, Field and Insley, <i>Place-Names of Lincolnshire VI</i>, p. 211.<br />
<i><span id="fn5">5.</span></i> Coates, 'Lincolnshire minor names', p. 85.<br />
<i><span id="fn6">6.</span></i> VEPN, <i>The Vocabulary of English Place-Names: M</i>, draft version, p. 14.<br />
<i><span id="fn7">7.</span></i> A. Reynolds, <i>Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burial Customs </i>(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 274.<br />
<i><span id="fn8">8.</span></i> Coates, 'Lincolnshire minor names', p. 85; K. Cameron, <i>The Place-Names of Lincolnshire: Part Two, The Wapentake of Yarborough</i>, Survey of English Place-Names LXIV/LXV (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 1991), p. 24—note, a similar name, <i>Blodhowfeld/Blodhowgate</i>, also occurs in Thurmaston parish, Leicestershire. On <i>gastehowe/gasthehowe</i>, see I. M. Bower, <i>The Place-Names of Lindsey (North Lincolnshire) </i>(University of Leeds PhD Thesis, 1940), pp. xviii, 200; for Scratters and Scrathowes, see, for example, A. H. Smith, <i>English Place-Name Elements</i>, Survey of English Place-Names XXVI (Cambridge: English Place-Name Society, 1956), Part 2, p. 126.<br />
<i><span id="fn9">9.</span></i> Reynolds, <i>Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burial Customs</i>, pp. 274–7.<br />
<i><span id="fn10">10.</span></i> Reynolds, <i>Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burial Customs</i>, pp. 219–22.<br />
<i><span id="fn11">11.</span></i> Middle English Dictionary, 'Makomet(e, n.', in Robert E. Lewis, et al. (eds), <i>Middle English Dictionary</i> (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1952–2001), online edition in F. McSparran et al. (eds), <i>Middle English Compendium</i> (Ann Arbor, 2000–18), <i>quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED26593</i>, accessed 10 November 2020.<br />
<i><span id="fn12">12.</span></i> Middle English Dictionary, 'Maumet, n.', in Robert E. Lewis, et al. (eds), <i>Middle English Dictionary</i> (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1952–2001), online edition in F. McSparran et al. (eds), <i>Middle English Compendium</i> (Ann Arbor, 2000–18), <i>quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED27106</i>, accessed 10 November 2020. For the use of <i>Maumet</i> and similar as a surname, see below and <i>MED</i> sense 2(d).<br />
<i><span id="fn13">13.</span></i> Reynolds, <i>Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burial Customs</i>, pp. 203–04.<br />
<i><span id="fn14">14</span></i>. Bower, <i>Place-Names of Lindsey</i>, pp. xviii, 253–4; K. Cameron, <i>A Dictionary of Lincolnshire Place-Names </i>(Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 1998), pp. 26, 80, 107. See also <i>Hawardeshou</i>, the meeting-place of Haverstoe Wapentake, which was almost certainly a barrow in Hawerby (<i>Hawardebi</i>) parish, both names involving the Scandinavian personal name <i>Hāwarth</i>, and <i>Calnodeshou</i>, the meeting-place of Candleshoe Wapentake, which was probably on Candlesby Hill, named from Candlesby, <i>Calnodesbi</i>: Cameron, <i>Dictionary</i>, pp. 27–8, 61. Likewise, the meeting-place of the wapentake of Wraggoe was presumably a <i>Wraghehou</i> (<i>Wraggi </i>+ <i>haugr</i>), which may well have been at Wragohill in Wragby (<i>Wraggi</i> + <i>bȳ</i>): Bowers, <i>Place-Names of Lindsey</i>, p. 250; Cameron, <i>Dictionary</i>, pp. 143–4.<br />
<i><span id="fn15">15.</span></i> K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, 'Queries', <i>Prosopon</i>, 9 (1998), p. 6; J. S. Moore, 'Who was "Mahumet"? Arabs in Angevin England', <i>Prosopon</i>, 11 (2000), pp. 1–7; D. Thornton, K. Keats-Rohan & R. Wood, 'Mahumet', <i>COEL Database: Continental Origins of English Landholders, 1066-1166</i>, [data collection], UK Data Service SN: 5687, <i>doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-5687-1</i>; OED third edition, 'Mahomet, n.'; Middle English Dictionary, 'Makomet(e, n.'. See <i>The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Seventh Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1160–1161</i>, Publications of the Pipe Roll Society IV (London: Wyman & Sons, 1885), p. 10; <i>The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Eighth Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1161–1162</i>, Publications of the Pipe Roll Society V (London: Wyman & Sons, 1885), p. 13; <i>The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Ninth Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1162–1163</i>, Publications of the Pipe Roll Society VI (London: Wyman & Sons, 1886), p. 46; <i>The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Tenth Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1163–1164</i>, Publications of the Pipe Roll Society VII (London: Wyman & Sons, 1886), p. 14; and <i>The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Eleventh Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1164–1165</i>, Publications of the Pipe Roll Society VIII (London: Wyman & Sons, 1887), p. 57.<br />
<i><span id="fn16"></span>16</i>. K. S. B. Keats-Rohan in Moore, 'Who was "Mahumet"?', pp. 6–7; <i>The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Sixth Year of the Reign of King Henry III, Michaelmas 1222</i> (London: Pipe Roll Society, 1999), p. 96, and <i>The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Eighth Year of the Reign of King Henry III, Michaelmas 1224 </i>(London: Pipe Roll Society, 2005), p. 12; <i>Calendar of Patent Rolls: Edward III, A.D. 1327–1330</i> (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1891), p. 123; <i>Close Rolls of the Reign of Henry III: A.D. 1253–1254</i> (London: HMSO, 1929), p. 211; K. A. Hanna (ed.), <i>The Cartularies of Southwick Priory: Part 1</i> (Winchester: Hampshire County Council, 1988), pp. 16–17, and K. A. Hanna (ed.), <i>The Cartularies of Southwick Priory: Part 2</i> (Winchester: Hampshire County Council, 1989); Middle English Dictionary, 'Maumet, n.', sense 2(d), as surname, and <i>Rotuli de oblatis et finibus in Turri Londinensi asservati, tempore Regis Johannis</i>, ed. T. D. Hardy (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1845), p. 455.<br />
<i><span id="fn17"></span>17.</i> Moore, 'Who was "Mahumet"?', p. 3.<br />
<i><span id="fn18"></span>18</i>. <i>Chronicle of Richard of Devizes of the Time of King Richard the First</i>, ed. and trans. J. T. Appleby (London, 1963), pp. 65–6, with modifications by W. Johansson, 'London's Medieval Sodomites', in <i>History of Homosexuality in Europe and America</i>, ed. W. R. Dynes & S. Donaldson (New York and London: Garland, 1992), pp. 159–63.<br />
<i><span id="fn19"></span>19.</i> J. Scattergood, ‘London and money: Chaucer’s <i>Complaint to his Purse</i>’, in <i>Chaucer and the City</i>, ed. A. Butterfield (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2006), pp. 162–76 at pp. 171–2.<br />
<i><span id="fn20"></span>20</i>. Ipswich: BBC, <i>History Cold Case: Series 1, Episode 1—Ipswich Man</i> (broadcast 27 July 2010); 'Skeleton of medieval African found in Ipswich sheds new light on Britain's ethnic history', <i>BBC Press Office</i>, 2 February 2010, online at <i>www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/05_may/02/history.shtml</i>, accessed 18 November 2020; K. Wade, <i>Ipswich Archive Summaries: Franciscan Way, IAS 5003</i> (Ipswich: Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, 2014), pp. 9, 10, 12, online at <i>archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/ipswich_5003_2015/downloads.cfm</i>; and Xanthé Mallett, pers. comm.. Lichfield: C. Coutts, 'St John’s Hospital, Lichfield: a Black and White Medieval Cemetery', talk at the Market Hall Museum, Warwick, on 24 July 2017, online abstract at <i>www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/listings/region/west-midlands/st-johns-hospital-lichfield-black-white-medieval-cemetery/</i>, accessed 18 November 2020; Jasmine Kilburn, pers. comm..<br />
<i><span id="fn21"></span>21.</i> R. Redfern and J. T. Hefner, ‘“Officially absent but actually present”: bioarchaeological evidence for population diversity in London during the Black Death, AD 1348–50’, in <i>Bioarchaeology of Marginalized People</i>, ed. M. L. Mant and A. J. Holland (London: Academic Press, 2019), pp. 69–114.<br />
<i><span id="fn22"></span>22</i>. Moore, 'Who was "Mahumet"?', p. 1; F. M. Powicke, 'The Saracen mercenaries of Richard I', <i>Scottish Historical Review</i>, 8 (1911), 104–05.<br />
<i><span id="fn23"></span>23</i>. C. R. Green, 'Al-Idrisi's twelfth-century map and description of eastern England', blog post, 28 March 2016, online at <i>www.caitlingreen.org/2016/03/al-idrisi-twelfth-century-map.html</i>, accessed 18 November 2020; A. F. L. Beeston, 'Idrisi's Account of the British Isles', <i>Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies</i>, 13.2 (1950), 265–80 at pp. 278, 279–80; C. Loveluck, <i>Northwest Europe in the Early Middle Ages, c. AD 600–1150: A Comparative Archaeology</i> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), p. 323 ('Al-Idrisi... had visited England prior to his arrival in Sicily in <i>c</i>. 1138')<br />
<i><span id="fn24"></span>24</i>. C. D. Yonge (trans.), <i>The Flowers of History</i> (London: Bohn, 1853), vol. 2, p. 453.<br />
<i><span id="fn25"></span>25</i>. <i>Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry III: Volume 5, 1258–1266</i>, ed. H. C. Maxwell Lyte (London: HMSO, 1910), p. 28, and see further M. Ray, 'A Black Slave on the run in Thirteenth-Century England', <i>Nottingham Medieval Studies</i>, 51 (2007), 111–9. Note, ‘Ethiopian’ here probably means simply someone of ‘Black African ancestry’, rather than someone from modern Ethiopia, given Late Antique and medieval uses of this term.
<p><b>The text content of this post and page is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2020, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-49804862996305509172021-02-11T13:13:00.009+00:002021-02-13T11:48:04.689+00:00The 'bluestones' and Bluestone Heath of eastern Lincolnshire: some thoughts on their significance and nameThe following brief note is concerned with the so-called 'bluestones' and the 'Bluestone Heath Road' of eastern Lincolnshire. In origin, the stones themselves seem usually to be glacial erratics—non-local boulders carried here from northern Britain by the ice-sheets—that were used as focal points for their communities, for example functioning as meeting-stones, court-stones, judicial stones, or boundary markers, although earlier antiquarians suggested that some had more sinister roots. The following piece discusses the history and use of some of the more notable examples of 'bluestones' in eastern Lincolnshire, including the 'Louth Stone' and 'Haveloks Stone', as well as some examples further afield, before briefly considering the potential etymology and meaning of 'bluestone' in this context. Finally, a list of the various recorded Lincolnshire bluestones is given, with further details of both these stones and the evidence for the Blue Stone Heath in the central Lincolnshire Wolds. <div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMZqOW9bhyphenhyphen7L6v2w45lkarct3uAzZOrwyrWFEtDLpI7IC5AFhtFaIThjr9SNHS5nZJflucUzM6xB3UA94pTL1jYswY4aV_BUUIzOGvdgfI4Ii6MmqUxh8PJ1VzsEW7zo-LmVJZ0WJrlWt/s1000/LouthStone.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="874" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAMZqOW9bhyphenhyphen7L6v2w45lkarct3uAzZOrwyrWFEtDLpI7IC5AFhtFaIThjr9SNHS5nZJflucUzM6xB3UA94pTL1jYswY4aV_BUUIzOGvdgfI4Ii6MmqUxh8PJ1VzsEW7zo-LmVJZ0WJrlWt/w350-h400/LouthStone.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Louth Stone or Bluestone/Blewstone, first mentioned in 1503 and weighing four to five tons. Now located outside Louth Museum, in all of the early references it was situated at the junction of Mercer Row and Upgate in the centre of town, although some unwarranted nineteenth-century antiquarian speculation that it was originally located in the Julian Bower maze outside of the town has found its way on to the museum's plaque describing it.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><div>The term 'bluestone' or 'blue stone' is used for a number of apparently notable boulders found in eastern Lincolnshire, as well as occurring in the name of the important prehistoric ridgeway across the Lincolnshire Wolds now known as the 'Bluestone Heath Road'. The latter name is absent from Kenneth Cameron's 1998 volume <i>A Dictionary of Lincolnshire Place-Names</i>, despite other major Lincolnshire road-names appearing there, and isn't considered in Victor Watts' <i>Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names </i>or other national surveys like that of Ekwall and Mills, although it appears on relatively large-scale maps like the OS 1:50,000 Landranger.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn1">1</a>) The road-name <i>was </i>noted by G. S. Streatfeild, who observed that 'no-one is able to explain the Blue Stone' in this name and suggested that it was perhaps a corruption of the medieval road-name <i>Buskhowstrete </i>for the same route, a position reiterated by Arthur Owen. On the other hand, Irene Bower in her 1940 doctoral thesis on <i>The Place-Names of Lindsey </i>offers the brief and arguably more credible opinion that the name is not a corruption of <i>Buskhowstrete</i>, but rather an independent name that 'refers to the blue stones in the north east of Lindsey', perhaps because a notable example of one of these was once found on the Wolds here, a conclusion also supported by C. W. Phillips.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn2">2</a>) Certainly, the term 'bluestone' or 'blue stone' for specific, important stones recurs repeatedly in eastern Lincolnshire from at least the first half of the seventeenth century, and there moreover seems to be evidence for the separate existence of a <i>Blueſtone Heath</i> or <i>Blue Stone Heath</i> in the Wolds north of Belchford and to the west of the Louth, which would support 'Bluestone Heath Road' being a genuine name instead of a corruption. Thus a reference to <i>Blueſtone Heath</i> occurs in the <i>Journals of the House of Commons</i> for 1770, another is found in Pride and Luckombe's <i>The Traveller's Companion</i> of 1789, and an area of the Wolds is labelled <i>Blue Stone Heath</i> on Captain Andrew Armstrong's 1779 <i>Map of Lincolnshire</i>, although this name for the central Wolds doesn't seem to survive in active use beyond the first half of the nineteenth century aside from in the road-name.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn3">3</a>) So, the question must become, what exactly was a Lincolnshire 'blue stone'?</div><div><br /></div><div>With regard to the question of quite what a 'blue stone' was in a Lincolnshire context, the specific examples that we know of all seem to have been large boulders and glacial erratics (glacially-deposited rocks that differ in size and type from the rock native to the area in which they rest) used as boundary and meeting-stones in eastern Lincolnshire. The 'Louth Stone', for example, is also known as the 'blewstone' at least as early as 1651, and seems to have functioned as a meeting- and judicial stone for the town located in the centre of Louth at the junction of Mercer Row and Upgate since at least 1503—so, for example, the Warden of Louth was paid 6d for the examination of Jews 'at Blew stone' in 1745, and it is also claimed to have been 'a sanctuary for murders and other criminals'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn4">4</a>) Likewise, there were two major boundary-stones each known as 'the blew stone' at Grimsby by the seventeenth century, one being located on the coast between Grimsby and Cleethorpes (where it is shown on the 1819 OS draft map and the subsequent First Series) and the other being the famous <i>Havelocks Stone</i>, which was described by Gervase Holles in 1634 as a great blue stone functioning as a 'Boundry-Stone lying at ye East-ende of Briggow-gate'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn5">5</a>) </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXEeyt_5mc7YBgr-uFS1mq8bc65ypXnbj_0pAXi2b7i0BuagxRTYPnX5d-19Tbp1Nm7a56ox6waL-ZImD648myB4Y7KByYphjwaLpj0oELcyTKsJbK0sivi9XZQiW7gBkIrkS9Ll3HTB3/s500/BlueStoneHeath1779.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXEeyt_5mc7YBgr-uFS1mq8bc65ypXnbj_0pAXi2b7i0BuagxRTYPnX5d-19Tbp1Nm7a56ox6waL-ZImD648myB4Y7KByYphjwaLpj0oELcyTKsJbK0sivi9XZQiW7gBkIrkS9Ll3HTB3/s16000/BlueStoneHeath1779.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Blue Stone Heath, as marked on Captain Armstrong's <i>Map of Lincolnshire</i>, 1779; the interesting circle to its north is probably Belchford Wood, with a close examination of the marks revealing them to be trees (image: British Library).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Another important 'blue stone' was found in Humberston parish, located just to the south of Cleethorpes, whose name was first recorded in the eleventh century and means 'the stone by the River Humber', with Gervase Holles in 1634 identifying the 'Humberstone' as being 'a great Boundry blew Stone just at the place where Humber looseth himselfe in ye German Ocean'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn6">6</a>) Ethel Rudkin similarly drew attention to another important 'blue stone' at North Thoresby, which is referred to as follows in White's 1856 <i>Directory of Lincolnshire</i>: </div><blockquote><div>In a field near the church, called <i>Bound croft</i>, is a <i>blue stone</i>, over which the manor court was formerly held.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn7">7</a>)</div></blockquote><p>Ethel Rudkin noted of this in 1934 that 'the Stone lies in a field immediately north of
the Church, in a depression, with banks round it' and that the Sexton at North Thoresby recalled there being a Court Day when he was lad.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn8">8</a>) Furthermore, in 1935 she published extracts of a mid-nineteenth-century manuscript history of Lincolnshire by John Smith of Caistor that included a tale that linked this blue stone and another at the Deserted Medieval Village of Audby/Autby in North Thoresby parish with the medieval Lincolnshire story of Havelok and Grim, the supposed founder of Grimsby (interestingly, both stones in Grimsby have been associated with figures from this too). According to Smith, he was told by locals twenty years previously that these two blue stones were magical, the one at Thoresby having the ability to control the rain and the one at Audby having the ability 'to make the corn grow', and together they caused there to be 'plenty in the land'. John Smith then went on record that he was told by the 'rustics' of Audby that:</p><blockquote><p>Ivery year for a long while after the folks cam' fra far an' wide to a grand feast about the stanes, an' they were whipt till iverybody went wicked wi' prosperity. Then the Devil come an' flew away wi' Grim's stane [the Audby stone].(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn9">9</a>) </p></blockquote><div>John Smith further commented that the North Thoresby stone, known as 'Boundel's stone',</div><blockquote><div>is <i>a large
blue stone</i> standing near the centre of an old enclosure at the
north end of the village, I was met with the ready tradition that
owing to its ancient votaries having made a practice of planting
their rods of hazel and wych-elm in the soil around, after the
ceremony of basting, a grove had grown up for its protection;
hazel and wych-elm it appears offering very potent charms
against necromancy...
</div><div> It is traditionally stated that in old time whenever the
Manorial Court was held here the steward, jurymen and tenants
of the Manor used to march in procession, each bearing a white
hazel wand (peeled rods of ash, willow, or hazel) from the Manor
House at Audeby through the village to Boundel's Croft, and
there surrounding the stone, used to perform an ancient ceremony in connexion with all transfers of land.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn10">10</a>)</div></blockquote><div>The stone itself is, incidentally, probably the stone referred to in the North Thoresby street <i>Stanholme Lane</i>, recorded as <i>Stayneholme </i>in 1451–53, that surrounds the relevant field to the north of the church, suggesting that the stone's local importance may stretch back to the late medieval era and likely before, whilst an unlocated twelfth- to fourteenth-century <i>Hotie </i>or <i>Hortye </i>in North Thoresby, meaning 'public meeting-place at a muddy site', may well have applied to this site too.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn11">11</a>) Finally, other 'blue stones' were found in the Lincolnshire Wolds village of West Ravendale, where a <i>Blueston feild</i> is documented in 1630 but not after, and at Immingham to the north of Grimsby, which gave its name to Bluestone Lane and the Bluestone Inn, with a large glacial erratic erected by the Inn in the early 1960s that is said to have been 'taken from a field at the top of the Lane'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn12">12</a>)</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtr4HiBBzea_7Th4dBLbTtt-KW-3y_pyF0Is_wAd1Ck-PvwAs-HwjFREzjUJMt43QxV8Kf0Xi253SZFSSpx8_jicKpEjOCfuEGblqUPLukojmx90IpIS907KBstuVYS9UhvN8N0zP4pfg0/s500/BlueStoneGrimsby1819.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtr4HiBBzea_7Th4dBLbTtt-KW-3y_pyF0Is_wAd1Ck-PvwAs-HwjFREzjUJMt43QxV8Kf0Xi253SZFSSpx8_jicKpEjOCfuEGblqUPLukojmx90IpIS907KBstuVYS9UhvN8N0zP4pfg0/s16000/BlueStoneGrimsby1819.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of Edward Metcalf's 1819 draft map of Grimsby for the Ordnance Survey, showing the location of the Blue Stone on the coast between Grimsby and Clee (image: <a href="http://britishlibrary.georeferencer.com/maps/01faea85-a4c9-58de-ac56-9b9275eaaaa6/">British Library</a>).<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>This is all most intriguing. Of course, it is worth pointing out that the term 'bluestone'/'blue stone' for large, significant boulders is not solely restricted to eastern Lincolnshire, although it does seem to be exceptionally prevalent here. The volumes of <i>The Survey of English Place-Names</i> include a small handful of other examples, namely two instances from Cheshire (a 'Bluestone' glacial erratic at Acton and another called 'the Blewe Stonne at Blacon' that functioned as a boundary-stone), one from Norfolk (Cawston parish, surviving in a number of names, for example Bluestone Hall), and one in County Durham (a 'Blue Stone Carr' recorded in the nineteenth century at Bishop Middleton).(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn13">13</a>) In addition, there was a stone known as 'The Great Blue Stone' that functioned as the market stone at Scarborough, being 'where public bargains were ratified and discharged, it being the custom in those days'; a 'blew Stone about the middle of the Bridge' at Newcastle that marked 'the bounds of Newcastle Southwards' and from which the Mayor pronounced the banishment of the Society of Friends from Newcastle in 1657–8; a 'Blew-Stone' on the boundary between the demesne of Manchester and the township of Reddish' that was first mentioned in 1322; and a handful of 'blue stones' in Scotland too, such as the Devil's Blue Stane at Crail, Fife.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn14">14</a>) It would be remiss not to also mention here perhaps the most famous insular 'bluestones', those non-local stones—transported ultimately from Wales—known by this name at Stonehenge, which were first recorded as 'blue stones' in 1812 according to the <i>OED</i>. With regard to these bluestones, it is worth noting that the name Stonehenge seems to derive from Old English <i>stān</i> + <i>hengen</i>, arguably meaning 'stone gallows', suggesting that the site may have had some (at least imagined) judicial function in the past, something potentially supported by the discovery of a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon decapitation burial there.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn15">15</a>) Finally, it is important to observe that the name 'Bluestone' (<i>Blauwe Steen</i>, <i>Blaue Stein</i>, <i>Blåstein</i> and similar) also occur for a number of important stones used as boundary-stones, judicial-stones, court-stones or even execution-stones outside of Britain too, particularly in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Flanders (northern Belgium), and parts of Germany, with examples in Flanders additionally being often associated with prehistoric burial mounds.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn16">16</a>) </div><div><br /></div><div>So, what does the term 'bluestone' mean? The simplest solution would obviously be that these locally important stones all just so happened to be bluish in colour and hence were each, independently, named 'the blue stone' or similar, purely as the result of a rather notable coincidence. The problem with this, however, is that not all of the 'bluestones' actually seem to be particularly 'bluish' in colour. Richard Coates, referring to those in the Grimsby area, has noted that 'the
colour blue seems irrelevant to the instances known to me', and something similar is apparently true for many of the 'bluestones' recorded in Germany too.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn17">17</a>) Indeed, Grimsby's 'the blew stone in Welowgate', also known as <i>Havelocks Stone</i>, is reportedly actually a boulder of pinkish granite, whilst images of the Immingham, Scarborough and Crail stones, for example, don't suggest stones that might be thought of as being primarily blue in colour. Such a description <i>might </i>just about fit the dark-coloured Louth Stone, at least with the eye of faith, though it should be noted that the 'Blue Stone' at Louth was clearly not considered particularly blue by the folk of the town, as at one point it was actually painted blue to match its name!(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn18">18</a>) Likewise, it was said in 1930 of the North Thoresby example that 'the stone is not blue', and English Heritage notes of the famous Stonehenge 'bluestones' that not only are they made from a variety of types of stone, but they also do 'not appear blue' under normal circumstances, although they are somewhat tenuously said to have a 'bluish tint' when freshly broken or wet.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn19">19</a>) </div><div><br /></div><div>So, if these important 'bluestones' that were used as meeting-stones, judicial-stones, market-stones, and boundary-stones were <i>not </i>all blue, or obviously blue, then why were they all called this? The implication of the above would seem to be that 'bluestone' is here functioning not as a simple descriptive name, but rather as some sort a technical/functional term, but what might this be? Thus far, only one theory has been suggested for the English examples, which has been outlined by Richard Coates, the current President of the English Place-Name Society, as follows:</div><blockquote><div>The origin of the term <i>bluestone </i>has not been ascertained, but the
colour blue seems irrelevant to the instances known to me. There is no
strong formal reason why the first element should not be Sc. <i>*blōð</i> ‘blood’
or even <i>*blōt</i> ‘sacrifice’. In either case, Sc. <i>*stein-</i> has presumably been
replaced by its English counterpart. It is <i>*stein-</i> that appears in the earliest
attestations of <i>Stanholme </i>in North Thoresby.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn20">20</a>)</div></blockquote><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7TQBpMYBC9Kcka2bzCRZmUHNsPQCRM3Mv6BEdXCvp3cSNMzi97YZbehRgY8uzVo_QbkKcb2PccAR7Ma72RRhJqpenKVgSBq3lPTQjTrwxj3-VKhdH1-gmuEW9u84pjklxvLM7a_8atX4/s640/BloaterHill.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7TQBpMYBC9Kcka2bzCRZmUHNsPQCRM3Mv6BEdXCvp3cSNMzi97YZbehRgY8uzVo_QbkKcb2PccAR7Ma72RRhJqpenKVgSBq3lPTQjTrwxj3-VKhdH1-gmuEW9u84pjklxvLM7a_8atX4/w400-h268/BloaterHill.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bloater Hill, North Willingham, whose name may derive from Old Norse <i>blóthaugr</i>, 'a sacrificial mound' (image © <a href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3644134">Chris/Geograph</a>, CC-BY-SA 2.0).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Needless to say, this alternative theory is certainly an interesting idea. In terms of the local context, it is worth noting that a small number of other names involving Scandinavian <i>blōt</i>, 'sacrifice, heathen activities', have been identified in Lincolnshire. One is <i>Blod hou</i>, recorded in the thirteenth century in Barrow-upon-Humber parish, which Kenneth Cameron and John Insley derive from Old Norse <i>blóthaugr</i>, 'a sacrificial mound'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn21">21</a>) Another is Bloater Hill in North Willingham parish, <i>Bloatoe Hill</i> in 1606 and <i>bloto </i>in 1697, which Cameron leaves unexplained but Coates considers to be identical in meaning to <i>Blod hou</i> and to likewise derive from Old Norse <i>blóthaugr</i>, 'a sacrificial mound', something that may also apply to <i>Blodhow</i> in Thurmaston parish in neighbouring Leicestershire. A final example may be <i>Blotryngcarre </i>in Scartho parish, Grimsby, which could, just possibly, also involve <i>blōt</i>, although other explanations are possible.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn22">22</a>) </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, whilst all of this does suggest that the element <i>blōt</i> was indeed used in Anglo-Scandinavian Lincolnshire, it also highlights an issue with deriving the local names 'bluestone' and 'Bluestone Heath' from <i>blōt</i>, namely the lack of any instances with similar formed first elements amongst the various bluestones<i>/</i>blewstones, which should urge caution here. Similarly, the implied interpretation of these stones that the above etymology would involve is perhaps uncomfortably close to early antiquarian explanations of them—for example, the 'blew-stone' at Louth was suggested by Robert Bayley in 1834 to have been 'a Druid stone, which was used perhaps on Julian Bower for an altar'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn23">23</a>) On the other hand, some of the English and the Continental examples do seem to have functioned as judicial- or even execution-stones, which is suggestive, and Coates's etymology is certainly intriguing and would help explain the use of 'bluestone' for such a limited group of important and not-always-blue stones. In this light, it may also be worth noting that it has been independently argued that the Blåstein, 'Bluestone', near the famous ninth-century Gokstad ship-burial at Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway, was originally a <i>blotstein</i>, 'sacrifice stone', so the shift from this name to 'bluestone' in England would not be without potential parallels elsewhere.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn24">24</a>)</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxpdlwrxJMwsgp4qUjFsUBpehWN6te4e5xoGoJFX-_dttTwSaMo-XUiQy2jelZIbSQvvQPRH1ZSg01BsEBsI-POEKPluWmwoorKQlt6ZFOnv4CY8dSRgYDu51qQPKFUw_Y8-yDfiqPzFt1/s1216/Gokstad-Bl%25C3%25A5stein.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxpdlwrxJMwsgp4qUjFsUBpehWN6te4e5xoGoJFX-_dttTwSaMo-XUiQy2jelZIbSQvvQPRH1ZSg01BsEBsI-POEKPluWmwoorKQlt6ZFOnv4CY8dSRgYDu51qQPKFUw_Y8-yDfiqPzFt1/w400-h249/Gokstad-Bl%25C3%25A5stein.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The site of the ninth-century Gokstad ship-burial at Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway (left of the map, marked by an antiquity symbol) and the nearby Blåstein (right of map); click for a larger view (image: <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/59.1408/10.2593">OpenStreetMap</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><b>A list of Lincolnshire bluestones and bluestone names</b></div><blockquote><div><i>1. The Blue Stone Heath & Bluestone Heath Road</i></div></blockquote><div>The <i>Blue Stone Heath</i> or <i>Blueſtone Heath</i> occurs from at least 1770, when it appears in the <i>Journals of the House of Commons</i> in reference to the new Turnpike to be constructed from Louth in that year, suggesting that it was an already well-established term for part of the central Lincolnshire Wolds by that date. The 'Blue Stone Heath' is also labelled on Captain Andrew Armstrong's <i>Map of Lincolnshire </i>of 1776-9, John Cary's <i>A New Map of Lincolnshire</i> of 1801, and George Bellas Greenlough's <i>A Physical and Geological Map of England and Wales </i>(1820, 2nd edn. 1839), in all cases to the north of Belchford, and C. W. Phillips in 1933 noted that 'the Blue Stone Heath was the upland tract between Belchford and Cadwell'. It appears subsequently in the name 'Bluestone Heath Road', which doesn't seem to be recorded before the nineteenth century, but occurs both on Edward Metcalf's 1819 draft map for the Ordnance Survey and in Thomas Allen's 1834 <i>History of the County of Lincoln</i> as an accepted name for the road north and east of Scamblesby and Belchford known in the medieval period as <i>Buskhowstrete</i>. Phillips suggests, reasonably, that this tract of upland 'may have carried a well-known glacial erratic' or 'blue stone', going on to say that 'many of these "blue stones" are found in the Wold country. The most famous is at Louth... The stone which presumably gave its name to the Heath is gone.'(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn25">25</a>)</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi89bTvzDovPTFLyOxQJSYlpX0vnU-adM6yvZsPdm4I7AngxKtnUXXhK_zAbSPMhAUoY3yXQCgISWIoVwyQ3u0kklAQFF8n6usHC_kUS78Alnk0kuG4qYzdrxrLGHqilO3rpJcyyx4H8Z-g/s563/Greenlough1839.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="563" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi89bTvzDovPTFLyOxQJSYlpX0vnU-adM6yvZsPdm4I7AngxKtnUXXhK_zAbSPMhAUoY3yXQCgISWIoVwyQ3u0kklAQFF8n6usHC_kUS78Alnk0kuG4qYzdrxrLGHqilO3rpJcyyx4H8Z-g/w400-h315/Greenlough1839.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bluestone Heath, as marked on Greenlough's <i>A Physical and Geological Map of England and Wales</i>, 1839 (image: <a href="https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~323732~90092940:E--Sheet--A-Physical-and-Geological">David Rumsey</a>).<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><blockquote><div><i>2. The 'blew-stone' at Louth, aka the Louth Stone</i></div></blockquote><div>The first reference to the 'blew-stone' at Louth occurs on 24 July 1503, when land lying in the town of Louth at Louth Stone (<i>ad louth stone</i>) is mentioned; subsequent references to the <i>hous leyng agayn Louth stone</i> or <i>Lowth Stone</i> occur in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and indicate that one the 'great houses' of Louth lay by it, and by the seventeenth century this house was known as the <i>blew-stone House</i>. In 1651, this was occupied by a Mr Walpole, who subsequently bought it in 1677 for £150, and in 1728 the <i>Blue Stone Inn</i> was sold by John Walpole to an innkeeper
called Robert Shaw. This inn was reputed to be the largest in Lincolnshire, occupying the whole of the westernmost medieval burgage tenement fronting on to Mercer Row where it joined Upgate and running all the way back to Kidgate, and references to Blue Stone/Louth Stone itself confirm that it too stood here in the centre of town at the junction of Upgate and Mercer Row up until 1827, when the owner of the former Blue Stone Inn, a printer named Benjamin Fotherby, moved it into his yard. It has subsequently been moved to the front of Louth Museum on Broadbank. It should be noted that, although the plaque above the stone on the museum wall claims that the stone was originally located in the medieval Julian Bower maze on the top of the southern hill above the town, there is absolutely no evidence for this. The idea began in 1834 as speculation on the part of a local antiquarian author and minister, Robert Bayley, who hypothesised that the stone was</div><blockquote><blockquote><div>a Druid stone, which was used perhaps on Julian Bower for an altar... (<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn26">26</a>)</div></blockquote></blockquote><div>but offered no support for this flight of fancy. Indeed, all the evidence we have suggests that, from its first recording, the Blue Stone/Louth Stone was located in the centre of town at the junction of the main commercial street, Mercer Row (the 'principal street' of Louth, according to John Britton in 1807), and the main north–south routeway through the town, Upgate. As to its use, it seems to have functioned at least in part as a judicial stone, as in 1745 when the Warden of Louth was paid 6d. for 'Jews Examined' there in that year, whilst other references suggest an at least occasional use as a market-stone, with items being pledged for sale there (cf. the Scarborough 'Great Blue Stone'). It is also claimed to have been 'a sanctuary for murders and other criminals'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn27">27</a>)</div><div><blockquote><i>3. Havelocks Stone, or 'the blew stone in Welowgate'</i></blockquote></div><div>This 'blew stone' seems to be first mentioned under the name <i>havelokeston</i> in 1521, with its description as a <i>blew stone/blewstone </i>being first recorded in the seventeenth century. In 1634, Gervase Holles describes this as a 'Boundry-Stone lying at ye East-ende Of Briggow-gate' that 'retaines ye name of Havelocks Stone to this day', Havelok being the hero of the medieval Lincolnshire poem <i>Havelok the Dane</i> and a key personage in the foundation-story of Grimsby. George Oliver in 1825 also writes of this stone as follows:</div><blockquote><blockquote><div>An ancient monument, still in existence, offers a further testimony to corroborate the story of Gryme and Haveloc. A large stone, composed of imperishable materials, said to have been brought by the Danes, out of their own country, forms the landmark which separates the parish of Grimsby from the adjoining hamlet of Wellow; and is know at this day by the significant appellation of <i>Haveloc's Stone</i>.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn28">28</a>) </div></blockquote></blockquote><div>According to Anderson Bates in his <i>Gossip About Old Grimsby </i>of 1893, the stone was 'placed in the road opposite the end of the passage to the house No. 8, Wellowgate, and what remains of it may now be seen near the kerbstone, so that part of the house was in Wellow, and part in Grimsby'. Bates further records both Oliver's tale that the stone was brought over by the Danes and an alternative tale that it was once part of the church, but had been thrown down from there by Grim (the founder of the town) when he was attempting to stop a hostile fleet!(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn29">29</a>) The stone was reportedly moved to Welholme Galleries at some point after this and is said to be a boulder of pinkish granite found there.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn30">30</a>)</div><div><blockquote><i>4. </i><i>Grimsby's blew stone on the coast by the old Race Ground</i></blockquote></div><div>This boundary-stone seems to be first recorded in the seventeenth century as <i>the blew stone</i> or <i>ye blewstone</i> and was located on the coast between Grimsby and Clee. Although it has been suggested that the stone was first placed on the coast in 1824, it is shown there on Edward Metcalf's 1819 draft map of Grimsby for the Ordnance Survey. The Freemen of Grimsby and the Cleethorpes Commoners apparently contested the exact boundary on the coast here and the associated rights of grazing on 69 acres of Common, with the boundary being only definitively fixed on the blue stone after a trial at the Lincoln Assizes in 1830; it was presumably decided that the blue stone was indeed the ancient boundary marker, contrary to the claims of the Grimsby men.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn31">31</a>) Certainly, this was the interpretation in Cleethorpes. In C. Ernest Watson's <i>A History of Clee and the Thorpes of Clee</i>, published in 1901, it is noted that the 'famous "Blue Stone"' was </div><blockquote><blockquote><div>a relic of the time when the Mayor and Corporation of Grimsby "whipped the boundaries." Tradition, however, could not control the rapacity of the Grimbarians, who claimed that their Marsh extended as far as the Old Haven. The Meggies [a local name for the inhabitants of Cleethorpes] pinned their faith upon the Blue Stone, and the Kirton Quarter Sessions of 1828 pronounced in their favour. The town was not going to be brow-beaten by the village, verdict or no verdict; Grimsby turned its cattle to graze between the Blue Stone and the Old Haven. Cleethorpes promptly impounded them. Grimsby sent out a hundred stalwarts armed with bludgeons to assault the pound and rescue the cattle. Cleethorpes charged them with pound-breach, and nine of the enemy went to prison. Grimsby thereupon adopted the Meggy plan of campaign and impounded all Cleethorpes cattle found on the North of the Old Haven. Cleethorpes again invoked the law, and at the Lincoln Assizes of 1830 the matter was finally settled in their favour. (<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn32">32</a>)</div></blockquote></blockquote><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtYDEvwyDE_y_wcjW0V1YV_quYFHbG4h2PRxCAAjw6722n9Nk5Ol-z6QAdy8GmIPeTMnOJwGrW7u9KQS5Xb_Z9ywNFsMxIKrE1bBhYP-NnFV4xegqz358XwXumONFJSBPQM47nTiR4BBFE/s914/BlueStoneGrimsbyCoast.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtYDEvwyDE_y_wcjW0V1YV_quYFHbG4h2PRxCAAjw6722n9Nk5Ol-z6QAdy8GmIPeTMnOJwGrW7u9KQS5Xb_Z9ywNFsMxIKrE1bBhYP-NnFV4xegqz358XwXumONFJSBPQM47nTiR4BBFE/w400-h230/BlueStoneGrimsbyCoast.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The location of the coastal Blue Stone on the common land that was used for racing; the Blue stone is shown to lie approximately on the inland boundary of Grimsby as it extends along the coast to the Racing Ground, but the courts in 1828 and 1830 agreed with the men of Cleethorpes that the ancient boundary of Grimsby only went up to this stone, not beyond as depicted on this Grimsby map from the first half of the nineteenth century (photo: C. R. Green; the map is an older map included in Anderson Bates' <i>A Gossip of Old Grimsby</i>, 1893).</td></tr></tbody></table><blockquote><i>5. The Humberstone</i></blockquote></div><div>The name of Humberston parish, first recorded in Domesday Book, means 'the stone by the River Humber'; in 1634 Gervase Holles identified the 'Humberstone' as being 'a great Boundry blew Stone just at the place where Humber looseth himselfe in ye German Ocean', as noted above.</div><div><blockquote><i>6 & 7. The blue stones at North Thoresby and Audby</i></blockquote>The North Thoresby stone, located in a field immediately to the north of the church, seems to be first recorded as a 'blue stone' in the early nineteenth century, but the field-name <i>Stayneholme</i>, recorded<i> </i>in 1451–53 and surviving as 'Stanholme Lane' running around the field to the north of the church, suggests that it was certainly in place by that date at the latest. Ethel Rudkin and others have chronicled a number of fascinating tales and superstitions surrounding the North Thoresby stone and an apparent now-lost twin at the DMV of Audby, which are given at length above. The stone seems to have functioned as a meeting-place and court-site, as well as being credited with some sort of role in ensuring rain. Further details of local traditions about the site are given by Walter Johnson, who recorded the following in 1908:</div><blockquote><blockquote><div>An old lady, born in 1819, told me that in her childhood the village fair of North Thoresby (Lincs.) was held near the church, in a field which had a large blue stone in the middle. Around this stone games were played. Villagers born a little later, say 1830–40, could tell nothing of the custom... the jury of the manorial courts formerly met at this stone, within 'an old enclosure'...(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn33">33</a>) </div></blockquote></blockquote><div>The stone itself was described as 'not blue' in 1930, despite its name, and since then has either been removed or buried (it has been recently claimed that the stone has been rediscovered and is sunk into the field so that only the top is visible); the Audby stone is mentioned in stories, but was said in these to have been taken away by the Devil.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn34">34</a>) Excavations in the 1960s in the relevant field to the north of the church found a large rubbish pit with finds dated from the the late fourteenth to seventeenth centuries, and noted that the Bluestone here was also 'called the Moot Stone locally'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn35">35</a>) Interestingly, twelfth- to fourteenth-century documents also record an unlocated <i>Hotie </i>or <i>Hortye </i>in North Thoresby parish, which probably means 'public meeting-place at a muddy site' and may well have applied to this site too.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuNZuwJbeVGxu12D8fvpDi-vEnlF4O8RLNOayKsFU2T2hyh1_AHqzuUqUEEbwzNc1JYcVFT9y-WH8GWkIX7mzh9Tgm4p7hCe8vTt3h6RG0hQaMEKPPT9aA1ji68JTkAjFI2uh_O4w1iqwV/s773/BlueStoneThoresby.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="773" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuNZuwJbeVGxu12D8fvpDi-vEnlF4O8RLNOayKsFU2T2hyh1_AHqzuUqUEEbwzNc1JYcVFT9y-WH8GWkIX7mzh9Tgm4p7hCe8vTt3h6RG0hQaMEKPPT9aA1ji68JTkAjFI2uh_O4w1iqwV/w400-h304/BlueStoneThoresby.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The site of the Blue Stone at North Thoresby to the north of St Helen's Church; note the street-name Stanholme Lane, aka 'the gate [road] that comes from Stainholme' (1664), around the field in question, which preserves the fifteenth-century name <i>Stayneholme</i>, probably referring to the meeting-stone in this field. The third side of the field is marked by 'Bond Croft Drain', which matches the later-recorded name for this field, 'Boundel's Croft' (image: imagery © 2021 CNES/Airbus, Getmapping plc, Infoterra Ltd & Bluesky, Maxar Technologies; map data © 2021 Google. Click <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4706876,-0.05727,513m/data=!3m1!1e3">here</a> for a larger, zoomable version). </td></tr></tbody></table><blockquote><i>8. The West Ravendale Blueston</i></blockquote><div>A <i>Blueston feild</i> is documented in West Ravendale parish in 1630, but isn't mentioned subsequently.</div><div><i></i><blockquote><i>9. The Immingham Bluestone</i></blockquote></div><div>There was presumably a Bluestone at Immingham to the north of Grimsby, which gave its name to Bluestone Lane and the Bluestone Inn. The latter road-name is first recorded in the early twentieth century, but the road at least was in existence before this, being present on the 1819 draft OS map of the area, when it seems to be uninhabited; the Bluestone Inn is said to have been erected in 1961, when a large glacial erratic was erected outside it (the current 'Bluestone') that is said to have been taken from further up Bluestone Lane. A local commentator on a <i>Head Heritage</i> named Lizzyp1972 contributed the following reminiscence in 2019:</div><blockquote><blockquote><div>My grandmother lived at 7 Bluestone Lane from the 1930s to the 1990s and my mother from when she was born in 1930s to marrying my dad in the late 1960s. I spent every summer of my childhood there. The stone is a glacial erratic and no-one knew for sure where it came from. It was originally further up Bluestone Lane, about half way up on the right hand side going towards the church. In this location it was laid on its side and kids used to play on it, sliding down it. It was a well known meeting place in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. It may have been taken from a field at the top of the Lane and placed there... When the Bluestone pub was built in 1961 it was moved to the corner of Habrough Road and Bluestone Lane and set on a plinth in its current upright position. The locals did not want it to be moved and there was a belief that moving it would bring bad luck, but as far as my mum can remember nothing bad happened after it was moved. Bluestone Lane has always been called that, even before any houses were built there and it was just a lane through the fields leading to the church (the first houses, including no.7, were built in the 1920s) and the bluestone has always been there, hence the name of the Lane.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn36">36</a>)</div></blockquote></blockquote><p></p><blockquote><i>10. The 'blue coggul' at Risby</i> </blockquote><p></p><div><div>According to the Lincolnshire antiquarian Edward Peacock, of Bottesford Manor, Brigg, a fifteenth-century document contains a reference to a Blue Stone in Risby parish: 'one of the boundaries of the parish of Risby—a village near here—is spoken of as marked by "an blue coggul."' It is worth noting that the 'blew coggul' is recorded as an alternative name for the Blue Stone at Louth by Gilbert John Monson-Fitzjohn in 1926.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/02/lincolnshire-bluestones.html#fn37">37</a>)</div><div><br /></div>
<div><i>Footnotes</i></div>
<div><i><br /></i>
</div><div><span id="fn1"></span><i>1.</i> K. Cameron, <i>A Dictionary of Lincolnshire Place-Names</i> (Nottingham, 1998); V. Watts, The <i>Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names</i> (Cambridge, 2004); E. Ekwall, <i>The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names</i>, 4th edn (Oxford, 1960).</div>
<div><span id="fn2"></span><i>2.</i> G. S. Streatfeild, <i>Lincolnshire and the Danes </i>(London, 1884), p. 168 n. 1; A. E. B. Owen, 'Roads and Romans in south-east Lindsey' in A. R. Rumble & A. D. Mills (eds), <i>Names, Places and People</i> (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1997), pp. 254–68 at pp. 258–9; I. M. Bowers, <i>Place-Names of Lindsey</i> (University of Leeds PhD thesis, 1940), pp. 16–7; C. W. Phillips, 'The present state of archaeology in Lincolnshire: part 1', <i>Archaeological Journal</i>, 90 (1933), 106–49 at p. 148.</div>
<div><span id="fn3"></span><i>3.</i> <i>Journals of the House of Commons, 10 May 1768–25 September 1770</i>, reprinted 1803, p. 814, referring to the widening and repairing of a road 'from the Head of the ſaid Canal, to <i>Blueſtone Heath</i>' (the canal being here Louth's new canal and Riverhead); T. Pride and P. Luckombe, <i>The Traveller's Companion</i> (London, 1789), p. 120; and A. Armstrong, <i>Map of Lincolnshire</i>, published 20 January 1779, British Library Maps K.Top.19.19.5 tab.end. The 'Blue Stone Heath' is also labelled on George Bellas Greenlough's <i>A Physical and Geological Map of England and Wales</i>, first published in 1820, second edition 1839, available to consult <a href="https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~323732~90092940:E--Sheet--A-Physical-and-Geological">online</a>; Phillips, 'Present state of archaeology', p. 148, notes that 'the Blue Stone Heath was the upland tract between Belchford and Cadwell'. </div>
<div><span id="fn4"></span><i>4.</i> C. Green, <i>Streets of Louth</i> (Louth, 2014), pp. 258–9; R. W. Goulding, <i>Louth Old Corporation Records</i> (Louth, 1891), pp. 43, 146, 185; G. J. Monson-Fitzjohn, <i>Quaint Signs of Olde Inns</i> (London, 1926), p. 34.</div>
<div><span id="fn5"></span><i>5.</i> K. Cameron, <i>Place-Names of Lincolnshire: Part Five, The Wapentake of Bradley</i> (Nottingham, 1997), pp. 20, 51, 58–9; E. B. Metcalf, <i>Draft drawing of the Grimsby area for the Ordnance Survey</i> (1819), British Library OSD 283.24; G. Holles, <i>Lincolnshire Church Notes 1634–42</i>, ed. R. E. G. Cole, Publications of the Lincoln Record Society 1 (Lincoln, 1911), p. 3. </div>
<div><span id="fn6"></span><i>6.</i> Cameron, <i>Place-Names of Lincolnshire 5</i>, pp. 116–7; Holles, <i>Lincolnshire Church Notes</i>, p. 14, in a section written in 1634, tentatively supported by Bowers, <i>Place-Names of Lindsey</i>, p. 59.</div>
<div><span id="fn7"></span><i>7.</i> W. White, <i>History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Lincolnshire</i> (Sheffield, 1856), p. 570.</div>
<div><span id="fn8"></span><i>8. </i>E. Rudkin, 'Lincolnshire folk-lore: stories about stones', <i>Folklore</i>, 45 (1934), 144–57 at p. 154.</div>
<div><span id="fn9"></span><i>9</i>. E. Rudkin, 'Traditions attached to large stones at Audby and North Thoresby', <i>Folklore</i>, 46 (1935), 375–6 at p. 376.</div>
<div><span id="fn10"></span><i>10</i>. Rudkin, 'Traditions attached to large stones', p. 376, and see also K. Gracie, 'The founding legend of Grimsby', in <i>Aspects of Northern Lincolnshire</i> ed. J. Walton (Barnsley, 2002).</div>
<div><span id="fn11"></span><i>11.</i> K. Cameron, <i>The Place-Names of Lincolnshire: Part Four, The Wapentakes of Ludborough and Haverstoe </i>(Nottingham, 1996), pp. 164–5, 170; R. Coates, 'Azure Mouse, Bloater Hill, Goose Puddings, and One
Land called the Cow: continuity and conundrums in
Lincolnshire minor names', <i>Journal of the English Place-Name Society</i>, 39 (2007), 73–143 at pp. 98–9; A. Pantos, <i>Lincolnshire Assembly Places</i>, unpublished document in the Lincolnshire HER, no. 14 (pp. 7–8). </div>
<div><span id="fn12"></span><i>12</i>. Cameron, <i>Place-Names of Lincolnshire 4</i>, p. 154; Coates, 'Lincolnshire minor names', pp. 98–9; R. Coates, <i>Grimsby and Cleethorpes Place-Names</i> (Nottingham, 2020), p. 28. For the history of Bluestone Lane and the glacial erratic at Immingham, which are both absent from the relevant <i>Place-Names of Lincolnshire</i> volume, see Lizzyp1972's account of the 'Immingham blue stone', <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210207140046/https://www.headheritage.co.uk/headtohead/tma/topic/65114/flat/10#826895">online</a> at <i>www.headheritage.co.uk/headtohead/tma/topic/65114/flat/10#826895</i>, dated 2 June 2019.</div>
<div><span id="fn13"></span><i>13.</i> J. M. Dodgson, <i>The Place-Names of Cheshire: Part Three, The Place-Names of Nantwich Hundred and Eddisbury</i> (Cambridge, 1971), p. 145; J. M. Dodgson, <i>The Place-Names of Cheshire: Part Four, The Place-Names of Broxton Hundred and Wirral Hundred</i> (Cambridge, 1972), p. 170; K. I. Sandred, <i>The Place-Names of Norfolk: Part Two, Three, Hundreds of North and South Erpingham and Holt</i> (Nottingham, 2002), p. 72; V. Watts, <i>The Place-Names of County Durham</i> (Nottingham, 2007), p. 136.</div>
<div><span id="fn14"></span><i>14.</i> D. White, 'Are you going to Jabbler's Fayre', <i>Scarborough Review</i>, 45 (2017), p. 34; J. Fawcett, <i>A Memorial of the Church of St. Mary's, Scarboro'</i> (London, 1850), p. 45; W. Gray, <i>Chorographia, or, A survey of Newcastle upon Tine</i> (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1649), p. 12; H. T. C., 'Blue Stone', <i>Notes and Queries</i>, 7th series, 1 (1886), 378; J. Westwood & S. Kingshill, <i>The Lore of Scotland: A Guide to Scottish Legends</i> (London, 2009), p. 65.</div>
<div><span id="fn15"></span><i>15.</i> <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i>, third edition (2013), s.v. bluestone, n., sense 2b; D. Mills, <i>A Dictionary of British Place-Names </i>(Oxford, 2011), p. 438; J. Simpson & S. Roud, <i>A Dictionary of Eglish Folklore </i>(Oxford, 2000), p. 343; M. Pitts <i>et al</i>, 'An Anglo-Saxon decapitation and burial at Stonehenge', <i>Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine</i>, 95 (2002), 131–46, especially p. 143.</div>
<div><span id="fn16"></span><i>16.</i> W. Knippenberg, 'De blauwe steen', <i>Brabants Heem</i>, 14 (1962), 26–31; J. Coolen, 'Places of justice and awe: the topography of gibbets and gallows in medieval and early modern north-western and Central Europe', <i>World Archaeology</i>, 45 (2013), 762–79 at p. 766.</div>
<div><span id="fn17"></span><i>17. </i>Coates, 'Lincolnshire minor names', p. 99; for German bluestones, see W. Fieber & R. Schmitt, 'Rechtsarchäologische Denkmale in Sachsen-Anhalt: Ein Rück- und Ausblick nach zwanzig Jahren', <i>Signa Iuris</i>, 12 (2013), 27–43.</div>
<div><span id="fn18"></span><i>18. </i>Gracie, 'Founding legend'; W. F. Rawnsley, <i>Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire</i> (London, 1914), p. 242. Images of Scarborough and Crail stones can be found online <a href="https://issuu.com/yourlocallink/docs/sr_july_2017.compressed/34">here</a> and <a href="https://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/2855/devils_blue_stane.html">here</a>. The name of the 'Blue Stone' at Acton, Cheshire, has been explained rather implausibly by recourse to supposed 'blue porphyritic crystals, which are no longer visible', see further the Wikipedia entry on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acton,_Cheshire#Elsewhere_in_the_civil_parish">Acton</a>.</div>
<div><span id="fn19"></span><i>19.</i> T. F. G. Dexter, <i>The Pagan Origin of Fairs</i> (Perranporth, 1930), p. 24. English Heritage, 'Building Stonehenge', <a href="https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history-and-stories/building-stonehenge/">online</a> at <i>www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history-and-stories/building-stonehenge/</i>, accessed 7 February 2020. </div>
<div><span id="fn20"></span><i>20.</i> Coates, 'Lincolnshire minor names', p. 99.</div>
<div><span id="fn21"></span><i>21.</i> K. Cameron, <i>The Place-Names of Lincolnshire: Part Two, The Wapentake of Yarborough</i> (Nottingham, 1991), p. 24.</div>
<div><span id="fn22"></span><i>22.</i> Coates, 'Lincolnshire minor names', pp. 77, 85. </div>
<div><span id="fn23"></span><i>23.</i> R. S. Bayley, <i>Notitæ Lud</i><i>æ</i><i>, or Notices of Louth</i> (Louth, 1834), p. 244.</div>
<div><span id="fn24"></span><i>24.</i> V. Møller, <i>Sandar: grend og gård 1850-1970, med tidsbilder fra næringsliv og kulturhistorie</i>, vol. 2 (Sandefjord Kommune, 1980), p. 339; J. E. Møller, 'Jordhaugen kan bli mer populær', <a href="https://www.sb.no/nyheter/nyheter/jordhaugen-kan-bli-mer-popular/s/2-2.428-1.6651347">online</a> article, 12 July 2011, <i>www.sb.no/nyheter/nyheter/jordhaugen-kan-bli-mer-popular/s/2-2.428-1.6651347</i>.</div>
<div><span id="fn25"></span><i>25. </i>Phillips, 'Present state of archaeology', pp. 148–9.</div>
<div><span id="fn26"></span><i>26.</i> Bayley, <i>Notitæ Lud</i><i>æ</i>, p. 244.</div>
<div><span id="fn27"></span><i>27</i>. G. J. Monson-Fitzjohn, <i>Quaint Signs of Olde Inns</i> (London, 1926), p. 34.</div>
<div><span id="fn28"></span><i>28</i>. G. Oliver, <i>The Monumental Antiquities of Great Grimsby </i>(Hull, 1825), pp. 14–5. </div>
<div><span id="fn29"></span><i>29. </i>A. Bates, <i>A Gossip About Old Grimsby</i> (Grimsby, 1893), pp. 32–3.</div>
<div><span id="fn30"></span><i>30.</i> Gracie, 'Founding legend'.</div>
<div><span id="fn31"></span><i>31.</i> Bates, <i>Gossip About Old Grimsby</i>, pp. 11–12; the case was briefly reported as Bellamy vs. Woodliffe and Anderson in the <i>Hull Packet</i>, 23 March 1830, p. 3, and the <i>Stamford Mercury</i>, 12 March 1830, p. 2.</div>
<div><span id="fn32"></span><i>32.</i> C. Ernest Watson, <i>A History of Clee and the Thorpes of Clee</i> (Grimsby, 1901), pp. 50–1. </div>
<div><span id="fn33"></span><i>33. </i>W. Johnson, <i>Folk-Memory or The Continuity of British Archaeology</i> (Oxford, 1908), pp. 143–4; W. Johnson, <i>Byways in British Archaeology</i> (Cambridge, 1912), p. 193<i>.</i></div>
<div><span id="fn34"></span><i>34. </i>For the suggestion that the stone has been discovered buried in the field, see Gracie, 'Founding legend'.</div>
<div><span id="fn35"></span><i>35. </i>Lincolnshire HER record 41205.</div>
<div><span id="fn36"></span><i>36.</i> Lizzyp1972, 'Immingham bluestone', <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210207140046/https://www.headheritage.co.uk/headtohead/tma/topic/65114/flat/10#826895">online</a> at <i>www.headheritage.co.uk/headtohead/tma/topic/65114/flat/10#826895</i>, dated 2 June 2019.</div>
<div><span id="fn37"></span><i>37.</i> E. Peacock, 'The Blue Stone', <i>Notes and Queries</i>, 7th series, 1 (1886), 294–5 at p. 295; Monson-Fitzjohn, <i>Quaint Signs</i>, p. 34.</div>
<div><br /></div>
<div><b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2021, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-43102917017948777882021-01-22T20:00:00.057+00:002021-01-25T19:12:25.282+00:00Why 'Cousin Jack'? The origins of the nickname of the Cornish overseas<p>The following draft is concerned with the curious use of the nickname 'Cousin Jack' for the Cornish in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The 'Great Emigration' of the Cornish between around 1815 and the First World War saw what has been termed the 'wholescale scattering' of the Cornish to the new mining frontiers of North and South America, Australia and South Africa. From at least the mid-nineteenth century, these emigrants were known as 'Cousin Jacks', but the origin of this term seems rather obscure. The aim of the following note is to investigate the evidence for the early usage of the term 'Cousin Jack' and make some suggestions as to its origins in light of this evidence. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu2RGSKVbCuRgLGxT7kIkMnqWPXgU_1w11KlEquzJGD3kfwKVbcr_PRlNUQaY0w6jY6MTGAz6eZU6kx1Nn0qTzgkz3oVVRGMQ-aGQPeL5eEO8b9xpOzyz69i9ChSV_0VCZoH8wRExD-0th/s952/cousin-jack-cover-pryor.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="806" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu2RGSKVbCuRgLGxT7kIkMnqWPXgU_1w11KlEquzJGD3kfwKVbcr_PRlNUQaY0w6jY6MTGAz6eZU6kx1Nn0qTzgkz3oVVRGMQ-aGQPeL5eEO8b9xpOzyz69i9ChSV_0VCZoH8wRExD-0th/w339-h400/cousin-jack-cover-pryor.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cover of Oswald Pryor's <i>Cousin Jack Cartoons</i> (Sydney, 1945); Pryor was the son of Cornish parents and born at Moonta, South Australia. The books says the following of the front cover image: 'The cover design suggests a miner who has knocked off early, and has come up a ladderway remote from the main shaft in order to avoid running into the boss. Unfortunately he has run into the trouble he meant to avoid. This situation will be, obvious to all who know the Moonta scene. —The miner's hat here depicted is made of hard compressed pulp and colored a deep maroon when new. The candle is stuck on the front of the hat with a lump of wet red clay. This was the practice of old Cornish miners for generations.' (Image: <a href="http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?vid=MAIN&docid=SLV_VOYAGER951330&context=L">State Library of Victoria</a>)</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The 'Great Emigration' of the Cornish in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries seems to have occurred on a quite remarkable scale. Margaret James-Korany has, for example, identified 42,000 individual emigrants sailing from the principal ports of Cornwall for Canada between 1831 and 1860, with some 6,200 leaving from Padstow alone in that period, and this outflow continued long after 1860 too. Thus the <i>Cornish Telegraph</i> for 5 September 1866 published a piece regretting 'the rage for emigration' in recent years, noting that 'the rush for Australia and America has been very great', and recent calculations suggest that at least 240,000 Cornish went overseas between 1860 and 1900, with a similar number leaving for England and Wales, with the result that Cornwall lost around a third of its population across the period. This depopulation was particularly marked amongst the youngest age-groups. Philip Payton observes that 44.8% of the Cornish male population aged fifteen to twenty-four left for overseas between 1861 and 1900, along with 26.2% of the female population in the same age group, and another 30% and 35.5% respectively left for other counties within Britain as well.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn1">1</a>)</p><p>The use of the term 'Cousin Jack' for the Cornish, particularly miners and especially emigrant miners, along with its companion-term 'Cousin Jenny', is well-evidenced from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards. John H. Forster's account of 'Life in the copper mines of Lake Superior', given to the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society in 1887, contains the following illustrative passage:</p><blockquote><p>The Cornishman, or "<b><u>cousin Jack</u></b>," is a native of the duchy of Cornwall, England... The Cornishman of the present day, like his father, is of a roving disposition. His footsteps may be traced around the globe. There is no prominent mining field in the world wherein you will not find "<b><u>Cousin Jack</u></b>." He is in Alaska, California, the Rocky Mountains, Mexico, Central and South America, in Australia, India and Lake Superior. He is a first rate miner and possesses a certain sturdiness of frame and disposition that commends him to the observer. He works hard, eats well and fights bravely. He is, numerically, very strong in our northern mines, and, being, as a rule, steady, conservative and skillful, he finds ready employment. He likes mining; esteems his vocation among the most honorable, if not aristocratic. He despises the duties of an ordinary day laborer. In short, he is a born miner and nothing else... But "<b><u>Cousin Jack</u></b>'s" language attracts most attention. His dialect, pure and simple, is unique. He uses many English words with a strange twist, while other words of his you would look for in vain in Webster's unabridged... But we find in the mines many gentlemen of Cornish birth who are well educated and efficient, occupying positions of trust and responsibility. Many of the captains and agents are Cornishmen.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn2">2</a>)</p></blockquote><p>Quite when and where these Cornish emigrants started to be known as 'Cousin Jacks' is not wholly clear, unfortunately, and various theories have been proposed over the years, most of which locate the genesis of the term overseas in America, Australia or other places where Cornish miners emigrated to in the nineteenth century. The <i>Cornubian and Redruth Times</i> in 1908, for example, carried a piece suggesting that the term 'Cousin Jack' was first used in the California mining districts in the very late 1840s and spread out from there, with the additional claim that 'twenty years ago the term in Cornwall was unknown'; however, as we shall see, neither claim stands up to scrutiny, and the reality is perhaps even more interesting.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn3">3</a>)</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1NwNOLmv11DZWt0I-sIbHjmJ4WJ1P_-JjxqTLZuEFJaXfeaXh2NAKlZOFj0Oe11gwGZqPaMNHkU8msHTlu4-3uWbsRJ-9jCBKyL_pIfxQovpR7aq12Y48GzT9xzK0NfPqh1e0gfxNbhDz/s1241/nla.obj-133090696-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1241" data-original-width="1000" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1NwNOLmv11DZWt0I-sIbHjmJ4WJ1P_-JjxqTLZuEFJaXfeaXh2NAKlZOFj0Oe11gwGZqPaMNHkU8msHTlu4-3uWbsRJ-9jCBKyL_pIfxQovpR7aq12Y48GzT9xzK0NfPqh1e0gfxNbhDz/w323-h400/nla.obj-133090696-1.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Australian Cousin Jack cartoon by Oswald Pryor from 1915; the caption reads 'Cousin Jack miner:- "Call isself Cap'n 'e do; and I 'spoase ef the truth ez known, 'e never did a day's work underground in all 'ez life."' (Image: <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-133090696/view">Trove</a>)</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Looking at the documentary evidence for the usage of the term, a traditional place to start is with the <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i>, which cites a number of examples of the use of Cousin Jack under their <i>Cousin, n.</i> and <i>Jack, n.¹</i> entries. One, from Rolf Boldrewood's Australian novel <i>Miner's Right</i> of 1890, describes 'a short man, whose blue-black curly hair and deep-set eyes betrayed the Cousin Jack',(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn4">4</a>) whilst the earliest given is from <i>The Star</i> newspaper of Ballarat, Victoria (Australia) on the 19 March 1857, which runs as follows:</p><blockquote><p>They were ‘Tips’, and ‘Geordies’, and ‘<b><u>Cousin Jacks</u></b>’, altogether, and I did as well as I could.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn5">5</a>) </p></blockquote><p>The fact that both of the early citations are from Australia has sometimes been taken to suggest that the term could have emerged there, and it is certainly treated as such by the <i>English Dialect Dictionary</i> under its entry for <i>Cousin</i>.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn6">6</a>) In addition to these entries, the <i>OED </i>also records what it treats as a variant of Cousin Jack, <i>Cousin Jacky.</i> This is said to be documented first in the <i>South Australian Register</i>, from Adelaide,<i> </i>for 2 June 1854, via the following passage: 'John O'Connell then said to him, ‘You're a b——, <b><u>Cousin Jacky</u></b>, an't you?'', although the term also occurs in dialogue from Australian court reports of the 1840s too, <i>e.g.</i> 'I don't like <b><u>you cousin Jackies</u></b>, keep your own company, and I'll keep mine', which appeared in the <i>South Australian</i>, 30 May 1848.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn7">7</a>) However, 'Cousin Jacky' is not only documented in Australian contexts; it also appears in, for example, Thomas Quiller Couch's <i>East Cornwall Words</i>, published by the English Dialect Society in 1880, where it is treated as an East Cornwall term for a miner from West Cornwall:</p><blockquote><p>There is a marked difference between the speech of East and West Cornwall... At the beginning of the present century mining adventure, especially in the search for copper, became a furor in East Cornwall, and a passionate enthusiasm brought hither the skilled miners of the West, who flocked to the banks of Tywardreath Bay, and further east to the central granite ridge about the tors of Caradon. These immigrants brought with them and have left an infusion of their language, especially its technical portion, but I remember when it was a great mimetic feat, and productive of much mirth amongst us, to be able to imitate the talk of <b><u>Cousin Jacky</u></b> from Redruth or St. Just.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn8">8</a>)</p></blockquote><p>T. Q. Couch of Bodmin, the father of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (aka Q), was born in 1826 at Lansallos near Fowey, and seems to be here recounting a usage known to him in his youth, and is clearly referring to someone from West Cornwall, not a Cornish emigrant overseas. Likewise, in a letter printed in the <i>West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser</i> for 28 March 1862, Christopher Childs of Liskeard uses 'Cousin Jacky' in passing as a seemingly well-known, common and friendly term traditionally used between Cornish miners:</p><blockquote><p>The very motto of the Cornish miners, "One and All," at once bespeaks our favour, and indicates that [Cornish miners] are not naturally selfish, but on the contrary, are kindly disposed one toward another. If any one doubt this, let him attend the funeral of a miner, and observe how they congregate to pay the last sad tribute of respect, and drop a tear over the grave of their departed comrade... How forcibly does the familiar name "comrade," and the expression of "<b><u>Com'se along Cousin Jacky</u></b>," speak in favour of his friendly and social disposition.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn9">9</a>)</p></blockquote><p>In contrast, in Margaret Ann Courtney's <i>West Cornwall Words</i> (which was bound together with Couch's <i>East Cornwall Words </i>of 1880), 'Cousin Jacky' features as a local dialect term meaning 'a foolish person, a coward', with 'Cousin Jan' instead being given as the name for Cornishman—the latter variant is discussed further below, as is the former definition for Cousin Jacky.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn10">10</a>) </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieG5BviBmJOFiSpk4F2XnlLKizHEI_38OqZ717rM82-trt5xIufeFyhzer4daZLWeEwV922K9Py0NFp5P0rzJA5jm6rIUM6WXd2B6FCkj7HO0SDyY1p9m59Y7czOR6M91aGyHgoQrgGjjD/s1162/CornishGhostStory1862.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1162" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieG5BviBmJOFiSpk4F2XnlLKizHEI_38OqZ717rM82-trt5xIufeFyhzer4daZLWeEwV922K9Py0NFp5P0rzJA5jm6rIUM6WXd2B6FCkj7HO0SDyY1p9m59Y7czOR6M91aGyHgoQrgGjjD/w400-h296/CornishGhostStory1862.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first two pages of Elfin's <i>A Cornish Ghost Story</i>, first published at Truro sometime before 1862; these two pages are taken from an 1868 edition of the text in <i>Cornish Tales in Prose and Verse</i> (Truro: Netherton, 1868), pp. 37<span style="text-align: left;">–</span>8 (image: <a href="https://archive.org/details/cornishpales00treggoog/page/n243/mode/2up">Internet Archive</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Needless to say, the above references do seem to cast serious doubt upon the implication of the report in the <i>Cornubian and Redruth Times </i>in 1908 that the term 'Cousin Jack' and similar was unknown in Cornwall in the late 1880s, and in this light it is worth noting that Sharron Schwartz has, in fact, suggested that the 'evidence seems to point to the mines of Devonshire in the eighteenth century' as the place where the term Cousin Jack originated, via migrant Cornish miners seeking work in Devon rather than overseas.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn11">11</a>) Although she unfortunately offers no citation to support this, this suggestion certainly would seem to accord reasonably well with the apparent mid-nineteenth-century Cornish usage of 'Cousin Jacky' for a miner from West Cornwall discussed above. Some further evidence that supports such an early usage in Britain, rather than just overseas, for 'Cousin Jack'/'Cousin Jacky' might be sought in the following three publications. The first is <i>A Cornish Ghost Story</i>, by Georgina Verrall writing as "Elfin", of which only the second edition survives, which was printed at Lemon Street, Truro, in 1862, priced 3d. Quite when the first edition was printed is unfortunately unrecorded, although a notional date of <i>c.</i> 1860 has sometimes been supplied; this poem starts as follows:</p><blockquote><p>One foggy night, a year ago<br />Ere yet had fallen December's snow,<br />A Cornish miner half afraid,<br />Stroll'd down Tremaine to meet his maid...<br />Poor <b><u>Cousin Jack</u></b> felt ill at ease,<br />And totter'd on with trembling knees,<br />In short, dear reader, you may see,<br />Jack had his failings,—so have we...<br />Now <b><u>cousin Jacky</u></b> was, no doubt,<br />A comely youth when "oal trick'd out;"<br />To use his own expression, he<br />A "clain-off man" was said to be,<br />And many a maiden inly sighed<br />To be the handsome miner's bride;...(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn12">12</a>)</p></blockquote><p>It then continues with long passages written to reflect Cornish dialect, relating the meeting of the miner 'Cousin Jack/Jacky' with his maid, Mary, and their subsequent talk and deeds. Needless to say, this passage would seem to provide evidence for a Cornish usage of 'Cousin Jack/Jacky' for a miner still living in Cornwall sometime in the 1850s or very early 1860s. Interestingly, the same pamphlet also offers evidence for 'Cousin Jan' and perhaps Jenny—both Jan and Jenny occur for other characters in the text of the poem, suggesting they too were seen as conventional names for Cornish characters, and 'Cousin Jan' moreover recurs in the titles of two further pamphlets that are advertised on the rear of <i>A Cornish Ghost Story</i>, namely <i>The Bâl, or, 'Tes a Bra' Keenly Lode, Cousin Jan's Story </i>(first published at Helston in 1850) and its sequel <i>Cousin Jan's Courtship and Marriage</i> (first published at Truro in 1859), both by William Bentinck Forfar. The earliest of these, published three years before the first reference in the <i>OED</i> reference to <i>Cousin Jan </i>(which is, in fact, taken from a newspaper advert for this pamphlet from 1853, although the <i>OED </i>doesn't mention this), includes the following passage:</p><blockquote><p>If you'll listen to me for a moment, you shall<br />Hear all about trying and working a Bâl;<br />How the Lode is discovered by a small hazel twig,<br />Carried over the ground by some knowing old prig...<br />When the knowing old Dowzer this discovery's made<br />He marks out the spot and then calls his comrade,<br />Saying, "Hallo! <b><u>Cozen Jan, d'ee come 'long wi' me</u></b>,<br />'Tes the keenliest gozan thee ever ded'st see...(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn13">13</a>)</p></blockquote><p>Cousin Jan in the narrative then takes a sample of the ore to a Captain Polglaze, 'a Purser, well known, Who quickly, by mining, a rich man had grown'. He declares that they must go to London to raise funds ('The went up to Bristol by a steamer from Hayle, And proceeded from Bristol to London by rail'), and their adventure is then recounted in Cornish dialect by Cousin Jan. Subsequently, the form 'Cousin Jan' is found in a handful of Cornish newspaper articles from the 1860s to the 1890s as the name of a Cornish 'everyman' or as a general name for Cornishmen/Cornish miner, <i>i.e.</i> it seems to have functioned as a variant form of 'Cousin Jack'/'Cousin Jacky'. This is supported by the fact that 'Cozen Jan' first appears in Forfar's poem as part of a phrase that seems essentially identical to Christopher Child's traditional Cornish miner's phrase "Com'se along Cousin Jacky".</p><p>The second publication that further illustrates an early usage of 'Cousin Jack' and similar in Britain, without obvious reference to Cornish emigrants, is a report in <i>The Cornish Telegraph</i> for 27 September 1854. This briefly recounted the exhumation of a miner who fell down the shaft of Pednandrea Mine, Redruth<i> </i>in the 1820s. The rediscovery of his remains apparently prompted 'great excitement' and his funeral procession on Sunday, 17 September 1854, was attended by four thousand people, equal to around half of the population of Redruth at that time. What is particularly striking is that, although his real name is given as John Stephens, the newspaper notes that in life he was 'better known as "<b><u>Cousin Jack</u></b> Cobbler,"'(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn14">14</a>) something that obviously suggests the use of the nickname 'Cousin Jack' in Cornwall as far back as the 1820s. The status of Stephens' alternative name as a nickname is confirmed by the report on the inquest published the previous week in the <i>Royal Cornwall Gazette</i>:</p><blockquote><p>On Saturday the 16th instant, an inquest was held... on the body of John Stephens, aged 25 years. According to the evidence of William Thomas, miner, it appeared that as long ago as the 9th of August, 1828, the deceased and his brother were employed in stripping the shaft, and drawing up the materials in the Pednandrea Mine, near Redruth... The deceased and witness both fell into the shaft together... <b><u>Deceased was well known in the neighbourhood by the nickname of "Cousin Jack Cobbler</u></b>."(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn15">15</a>)</p></blockquote><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdRsFT50l53asBZz_eZ2a-FzIJnucwABFg2PyQHL9Kk9lwdK3ny-ZOpSy43pyu4hM_ha33gl1f4KFuSkXZlKDH8fdAmLIhba7k_CcefrnQngZfgmfM9Appw_oEGJ2bLfbPPV-jkqXx3sK/s940/CornishThaliaAd.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="542" data-original-width="940" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdRsFT50l53asBZz_eZ2a-FzIJnucwABFg2PyQHL9Kk9lwdK3ny-ZOpSy43pyu4hM_ha33gl1f4KFuSkXZlKDH8fdAmLIhba7k_CcefrnQngZfgmfM9Appw_oEGJ2bLfbPPV-jkqXx3sK/w400-h231/CornishThaliaAd.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mid-nineteenth-century advert for H. J. Daniel's <i>The Cornish Thalia</i>, published <i>c</i>. 1860 at Devonport, which included two poems with 'Cousin Jack' in the title (image: <a href="https://archive.org/details/budgetofcornishp00unknuoft/page/n61/mode/2up">Internet Archive</a>).<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The third interesting early publication from Cornwall to refer to Cousin Jack is the collection of comic poems by Henry John Daniel's published as <i>The Cornish Thalia, Being Original Cornish Poems, Illustrative of the Cornish Dialect</i>. Although this was published at Devonport without date, it is advertised in the rear of a pamphlet published in 1859 and advertised in the <i>Cornish Times</i> on 28 July 1860, so was presumably written in the 1850s and in print by either the end of that decade or 1860.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn16">16</a>) This volume included poems with the titles 'Cousin Jack and the London barber' and 'Cousin Jack's song for the volunteers', and H. J. Daniel followed it up in 1862 and 1863 with new books of poems entitled <i>Mirth for "One and All;" or, Comic Tales and Sketches</i> and <i>Mary Anne's Career (continued) and Cousin Jack's Adventures</i>, which included items with the titles 'Cousin Jack and the sun-dial', 'Cousin Jack at Summercourt Fair', 'Cousin Jack and the Piskies', and 'Cousin Jack and the Gipsy'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn17">17</a>) In the front of <i>The Cornish Thalia</i>, Daniel has the following to say, which suggests that 'Cousin Jack' was being used by him at least partly in the West Cornwall sense of 'a fool', as documented by M. A. Courtney in 1880 for 'Cousin Jacky', in addition to being a commonplace term for a Cornish miner: </p><blockquote><p>In the following pages, merely to illustrate the mode of thought and expression amongst a certain class of the mining population of Cornwall. Whatever surprise the uninitiated reader may experience from the exaggerated and <i>bizarre</i> observations of <i><b><u>Cousin Jack</u></b></i>, they are strictly in accordance with fact. This arises from an ignorance of the world at large; at the same time there is no race of men possessed of better natural abilities. Shrewd, quick, and discriminating, they may be deceived once, but seldom twice; besides this, a rich vein of originality frequently runs through their remarks, which affords considerable amusement.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn18">18</a>)</p></blockquote><p>This sense is confirmed by Daniel's first poem in <i>The Cornish Thalia</i>, 'Cousin Jack and the London barber', which begins thus:</p><blockquote><p>About a dozen years or so<br /> Ago,<br />A Cornish Miner (let the truth be written)<br />Was walking through the streets with wonder smitten—<br />His eyes wide open, staring at the shops. </p></blockquote><p>Subsequently, Cousin Jack, as he wanders around London, spies a barber's shop and declares 'There's nething down to Camebourne like this here' and goes in for a shave. He then becomes confused by a bar of soap and a basin of suds and water ('What es it here?'); taking it for broth with potatoes in, Jack consumes it entirely to the shock of the London barber, declaring that he:</p><blockquote><p>lapp'd it in a moment like a cat...<br />I dedden mind for spoons, or sives [=herbs], or bread;<br />I liked your brath oncommon well I ded...<br />[but] I cudden bear the tetties[=lumps of soap], no my dear!(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn19">19</a>)</p></blockquote><p>Needless to say, the poem seems rather mean-spirited, but it does at least once more add weight to the case for 'Cousin Jack' being a well-understood phrase in 1850s Cornwall, and one that Daniel, a Cornishman born at Lostwithiel in 1818, could freely use both as a generalised term for a Cornish miner and to make a mock of such men without worrying that it would need explaining. In this context, it is worth pointing out that the similar use of 'Cousin Jacky' as a name for both a miner and a fool seems to underlie the following passage on a mine captain from T. R. Higham's <i>A Dialogue Between Tom Thomas and Bill Bilkey, Two Cornish Miners</i>, printed at Truro in 1866: </p><p></p><blockquote><i>Tom: </i>"What soort of Cappen es he down to thy Bâl, Bill" </blockquote><blockquote><i>Bill: "</i>Well, I b'lieve he's so good a heart as ever took a mug in hand; but we dooan't knaw what to maake of un sometimes, caase he do git 'pon his jokes so often; <b><u>he do think we are oall Cousin Jackies, but we arn't so bad fools as he do think we be</u></b>, for we do knaw a passel moore 'bout copper an' tin than he do..."'(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn20">20</a>)</blockquote><p>John Tabois Tregellas, a Cornishman born in St Agnes in 1792, seems to use 'Cousin Jacky' in this manner too in his <i>The St Agnes Bear Hunt</i>, published at some point in the 1840s, a tale concerning a group of St Agnes miners taken in by a hoax about a yellow bear loose in the countryside: </p><blockquote><p>So off to Dirtypool the throng<br />Of <i><b><u>Cousin Jackies</u></b></i> went,<br />Up to Wheal Kitty, where they stopped,<br />As if by one consent.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn21">21</a>) </p></blockquote><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizkuSa9SR8ofrl8bTcza_fJVa9Na5eUuu5swPyQ0v-1hjZxipvX1uzjNKk7MQ16y6azXIdb32U1tg8EdHDQvEPOyYB0Kp0HeVxQBNeqRdjTz9-AziYhV3ozWIukJUs-nfMJyozBcDqEsV/s1064/budgetofcornishp00unknuoft_0308.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1064" data-original-width="884" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizkuSa9SR8ofrl8bTcza_fJVa9Na5eUuu5swPyQ0v-1hjZxipvX1uzjNKk7MQ16y6azXIdb32U1tg8EdHDQvEPOyYB0Kp0HeVxQBNeqRdjTz9-AziYhV3ozWIukJUs-nfMJyozBcDqEsV/w333-h400/budgetofcornishp00unknuoft_0308.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Cousin Jack and the London barber, from Henry John Daniel's <i>The Cornish Thalia</i>, published in the late 1850s or 1860; Cousin Jack has just drunk the barber's bowl of soap-suds and soap, thinking it broth and potatoes (image: <a href="https://archive.org/details/budgetofcornishp00unknuoft/page/n307/mode/2up">Internet Archive</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><p>If the date by which Cornish miners started to be known as Cousin Jacks/Jackies is somewhat uncertain (although the term would certainly seem to have been in use in Cornwall by the 1820s and Australia by the 1840s, if not before), the same is true for the question of quite <i>why </i>they were called this. Much of the literature on 'Cousin Jacks' and the Great Emigration seems to pass over these questions or address them only briefly, frequently suggesting that it may result from the oft-cited 'clannishness' of the Cornish emigrants. For example:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>The term “Cousin Jack” is believed to have originated from the fact that Cornish miners were clannish. It was very typical for a miner to assist his skilled countrymen in finding work in the mines of Grass Valley [California]. The tight relationships that formed amongst the Cornish led to criticism by outsiders that they all seemed to have a cousin named “Jack” with whom they were willing to work to the exclusion of everyone else.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn22">22</a>)</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>‘Cousin Jack’ is an informal term for a Cornishman, apparently originating with regard to labour
migration during the 19th century. Several theories as to its development exist, but the most popular
suggests that upon gaining employment at a mine, Cornish miners would lobby the management for the
employment of fellow Cornish miners, stating that a newcomer was his ‘cousin Jack’.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn23">23</a>)</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>In the early days “Cousin Jack” evoked envy, jealousy and even hatred, for it seemed that every position in the mine was reserved for yet another “Cousin” from Cornwall.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn24">24</a>) </p></blockquote><p></p><p>Certainly, the 'clannish' Cornish miners seem to have often been commented upon in contemporary and near-contemporary reports. For example, in an article entitled 'Cornishmen on the Rand' about South African mining, published in the <i>West Briton and Cornish Advertiser</i> for 14 May 1908, the following passage occurs: </p><blockquote><p>The Witwatersrand has proved a happy hunting ground for large numbers of Cornish miners, and at one time there were large mines here that employed only Cornishmen as skilled labourers... Often the manager was neither a Cornishman nor a mining man, and he found the Cousin Jack mine captain indispensable. A Cornish mine captain invariably meant Cornish shift bosses, and that, in turn, means Cornish workmen.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn25">25</a>)</p></blockquote><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY38KlygjeJEMZau4wPdlpVxEunmNB1hIg8pHqw6nIbMDsA9fsMbfAhfhInUalxGbumY5aDoEdMSa-EXeCTxJv8qd41MWqDV3mbyXgxCD4odS8pWG-hUhKBt9fkKsGJNmjYjHn9xRzKE2p/s800/21314935269_82913812c9_c.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="800" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY38KlygjeJEMZau4wPdlpVxEunmNB1hIg8pHqw6nIbMDsA9fsMbfAhfhInUalxGbumY5aDoEdMSa-EXeCTxJv8qd41MWqDV3mbyXgxCD4odS8pWG-hUhKBt9fkKsGJNmjYjHn9xRzKE2p/w400-h294/21314935269_82913812c9_c.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view of Cornish Town, also known as Cousin Jack Town, Inangahua County, New Zealand, with working men's huts, a narrow railway line running through the centre, and native forest behind; photograph taken by William Archer Price <i>c.</i> 1910s (image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationallibrarynz_commons/21314935269">Flickr/National Library NZ</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Whilst there is thus clear evidence that the Cornish miners in South Africa, Australia and America were indeed perceived as 'clannish' and could dominate mines in the manner suggested above, the idea that Cornish miners overseas suggesting their mine managers employ their supposed relatives could offer a full explanation for the origins of the term 'Cousin Jack' is certainly open to question. Not only does such an 'origin story' have the distinct feel of folk-etymology about it, but it is worth noting that whilst 'cousin' nowadays usually carries with it some sense of a claimed direct kin relationship, in the past it could also be used 'as a familiar and friendly term of address among non-kin', and it was apparently especially so used in this manner in Cornwall.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn26">26</a>) Perhaps most importantly, such a scenario also seems out of accord with the fact that the terms 'Cousin Jack' and 'Cousin Jacky' were <i>not</i> restricted in use to Cornish miners overseas, but were also known and used in the same period in Cornwall too, back at least as far as the 1820s, as discussed above. This is not to say that the 'clannishness' of the Cornish miners overseas might not have played a very large role in popularizing the wider usage and longevity of this phrase, but the idea that the term 'Cousin Jack' actually had its origins in Cornish miners overseas claiming to have a supposed 'cousin named “Jack” with whom they were willing to work to the exclusion of everyone else' seems unlikely to be strictly true in light of the evidence we have.</p><p>How, then, might the names 'Cousin Jack' and 'Cousin Jacky' be explained? A potentially more plausible scenario may be that the term 'Cousin Jack' or 'Cousin Jacky' actually had its roots in England, not overseas, as Sharron Schwartz has indeed suggested, perhaps being used originally of Cornish miners from West Cornwall working in Devon and/or East Cornwall in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Some of the Cornish references would certainly suggest that it was a familiar and well-known local nickname for a Cornish miner by the mid-nineteenth century, with no obvious indication that it meant someone who had been overseas. Of particular interest here may be the apparent 'mocking' tone of some—though by no means all—of the references: this is explicit in Daniel's <i>Cornish Thalia</i> and related poems of the late 1850s/1860s, and probably also underlies Thomas Quiller Couch (1826<span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #4d5156; font-size: 14px;">–</span>1884) of Lansallos and Bodmin's apparent youthful memory of the fun to be had by mimicking 'the talk of Cousin Jacky from Redruth or St. Just'. The negative connotations are made particularly clear in Margaret Ann Courtney's <i>West Cornwall Words</i>, where 'Cousin Jacky' is defined as a local dialect word for a fool, the same sense as it clearly has in Higham's <i>A Dialogue Between Tom Thomas and Bill Bilkey, Two Cornish Miners</i>. Moreover, another dialogue of Higham's—entitled <i>The Billy Goat and the Pepper Mine</i>, published prior to 1870—makes it clear that 'Cousin Jacky' was considered to be a word used by people in England of Cornish miners:</p><blockquote><p>Good hevening to 'ee, Zur... you'm a Straanyer en these here paarts, I blaw, by yer ways of spaikin'!... you cudn't 'ave cum'd to a keenlier boddy fur to tell 'ee oal 'bout <b><u>we "Cousin Jacky's," as you Lunnoners [=Londoners] do caal us</u></b>! S'pose you'm a Doctur, maakin' so bould? How ded I come fur to thenk like that theere? Why, Zur, ef we been <b><u>Cousin Jacky's</u></b> we do kaip out gunnin' eye opun, an' we do knaw Tin an' no mistaake!(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn27">27</a>)</p></blockquote><p>All of the above suggests that the name may not have been entirely appreciated by some Cornish miners, at least at first, and may well have originated from outside of the Cornish mining communities, <i>i.e. </i>it was applied to them by those whom they encountered outside of West Cornwall (the use of 'Cousin' could be a further element in this, referencing and/or mocking the apparently particularly West Cornish usage of 'cousin' as a term of friendly endearment for non-kin).(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn28">28</a>) In this light, it is interesting to note that two of the handful of other compounds of the form 'Cousin X' in English are also negative in tone. Thus, <i>Cousin Betty</i> and <i>Cousin Betties</i> occur from at least the first half of the eighteenth century as a generic name for one or more female beggars or itinerant prostitutes, whilst <i>Cousin Tom</i> occurs from the 1740s as a name for a male beggar. Be this as it may, the name 'Cousin Jack' or 'Cousin Jacky' seems subsequently to have been 'reclaimed' and adopted by the Cornish miners both at home and, especially and increasingly, abroad, losing its negative/mocking connotations. As Sharron Schwartz notes, the term “Cousin Jack” became one 'used to express an “otherness”', with the Cornish overseas particularly leveraging it to promote their claimed identity as a 'distinct people with specific mining skills that they jealously guarded'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn29">29</a>) Certainly, by the mid- to late nineteenth century it was being used as a self-designation by Cornishmen both at home and abroad, with people signing letters to newspapers in this era as either 'Cousin Jack' or 'Cousin Jacky'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn30">30</a>) </p><p>Nonetheless, all of this does still leave open the question of why, specifically, 'Cousin Jack' came to be a nickname applied to Cornish miners and used by them, and not some other name. There is no sense that 'Jack' is a specifically or typically Cornish name, being rather a common English personal name (a by-name for John), despite occasional claims to the contrary. Jack might, of course, be being used in 'Cousin Jack' simply as a word for an 'everyman'. The <i>OED 2 </i>notes under <i>Jack, n.¹</i> that 'Jack' was generally used in English as a term 'for any representative of the common people' or for any 'lad, fellow, chap; <i>esp. </i>a low-bred or ill-mannered fellow' back to at least the sixteenth century, if not before, so this is not an implausible suggestion.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn31">31</a>) Yet such a case would still not tell us <i>why </i>this specific nickname became so exclusively associated with the Cornish miners, initially perhaps being used of them by people outside of these communities who felt threatened by them and/or were mocking them before being adopted as a badge of ethnic identity and pride. There may, however, be a potential answer to this in the name and story of one of the most popular fictional Cornishmen of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, namely Jack the Giant-Killer.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBY09BSui_NzDrmKieirx3KfRrKBCxxv6Z2yM8Vk8UFhLHkVyCPs7aoDUWkSPbC4-LpT4_s-LiU5nxWIqR_QGRFkpIl8pLQRCuBnUPWi21Wd0S7sgJLFUmp4IUsPNFDgjHKSoBI8J2wPv/s391/Cormoran.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBY09BSui_NzDrmKieirx3KfRrKBCxxv6Z2yM8Vk8UFhLHkVyCPs7aoDUWkSPbC4-LpT4_s-LiU5nxWIqR_QGRFkpIl8pLQRCuBnUPWi21Wd0S7sgJLFUmp4IUsPNFDgjHKSoBI8J2wPv/s16000/Cormoran.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A woodcut of Jack killing the giant of St Michael's Mount, Cormilan (aka Cormilion/Cormelian/Cormoran), from a chapbook version of <i>The History of Jack the Giant Killer</i> published in <i>c.</i> 1820 (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cormoran.png">Wikimedia Commons</a>). Jack, a farmer's son from the Lands End district, dug a pit 24 foot deep in a single night with a shovel and pick-axe, into which he tricked the giant the next morning, whereupon Jack finished him off with his pick-axe.</td></tr></tbody></table><p><i>The History of Jack and the Giants</i> seems to have been first<i> </i>published in the early eighteenth century, with the earliest reference to it being sold coming from 1708 and the earliest surviving text having been published in 1711.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn32">32</a>) The tale proved to be incredibly popular and went through multiple print-runs, adaptations and revisions over the next century and a half, and Jack's origins in far west of Cornwall remain a strong thread throughout these. The chapbook tale begins as follows:</p><blockquote><p>In the reign of King <i>Arthur</i>, near the Lands-End of <i>England</i>, namely, the county of <i>Cornwall</i>, there lived a wealthy Farmer, who had one only Son, commonly known by the name of Jack the Giantkiller.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn33">33</a>)</p></blockquote><p>Jack's initial enemy is the giant Cormilan who lived at St Michael's Mount, Cornwall, and who Jack tricks by digging and disguising a hole, then rousing the giant and finishing him off
with a pick-axe when he falls into the trap. Jack's reward is the giant’s treasure and
he is named by the worthies of Marazion "the Giant Killer," a title that carries with
it a sword and an embroidered belt, which read: </p><blockquote><p>Here’s the right valiant Cornish Man,
<i>Who slew the Giant </i>Cormilan.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn34">34</a>)</p></blockquote><p>Jack subsequently leaves Cornwall for overseas, in this case Wales, where he encounters further giants in need of his special skills. In one encounter, he holds the following important conversation and so tricks a Welsh giant into hiding in his dungeon whilst Jack and King Arthur's son feast in the monster's hall:</p><blockquote><p>Jack rides full speed, when coming to the Gates of the castle, he knock’d with such force, that he made all the neighbouring hills resound. The Giant with a voice like thunder, roared out; who’s there? He answered, none but your poor <b><u>cousin Jack</u></b> quoth he, what news with my poor <b><u>cousin Jack</u></b>? He replied, dear uncle, heavy news; God wot prithee what heavy news can come to me? I am a Giant, with three heads; and besides thou knows I can fight five hundred men in Armour and make them fly like chaff before the wind. Oh! but (quoth Jack) here’s the King’s Son coming with a thousand men in Armour to kill you, and so to destroy all that you have. Oh! <b><u>Cousin Jack</u></b>, this is heavy news indeed; I have a large vault under the ground, where I will immediately hide myself, and thou shalt lock, bolt and bar me in, and keep the keys till the King’s Son is gone.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn35">35</a>)</p></blockquote><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi519dzCuku8YsOE9oYjDA8706LNQR5XnDdVMXMnqMbWzuquxgtkdS2exjtD-WaLathFU0LaBdG5dshIjP3bHNWK0JC8W11njBBen8-iErTq6NYeAKbQHFuQrOhqe16e_GY1uIRWQZXsDyj/s1214/FavouriteFairyTales1861-Jack.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1214" data-original-width="879" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi519dzCuku8YsOE9oYjDA8706LNQR5XnDdVMXMnqMbWzuquxgtkdS2exjtD-WaLathFU0LaBdG5dshIjP3bHNWK0JC8W11njBBen8-iErTq6NYeAKbQHFuQrOhqe16e_GY1uIRWQZXsDyj/w290-h400/FavouriteFairyTales1861-Jack.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jack the Giant Killer gives the finishing blow to the giant of St Michael's Mount, Cornwall, from J. Corner, <i>Favourite Fairy Tales</i> (Edinburgh, 1861), p. 79 (image: <a href="https://archive.org/details/favouritefairyta00corniala/page/78/mode/2up">Internet Archive</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Needless to say, this is arresting. We have here a very well-known hero of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century popular tales who was named Jack, who grew up in West Cornwall, who achieved fame through the excavation of the Earth (digging a hole which the giant Cormilan could fall into and be finished off with a pick-axe), who travelled overseas—here Wales—to pursue his calling, and who, whilst there, was at least on occasion known by the name 'Cousin Jack'. This tale was adapted variously and frequently as, for example, a farce, a ‘musical entertainment’, a ballet, a 'burlesque extravaganza', and multiple times as a 'favourite Serio-Comic Pantomime' and similar.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn36">36</a>) It also became a popular nursery and children's tale, being issued variously with lurid woodcuts, tinted pictures, or grouped in collections with <i>Jack and the Beanstalk </i>(itself arguably a variant of <i>Jack the Giant-Killer</i>), <i>Sleeping Beauty</i>, and <i>Little Red Riding Hood</i>.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn37">37</a>) As <i>The Illustrated London News</i> opined in 1848, Jack the Giant-Killer was:</p><blockquote><p>the hero dear to all boys who have a particle of generosity and imagination in their souls. Does there exist a man who never envied Jack his seven-league boots and his invisible coat, and who never laughed at that inimitable trick by which he made the gluttonous, false-hearted Welsh giant commit suicide? If there do exist such a man, he is like the man who hath no music in his soul... Let no such man be trusted... The man who did not, when a boy, admire Jack the Giant-Killer... is a hard, dry man, with no poetry in his composition; and does not deserve to see Jack reproduced even in a magic lantern.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/cousin-jack-origins.html#fn38">38</a>)</p></blockquote><p>In other words, the immensely popular eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fictional Cornish hero Jack, aka 'Cousin Jack', would clearly be a natural reference point for anyone encountering a person from West Cornwall. In such circumstances, it seems quite credible that the widespread knowledge of Jack's adventures might have led to people from West Cornwall, especially those who dug holes(!), being jokingly—and perhaps somewhat mockingly—nicknamed 'Cousin Jack' after him in the manner hypothesised above, with the nickname being subsequently reclaimed and adopted as a badge of ethnic identity and pride by the Cornish, particularly those living overseas. Certainly, such a scenario seems to offer the only really plausible explanation thus far advanced for why miners from West Cornwall were specifically nicknamed '<i>Cousin Jack</i>', rather than any other name.</p><p>In conclusion, although the nickname 'Cousin Jack' is often thought to have emerged overseas and to reflect the 'clannishness' of the Cornish emigrant mining communities and their desire to have mine-owners employ only other Cornish emigrants, claiming them to be their supposed 'Cousin Jacks', the evidence does not really support this. Instead, the term seems to have been used from at least as early in Britain too, if not earlier, and it appears to have additionally been thought by the nineteenth-century Cornish to have had some sort of mocking connotations. One potential explanation for this situation is that 'Cousin Jack' was originally a joking or mocking nickname applied to miners from West Cornwall by those outside of this community who encountered them, perhaps initially in Devon or East Cornwall in the eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries. This name is most plausibly explained as a jovial reference to the immensely popular eighteenth- and nineteenth-century hero Jack the Giant-Killer, whose tale tells how he came from West Cornwall, killed a giant by excavating a large hole into which he fell, and was known on occasion as 'Cousin Jack' when away from home. At first, the nickname would seem to have been seen with some ambivalence by Cornish miners, but it would subsequently appear that 'Cousin Jack' was reclaimed and adopted by the Cornish, especially by those taking part in the 'Great Emigration', who used it to express their 'otherness' and promote their own distinctive identity.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnD1k-JVtDsLWO1avIzqRG4z9RdGWkPfvZbIQo_9E0SLXbi5_cuqrEn7LGBOnljk-DLbRHmRreRbYhiYTUQ1njw0e1F0KWJLki7dVr-BaWJ4E3FscEzu3_C-1UGnvy5Skt2Ora-KjEMbwB/s856/Pryor-CousinJack2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="856" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnD1k-JVtDsLWO1avIzqRG4z9RdGWkPfvZbIQo_9E0SLXbi5_cuqrEn7LGBOnljk-DLbRHmRreRbYhiYTUQ1njw0e1F0KWJLki7dVr-BaWJ4E3FscEzu3_C-1UGnvy5Skt2Ora-KjEMbwB/w400-h315/Pryor-CousinJack2.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Australian Cousin Jack cartoon by Oswald Pryor, 1945; the caption reads '"An' what part do 'ee com' from, Maister?" "Gahd's own country, Boy." "Well, tha's funny, I should NEVER 'ave tak'd 'ee for a Cornishman." (Image: <a href="https://thewondermentofillustration.tumblr.com/post/622442992643571712/oswald-pryor-gahds-own-country-1945-oswald">The Wonderment of Illustration</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><p><i>Footnotes</i></p>
<p><span id="fn1"></span><i>1.</i> See especially P. Payton, <i>The Cornish Overseas: A History of Cornwall's 'Great Emigration'</i> (Fowey, 2005), and P. Payton, <i>Cornwall, A History</i> (Fowey, 2004), chapter 10. For earlier scholarship see, for example, A. L. Rowse, <i>The Cousin Jacks: the Cornish in America</i> (New York, 1969).</p>
<p><span id="fn2"></span><i>2.</i> John H. Forster, 'Life in the copper mines of Lake Superior', <i>Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections</i>, 9 (1888), 175–86 at pp. 183–4.</p>
<p><span id="fn3"></span><i>3.</i> '"Cousin Jack" and "Cussing Jack"', <i>Cornubian and Redruth Times</i>, 4 June 1908, p. 3.</p>
<p><span id="fn4"></span><i>4.</i> <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> (Second Edition, 1989), s.v. Jack, n.¹, sense I.1.c.</p>
<p><span id="fn5"></span><i>5.</i> 'Court of General Sessions for the District of Buninyong and Ballarat', report, <i>The Star </i>(Ballarat, Victoria), 19 March 1857, p. 2; <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> (Third Edition, December 2019), s.v. Cousin, n.</p>
<p><span id="fn6"></span><i>6.</i> <i> </i>J. Wright (ed.), <i>The English Dialect Dictionary </i>(London, 1898), vol. 1, s.v. Cousin, 5.2, p. 750; J. Ruano-García, 'On the colonial element in Joseph Wright's <i>English Dialect Dictionary</i>', <i>International Journal of Lexicography</i>, 32 (2019), 38–57 at p. 43. </p>
<p><span id="fn7"></span><i>7.</i> 'Coroner's inquest.—manslaughter', <i>South Australian</i> (Adelaide), 30 May 1848, p. 2.</p>
<p><span id="fn8"></span><i>8.</i> T. Q. Couch, <i>East Cornwall Words</i>, in <i>Glossary of Words in Use in Cornwall</i> (London: English Dialect Society, 1880), pp. 70–1.</p>
<p><span id="fn9"></span><i>9.</i> C. Childs, 'The social and moral improvement of the working miners of Cornwall and Devon', <i>West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser</i>, 28 March 1862, p. 8.<i> </i></p>
<p><span id="fn10"></span><i>10.</i> M. A. Courtney, <i>West Cornwall Words, </i>in <i>Glossary of Words in Use in Cornwall</i> (London: English Dialect Society, 1880), pp. 14–15.</p>
<p><span id="fn11"></span><i>11.</i> S. P. Schwartz, ‘Creating the cult of “Cousin Jack”: Cornish miners in Latin America 1812–1848 and the development of an international mining labour market’, <i>The Cornish in Latin America Project</i>, <a href="https://projects.exeter.ac.uk/cornishlatin/Creating%20the%20Cult%20of%20Cousin%20Jack.pdf">online paper</a>, p. 33.</p>
<p><span id="fn12"></span><i>12.</i> G. Verrall, writing as Elfin, <i>A Cornish Ghost Story, a Night's Adventures at the Devil's Stile, or, Jack Trevose and Mary Trevean</i>, 2nd edn<i> </i>(Truro, 1862), pp. 3–5.</p>
<p><span id="fn13"></span><i>13.</i> W. B. Forfar, <i>The Bâl, or, 'Tes a Bra' Keenly Lode, Cousin Jan's Story </i>(Helston, 1850), reprinted in <i>Cornish Tales, in Prose and Verse, by Various Authors, With a Glossary </i>(Truro, 1867), pp. 55–6, and see <i>OED 3</i>, s.v. Cousin, n., under 'Cousin Jan'. This collection includes a number of other tales of Cousin Jan, including <i>Cousin Jan's Courtship and Marriage</i> (Truro, 1859); for the original publication dates, see W. W. Skeat (ed.), <i>A bibliographical list of the works that have been published, or are known to exist in MS., illustrative of the various dialects of English. Compiled by members of the English Dialect Society</i> (London, 1873), pp. 21–2. Note, 'Cousin Jenny' isn't treated further here; Rowse, <i>The Cousin Jacks</i>, p. 9, suggests it is a 'later addition', and the newspaper records seem to confirm this, the first instance I have come across coming from 1868 in <i>The Brisbane Courier</i>, 25 July 1868, p. 5: 'Cousin Jacks and Cousin Jennies (a nick-name given to miners and their wives coming from the Burra Burra mine, being mostly Cornish) have a barbarian custom belonging to an unenlightened era...'.</p>
<p><span id="fn14"></span><i>14.</i> 'Local Intelligence: exhumation of a miner', <i>The Cornish Telegraph</i>, 27 September 1854, p. 3.</p>
<p><span id="fn15"></span><i>15.</i> 'Inquest on a body, twenty six years dead', <i>Royal Cornwall Gazette</i>, 22 September 1854, p. 5.</p>
<p><span id="fn16"></span><i>16</i>. H. J. Daniel, <i>The Cornish Thalia, Being Original Cornish Poems, Illustrative of the Cornish Dialect </i>(Devonport: W. Wood, n.d.). This was advertised in the rear of C. Mansfield Ingleby's <i>The Shakespeare Fabrication</i> (London: John Russell Smith, 1859), p. 32 of the 'Catalogue of books published or sold by John Russell Smith' appended to the volume, and is mentioned in an advert from 28 July 1860 in the <i>Cornish Times</i>, when it was described as 'just published'; as such the notional date of '1870?' assigned to it in J. Milroy & L. Milroy (eds), <i>Real English: The Grammar of English Dialects in the British Isles</i> (London: Routledge, 1993), p. 326, can be disregarded. </p>
<p><span id="fn17"></span><i>17. </i> H. J. Daniel, <i>Mirth for "One and All;" or, Comic Tales and Sketches</i> (Devonport: W. Wood, n.d.), advertised in the <i>West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser</i>, 7 February 1862, p. 8, and H. J. Daniel, <i>Mary Anne's Career (continued) and Cousin Jack's Adventures</i> (Devonport: W. Wood, n.d.), advertised in the <i>Cornish Times</i>, 13 June 1863, p. 1.</p>
<p><span id="fn18"></span><i>18.</i> Daniel, <i>The Cornish Thalia</i>, p. 3.</p>
<p><span id="fn19"></span><i>19. </i>Daniel, <i>The Cornish Thalia</i>, pp. 20–2.</p>
<p><span id="fn20"></span><i>20.</i> T. R. Higham, <i>A Dialogue Between Tom Thomas and Bill Bilkey, Two Cornish Miners </i>(Truro, 1866), reprinted in <i>Cornish Tales, in Prose and Verse, in the Cornish Dialect </i>(Truro, 1890), pp. 51–2.</p>
<p><span id="fn21"></span><i>21.</i> J. T. Tregellas, <i>Tremuan; and the St Agnes Bear Hunt. Two Cornish Tales </i>(Truro, n.d.), published at some point in the 1840s—see Skeat (ed.), <i>A bibliographical list</i>, p. 25, for the date—and reprinted in I. T. Tregallas, <i>Cornish Tales, in Prose and Verse</i> (Truro, <i>c</i>. 1870), p. 17, from which this quotation is taken. Note, 'Cousin Jackies' is footnoted as a 'Local term of derision' in some editions e.g. I. T. Tregallas, <i>The Adventures of Rozzy Paul and Zacky Martin; the St. Agnes Bear Hunt; and the Perran Cherrybeam: Three Comic Cornish poems</i> (Truro, 1856), p. 28, although not in the <i>c.</i> 1870 edition.</p>
<p><span id="fn22"></span><i>22. </i>F. G. Wolf, B. Finnie & L. Gibson, 'Cornish miners in California: 150 years of a unique sociotechnical system', <i>Journal of Management History</i>, 14 (2008), 144–60 at p. 150. </p>
<p><span id="fn23"></span><i>23.</i> E. K. Neale, <i>Cornish Carols: Heritage in California and South Australia</i> (University of Exeter and Cardiff University PhD Thesis, 2018), p. 37. See also, for example, Rowse, <i>The Cousin Jacks</i>, p. 9, who says 'When men were wanted for the mines, or a job was going, they always knew somebody at home for it: Cousin Jack. So they became known all over the world as "Cousin Jacks"; "Cousin Jennies" for the womenfolk seems to be a later addition'. J. Rowe, in <i>The Hard-Rock Men: Cornish Immigrants and the North American Mining Frontier</i> (Liverpool, 1974), p. vi, similarly comments that "The most common explanation is that when a job fell vacant there would be a Cornish worker ready to tell the boss or foreman that he would send home for his "Cousin Jack" to fill it', although he also notes a Northern Michigan theory that, due to the profanity of the Cornish miners, they were called 'cussin' Jacks'! The same 'folk-etymology' for the name Cousin Jack has also been, interestingly, attributed to a Californian context, as follows:</p><blockquote><p>A Cornishman who was familiarly known as Jack, reached a mining camp in the western state in 1848, and being profuse in his use of profanity, soon won himself the name of "Cussing Jack." In time other Cornishmen arrived in the Californian camp and naturally they associated themselves with their erstwhile countryman, "Cussing Jack." The cosmopolitan mining population, not knowing the names of the newer arrivals, dubbed them all "Cussing Jacks," which was soon changed to "Cousin Jacks." ('"Cousin Jack" and "Cussing Jack"', <i>Cornubian and Redruth Times</i>, 4 June 1908, p. 3)</p></blockquote>
<p><span id="fn24"></span><i>24.</i> Payton, <i>Cornish Overseas</i>, p. 225.</p>
<p><span id="fn25"></span><i>25.</i> 'Cornishmen on the Rand: the past and the future', <i>West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser</i>, 14 May 1908, p. 8.</p>
<p><span id="fn26"></span><i>26.</i> N. Tadmor, <i>Family and Friends in Eighteenth-Century England: Household, Kinship, and Patronage</i> (Cambridge, 2001), p. 160; <i>OED 3</i>, s.v. Cousin, n..</p>
<p><span id="fn27"></span><i>27.</i> T. R. Higham, <i>The Billy Goat, and the Pepper Mine </i>(Truro, n.d.), which is advertised in the rear of the British Library's copy of <i>Tregellas's Cornish Tales</i>, dated <i>c. </i>1870 (General Reference Collection DRT Digital Store X.907/2143), and is reprinted in <i>The Billy Goat and the Pepper Mine, and Six Other Cornish Tales </i>(Truro, 1882), p. 3.</p>
<p><span id="fn28"></span><i>28.</i> Courtney, <i>West Cornwall Words</i>, p. 14; Tadmor, <i>Household, Kinship, and Patronage</i>, p. 160 n. 285; <i>OED</i>, s.v. Cousin, n., sense 2a.</p>
<p><span id="fn29"></span><i>29. </i>Schwartz, ‘Creating the cult of “Cousin Jack”’, p. 33. </p>
<p><span id="fn30"></span><i>30.</i> To give some examples, a Cornish correspondent signed a letter critical of a local Cornwall MP in the <i>Western Morning News</i> in 1884 that was reprinted in the <i>Royal Cornwall Gazette</i> on 3 October 1884, p. 8, with a follow-up letter written under the same pseudonym to the <i>Royal Cornwall Gazette</i> being printed on 10 October 1884, p. 5. Likewise, someone signing himself 'Cousin Jack' wrote a letter about how well the men of Newlyn were doing in terms of joining up to fight the First World War in the <i>Daily Mirror</i> for 7 May 1915 (p. 5), and another correspondent, commenting on mine policies at the Providence Mines, Carbis Bay, wrote to the <i>The Cornish Telegraph</i> in December 1869 and had their comments summarized in the 22 December 1869 issue on p. 2. Overseas, a correspondent signing as COUSIN JACK is mentioned in <i>The South Australian Advertiser</i>, 21 February 1860, p. 2, whilst a letter signed by COUSIN JACK entitled 'A hint to mining managers' was printed in the <i>Mount Alexander Mail </i>(Victoria, Australia), 28 December 1860, p. 5, and the <i>West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser</i> carried a letter signed by A COUSIN JACKY from British Columbia on 26 September 1862 (p. 6).</p>
<p><span id="fn31"></span><i>31.</i> <i>OED 2</i>, s.v. Jack, n.¹, senses I.1.a and I.2.a, <i>https://www.oed.com/oed2/00122699</i>. For the suggestion that it was a peculiarly Cornish name, see for example 'Why are the Cornish "Cousin Jackies"?', <i>Western Morning News</i>, 13 April 1939, p. 3.</p>
<p><span id="fn32"></span><i>32</i>. C. Green, 'Tom Thumb and Jack the Giant-Killer: two Arthurian fairy tales?', <i>Folklore</i>, 118.2 (2007), pp. 123–40 at pp. 129–35; C. Green, <i>Arthuriana: Early Arthurian Tradition and the Origins of the Legend </i>(Louth, 2021), pp. 143–4.</p>
<p><span id="fn33"></span><i>33.</i> I. Opie & P. Opie, <i>The Classic Fairy Tales</i> (Oxford, 1974), p. 64.</p>
<p><span id="fn34"></span><i>34.</i> Opie & Opie, <i>Classic Fairy Tales</i>, p. 66.</p>
<p><span id="fn35"></span><i>35.</i> Quotation taken from the 1787 chapbook printed in Falkirk and housed in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, transcribed in Green, <i>Arthuriana</i>, pp. 148–65 at p. 156, my emphasis; the text is almost identical, albeit slightly modernized, in the 1711 text published by James Halliwell and included in Green, <i>Arthuriana</i>, at pp. 170–1.</p>
<p><span id="fn36"></span><i>36.</i> For example, <i>Jack the Gyant-Killer: A Comi-Tragical Farce of One Act</i> (London: J. Roberts, 1730); <i>An English Musical Entertainment, called Galligantus</i> (London, 1758); the 'New Grand Mock-Heroic Serio-Comic Ballet of Action, called Jack the Giant-Killer', advertised in <i>The British Press</i>, 14 August 1810, p. 2; H. Byron, <i>Jack the Giant Killer; or, Harlequin King Arthur, and Ye Knights of Ye Round Table: A Burlesque Extravaganza</i> (London, n.d., first performed 1859); and the 'favourite Serio-Comic Pantomime of Jack the Giant-Killer', as advertised in <i>The British Press</i>, 27 June 1803, p. 1. Other instances of <i>The History of Jack and the Giants</i> being adapted into a pantomime are advertised or reviewed in, for example, the <i>Caledonian Mercury</i>, 8 March 1800, p. 1, and the <i>Morning Advertiser</i>, 14 January 1829, p. 2 ('a splendid Comic Pantomime, called Harlequin and Jack the Giant-Killer'), and the <i>Morning Post</i> of 31 December 1831, p. 3 ('The new Christmas pantomime, <i>Jack the Giant-Killer</i> promises to have a run... through the holidays. Some of the tricks and scenery are very good. To-morrow evening the performances will be honoured with the immediate patronage of Prince George of Cambridge').</p>
<p><span id="fn37"></span><i>37.</i> As advertised as a series in, for example, the <i>Illustrated London News</i>, 10 January 1846, p. 15, or a separate series in the <i>London Daily News</i>, 30 May 1846, p. 7.</p>
<p><span id="fn38"></span><i>38.</i> Uncle Tom, 'Christmas sports', <i>Illustrated London News</i>, 23 December 1848, p. 22.</p><p><b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2021, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-18414131458072645852021-01-02T12:30:00.036+00:002021-03-07T21:16:11.635+00:00Lissingleys, the meeting-place of Anglo-Saxon & Anglo-Scandinavian Lindsey, and the antiquity of Ogilby's 1675 road from Lincoln to GrimsbyThe focus of this post is on two important yet lost elements of the pre-modern landscape of Lincolnshire, namely a large area of common land named Lissingleys—very probably the meeting-place for the whole of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian Lindsey—and the road running north-eastwards from Lincoln to the coast at Grimsby. The latter routeway is first recorded in 1675, but is believed to have originally run along the northern border of this common pasturage and meeting-site, and other place- and field-name evidence suggests that this road may well be of a similar antiquity to the meeting-place itself.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgVH5lJhgFEiLwjGfDMDsGdMfXcpRYMBXRXH-vsFZ72heuA9LuC2nJYqWClCfBrjxGft_pAr5Re_osr6dKAdLNwK-VtnzDU6dRIJxFWjtGy2_J2L_SjMhdQ5iAGR6D3kMutawv7YBuaYCY/s1200/Lissingleys-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pCBvnTHklLoVNiwFdT9XawPJ7wZSDj9gV0v3T_vWpWliQqdOP0g9FGWUhAB_rIHPI3N769z6WeZdzb2iES-spdxcl1c5KIdjsZpUCna5HDayKiQIJvCUcYAo3C8vYDtpgFTRAdTE3c_7/s16000/Lissingleys-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(a) Lissingleys in 1820, before its enclosure in 1851, as depicted in Henry Stevens' drawing for the Ordnance Survey (image: Wikimedia Commons); (b) A map of the three ridings of Lindsey set against the pre-Viking landscape of the region, showing the location of Lissingleys at the point at which the three ridings met (image: Green, Britons and Anglo-Saxons, fig. 27). Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgVH5lJhgFEiLwjGfDMDsGdMfXcpRYMBXRXH-vsFZ72heuA9LuC2nJYqWClCfBrjxGft_pAr5Re_osr6dKAdLNwK-VtnzDU6dRIJxFWjtGy2_J2L_SjMhdQ5iAGR6D3kMutawv7YBuaYCY/s1200/Lissingleys-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of both maps.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><div>The common pasturage known as Lissingleys, located approximately ten miles to the north-east of Lincoln, is interesting for several reasons. First, it was an extraparochial area that was considered to lie outside any single ecclesiastical or civil parish until its enclosure in 1851, with the rights of intercommoning here being shared between eight surrounding parishes. Second, there was a concentration of multiple important estates belonging to key landholders within Anglo-Scandinavian Lindsey surrounding the site in 1066, implying that access to it was of some importance, although this centrality seems to have evaporated by 1086, when a similar pattern is conspicuous by its absence. And third and most importantly, the land itself lay at the exact point where the boundaries of the three ridings of Viking-era Lindsey met. Indeed, the eight vills that had common rights in Lissingleys were distributed across all three ridings, and the boundaries of these three ridings and their constituent wapentakes moreover look like they have been deliberately adjusted to meet at Lissingleys, suggesting that the site was important even prior to the creation of the ridings (which were probably in existence by <i>c. </i>900, if not before). All of this strongly suggests that Lissingleys was a place of considerable importance to the organisation of Anglo-Scandinavian Lindsey and probably pre-Viking Lindsey too, and it has been credibly identified as the meeting-place for the whole community of Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian Lindsey. Support for this conclusion is offered by both the archaeology of the immediately surrounding area and the name Lissingleys itself, as I have argued at length <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/p/britons-and-anglo-saxons-lincolnshire.html">elsewhere</a>. In particular, a strong case can be made for this rural meeting-site having been an important focus in both the Early Anglo-Saxon and Romano-British periods too, with the name arguably containing Late British/Archaic Welsh <i>*liss-</i>, the root of Welsh <i>llys</i>, meaning ‘court, hall’ or ‘parliament, gathering of nobles’ (compare the name Liss, <i>Lis/Lissa</i>, in Hampshire, which also derives from this element).(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn1">1</a>)</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0spUfRfPz2OjtVXXrYUAJkCpp1ywKBU0BGrg9aqHfbmR-fEe5grYlij88JQKnvl-knit472D-Z6RXdmzfF9za5Lj8RLAR6qZSg0X81g-9ybk2swBbqwOveQiltjzh50XPy4Gm7Hh1Rf7F/s1200/Lissingleys-parishes-commonrights-manors-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="246" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHPFqtzi-tIdXTJ74DXwMEnbwHClt_tkMGUHx0BER_EV4FRPcaP02HZrIWiMbed0KmkOvwKdNUm7OqokR-6NuhpI1JOYOa4ZW1i-DyXvzsb9b3Y01hURAYQbB46J0F2kvlxv2GLhmR0lwb/s16000/Lissingleys-parishes-commonrights-manors-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two maps showing the parish (red lines), hundred (green line) and riding-and-hundred boundaries (yellow lines) in the immediate area around Lissingleys extraparochial area, shown in purple. The first map shows the villages with rights of common at Lissingleys and the second shows the web of manors and sokes held by key lords around Lissingleys in 1066, both being based on <a href="http://www.roffe.co.uk/lindsey.htm">Roffe 2000</a> and using a base-map from the <i>Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850</i> <a href="https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/studies/study?id=4348#!/access-data">project</a><i>. </i>Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0spUfRfPz2OjtVXXrYUAJkCpp1ywKBU0BGrg9aqHfbmR-fEe5grYlij88JQKnvl-knit472D-Z6RXdmzfF9za5Lj8RLAR6qZSg0X81g-9ybk2swBbqwOveQiltjzh50XPy4Gm7Hh1Rf7F/s1200/Lissingleys-parishes-commonrights-manors-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of these maps.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Looking at the site itself, when it was mapped in 1820—prior to its enclosure in 1851—it covered around 1.58 km² or 390 acres and was criss-crossed by a number of paths with a stream running through its centre. Whether it was always this size or perhaps slightly larger in extent is open to debate; Henry Stevens' draft map for the Ordnance Survey shows a number of old enclosures immediately to the north and south of Lissingleys which might conceivably have originally been parts of it that were lost after its apparent decline in centrality/importance post-1066—if so, then the total original area of Lissingleys could have been up to around 3.1 km² or 765 acres. It is perhaps worth noting in this context that the extent of Lissingleys as mapped by the <i>Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850</i> project, based on the 1851 enclosure map, seems to be missing an area on the eastern side that is depicted as a definite part of Lissingleys on the 1820 map, so there were clearly alterations to its borders taking place in the modern era. Furthermore, in 1807 Lissingleys was described as comprising 'between five and six hundred acres of very wet land', suggesting that even greater losses of land from Lissingleys may have taken place in the late eightheenth to early nineteenth centuries.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn2">2</a>) As to what occurred here, such meeting-sites as this were a fundamental element of government and society in Anglo-Saxon England, where the free men from across the region (here the three ridings of Lindsey) met to discuss, arrange and decide the judicial, administrative, financial and other business of the region, hence the apparent importance of access to this site that is implied by the clustering of manors of key figures within the region around Lissingleys in 1066. They also frequently became
sites of fairs and occasional markets, sometimes associated with scatters of metal-detected material, and in this context it is worth noting that there is indeed a very extensive multi-period scatter of material found immediately to the south of Lissingleys. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another notable characteristic of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian meeting sites is an association with major routeways, reflecting the need for the site to be accessible to all who had to attend it. Unfortunately, Lissingleys nowadays lies away from the major roads of the region. However, there are good reasons for thinking that one of the key highways of pre-modern Lincolnshire actually ran either immediately next to or even across the northern edge of Lissingleys, prior to the remaking of the medieval Lincolnshire landscape by enclosure and the turnpike acts. The road itself, which ran from Lincoln to Grimsby, is first attested by John Ogilby in his 1675 <i>Britannia</i> road atlas, where it was one of 100 major British routeways drawn by Ogilby as strip-maps at a scale of 1 inch to the mile:</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjipCgWns8C912SU3LYaoLSjA6vNUfqJlf-PIP5v1g8kOPe7p8jNLt78d34p7tYCbzJIiF5-PCSZgXREeKgasIWxb6WZEPjYSrQy6z8cM7s2WEp-odW2n31yEq29ekAQ7pqE0L97kkvNqIK/s1670/Lincoln-Grimsby-1675.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkTYBDvT2KDbSP3lJt8AIm2oAM76FjWQPM9foZyefOTDdbSmNFMgY2kTe0o1FHExi0eSbiZ0n57_ut3WMrOE3SGzlPyavon3CdeuWCVxNJAtf0fwv7HybAGAld7rQA4iiZN8Oa3bp0Iktx/s16000/Lincoln-Grimsby-1675-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A coloured version of John Ogilby's 1675 strip-map of the route from Lincoln to Grimsby, on the right side of the page; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjipCgWns8C912SU3LYaoLSjA6vNUfqJlf-PIP5v1g8kOPe7p8jNLt78d34p7tYCbzJIiF5-PCSZgXREeKgasIWxb6WZEPjYSrQy6z8cM7s2WEp-odW2n31yEq29ekAQ7pqE0L97kkvNqIK/s1670/Lincoln-Grimsby-1675.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map (image: John Ogilby, <i><a href="http://www.fulltable.com/vts/m/map/ogilby/mna.htm">Britannia</a></i>, 1675, Public Domain).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Ogilby's road follows the current Lincoln–Market Rasen road, the A46, north-east from Lincoln for a couple of miles, crossing a 'rill' (Nettleham Beck), a cross-roads with the Old Drovers' Road from Horncastle to Doncaster (mentioned in the early fourteenth century and mapped in the eighteenth), and a heath (Nettleham and Scothern Heath); however, at the point that the present A46 turns eastwards to Dunholme, Ogilby's 1675 road carried on into Welton before turning east and running through the hamlet of Ryland. From here it runs east before rejoining the A46 to cross Snarford Bridge (originally a ford, to judge from the place-name), passing the now-demolished Snarford Hall and Snarford Park, and then runs north-east to Faldingworth Ings and Shaft Wood. At the point the A46 turns north and runs into Faldingworth village, with a minor road running south to Friesthorpe, Ogilby's road then seems to have instead crossed the fields of the southern part of Faldingworth parish directly to Buslingthorpe parish (as the road is indeed depicted as doing on Armstrong's map of 1779 and Cary's map of 1787). After this, its route is open to some question; it may have turned north just around the north-west corner of Lissingleys and gone via Buslingthorpe along the bridleway to meet up briefly with the A46, before continuing along the Green Lane and then across what are now fields to join up with a footpath running south from Market Rasen at the time of its enclosure, something that might fit Ogilby's route measurements and turns quite well. Alternatively, both O. G. S. Crawford and Brian K. Roberts consider that Ogilby's road instead continued to run to the south of Buslingthorpe village and effectively across the northern boundary of the Lissingleys meeting-site and common pasture, separated from it only by the <i>c. </i>200 metre wide old enclosures mentioned above. At the eastern end of Lissingleys, the seventeenth-century road would then have turned north and run along the present-day minor route to Middle Rasen (which is present on early mapping), before turning eastwards onto a 'Green Lane' and across what are now the fields south of Market Rasen to join Mill Road and thus enter the town proper.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn3">3</a>) </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbQsuPE_zUUlTdV6IhC_vqu6vHMTggVCVt6pbfADeEoU__Z2xl71HFT1uXPYCvpR5QHSXvzLo-bn78K31WKiQXfybueLb6yN6MX2N9B46cqpjGG2LWuKd_3nObJje34xTPszuDJQzkJMy/s1100/LincolnGrimsbyRoad1-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyw9_3wlPOJjNVz_YvRE512e6jEAzl10vtz0SDLHQ3znUvqhNK3QhIDw1u9gD_IAuc80IlIeI7EA-mIZZRJHAsDqXyL13oveggLG3ayT-CJMt0mc-W15FCahTA9kTO1yB5YXKh1fEA91bk/s16000/LincolnGrimsbyRoad1-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A map of the first half of Ogilby's 1675 road from Lincoln to Grimsby as far as Market Rasen, after O. G. S. Crawford and Brian K. Roberts, showing the proximity of Lissingleys to the road; note, it deviates from the current A46 in two places, first when it goes through Welton and Ryland before returning to the A46 route just before Snarford Bridge, and second just before Faldingworth, when it carried on across the old open fields to run just to the north of Lissingleys before turning sharply north along a present-day minor road—it carried on along this until just before Middle Rasen, when it turned right along a 'Green Lane' and then across present-day fields to meet Mill Road, Market Rasen. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbQsuPE_zUUlTdV6IhC_vqu6vHMTggVCVt6pbfADeEoU__Z2xl71HFT1uXPYCvpR5QHSXvzLo-bn78K31WKiQXfybueLb6yN6MX2N9B46cqpjGG2LWuKd_3nObJje34xTPszuDJQzkJMy/s1100/LincolnGrimsbyRoad1-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map; note, the extent of Lissingleys in 1820 is mapped by the thick dark purple line and hashing, whilst the old enclosures mentioned above to the north and south of Lissingleys are depicted with dotted lines and stippling (image: Caitlin Green, drawn on a base-map from <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=11/53.3248/-0.4856">OpenStreetMap</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>For the second half from Market Rasen to Grimsby, the route deviates completely from the current A46 main road. Leaving Market Rasen north of the River Rase (here named 'Ankam', <i>i.e.</i> the Ancholme, of which the Rase is a tributary), it crosses Tealby Moor eastwards to the south of Hamilton Hill before crossing a brook to enter Tealby village. There is no single road following this route nowadays, but there are footpaths and tracks on this route are thought to represent it, although which water-mill is the one mentioned by Ogilby is uncertain. Passing through Tealby with the church on the right, the seventeenth-century main road then followed Caistor Lane through Tealby Vale, but rather than continuing that road as it nowadays turns left, it instead carried on north-eastwards along what is now a track and then a footpath up to and across the ancient (probably pre-Roman) Caistor High Street before meeting up with the modern road to Stainton le Vale. Passing through Stainton le Vale via both the modern road and a former track, it then continued north-eastwards along another track/road to Thorganby—the latter half of this route is is depicted on maps through to the 1940s, but has since been erased by RAF Binbrook. From Thorganby, Ogilby's 1675 road is believed to have largely followed the line of the modern B1203 and the late eighteenth-century turnpike road through East Ravendale to Ashby, crossing the prehistoric Barton Street, and then to Brigsley, Waltham (with the church on the left), Scartho and finally Grimsby.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSUhpPaJpVA6iiXBA32kPaHe1-aSTKoM5aR6CqAOMqI3DGzmGzgZkC533B_GHP4RYj1VqLnEo_tTCofJ_5QCWKdnD-JzfW1xCg6c5Ep73NQlYC68b1t1S39Iae1p2CIGn-hYTMTTABpet/s1400/LincolnGrimsbyRoad2-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ExtZ6digytuV9FdmTi3Hvn63sMII1EC2EbtE1j5P7tAeg8Tl5Z2Z6Vw74ShLFVz7girpyF5_-C-HtN_F75S4Y_ntbzTuCYWq_SkoIoLazA_cF4r56KJXZQsKtzIVPBMo7spb6z4bOXY5/s16000/LincolnGrimsbyRoad2-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A map of the second half of Ogilby's 1675 road from Lincoln to Grimsby, from Market Rasen onwards; note, it deviates completely from the current A46 road from Market Rasen to Grimsby and only follows the B1203 minor route in its second half, which much of its route from Market Rasen to Thorganby being either no longer passable or preserved only as tracks or footpaths. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSUhpPaJpVA6iiXBA32kPaHe1-aSTKoM5aR6CqAOMqI3DGzmGzgZkC533B_GHP4RYj1VqLnEo_tTCofJ_5QCWKdnD-JzfW1xCg6c5Ep73NQlYC68b1t1S39Iae1p2CIGn-hYTMTTABpet/s1400/LincolnGrimsbyRoad2-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map (image: Caitlin Green, drawn on a base-map from <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=11/53.4696/-0.1740">OpenStreetMap</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Having established the probable route of the 1675 road from Lincoln to Grimsby, what then can be said of its antiquity? The proximity of this route to the meeting-site at Lissingleys, whatever its exact route from Lissingleys to Market Rasen, is certainly suggestive of its existence prior to 1066, given that the political import of the site seems to have declined after this, but it is not the only such indication. For the southern half of the route, one can also note the following. First, the local name <i>Rennestihge</i> occurs in the twelfth century in Dunholme parish. This is a Scandinavian compound <i>*renn</i><i>stígr</i> meaning 'a supraregional road used for rapid travel, usually by horse'. The medieval 'Old Drovers' Road' ran to the south of Dunholme parish based on the historic parish bounds and its route as mapped by Andrew Armstrong in the eighteenth century (the earliest detailed county map), so isn't what is meant here, and no other major routeways that we know of ran or run through Dunholme parish other than the Lincoln to Market Rasen road.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn4">4</a>) As such, this name can be credibly associated with the 1675 route described by Ogilby and strongly suggests that at least the initial parts of the route were in existence in the Anglo-Scandinavian period (the later ninth to eleventh centuries) and were recognised then as a key cross-regional routeway, which is a point of considerable interest. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>Second, after travelling through Welton and Ryland, the 1675 route then passes across Snarford Bridge into Snarford parish. The bridge here is first mentioned in 1316, but there must have been a ford here prior to its construction to explain the parish name, and there is no other likely location for this ford aside from where the Lincoln to Market Rasen road crosses the Barlings Eau river. As such, the name evidence again would seem to suggest considerable antiquity and importance for this routeway, such that it would give its name to a pre-Norman parish. Certainly, the name Snarford is first recorded in 1086 as <i>Snerteforde </i>and similar, and this is a compound of the Old Norse personal name <i>Snǫrtr</i> with the Old English place-name element <i>ford</i>, indicating that the current name was once again coined in the Anglo-Scandinavian era and could, moreover, represent a renaming of a pre-Viking crossing site. Indeed, Arthur Owen has suggested that this name indicates that the roadway passing across the ford and later bridge at Snarford must have been 'an ancient line of communication between the Lincoln area and the Wolds'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn5">5</a>) </div><div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaxdT7HnbRp7Zp2IfrO56fQUpy-Vvyr-P45uSdtx9KhL_4205lwihWnt4A9JN9HGSTRflEFCq9FhyphenhyphenrauGTSQTH3zOiL8iCfPye8Fx3ipNYxH8P5nA70uLKBN2YrWx7_bzyUZgvYbkpvpAF/s1041/Snarford-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNXQ9pWIFvJEF4WyEsey1fIQ0Q9Lu9GBh8ZujrScvwNV4TK4w0syWuJ1RHgE1BPC5lgWoeVrjSPZQOj8x5DWBpThblIVW5x64Lh8TZFka6DLCKsrAdy8iqGzbs0b8SWK-6I8ErnKa_qws/s500/Snarford-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A topographic map of the Dunholme and Snarford area, showing how Ogilby's 1675 road (the purple dashed line) follows the most credible landscape route across the Barlings Eau valley, keeping to the higher ground except for the ancient crossing at Snarford. Note, the rivers are based partly on the modern river routes and partly on the 1820 and 1880s OS maps for now-lost channels. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaxdT7HnbRp7Zp2IfrO56fQUpy-Vvyr-P45uSdtx9KhL_4205lwihWnt4A9JN9HGSTRflEFCq9FhyphenhyphenrauGTSQTH3zOiL8iCfPye8Fx3ipNYxH8P5nA70uLKBN2YrWx7_bzyUZgvYbkpvpAF/s1041/Snarford-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map (image: Caitlin Green, drawn on a <a href="https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/maps/o4ae/Snarford/">topographic base-map</a>). </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Third, the name <i>Stret'deyl</i>, 'share of land by a <i>strǣt</i>, a paved road', is recorded in the southern field of Faldingworth parish in <i>c.</i> 1300. The name-element <i>strǣt</i> in Lincolnshire is usually only used in the medieval period for major roads and, as such, its appearance in the southern fields of Faldingworth parish is notable, particularly as the route of Ogilby's road crossed the southern fields of that parish on its way to Buslingthorpe and Lissingleys. Moreover, another reference in the same document relating to Faldingworth's southern field mentions land in the south near to the king's highway (<i>ex parte australi iuxta regiam viam de Faldingwrth'</i>). As Arthur Owen points out, the term <i>via regia</i> had a legal implication, being the king's highway where the king's peace held good, and its appearance here again indicates that there was an important road in the southern part of Faldingworth parish, presumably the routeway under consideration here, given that no other significant routeways are known in this area.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn6">6</a>) </div><div><div><div><br /></div><div>In sum, when taken together, the above names all suggest that the portion of Ogilby's road from Lincoln through to Lissingleys was indeed an ancient route, as its proximity to the probably meeting-place of the whole of pre-Norman Lindsey might imply. It was very probably a 'king's highway' in the medieval period and a <i>*renn</i><i>stígr</i>, 'a supraregional road used for rapid travel', in the Anglo-Scandinavian era, with its origins going back at least as far as the ninth to eleventh centuries, if not before, in light of the name Snarford and the likely antiquity of the meeting-site at Lissingleys.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrLf7DJL-c1pG-_IfukGJQzeK-DkEAkkAiU8h_nJjPe5W-LJPNCVPpojRDc_DpcUul1TLYahhQd8Kkd6zTTWbdBeBbvfRaCxNO8Vb_nmqvidaxfnYCsQJBfhctnHhiFWoEOf76Of2n_pS2/s1000/Moll-1724-LincolnshireRoads-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmyj7hy6DrYJmPGKzk00FytQtZPNuvQe6t2DsECdG5RDYFRGRG6vwHxAqsvjvp5suy4P4YBRGYQXU7pZtP7EFhr4ROZaXhzcWy8kPSWyYHjIlqLpVenYumd7hF2QFHB83B-AxKqSBNbvwv/s16000/Moll-1724-LincolnshireRoads-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Herman Moll's 1724 map of northern Lincolnshire that depicts Ogilby's 1675 road from Lincoln to Grimsby, highlighted here in purple, from Moll's <i>A New Description of England and Wales</i> (London, 1724). Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrLf7DJL-c1pG-_IfukGJQzeK-DkEAkkAiU8h_nJjPe5W-LJPNCVPpojRDc_DpcUul1TLYahhQd8Kkd6zTTWbdBeBbvfRaCxNO8Vb_nmqvidaxfnYCsQJBfhctnHhiFWoEOf76Of2n_pS2/s1000/Moll-1724-LincolnshireRoads-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map (image: <a href="https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~275967~90049155:Lincolnshire--By-H--Moll-Geographer">David Rumsey</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>North of Lissingleys there is less direct evidence for the antiquity of Ogilby's route to Grimsby. The name 'Rasen' does not derive from the River Rase, but instead probably derives from Old English <i>æt Ræsnum</i>, 'at the planks', in reference to a plank bridge across the tributary of the River Ancholme here, with this tributary then receiving the name Rase as a back-formation from the bridge-/place-name 'Rasen'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/12/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn7">7</a>) Unfortunately, whilst the name Rasen is first recorded in the late tenth century, it is unclear as to where this plank bridge was actually located—in particular, three modern parishes now include Rasen in their name (West Rasen, Middle Rasen and Market Rasen) and there are multiple potential river crossing points that might have been where this obviously important plank bridge was located. It could well have been at Market Rasen, as Kenneth Cameron suggests, and so imply an Anglo-Scandinavian or probably pre-Viking origin for this part of Ogilby's route, but it has to be admitted that it might not have been. </div><div><br /></div><div>More certain is the name that occurs at the opposite end of the 1675 road at Brigsley, <i>Brigeslai </i>in 1086. This is an Old English name <i>brycges-lēah</i>, meaning 'the wood/glade of the bridge', with a Scandinavianised first element; as Kenneth Cameron points out, the only really plausible place for this bridge is the crossing-point of the Waithe Beck in this parish, where Ogilby's 1675 road—preserved here by the B1203—comes down off the Wolds and heads on through Brigsley to Waltham.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn8">8</a>) Needless to say, this suggests that at least this section of the route was in existence in the pre-Viking period and had a bridge by that point that was significant enough to give rise to a parish name, all of which implies that it was then a route of some importance. Indeed, in this context, it is may also be worth noting that the parish immediately to the north on this road is Waltham, which has been considered a major and early Anglo-Saxon royal estate centre with authority over part of the Lincolnshire Wolds.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn9">9</a>) </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRP5e5YKKKeNDlXabSoYovbAE-vhfw0scyu3XEQ-q6lI3wJjK-9Ce1ZmalIGRjCqkcZ2cnC7YppyeyRRI-wbWzKfZwpvG8aNf0NEZLd10M7n78vYQ-pDNuPTs9HNPld9LQ8nASc-2iaX3X/s1200/Armstrong1779_large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi35EG3rgFquKozcJsP0rLJBzHSoDTGhLk0rNwawrWOwXL9PMY0LLWlfWJqKGwPW0ZNw6e36LxjLA4sk2oU4K29AhwKo8VhB_C4Xw9xwTZzktjWy7dTOMI1LiTJKTbZGCRDm8pwtsUEatwx/s16000/Armstrong1779_500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Captain Andrew Armstrong's map of Lincolnshire, published 1779, the first truly detailed county map; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRP5e5YKKKeNDlXabSoYovbAE-vhfw0scyu3XEQ-q6lI3wJjK-9Ce1ZmalIGRjCqkcZ2cnC7YppyeyRRI-wbWzKfZwpvG8aNf0NEZLd10M7n78vYQ-pDNuPTs9HNPld9LQ8nASc-2iaX3X/s1200/Armstrong1779_large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map (image: British Library).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>If the road from Lincoln to Lissingleys seems almost certainly to have been an ancient and important route, and the remainder of the road from Lissingleys through to Grimsby was potentially so too, what then of the decline of this routeway? With respect to this, Ogilby's route seems still to have been current in 1724, when it was mapped by Herman Moll, and it was repeated by William Morgan in his <i>Pocket-Book of the Roads</i> published in 1732 and by John Senex in his <i>Ogilby's Survey Revised</i> of 1759.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn10">10</a>) On the other hand, whilst the majority of the Lincoln to Grimsby route depicted on Emanuel Bowen's map of Lincolnshire from 1751 seems to be broadly the same as Ogilby's, his road doesn't seem to go through Welton by Lincoln, instead being drawn between that village and Dunholme, and looks to have gone via Faldingworth village rather than passing it to the south, although neither point is entirely clear. However, by the time of the first truly detailed map of Lincolnshire, published by Andrew Armstrong in 1779, there do seem to have been notable changes to the perceived main road routes from Lincoln to Market Rasen and Market Rasen to Grimsby.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn11">11</a>) </div><div><br /></div><div>For example, Armstrong shows multiple routes between Lincoln and Snarford, and two major routes through to Buslingthorpe. One of these is the route via Snarford shown by Ogilby, but the other is more northerly, going north from Welton to Cold Hanworth, Oldfield (Faldingworth Grange), Faldingworth village and finally Buslingthorpe. Armstrong also shows a different route from Buslingthorpe to Market Rasen to that of Ogilby as reconstructed by Crawford and Roberts, which turns north at Lissingleys to go through Buslingthorpe itself and thereafter following what is now a track north past Buslingthorpe Grange to meet the modern A46, although this is the same as the alternative Ogilby route mentioned previously. Beyond Market Rasen there are significant alterations—the route south of Hamilton Hill to Tealby is not shown at all, and there is instead a route through to Stainton le Vale that is probably that which survives today as the Market Rasen to Stainton le Vale via Walesby road (although Armstrong doesn't show the slight diversion along the Caistor High Street that is required). The road from Stainton le Vale to Thorganby across the modern RAF Binbrook is certainly shown, but from there the road is shown as going via Hatcliffe to Barnoldby le Beck in order to reach Waltham, and no road is shown joining Thorganby to the newly established turnpike from Wold Newton/Ravendale to Grimsby that seems to have preserved the last part of Ogilby's route. Perhaps most importantly, Armstrong also shows what seems to be a version of the modern A46 going north from Market Rasen to Caistor and then across to Grimsby, although the latter stages beyond Caistor are different. </div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEp0A2W6zXLux-7Wz-t_yMHK4tYt4cJuISIFs9ixFfPeMvPgyFi0uwwtum4-5ar8JRsgLYGcjRUNgVK-TeN5EQvBK2jel0K-rYvITlJ1WV_dz3VPRTQo2H6p0ld55d8IOo9XrTukywlyhC/s900/Cary+map+1806.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibRBuu0QgHfDw2ezaj1h9PJSRrSlQ3FsbhLjeTOEdg371nL-NYXhi7YqI2o8L8qg1LHjweQDG6CFvsFwlRwdlJfTcRatzfTOnvQ3amg9ckzFPadT1JGwMPv5eR1obouIOH76l3SngZggHR/s16000/Cary+map+1806-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Cary's 1806 map of Lincolnshire, showing that the primary road from Market Rasen to Grimsby followed its modern route by this point, whilst the main route from Lincoln to Market Rasen now avoided Snarford; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEp0A2W6zXLux-7Wz-t_yMHK4tYt4cJuISIFs9ixFfPeMvPgyFi0uwwtum4-5ar8JRsgLYGcjRUNgVK-TeN5EQvBK2jel0K-rYvITlJ1WV_dz3VPRTQo2H6p0ld55d8IOo9XrTukywlyhC/s900/Cary+map+1806.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>These changes seem to be confirmed by John Cary's maps from the 1790s and 1800s. His detailed 1794 <i>New Map of England and Wales </i>depicts Armstrong's multiple routes almost exactly, whilst his smaller scale county maps from 1792 and 1806 show only the perceived major routes indicate that the apparently ancient Ogilby route had been largely replaced as the major Lincoln to Grimsby road by this point.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn12">12</a>) In particular, Cary's county maps show that the current A46 main road route from Market Rasen to Grimsby via Caistor and Laceby was apparently already in existence and the major route between these places then, something that makes sense given that the latter part of this was an eighteenth-century turnpike route established in 1765. Furthermore, between Lincoln and Market Rasen, the only road shown now avoids Snarford and instead goes via Welton, Cold Hanworth and then Oldfield (Faldingworth Grange), before following what looks like Armstrong's route from Buslingthorpe to Market Rasen. Subsequently, the primary Lincoln to Market Rasen route seems to change again. For example, in Samuel Lewis's <i>Topographical Dictionary of England</i> of 1835 the main route north-eastwards follows the old Roman road to Langworth before turning north via Wickenby and Lissington. Likewise, on Henry Stevens' 1820 draft Ordnance Survey map, the only main routes shown (tinted yellow) are the modern A15 Ermine Street north to Caenby Corner and the A631 from Caenby Corner to Market Rasen, although all the modern roads that make up the current A46, including the diversion through Faldingworth village (the old Ogilby 'king's highway' across Faldingworth's southern fields to Buslingthorpe seems to have been removed at or by Faldingworth's enclosure in 1795), appear there for the first time.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn13">13</a>) Interestingly, both Lewis's and Stevens' main road routes continued to be marked as the primary routes through to Market Rasen into the early twentieth century, when both are depicted as such on the relevant sheet of <i>Bartholomew's Half Inch Maps of England and Wales</i> of 1902, with the modern A46—which borrows significant elements from Ogilby's 1675 road—only being definitively established as a 'main road' in 1922–3, when it became Class I road number 46.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2021/01/lissingleys-and-the-lincoln-grimsby-road.html#fn14">14</a>)</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBqw5-yJ2D_7hzfvygM8aPUnLI_ZzABiROydDYhWSsT6lI9h1ygdvPX5b9vuF2hi7pom2FndofBTwXEQ6MAKU5Z0EdmbJAYDQ_w8sQCpZedxQvG0iXorZV2NxmxahbB1ssfDGfbP-AZLP/s1100/LincolnMarketRasen-all-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2wSTeEaAZrKQXDG9hVZ_qemJFDLC-V8TNSpI6RnVc11cmyTa-asYcIGQMHe4qkZq4l4S8JWsG8rxpXYrx9mj1KDS8CuAZL6mNzrqI6wW-_Slsd7JOgPAjVHNjJE9SlNKc1R3bC17PMCKM/s16000/LincolnMarketRasen-all-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The various main routeways from Lincoln to Market Rasen and beyond indicated by cartographers from Ogilby (1675) through to Lewis (1835), mapped against the modern road network, including the A46 from Lincoln to Market Rasen that was established in 1922; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBBqw5-yJ2D_7hzfvygM8aPUnLI_ZzABiROydDYhWSsT6lI9h1ygdvPX5b9vuF2hi7pom2FndofBTwXEQ6MAKU5Z0EdmbJAYDQ_w8sQCpZedxQvG0iXorZV2NxmxahbB1ssfDGfbP-AZLP/s1100/LincolnMarketRasen-all-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map. Note, only the major modifications of the routes are shown, so the deviations from Ogilby's route (as reconstructed by Crawford and Roberts) in Armstrong 1779 are mapped in blue, whilst Cary's route appears in green where it differs from the Armstrong/Ogilby route, <i>i.e.</i> the diversions through Cold Hanworth and Faldingworth south of Market Rasen and a new 'primary' route northwards to Grimsby via Caistor; Stevens' and Lewis's routes follow the Cary green route to Grimsby via Caistor beyond Market Rasen (image: Caitlin Green, drawn on a base-map from <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=11/53.3248/-0.4856">OpenStreetMap</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>In conclusion, there is a good case to be made for the rural meeting-place of the three ridings of Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian Lindsey having been located at Lissingleys, with this meeting-site probably having even earlier roots that this too. Although no modern major roadway passes close to this important element in the early medieval administrative landscape of the region, it is notable that the Lincoln to Grimsby road mapped by Ogilby in 1675 did do so. An investigation of this route suggests that it was probably a major road of some antiquity, perhaps originating as far back as the Anglo-Scandinavian period or even earlier, and the fact that it seems to have gone close to or skirted the northern boundary of Lissingleys is thus unlikely to be a coincidence. This routeway appears to have remained important right through to the middle of the eighteenth century, but after that it rapidly declined in significance and alternative routes began to supersede various elements of it, in some cases only temporarily but in others permanently, especially between Market Rasen and Grimsby. Maps from the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries suggest that there was considerable variation in the perceived main route between Lincoln and Market Rasen in this era prior to the establishment of the modern A46 in 1922–3, which reinstated large elements of the Ogilby route as a primary cross-county road. </div><div><br /></div><div>
<div><i>Footnotes</i></div>
<div><br /></div>
<div><i><span id="fn1"></span>1.</i> See further on all of this C. Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons: Lincolnshire AD 400–650</i>, 2nd edn (Lincoln: History of Lincolnshire Committee, 2020), pp. 140–5, and D. Roffe, 'Lissingleys and the Meeting Place of Lindsey' (2000), available at the author's <a href="http://www.roffe.co.uk/lindsey.htm">website</a>, <i>www.roffe.co.uk/lindsey.htm</i>.</div></div></div>
<div><i><span id="fn2"></span>2.</i> For the quotation, see J. Britton, <i>The Beauties of England and Wales; or, Original Delineations, Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive, of Each County</i> (London, 1807), vol. 9, p. 694. For Henry Stevens' draft 1820 map of the Hackthorn district for the Ordnance Survey, see British Library OSD 282, digitised <a href="http://britishlibrary.georeferencer.com/maps/d547c32f-dc4c-5026-aa3b-90f31d73fa55/">here</a>, and for the boundaries at enclosure see R. J. P. Kain & R. R. Oliver,<i> Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata</i>, data collection, UK Data Service, first published 17 May 2001, updated 24 April 2020, and accessed 30 December 2020, <i>http://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-4348-1.</i></div>
<div><i><span id="fn3"></span>3.</i> The exact route described here is essentially that of O. G. S. Crawford, <i>A Map of XVII Century England</i> (Southampton: Ordnance Survey, 1930), who traced and plotted the routes of John Ogilby's 100 road-maps published in his <i>Britannia, Volume the First: or an Illustration of the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales: By a Geographical and Historical Description of the Principal Roads thereof </i>(London, 1675) onto a modern OS map, with this map being then scanned and georeferenced by me so that Crawford's proposed route can be followed in detail; Crawford's plotted roads have also been used by the <i>Creating a GIS of Ogilby's "principal roads" of England and Wales c. 1675</i> <a href="https://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/occupations/onlineatlas/principalroads1675.html">project</a> at the University of Cambridge, which shows the same route as described here (from plate 78 of Ogilby's volume). Brian K. Roberts also shows this route in B. K. Roberts, 'Woods, fens and roads: where are the Fens?', in <i>Through Wet and Dry: Essays in Honour of David Hall</i>, ed. T. Lane & J. Coles (Heckington, 2002), pp. 78–86 at p. 83 (once again scanned and georeference by me). The alternative route, that turns north at Buslingthorpe along the bridleway, would arguably fit Ogilby's measurements better, and is essentially what Captain Andrew Armstrong seems to show in 1779, see below, but the entry into Market Rasen may well fit Crawford and Roberts's route better, see the Historic Urban Character Types Map no. 3 from N. Grayson, <i>Lincolnshire Extensive Urban Survey: Market Rasen</i>, Historic England/LCC Project Number 2897 (Lincoln, 2020); my thanks are due to Max Satchell for discussing all of this with me. Note, the presence of a ford <i>before </i>the church at Market Rasen may be a mistake on Ogilby's part, but it need not be—it may well rather reflect the former stream that ran to the south of the church and along the line of Dear Street, see Grayson, <i>Market Rasen</i>, pp. 5, 6. For the 'Old Drovers' Road', see F. M. Stenton, 'The road system of medieval England', <i>Economic History Review</i>, 7 (1936), 1–21 at p. 18.</div>
<div><i><span id="fn4"></span>4.</i> K. Cameron, J. Insley & J. Cameron, <i>The Place-Names of Lincolnshire: Part Seven, Lawress Wapentake</i>, Survey of English Place-Names LXXXV (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 2010), pp. 45–6; A. Armstrong, <i>Map of Lincolnshire</i>, published 20 January 1779, British Library Maps K.Top.19.19.5 tab.end; R. J. P. Kain & R. R. Oliver,<i> Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata</i>, data collection, UK Data Service, first published 17 May 2001, updated 24 April 2020, and accessed 30 December 2020, <i>http://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-4348-1</i>.</div>
<div><i><span id="fn5"></span>5</i>. A. E. B. Owen, ‘Roads and Romans in south-east Lindsey’ in A. R. Rumble & A. D. Mills (eds), <i>Names, Places and People</i> (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1997), pp. 254–68 at p. 265, supported by Cameron, Insley & Cameron, <i>Place-Names of Lincolnshire 7</i>, pp. 109–10, and K. Cameron, <i>A Dictionary of Lincolnshire Place-Names</i> (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 1998), p. 112.</div>
<div><i><span id="fn6"></span>6.</i> C. W. Foster (ed.), <i>The Registrum Antiquissimum of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, Volume III</i>, Lincoln Record Society vol. 29 (Lincoln: Lincoln Record Society, 1932), pp. 381–2; Cameron, Insley & Cameron, <i>Place-Names of Lincolnshire 7</i>, pp. 51–2; Owen, 'Roads and Romans in south-east Lindsey', p. 259.</div>
<div><i><span id="fn7"></span>7</i>. K. Cameron, J. Field & J. Insley, <i>The Place-Names of Lincolnshire: Part Three, The Wapentake of Walshcroft</i>, Survey of English Place-Names LXVI (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 1992), pp. 94–6; Cameron, <i>Dictionary</i>, p. 100.</div>
<div><i><span id="fn8"></span>8.</i> K. Cameron, J. Field & J. Insley, <i>The Place-Names of Lincolnshire: Part Four, The Wapentakes of Ludborough and Haverstoe</i>, Survey of English Place-Names LXXI (Nottingham: English Place-Names Society, 1996), pp. 60–2; Cameron, <i>Dictionary</i>, p. 21.</div>
<div><i><span id="fn9"></span>9.</i> Cameron, Field & Insley, <i>Place-Names of Lincolnshire 4</i>, p. 183; Cameron, <i>Dictionary</i>, pp. 134–5; D. Hooke, 'Old English <i>wald</i>, <i>weald </i>in place-names', <i>Landscape History</i>, 34 (2013), 33–49 at pp. 39–40; R. Huggins, 'The significance of the place-name <i>wealdhám</i>', <i>Medieval Archaeology</i>, 19 (1975), 198–201.</div>
<div><i><span id="fn10"></span>10.</i> H. Moll, <i>A Set of Fifty New and Correct Maps of England and Wales, &c. with the Great Roads and Principal Cross-Roads, &c. </i>(London, 1724), p. 28; W. Morgan, <i>Ogilby's and Morgan's Pocket-Book of the Roads</i>, 7th edn. (London, 1732), p. 34; J. Senex, <i>The Roads Through England Delineated, or Ogilby's Survey Revised, Improved, and Reduced to a Size Portable for the Pocket</i> (London, 1759), p. 86.</div>
<div><i><span id="fn11"></span>11.</i> E. Bowen, <i>An Accurate Map of Lincolnshire; Divided into its Wapontakes. Laid down from the best Authorities, and most approved Maps & Charts, with various additional Improvements</i> (London, 1751), British Library Maps K.Top.19.18; Armstrong, <i>Map of Lincolnshire</i>, 1779.</div>
<div><i><span id="fn12"></span>12.</i> J. Cary, <i>Cary's New Map of England and Wales</i> (London, 1794), pp. 43, 52; J. Carey, <i>Cary's Traveller's Companion, or, a Delineation of the Turnpike Roads of England and Wales</i> (London, 1792), Map of Lincolnshire; J. Cary, <i>Cary's Traveller's Companion</i> (London, 1806), Map of Lincolnshire.</div>
<div><i><span id="fn13"></span>13.</i> For Faldingworth's enclosure map, see E. Russell and R. Russell, <i>Making New Landscapes in Lincolnshire: the Enclosure of Thirty-Four Parishes in Mid-Lindsey</i>, Lincolnshire History Series No. 5 (Lincoln: Lincolnshire Recreational Services, 1983), pp. 44–7. For Samuel Lewis's map, see S. Lewis, <i>A Topographical Dictionary of England</i> (London, 1835), p. 93, digitised by the British Library <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11011760703">here</a>; for Henry Stevens' draft 1820 map of the Hackthorn district for the Ordnance Survey, see British Library OSD 282, digitised <a href="http://britishlibrary.georeferencer.com/maps/d547c32f-dc4c-5026-aa3b-90f31d73fa55/">here</a>. Another mapped route from the early nineteenth century is that of William Faden from 1801, which follows the Langworth road through to Snelland, then seems to turn north to Buslingthorpe (via the road to Friesthorpe shown by Armstrong and Cary) and then to Middle Rasen before turning east to Market Rasen: W. Faden, <i>A map of England, Wales & Scotland, describing all the direct and principal cross roads in Great Britain</i>, drawn 1801 and published 1811, digitised <a href="https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~24811~960019:England,-Wales,-Scotland-">here</a>.</div>
<div><i><span id="fn14"></span>14.</i> <i>Bartholomew's Half Inch Maps of England and Wales</i>, sheet 10, 'Lincoln Wolds' (1902), digitised <a href="https://maps.nls.uk/view/97131041">here</a>; Ordnance Survey, <i>Ministry of Transport Road Map</i> (1923),<i> </i>digitised <a href="https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/index.php?searchmap=lincoln&gr=53.33559,-0.42263&map=MoTMap&zoom=11&layer=0">here</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2021, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-13549669295525932492020-12-28T20:00:00.251+00:002020-12-29T09:50:15.206+00:00Another eleventh-century medieval Chinese coin found in EnglandA <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html">previous post</a> discussed a find of a Northern Song dynasty Chinese coin from England whose context suggested that it may have been a genuine ancient loss from the medieval period, along with a variety of textual and archaeological evidence for contact between England and East Asia in the Middle Ages. The following post returns briefly to this question, noting the recent discovery of a second Northern Song dynasty coin from England. <div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicA_kkGQv064m1cvv1hfyuu52g-luK3GjItRdgpicpkG3ss3MKUyvXEsok94GP8LAQKVF-XFxgRj5bsh9_5Gh0yfBN7QVhiSe-b6ouAwgtAEA0AqpjBrrIGEFj00OwXWn37vkKo_GC089E/s1200/HAMPC2BC79.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="1200" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicA_kkGQv064m1cvv1hfyuu52g-luK3GjItRdgpicpkG3ss3MKUyvXEsok94GP8LAQKVF-XFxgRj5bsh9_5Gh0yfBN7QVhiSe-b6ouAwgtAEA0AqpjBrrIGEFj00OwXWn37vkKo_GC089E/w400-h190/HAMPC2BC79.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A copper-alloy Chinese coin of the Northern Song emperor Zhenzong, dated 1008–16, found near Petersfield, Hampshire (image: <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/924566">PAS</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br />The coin in question was issued between<i> </i>1008 and 1016 during the reign of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Zhenzong">Emperor Zhenzong</a> of the Northern Song dynasty and was found at Buriton, Hampshire, around 9 miles from the coast. As was the case with the other eleventh-century Chinese coin discussed here <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/924566">previously</a>, the coin doesn't seem to be part of a 'suspicious' grouping of finds or deposited curated collection, and the field that it was recovered from has also produced a handful of medieval- and immediately post-medieval finds. These include a coin of King John minted at London in 1205–7, a medieval cut farthing of perhaps 1180–1247, two fragments of one or more medieval or early post-medieval vessels, and two mid-sixteenth-century coins. As such, it seems credible that this coin too could have been a medieval-era loss, and in this context it is worth noting that such Northern Song coins might quite credibly have arrived at any point up to perhaps the late fourteenth century, given that they continued to circulate in significant numbers well into that era. </div><div><br /></div><div>Looking more generally, the fact that we now have two, rather than one, eleventh-century Northern Song dynasty coins from England, both recovered from what seem to be medieval to early modern sites, adds weight to the case for considering them genuinely ancient losses. Interestingly, this find was also made only around 20 miles away from the only confirmed medieval imported Chinese pottery from England, a sherd of blue-and-white porcelain from a small cup or bowl that was found in a late fourteenth-century context at Lower Brook Street, Winchester. As to the wider context for these coins, the evidence for the presence of people who had, or who may have, travelled from East Asia in England during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was surveyed in the <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html">previous post</a>, as was the evidence for people from Britain and Ireland in East Asia then. However, it is worth additionally drawing attention here to the 'global' distribution of medieval Chinese pottery and coins west of India, as mapped below, which demonstrates that finds of Chinese pottery and, to a lesser extent, coins outside of East Asia are by no means unknown.</div><div><br /></div><div>With regard to the medieval Chinese pottery finds mapped below, substantial quantities have now been <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1836">recognised</a> from around the Indian Ocean coast and in both the Persian Gulf and Red Sea areas into northern Egypt. Archaeological finds of Chinese porcelain <a href="https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-769-1/dissemination/pdf/vol16/16_063_078.pdf">from Europe</a> are much rarer, although definite examples are known from Winchester, Lucera (Italy) and Budapest (Hungary), along with a handful of surviving intact items that are believed to have entered Europe in the medieval era. The most famous of these are the so-called <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317076925_A_Chinese_Porcelain_Jar_Associated_with_Marco_Polo_A_Discussion_from_an_Archaeological_Perspective">'Marco Polo jar'</a>, a thirteenth- or fourteenth-century Chinese Qingbai porcelain jar found in the Treasury of San Marco in Venice, and the <a href="https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Collection/Resilience/Artefact/Sponge/54194ae6-5acb-43c1-b2e8-e7c13feb508c">Gaignères-Fonthill vase</a>, an early fourteenth-century Chinese Qingbai porcelain vase that was <a href="https://jekely.blogspot.com/2010/12/note-on-fonthill-vase.html">almost certainly</a> present in Naples in the fifteenth century. In addition to these, there are a number of <a href="https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-769-1/dissemination/pdf/vol16/16_063_078.pdf">documentary references</a> to Chinese pottery from medieval Europe. So, the 1323 will of Queen Maria of Naples and Sicily is believed to mention Chinese pottery, as does a 1363 inventory of property belonging to the Duke of Normandy and a 1379–80 inventory of Louis I, duke of Anjou. It also appears in, for example, a document from late fourteenth-century Genoa listing merchandise including porcelain, lustre ware and glass, and a 1456 inventory of the property of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici of Florence. As such, it seems clear that Chinese pottery was present in the households of the wealthiest people in Europe during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Turning to the medieval Chinese coins mapped below, these are recorded much less frequently as archaeological finds and do not appear in documents from Europe at all, although this latter is hardly surprising. The only other certain find from Europe is a find of a tenth-century coin from <a href="https://www.academia.edu/37163357/%D0%9B_%D0%92%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B2_%D0%A0%D1%8F%D0%B4%D1%8A%D0%BA_%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%BB%D1%8F%D1%80_%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%BE%D1%82_%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B4_%D0%92%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE_%D0%A2%D1%8A%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE_Early_Medieval_chinese_bronze_coin_from_Veliko_Tarnovo_district_%D1%81%D0%BF_%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B8_%D0%A0%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%9C%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%B8_%D0%AE%D0%BB%D0%B8_%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B8_2017%D0%B3_%D0%A1%D1%84_2018%D0%B3_%D0%B1%D1%80_1_2_%D1%81_41_42">Bulgaria</a>, although a scattering are also <a href="https://www.academia.edu/5985193/J_Cribb_and_D_Potts_Chinese_coin_finds_from_Arabia_and_the_Arabian_Gulf_in_Arabian_Archaeology_and_Epigraphy_1996_no_7_pp_108_118">recorded</a> from <a href="https://www.academia.edu/2566792/Northern_Song_coin_finds_in_Harla_Ethiopia_point_to_newly_found_silk_routes_from_China_to_the_Horn_of_Africa">East</a> <a href="https://www.academia.edu/5999530/Identification_of_a_Chinese_coin_found_in_Kuumbi_Cave_Zanzibar_by_prof_Felix_Chami">Africa</a>, the Persian Gulf, the coast of Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka, suggesting that it is not impossible that a handful of examples might have made their way to Red Sea or Persian Gulf ports and then into Europe.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFGOXwfFkbEBTDpwbPLaI0LW6AgYo_4edZfkt2miYgT4MEuvHM7Dr06sSja-gBr3EWXJf_NT7G70FpIfctbY8C7iyCmIprjd2uF5PpxzVqNoldC7epmFzx0bwbNkgPKx1Q23zgiP5dPaT/s1200/MedievalChineseImports-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM2yPyN4AFaCpYzDAno3f1igVsELSPeO-McjHbl0FFlP-3V0PDaJ4iDNGi-i2A57Mv_k_G9wH1k-h3RsAMumDlxUoRd33DRxlY_2iEaZDq_MpLxqGHBAkR3reeUk3NkxWsDYxyzANi_JA3/s16000/MedievalChineseImports-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The distribution of archaeological and textual evidence for the presence of medieval Chinese pottery (black open circles) and coins (blue dots) west of India, set against the maximum extent of the Mongol Empire in the late thirteenth century in red; the map is based on <a href="https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-769-1/dissemination/pdf/vol16/16_063_078.pdf">Whitehouse 1972</a>, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/5985193/J_Cribb_and_D_Potts_Chinese_coin_finds_from_Arabia_and_the_Arabian_Gulf_in_Arabian_Archaeology_and_Epigraphy_1996_no_7_pp_108_118">Cribb and Potts 1996</a>, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/2566792/Northern_Song_coin_finds_in_Harla_Ethiopia_point_to_newly_found_silk_routes_from_China_to_the_Horn_of_Africa">Vigano 2011</a>, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/5999530/Identification_of_a_Chinese_coin_found_in_Kuumbi_Cave_Zanzibar_by_prof_Felix_Chami">Vigano 2014</a>, <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1836">Zhao 2015</a>, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317076925_A_Chinese_Porcelain_Jar_Associated_with_Marco_Polo_A_Discussion_from_an_Archaeological_Perspective">Meicun and Zhang 2017</a>, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/37163357/%D0%9B_%D0%92%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B2_%D0%A0%D1%8F%D0%B4%D1%8A%D0%BA_%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%BB%D1%8F%D1%80_%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%BE%D1%82_%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B4_%D0%92%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE_%D0%A2%D1%8A%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE_Early_Medieval_chinese_bronze_coin_from_Veliko_Tarnovo_district_%D1%81%D0%BF_%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B8_%D0%A0%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%9C%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%B8_%D0%AE%D0%BB%D0%B8_%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B8_2017%D0%B3_%D0%A1%D1%84_2018%D0%B3_%D0%B1%D1%80_1_2_%D1%81_41_42">Василев 2017</a> (image: Caitlin Green, drawn on a base map from <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mongol_Empire_(greatest_extent).svg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2020, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-26292200277090087182020-12-20T11:41:00.011+00:002020-12-21T18:07:54.842+00:00A Middle Byzantine coin from Carbis Bay, Cornwall<p>The aim of the following brief note is simply to share a recent find of a late ninth- or early tenth-century Byzantine coin that was discovered amongst the rocks at low tide on Carbis Bay beach, Cornwall. Carbis Bay is part of the wider St Ives Bay, where several sites have produced finds of Early Byzantine material and there seems to have been a significant early medieval site at Phillack on the Hayle estuary. There are only a handful of Byzantine coins of this date found in Britain when compared to both earlier and later periods, so it is an interesting find, and may offer some further context for the interesting tenth-century description of Britain as 'an emporium (<i>bārgāh</i>) of <i>Rūm</i>' in the Persian <i>Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam</i>.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7uDLG87L1V4537L8Q9azJ5zn9bz0neMvxx_-iUv0-c0Z6LPLT-NFGqMbuGO094p9_WK6C4jANzAjMRXVSp0ZpAcgbvto3tqcRivsaFV1unkspfxY-u_QFF6B4cFfBM-qoctkiUxw-HwAJ/s2500/follisofLeoVI.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="2500" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7uDLG87L1V4537L8Q9azJ5zn9bz0neMvxx_-iUv0-c0Z6LPLT-NFGqMbuGO094p9_WK6C4jANzAjMRXVSp0ZpAcgbvto3tqcRivsaFV1unkspfxY-u_QFF6B4cFfBM-qoctkiUxw-HwAJ/w400-h200/follisofLeoVI.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A copper-alloy Byzantine follis of Leo VI, dating from the late ninth or early tenth century, found at Carbis Bay, Cornwall (images: <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/995593">Jon Mann/PAS</a>).</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The coin in question is a copper-alloy follis of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI, dating 886–912 and minted at the imperial capital of Constantinople, which is reported to have been recovered from amongst the rocks at low tide on Carbis Bay beach, Cornwall. Jon Mann kindly communicated this discovery to me and the find circumstances, and I have subsequently passed it on to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), where the coin is now <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/995593">recorded</a> as CORN-9511B2.<div><br /></div><div>Looking at the general find context of this coin, it is worth emphasising that this is not the only such discovery from the Cornish and Devonshire coast. For example, the PAS records a copper Byzantine pentanummium dating from around 527–641 that was <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/469910">found</a> about 2 to 4 inches down in sand in a rock pool below mean high water at Perranporth and is obscured by fossil accretion from being in the sea, along with a silver <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/124289">denarius</a> of Maximinus I (235–38) that was discovered in sand near rocks on the same beach. Likewise, on the south coast at Long Rock, near Penzance, an eleventh-century Anglo-Scandinavian <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/466925#">stirrup mount</a> was discovered buried in the sand, and at Otterton near Sidmouth, Devon, a Byzantine <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/800604">follis</a> probably of Tiberius Constantine (578–82) was found on the beach below an early medieval fortified settlement.</div><div><br /></div><div>Turning to the local context of the Carbis Bay coin, two points are worth emphasising. First, this is not the only Byzantine find from the immediate area. Carbis Bay is part of the wider St Ives Bay, and this area has produced <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html">Early Byzantine material</a> from two or three separate sites: </div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>The important 'post-Roman' specialised industrial complex at <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310596540_Gwithian_Scientific_dating_AMS_programme">Gwithian</a>, at the eastern end of St Ives Bay. This has produced both North African and eastern Mediterranean late fifth- to sixth-century fine-wares, along with a substantial quantity of eastern Mediterranean transport amphorae.</li><li>The churchyard of <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/05/phillack-and-the-hayle-estuary.html">Phillack church</a>, on the dunes to the north of the Hayle Estuary's Copperhouse Pool. This site has produced fifth- and sixth-/seventh-century stone sculpture (a Chi-Rho stone and a memorial stone) and a rim-sherd of late fifth- or early sixth-century Phocaean Red Slip-Ware from what is now western Turkey, excavated from the churchyard in 1973. Furthermore, a significant quantity of mainly Late Roman coins have been discovered from a number of sites in Phillack in recent years, with this regionally unusual concentration of Late Roman non-hoarded coinage including coins from eastern Mediterranean mints such as Alexandria and Heraclea that are rarely represented amongst site-finds in Britain, suggesting that the links to the eastern Mediterranean began in the fourth century.</li><li>The early medieval settlement site at <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn8">Hellesvean, St Ives</a>. There are records of post-Roman Byzantine imports from this site, including 5 sherds of African Red Slip Ware from the Carthage region and a possible sherd from a Biii Mediterranean transport amphora.</li></ol><div>In addition to this, it is worth noting that there is a <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html">credible case</a> to be made for the local saint of St Ives, St Ia, being in fact the Byzantine St Ia who had a shrine by the Golden Gate at Constantinople and who appears in the famous late tenth-century <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menologion_of_Basil_II">Menologion of Basil II</a>, rather than some otherwise-unknown Irish saint. Second, recent metal-detecting has revealed a significant amount of medieval activity near to Phillack, around 3 km from Carbis Bay, with some of the finds pointing both to sixth- to eleventh-century activity and long-distance contacts, including a Hiberno-Norse buckle of perhaps the tenth century, coins of tenth- and eleventh-century rulers of England, and an earlier Frankish or Anglo-Saxon brooch. </div></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp-gSSdZnN5siTsxx15u_iI9_YgK-F16SPoXSO4AmrhrC76YIUxJ1eFv4iuBkQvCSrolkpi1gP5TzxI_rgfSj7LFELbrwtPYpXxyhLu7Xc_XNZe6HqA9PQb-UrKfi6ib_SoWv7KprDk0ZC/s941/Byzantine11th-12thC.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGmq13bt8ul8_1BF75U3861vY1qGlMIx3JRJwTbVKCEErDSxW06b9kYpdWswj7vZJbUfeUY79R8i5GlUZP1NOeeW6etIECCPdNFc0lszebvj6z4eo1mGpSceETnWaIkLshoCxaDzdBLiNq/s16000/Byzantine11th-12thC-450.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The distribution of ninth- to twelfth-century Byzantine coins and seals in Britain, based on data from the <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/">PAS</a>, the <a href="https://emc.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/">EMC</a>, <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/p/bibliography-further-reading.html#dejersey1996">De Jersey 1996</a>, <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/p/bibliography-further-reading.html#biddle2012">Biddle 2012</a>, <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/p/bibliography-further-reading.html#kelleher2012">Kelleher 2012</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/174581710X12790370816011">Naylor 2010</a>; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp-gSSdZnN5siTsxx15u_iI9_YgK-F16SPoXSO4AmrhrC76YIUxJ1eFv4iuBkQvCSrolkpi1gP5TzxI_rgfSj7LFELbrwtPYpXxyhLu7Xc_XNZe6HqA9PQb-UrKfi6ib_SoWv7KprDk0ZC/s941/Byzantine11th-12thC.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map. Note the two major concentrations of coins and seals shown on this map are Winchester and London, and coins nowadays considered to be modern losses are not included (image: Caitlin Green).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Finally, with respect to the national context, the Carbis Bay coin is one a number of Middle Byzantine coins now known from Britain, as mapped above. The major concentrations of these finds are centred on the two major Late Saxon cities of London and Winchester, but there are finds from other sites too, including two from the northern coast of south-western peninsula—a <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/986742">follis</a> of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus dating to 913–19, minted at Constantinople, and a <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/129285">follis</a> of Leo VI dated 886–912. These were found just inland from the coast, one in 2019 from a site that has produced other tenth- to eleventh-century material and which lies on a river crossing by the Late Saxon <i>burh</i> of Axbridge, and the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/174581710X12790370816011">second</a> a decade or more earlier from a site just to the south of this one. In terms of the chronology of these coins within the Middle Byzantine period, the Carbis Bay coin of Leo VI is one of the earliest, but it doesn't stand alone. Aside from the two late ninth- to early tenth-century Byzantine coins from the Axbridge area noted above, there is also a <a href="https://amzn.to/2Kl8uTC">follis</a> of Basil I, dated 868–70 and minted at Constantinople, found just outside Winchester; two late tenth- or perhaps early eleventh-century <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hqskIWgAaxwC&lpg=PA666&pg=PA666#v=onepage">coins</a> from Winchester, one of which was recovered from an excavated context; another copper-alloy <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/223778">follis</a> of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI (886–912), mint of Constantinople, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/174581710X12790370816011">found</a> at Tarrant Launceston, Dorset; and a silver <a href="https://emc.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/full-record/19960267">miliaresion</a> of Nicephorus II Phocas, 963–69, found at Sporle, Norfolk. </div><div><br /></div><div>Although the meaning of these finds is open to debate, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/174581710X12790370816011">John Naylor</a> has plausibly considered them to be ancient losses, something supported by the recent find from Axbridge and the excavated coin from Winchester. As such, the Carbis Bay coin and similar items may offer some further context for the interesting later tenth-century Persian <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/04/heptarchy-harun-ibn-yahya.html">description</a> of Britain as 'an emporium (<i>bārgāh</i>) of <i>Rūm</i>', <i>i.e.</i> the Byzantine Empire, in the <i>Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam</i>. Indeed, in this light it is interesting to note that not only do we have the evidence of these coins and the text of the <i>Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam</i>, but there is also <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=v2L-QCGjb1cC&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134#v=onepage&q&f=false">documentary</a> <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V2o0EkM-tYYC&lpg=PA130&pg=PA130#v=onepage&q&f=false">evidence</a> for the presence of a handful of Byzantine churchmen in tenth- to eleventh-century England and the Anglo-Saxon kings of this era seem, moreover, to have <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V2o0EkM-tYYC&lpg=PA130&pg=PA132#v=onepage&q&f=false">occasionally</a> <a href="https://www.academia.edu/2127281/From_Anglorum_basileus_to_Norman_Saint_The_Transformation_of_Edward_the_Confessor">used</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv6zdbwx.9">the</a> Byzantine title <i>basileus</i> for themselves.</div><div><p><b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2020, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-90220665651072692742020-12-13T11:42:00.025+00:002020-12-15T18:58:35.776+00:00The importance of Lincolnshire in the fifth to seventh centuries AD<div><i>The following post is largely the text of a lecture that was given at the time of the launch of the first edition of my Britons and Anglo-Saxons back in 2012, with a handful of minor additions. It offered a little light-hearted musing on the importance, or apparent lack thereof, of pre-Viking Lincolnshire; in the absence of a formal launch for the <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/12/britons-and-anglo-saxons-second-edition.html">second edition</a> of the book in 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic, I thought I would post this here in case it is of interest.</i></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8ZW40juBwb8pZw3b6paGbi_vPXKLzawWhlFtLeU6ONW1IUMJcIsrtmB1-MuCWHxWt1ZubtYZ25DrLF37_Z4TReN0lBDtnQRtNltV8KV1kWGphoBhloFaV1blnqRppUED6QkGN0VbDOi0C/s1000/Lincolnshire-1000.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhVHeQUCDRVSvon6tALmQPMr3RhIc1rF_1CDP8QxbdoCRPS-H78IYwzmYasYfhzGRtJCcvX8sxoW6KPXxFrsEuK79M6AhLTtRl6teCcYqMEi_koLcfTiY5WIHRTgBHBUG3_LEiW2xLF_rs/s16000/Lincolnshire-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Two maps showing (a) the location of the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire and (b) a reconstruction of the coastal landscape of pre-Viking England, showing the low-lying areas and wetlands in the Lincoln region, along with the 'barrier islands' that existed off the Lincolnshire coast until the thirteenth century (images: map a—<a href="https://no.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Lincolnshire_(ceremonial_county)_in_England.svg">Wikimedia Commons</a>; map b—Caitlin Green).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>By and large, most people are accustomed to thinking of Lincolnshire as peripheral. Whilst it has cities, they are not large; most modern major routeways pass it by or skirt its edges; and although Lincolnshire is the second largest ceremonial and historic county in England—encompassing over a twentieth of the total land area, with the distance from Barton-upon-Humber in its north to Stamford in its south being the same as the distance from Stamford to London—it has far less than its fair share of the total population, around 1.9%. Even when we go back into the Anglo-Saxon period, this sense of Lincolnshire as peripheral to the main historical action often continues to pervade. When historians deal with the pre-Viking era in general, they generally talk about the northern kingdom of Northumbria, or the Midland kingdom of Mercia, or the kingdoms of Wessex, Kent and the East Angles. However, despite this, there are good indications that Lincolnshire was rather more important in the early medieval period than is sometimes allowed.</div>
<br />From an archaeological perspective, the notion that Lincolnshire was truly peripheral in the pre-Viking period is difficult to justify. For example, metal-detectorists continue to recover astonishing quantities of pre-Viking coinage from Lincolnshire. Nearly thirty years ago, Mark Blackburn observed that the quantity of coinage from Lincolnshire marked it out as one of the richest parts of seventh- and eighth-century England, and this conclusion has only been strengthened by recent finds and the work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS). So, a significant quantity of Merovingian gold coinage has been found in this area of Britain, testifying to significant trading with the continent from an early date, whilst one site at Garwick in southern Lincolnshire has produced the second largest group of Middle Saxon coins from any site in England, exceeded only by the major West Saxon trading-site at Southampton. Likewise, if we look at the overall ranked totals for seventh- to eighth-century coins recorded on the PAS, Lincolnshire is not only is in 'first place', but has over twice as many coins recorded as is the case for the second-place county, Suffolk, and many more times those recorded in counties like Oxfordshire, Wiltshire or even Kent (a fact that becomes even more impressive once one notes that around a third of Lincolnshire's land area, the entire Fenland district which lies below 5m OD, has produced virtually no finds of this date at all). <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh35tCd-IrPmwH9mGsVKnEa3c3RIP_clt7BJmVmiIREQH_JB1fERcgOMNad6Nffa9aRjBvxGJZKcEq3lHvgcNMgZChoykwhgVyWzs2HndBYXazJGngSb9nS0GE_nP0oZMG1ee7j4GKL4qCx/s500/CoinFindsCounty7th8th.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh35tCd-IrPmwH9mGsVKnEa3c3RIP_clt7BJmVmiIREQH_JB1fERcgOMNad6Nffa9aRjBvxGJZKcEq3lHvgcNMgZChoykwhgVyWzs2HndBYXazJGngSb9nS0GE_nP0oZMG1ee7j4GKL4qCx/s16000/CoinFindsCounty7th8th.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Bar chart showing the number of seventh- to eighth-century coins recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme from each county through to December 2020; note, this only represents a proportion of the total coin finds known, with others recorded on the Corpus of Early Medieval Coin Finds or EMC, but it is a large enough dataset for the present purposes (image: Caitlin Green).<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEucsT4s5tkPI8DqfrKDLSZnDiB2wM1gwJhNzMe3QRSd4qvauQf68JnJ6sKvEtSb4iky4mjzBrQcf44NOk2HHwZSNeZ5TM8OX5f2_BK0SwXUhGYhRKchXzOQUSuNt66tQd4jgNUdqVbmnB/s1000/Lincs-coins-Anglian.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwLWsK6wsWG4X3zEJOZW1ELyZevxbvftk6munW2XIZ8XzyHG-5rl-AHpI3nXl9FHQGX-ZYqFTasedYRSRZ450AkmJPdFMjkPNSqf0jNlIV0QvnOo5qZ8q29GVIyEsLjx7jwaV4Vrp_SDSq/s16000/Lincs-coins-Anglian-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Two maps; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEucsT4s5tkPI8DqfrKDLSZnDiB2wM1gwJhNzMe3QRSd4qvauQf68JnJ6sKvEtSb4iky4mjzBrQcf44NOk2HHwZSNeZ5TM8OX5f2_BK0SwXUhGYhRKchXzOQUSuNt66tQd4jgNUdqVbmnB/s1000/Lincs-coins-Anglian.jpg">here </a>for a larger version of both: (a) A map of the distribution of seventh- to eighth-century coin finds recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme in the Lincoln region to December 2020, showing how they are largely absent from the extensive low-lying parts of Lincolnshire, especially the Fenland district of Holland; note, a significant number of other finds from this region are also recorded on the EMC, but the broad pattern is the same even if these are added (image: Caitlin Green, based on data from the PAS and my base-map of the pre-Viking landscape from Britons and Anglo-Saxons)<br />(b) A map of England showing John Blair's core ‘eastern zone’ of pre-Viking English identity and building tradition (forward hashing) and Toby Martin's zone of fifth- to sixth-century Anglian immigration, burial tradition, costume and ethnogenesis (backward hashing, based on the primary area of his Phase B brooches), combined with the distribution of Anglian cremation-predominant cemeteries (image: Caitlin Green).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<br /><div><div>This apparent significance for Lincolnshire before the ninth century is confirmed by other finds and evidence types too. For example, it has been argued that the distribution of sixth-century imported amber from the Baltic, an Early Anglo-Saxon luxury good used in jewellery, clusters at several 'nodal points' from which amber may well have been redistributed to the surrounding regions, one of which is at Sleaford in southern Lincolnshire, the site of an exceptionally large inhumation cemetery that also contains notable quantities of imported rock crystal beads and ivory rings. Similarly, it can be observed that Lincolnshire and East Anglia together are where the earliest and largest fifth- to sixth-century Anglo-Saxon cemeteries are found, the great cremation urn-fields, with well over a thousand such burials at sites like Cleatham (Kirton-in-Lindsey) and Loveden Hill. Indeed, Lincolnshire lies at the heart of the core ‘eastern zone’
of pre-Viking English identity and building tradition that has recently been identified by John Blair, and at the heart of Catherine
Hills, Toby Martin and John Hines’s core zone of fifth- to sixth-century
Anglian immigration, burial tradition, costume and ethnogenesis too. Finally, it is worth noting that Lincolnshire and East Anglia together seem to have also been amongst the most densely populated parts of England at the time of the Domesday Survey in the eleventh century, suggesting a long-lasting economic importance for these east coast regions.</div><div><div>
<br />
If Lincolnshire was thus significant and even, in some respects, 'central' in at least the fifth to eighth centuries when looked at from an archaeological perspective, what then of its political importance in this period? Unfortunately, Lincolnshire suffers from a lack of early documentary evidence for these centuries, which may well have led to its import being under-estimated. The narratives that historians have developed are often based on those regions that lie outside the archaeologically identified core 'eastern zone', but which have significantly better documentation, such as Kent, Northumbria and Wessex. The reason for this lack of documentation in the east is uncertain and disputed, but whatever the case may be, the effect is clear. In addition, we perhaps also suffer from the fact that the name of Lincolnshire’s own seventh-century kingdom<span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: small;">—</span>Lindsey or <i>Lindissi</i><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: small;">—</span>survives today as a district-name in Lincolnshire. Although reasonably extensive, the modern district of Lindsey isn’t really large on a national or regional basis, and its present size can lead to an assumption of a relative lack of importance for this kingdom. That this assumption is problematical is demonstrated by my own research, which indicates that the modern district of Lindsey was very much smaller than the seventh-century kingdom whose name it preserves.</div></div></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIl77fI4BNKd-OIlgE9-YdHAkO8Zrg6lRRUX0EZ2t2dr0uz0cC9cUkYtk_qpgbVdarWxM3A-a_LmDSA48yHugkubgbjYFyhgFcbN4nxf6NTL7wXZR0U-Kl4LqsCmn3usqlgfNafk8KnBoZ/s1090/Lindissi%252BLindsey.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqDI3eU9DIq-UKV_kLJok1-qMEt2VZPTfVfsH95_RAJvng4Ys-XR20Ta5eGeU1rwa1_h6zFe8pNqTs0THuAR34hR_ahOiBYPxrKojRPdabGopFJo8lGwnL5xE73pgfOoqmmH5OpPJoLZP6/s16000/Lindissi%252BLindsey-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Two maps showing the difference between the likely extent of the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Lindissi and the modern district of Lindsey; note, the map also shows the pre-Viking landscape of the Lincoln region, with light-blue representing low-lying wetlands. Click the image for a larger version (images: Caitlin Green).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br />Even more interesting are those few glimpses we do get of Lincolnshire and the kingdom of Lindsey in the documentary record relating to the seventh century. Perhaps the most arresting thing is the fact that the major players in the seventh century all seem to have wanted to rule Lincolnshire. The kingdom of Lindsey appears to have been finally conquered and dissolved by the Midland kingdom of Mercia (based around Tamworth and Repton) in the later seventh century. However, this is the very last act in a remarkable saga, whereby the kingdom of Lindsey looks to have been the major prize that the better-known and documented kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria were fighting repeatedly over. So, for example, the kingdom of Lindsey appears to have changed hands at least seven times in less than half a century, and some of the most important battles of the seventh century that were fought between Mercia and Northumbria probably actually took place within the kingdom of Lindsey itself. Indeed, Bede himself is reasonably explicit on this topic, stating that the kingdom of Lindsey was what the king of Northumbria had won from the Mercian king when he defeated him in 678 (‘the kingdom of <i>Lindissi</i>, which King Ecgfrith had recently won by conquering Wulfhere and putting him to flight’, <i>Historia Ecclesiastica</i> IV.12).</div><div><br /></div><div>This apparent political importance of control of Lincolnshire to the two major semi-'imperial'/<i>imperium</i>-wielding dynasties of seventh century England is, of course, intriguing, and it is supported by other evidence too. For example, when King Edwin of Northumbria (Deira) was the overlord of Lincolnshire in the 620s and early 630s, he seems to have taken an exceptional interest in the province. He oversaw, for example, the completion of a stone church in Lincoln before even his own likely 'capital' of York had one (<i>HE </i>II.14, II.16). Such churches were highly symbolic, and this favouritism for a place which was a conquest over his own ecclesiastical and potentially royal city is most curious. Moreover, when he<span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: small;">—</span>as the most powerful ruler in England at that time<span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: small;">—</span>was in a position to control the process of consecrating the next Archbishop of Canterbury (named Honorius), he didn’t insist that the politically and symbolically important consecration took place in York or even his own kingdom, but rather in the stone church he had built at Lincoln, the probable chief centre of the conquered kingdom of <i>Lindissi/</i>Lindsey (<i>HE</i> II.16, II.18).</div><div>
<br />
So, what on earth is going on here? Why was Edwin so concerned with Lincoln, apparently over and above even York? And why was the kingdom of Lindsey such a prize for both Northumbria and Mercia, to the extent that multiple battles appear to have been, at least in part, fought specifically over its control? Both economics and strategic position have been suggested in the past as explanations for these actions, but whilst the former may well have been a significant influence, given how wealthy eighth-century and earlier Lincolnshire seems to have been, these factors are perhaps insufficient on their own. I would tentatively suggest that it is possible that a full explanation may additionally involve recognising that Lincoln and Lincolnshire actually had a somewhat greater significance in the early stages of the evolution of 'Anglo-Saxon England' than is usually allowed for, just as some of the archaeological evidence noted above seems to hint at. What will be discussed in the remainder of this piece is just what this significance might have been that could have resulted in Lindsey and Lincoln being such a prize and focus for the two great powers of seventh-century politics, Mercia and Northumbria. In doing this I’d like to focus on focus on two potential key factors, which can be roughly summarized as the ‘political baggage’ and the ‘family baggage’ of these two seventh-century kingdoms.</div><div>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSs0rGyxh3vOACK_eZkeyRu6K82eZhCWgcM3XW3pD0FlaXteXhKVQNbo2CYIubiCd5aCoci9G7JZapwJIsLxtaq3aH1bNkXamyIBWBs4WaDX8pNvNsd1544Ybi6p_GFzc6q5jCKnuUfUi/s502/Green_fig12_Stpaul_forum_Jones.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSs0rGyxh3vOACK_eZkeyRu6K82eZhCWgcM3XW3pD0FlaXteXhKVQNbo2CYIubiCd5aCoci9G7JZapwJIsLxtaq3aH1bNkXamyIBWBs4WaDX8pNvNsd1544Ybi6p_GFzc6q5jCKnuUfUi/s16000/Green_fig12_Stpaul_forum_Jones.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The sequence of late/post-Roman churches at St Paul in the Bail, Lincoln, showing their relationship to the Roman forum— the second, fifth- to sixth-century apsidal church would have able to hold up to 100 worshippers (image: Caitlin Green, <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/p/britons-and-anglo-saxons-lincolnshire.html">Britons and Anglo-Saxons</a>, 2012, fig, 12, copyright English Heritage).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Dealing with the potential ‘political baggage’ first, it is important to remember that Lincoln was a major political centre at the end of the Roman period, being both the probable seat of one of Britannia’s four bishops and a provincial capital. So, the question is, could this political importance and and 'centrality' for Lincoln have continued beyond the end of the Roman period and thus have had an effect on the later-recorded Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, perhaps making the city and its territory a real political and symbolic prize for these kingdoms, as the fragmentary historical evidence for the seventh century implies that it was? In my view, the answer to this ought to be a tentative ‘yes’. Certainly, I have made the case both <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/p/britons-and-anglo-saxons-lincolnshire.html">in print</a> and <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/01/lincolnshire-anglo-saxon-or-sub-roman.html">elsewhere</a> for Lincoln having been an important British political centre in the fifth and sixth centuries too, with a sizable apsidal church built in the centre of the Roman <i>forum </i>that can now be confidently <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html">dated</a> to the fifth to the sixth centuries and exceptional quantities of high-status British metalwork of the fifth and sixth centuries known from across Lincolnshire. Furthermore, the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon kingdom-name <i>Lindissi </i>and the modern district-name Lindsey both derive from the Late British name of this territory, <i>*Lindēs</i>, rather than any Old English name, which is notable. Indeed, looking at all of the available evidence, it can be credibly argued that the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of <i>Lindissi </i>was, to a large extent, the direct descendant of this fifth- to sixth-century British territory of <i>*Lindēs</i>, which is a point of considerable interest in the present context.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is no need to go into depth here on the evidence for the British territory of <i>*Lindēs</i> and its links to the subsequent kingdom of <i>Lindissi</i>, but it is worth pointing out that the apparent avoidance of the former provincial capital by the major fifth- to sixth-century Anglian cremation-predominant cemeteries of this region—each containing hundreds or thousands of burials—is most interesting. As can be seen from the map below, the great cremation cemeteries form, in effect, a ring around Lincoln, with the nearest large cremation cemetery to Lincoln being that at Loveden Hill, over 27 km to the south of the city, with this avoidance appearing to continue at least partly into the sixth century. This offers a very marked contrast to the situation at and around other major Roman centres in eastern and northern Britain such as York, Leicester, and Caistor-by-Norwich, where Anglo-Saxon cremation cemeteries are found close by. Furthermore, it has been observed that the distribution of these cemeteries is very similar in pattern to that of the apparent last stage in the deployment of the late Roman army in the Lincoln region (based on recent artefactual studies), leading to the suggestion that the people who used these large cemeteries could have been initially tasked with a similar defensive role with regard to fifth-century Lincoln and <i>*Lindēs</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Indeed, there are even hints that a vestige of Roman provincial control from Lincoln survived at least some way into the fifth century. Although we do need to be cautious here, it has been suggested that a real distinction appears to be observable between a mainly Anglian cultural zone and a mainly Saxon one in the archaeology of the fifth century, and that the dividing line between the two accords surprisingly well with the most recent reconstruction of the Late Roman provincial boundaries, with early Anglian cremation-predominant cemeteries being nearly all located within the province controlled by Lincoln. In this context, it is likewise intriguing to note that the probable Late Roman provincial governor's residence at Lincoln, the <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/02/roman-mosaics-from-lincolnshire.html">Greetwell villa-palace</a>, was not only maintained to a high standard right through until the end of the Roman coin sequence in the early fifth century and even potentially <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/04/an-early-anglo-saxon-pot-from-greetwell.html">a little beyond</a>, but also has notable evidence for estate continuity into the medieval period at both the local and sub-regional levels, with its wider territory in the Witham valley recently argued to have become a major royal estate of the seventh century and after. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirv6UCqoBkq2HLR55FYZmTIS71dFvnrsKUSktX6X733kOdqy-NGfRL-FfBevdxBgkuPucAJKx35hf03JtL0DqLKpaerXoN2LUHHA92WLu-bsvZ1434pGl6DocHV1ejKWfivssuFtWSLT_B/s1000/AS-CremCems-Lincs-England-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg60-daBuOitqL6vkG-OL-z-1hmE8dP5wnzi3LRgtbyB81d2pfsG5YMh9xKBxtMYXpTGFx0fZV2c3TceIZE5jSDeQ4L94i_qxtPdWkD5H6yBMw7heOeMem__tvoGdj523BK1nHh9ZmXR-c2/s16000/AS-CremCems-Lincs-England-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Two maps showing (a) the large early Anglo-Saxon cremation cemeteries of the Lincoln region, set against the late/post-Roman landscape, and (b) the distribution of both the large and small early Anglian cremation-predominant cemeteries, represented by filled squares, plotted against Saxon artefacts of the second half of the fifth century, represented by stars, and the Late Roman provincial boundaries as reconstructed by J. C. Mann in ‘The creation of four provinces in Britain by Diocletian’, Britannia, 29 (1998)</i><i>. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirv6UCqoBkq2HLR55FYZmTIS71dFvnrsKUSktX6X733kOdqy-NGfRL-FfBevdxBgkuPucAJKx35hf03JtL0DqLKpaerXoN2LUHHA92WLu-bsvZ1434pGl6DocHV1ejKWfivssuFtWSLT_B/s1000/AS-CremCems-Lincs-England-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of these maps (images drawn by Caitlin Green, based on Caitlin Green, <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/p/britons-and-anglo-saxons-lincolnshire.html">Britons and Anglo-Saxons</a>, figs 11 and 21a).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>If Lincoln was thus a former Late Roman provincial capital that was subsequently the centre of a late-surviving British Christian state of the fifth and sixth centuries, which was apparently able to 'control' Anglo-Saxon activity in its immediate region for several generations and eventually became the seventh-century kingdom of <i>Lindissi</i>, then this could certainly begin to provide a potential motive for why the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon dynasties of Mercia and Northumbria might have seen control of the city and the kingdom of <i>Lindissi</i> as an important symbolic and political prize. This is particularly the case if the distribution of almost all Anglian cremation-predominant cemeteries was indeed somehow related to the territory of the Late Roman province controlled by Lincoln, as has been tentatively suggested. In such circumstances, it would seem more than credible that the <i>imperium</i>-building<i> </i>seventh-century rulers of both Mercia and Northumbria—who, it should be noted, claimed descent from Anglian immigrant groups—would have seen Lincoln and <i>*Lindēs/Lindissi </i>as a prize well worth fighting over, if only for the symbolism it possessed deriving from its apparent fourth- to sixth-century importance.</div><div><br /></div><div>The second point relates to the personal origins of the ruling lineages of both Mercia and Northumbria themselves in the seventh and eighth centuries, and is part of the ‘family baggage’ referred to earlier. To put it simply, it seems possible to trace at least key groups within Northumbria, and possibly within Mercia too, back not only to Anglian groups claiming immigrant descent within Lincoln's wider former province, but also to groups who actually had roots within the Lincoln region/<i>*Lindēs</i> itself. The key piece of information here has come up in the questions to virtually every lecture and talk I’ve ever given on early Anglo-Saxon Lindsey—namely, the relationship between the group-name of the people of Lindsey, the <i>Lindisfaran</i> ('the people who migrated to the territory of <i>*Lindēs</i>') and the northern island-name Lindisfarne, Old English <i>Lindisfarena ea/</i><i>Lindisfarnae</i>, Anglo-Latin <i>insula Lindisfarnensis</i>. The link between the <i>Lindisfaran</i> and the island-name Lindisfarne has been much discussed over the years. Numerous researchers have attempted to explain why the two names look so alike, most relying on etymologies for the name Lindisfarne that deliberately don’t involve linking it to the Lincolnshire <i>Lindisfaran </i>and then assuming a quite remarkable coincidence to explain why the names look so similar. Unfortunately, none of the proposed etymologies <a href="https://www.academia.edu/30889439/Lindisfarne_the_Lindisfaran_and_the_origins_of_Anglo_Saxon_Northumbria">stand up to scrutiny</a>—they all have serious problems that cannot be easily avoided. In consequence, it can be <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/p/britons-and-anglo-saxons-lincolnshire.html">argued</a> that the only really credible explanation of the name Lindisfarne is that it is indeed intimately related to the group-name of the inhabitants of <i>Lindissi </i>in Lincolnshire, the <i>Lindisfaran</i>—the final element in 'Lindisfarne' is simply the Old English word for island, whilst the first part is the regular Old English genitive form of <i>Lindisfaran</i>. In other words, it quite transparently means ‘the island of the <i>Lindisfaran</i>’.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfevUbhb0oevUiD7DOWOmmxgXDs1MgWRhPwejq97esx06Dsl6nk0rQuSO05Uh0Rqj1VhaqW8uUtJWHysfQ5yxSMqvcW_p49vKeY27ZBo9kFppsqfGCRdjrDz8UA0VkiB0LIo9_zZUFEDl/s522/lindisfarne_map.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfevUbhb0oevUiD7DOWOmmxgXDs1MgWRhPwejq97esx06Dsl6nk0rQuSO05Uh0Rqj1VhaqW8uUtJWHysfQ5yxSMqvcW_p49vKeY27ZBo9kFppsqfGCRdjrDz8UA0VkiB0LIo9_zZUFEDl/s16000/lindisfarne_map.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A map of Lincolnshire, Lindisfarne and the North, showing key sites, groups and place-names (image: Caitlin Green, <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/p/britons-and-anglo-saxons-lincolnshire.html">Britons and Anglo-Saxons</a>, fig. 46)</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Now, the question has to be asked, why was it called this? The great place-name scholar, Eilert Ekwall, wrote many decades ago that if we accept the transparent Old English etymology for Lindisfarne, then the primary interpretation has to be that this island was settled by people from Lincolnshire. Recent work on the archaeology of Northumbria has arguably tended to back up this conclusion. Whilst the available archaeological evidence clearly indicates that there was a notable degree of 'Anglo-Saxon' activity in the Lindisfarne region from around the middle of the sixth century onwards (as evidenced by, for example, the settlements and cemeteries at Yeavering, Milfield, Thirlings, Ford and Bamburgh), south of this general region there is relatively little evidence for significant pre-seventh-century Anglo-Saxon activity until we reach the vicinity of Hadrian’s Wall. This raises the possibility that the area around Lindisfarne was indeed under the control of a group of people making use of 'Anglo-Saxon' material culture who had maritime links to regions significantly further south, just as might be expected if Lindisfarne and the surrounding area were somehow occupied by <i>Lindisfaran</i> from Lincolnshire, as the name of the island implies.</div><div><br />
The problem with all this is that the archaeology and textual evidence is also clear that the area around Lindisfarne was the heartland of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia (northern Northumbria). It is here that the famous palace site of Yeavering is found, and it is also here that the fortress of Bamburgh was located. Situated only a couple of miles to the south of Lindisfarne itself, this was—according to Bede—the ‘royal city’ of Northumbria, and recent excavations have discovered a massive Anglo-Saxon-era inhumation cemetery here, which dwarfs all other known cemeteries from north of the Humber. Indeed, Lindisfarne itself appears in early medieval accounts as a major sixth- and seventh-century possession and sanctuary of the kings of Bernicia. It is consequently difficult to avoid associating the mid- to late sixth-century 'Anglo-Saxon' material in the region around Lindisfarne with the documentary evidence for the mid- to late sixth-century 'arrival' of either the founders of the kingdom of Bernicia or the ancestors of the same here; certainly the rulers of Bernicia seem to have been based in this area from this period onwards. Needless to say, it is unlikely that another group would be subsequently allowed to take possession of the island of Lindisfarne after the establishment of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia, given the apparent status of the island as a royal territory and sanctuary and the fact that the neighbouring fortress of Bamburgh was ‘the royal city’ of the Bernicians. At the same time, the archaeological and textual evidence doesn't really support the idea of a previous Anglo-Saxon 'arrival' or 'influence' in this region that occurred before the mid-sixth century. Consequently, the natural conclusion is that the migration of the <i>Lindisfaran </i>to Lindisfarne (recorded by the place-name Lindisfarne, ‘the island of the <i>Lindisfaran</i>’) must be identical with the settlement of ancestors of the historically recorded Bernician kings. That is to say, it seems quite possible that the Bernician royal family were ultimately <i>Lindisfaran </i>who had migrated to this region from Lincolnshire.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh983YTN1AaEc7uJGeZMtXckQjevkB7LVgBInIoB2tGenXuvG35rgb2HhZ9Ohuu0xP-eGiKXSWkCUS_Ma1IFKo-rdMl2MRbdoELvc0WubMXAZB1EYXO8kaYpBYT0x83I1yWZxl8BU76RsL2/s800/geograph-2363714-by-Stanley-Howe.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh983YTN1AaEc7uJGeZMtXckQjevkB7LVgBInIoB2tGenXuvG35rgb2HhZ9Ohuu0xP-eGiKXSWkCUS_Ma1IFKo-rdMl2MRbdoELvc0WubMXAZB1EYXO8kaYpBYT0x83I1yWZxl8BU76RsL2/w400-h300/geograph-2363714-by-Stanley-Howe.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>St. Paul's church, Jarrow; part of the Anglo-Saxon monastery of Jarrow survives today as the chancel of St Paul's Church (image: <a href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2363714">Stanley Howe/Geograph</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Such a conclusion is far less implausible than might be at first thought. After all, the Bernician royal family is usually considered to have moved to the Lindisfarne region from somewhere further south. Furthermore, there is actually a selection of other evidence that backs up the idea that Anglian groups from Lincolnshire may have played a key role in settling Northumbria in the fifth and sixth centuries. Take, for example, Jarrow and the area around the mouth of the Tyne. The available historical accounts imply that this was the second early heartland of the Bernician kings after the Lindisfarne–Bamburgh region, and it was moreover where Bede worked and wrote. What is particularly interesting about this second Bernician royal heartland, however, is that the key settlement within it, Jarrow, bears a name meaning ‘at the settlement of the <i>Gyrwe</i>’, a group-name that is also recorded as that of a well-attested south Lincolnshire and northern Cambridgeshire Anglian group, in whose territory Crowland once lay. Moreover, it has also been suggested by James Campbell that both Bede and the founder of Jarrow, Benedict Biscop, may have actually themselves been members of the royal lineage of the <i>Lindisfaran</i>, which is a point of considerable interest too.</div><div>
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Similarly, if we look for the largest Bernician Anglo-Saxon cemetery which lay outside of the Lindsifarne area, it can be found at Norton-on-Tees. This sixth-century cemetery is far larger than any of the other ones outside of the Lindisfarne area, suggesting some degree of local importance, but the place-name Norton is probably later in date and can’t refer to settlement that the cemetery served. However, only half a mile to the east of the cemetery is Billingham, a documented pre-Viking estate-centre that bears a name that is said to be ‘one of the earliest Old English settlement forms to survive’ in the region and which current place-name chronologies would place within the early Anglo-Saxon period. Once again, this name is most intriguing, as it means the ‘estate of the <i>Billingas</i>’, a group-name that likewise recurs in Anglo-Saxon Lincolnshire, where it applied to a significant sub-group within the southern part of the kingdom of <i>Lindissi</i>, based around Sleaford. Finally, attention can be directed the largest cemetery in the southern half of Northumbria, Sancton cremation cemetery. This is not only the location of the largest and earliest Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Deira, which seems to have its origins in the fifth century and from which the remains of 454 cremated individuals have been excavated, but it is also very close to the site of the principal heathen shrine of Deira, according to Bede. In other words, a credible case might be made for this area as a key centre of the southern Northumbrian kingdom of Deira. What is especially interesting here, however, is the fact that, first, the cemetery lies on the Roman road leading north from the bank of the Humber; second, that there are close links between the cremation urns found at Sancton and those from the Lincolnshire cremation cemeteries of Cleatham, Elsham, South Elkington, and Baston; and third, that just to the west of Sancton there is an extensive district known as Spalding Moor that includes a hamlet called Spaldington on its south side, both of which names contain the population-group name <i>Spalde</i>/<i>Spaldingas</i>, which is once again the name of a major group in southern Lincolnshire who were based on the siltlands of the Lincolnshire Fenland around Spalding and who appear in the 'Tribal Hidage'.</div><div>
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In sum, whilst each of the above instances of population-group names occurring both in Northumbria and in southern Lincolnshire might be individually dismissed as coincidences, the combined weight of these coincidences is difficult to explain away. Furthermore, in each case the group-name is found at or next to some of the most important sites in Northumbria, as identifiable both from the archaeological and textual evidence, and there is archaeological evidence of links to Lincolnshire in at least one of these locations. All told, the simplest and most credible solution would seem to be that Anglo-Saxon population groups from Lincolnshire did indeed play a major role in both the settlement of Northumbria and the foundation of the kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira, just as the place-name Lindisfarne implies.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWt8a54Mz5PY63IbgLOUtlZEkKIj4TcMlBR_jGqVZZUqWJoW5TtpzoKnsSbWmvab-dsSGtkLwyYyvG8SgDtpWYf7pRlGExHNBvLcTOgS6WsxAsMTqP-On1EzMFaxXuCDq0gpFCCgqZiXc6/s1490/ChdhoawWgAAp6lO.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="1490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWt8a54Mz5PY63IbgLOUtlZEkKIj4TcMlBR_jGqVZZUqWJoW5TtpzoKnsSbWmvab-dsSGtkLwyYyvG8SgDtpWYf7pRlGExHNBvLcTOgS6WsxAsMTqP-On1EzMFaxXuCDq0gpFCCgqZiXc6/w400-h230/ChdhoawWgAAp6lO.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A sixth-century gold sword pommel from Rippingale ('the halh of the Hrepingas'), Lincolnshire, mentioned below (image: <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/642047">PAS/British Museum</a>)</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />With regards to Mercia, the evidence is less clear-cut, but we may well have a partially analogous situation. In particular, attention might be drawn to the place-name Repton, where the pre-Viking kings of Mercia were buried, which means ‘the hill of the tribe called <i>Hreope/Hrype</i>’. It is usually agreed that the group- and territory-name <i>Hrepingas</i> that occurs in early Mercian charters represents an alternate form of this group-name (compare <i>Spalde</i>/<i>Spaldingas</i> above), and that the <i>Hreope/Hrepingas</i> were moreover one of three major sub-groups within the seventh-century Mercian kingdom. Needless to say, in this light it is intriguing to note that the <i>Hrepingas </i>also occur as an early Anglo-Saxon group within Lincolnshire, with Rippingale in southern Lincolnshire being ‘the valley of the <i>Hrepingas</i>’. This population-group seems to have been located just to the south of the <i>Billingas</i> and there is, moreover, archaeological evidence for elite activity in the late fifth and sixth centuries from the Rippingale area, including a recent find of a high-status gold sword pommel, pictured above.<br />
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We also have the interesting case of the <i>Hwicce</i>, whose kingdom in the West Midlands to the south-west of Mercia is multiply-attested, but who also appear in a significant number of place-names in and around Rutland, immediately to the west and north of Stamford, Lincolnshire. So, not only is their name apparently preserved in that of the eleventh-century Whitchley Hundred that met at Wicheley Heath, 'the woodland of the Hwicce' (<i>Hwicceslea</i>), a district that encompassed around a third of modern shire of Rutland, but there are also other <i>Hwicce </i>names within Rutland, with yet another potential 'Witchley' name in the north-west of this small county—Wichley Leys—and a probable *<i>Hwiccena-denu</i>, 'valley of the <i>Hwicce</i>', there too. Quite what this means is <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/03/the-hwicce-of-rutland.html">open to debate</a>, but both A. H. Smith and Barrie Cox suggest that these names could reflect a situation whereby the <i>Hwicce </i>originally controlled a territory in this area prior to the establishment of their documented seventh- to eighth-century (sub-)kingdom in the West Midlands, which is notable given what has been discussed already. </div><div><br /></div><div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYFkUe3QBAMllKAJm2QZEhC9UbKpDvyqEJ13I7AdpiMdLtjIEWgdiRqGD8dqjjjwh9ulOqnA4FccyhkkMamLaTWtgdV2GPD40n6DP2Tyj81zkABD_BQ13WpauIZBJRjyHggx_Yydv6hPFB/s500/Rutland-Hwicce_small.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="500" height="377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYFkUe3QBAMllKAJm2QZEhC9UbKpDvyqEJ13I7AdpiMdLtjIEWgdiRqGD8dqjjjwh9ulOqnA4FccyhkkMamLaTWtgdV2GPD40n6DP2Tyj81zkABD_BQ13WpauIZBJRjyHggx_Yydv6hPFB/w400-h377/Rutland-Hwicce_small.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Map of Rutland, showing the Rutland Hwicce names; the names in italics are those of the Witchley East Hundred and Witchley West Hundred, as recorded in the Northamptonshire Geld Roll of 1072–8, and the approximate position and extent of 'Wicheley Heath' is based on the maps of 1603–11 and 1756, along with the location of the surviving Witchley Warren Farm in Edith Weston parish. The grey lines reflect the late eleventh-century hundred boundaries, with the dotted line representing the division between the later East and Wrangdike hundreds, which is thought to perpetuate that between Witchley East Hundred and Witchley West Hundred (image: Caitlin Green).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />In conclusion, it can be suggested that the apparent seventh-century Mercian and Northumbrian interest in Lincoln and <i>Lindissi/</i>Lindsey is perhaps explicable not simply in terms of the exceptional wealth of seventh-/eighth-century Lincolnshire, but also the political history of that region and the family 'baggage' of the two major <i>imperium</i>-building Anglian dynasties. Put simply, it seems possible that the seventh-century Anglian rulers of Northumbria and Mercia may have additionally wanted to enhance their own position, status and rule by controlling a city that had probably been one of the last centres of <i>Romanitas </i>in the east, perhaps able to control Anglian activity in not only the Lincoln area but also the wider region during parts of the fifth and sixth centuries, and a part of eastern Britain with which they may well have had personal, family ties. If so, then it is perhaps not quite so surprising that the control of <i>Lindissi </i>was so contested through the course of the seventh century between these two dynasties, nor that Edwin of Northumbria, who was apparently concerned with portraying himself as a Roman-style ruler (<i>HE </i>II.16), seems to have favoured Lincoln over his own likely 'capital' of York, building a new stone church there first and then having the consecration of Archbishop Honorius held in this structure.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2020, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-53170729753924749152020-12-01T19:01:00.000+00:002020-12-01T19:01:03.986+00:00Britons and Anglo-Saxons: Lincolnshire AD 400–650 (Second Edition, 2020)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr37RGCgtu7IJcZWRprLPfObNHENtzfpbJ-0zUKOjNpIxL0Zh5jqAP_b5UFoz8rP95-luB51zgH9JSJV54SS7FvbgFUi-cBa2UfzK5q-4YldLdjg2XmIniSVibSpK4IMcqs2K2qsPzt3ek/s1396/CGreen-Britons-AngloSaxons-2ndEdn.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr37RGCgtu7IJcZWRprLPfObNHENtzfpbJ-0zUKOjNpIxL0Zh5jqAP_b5UFoz8rP95-luB51zgH9JSJV54SS7FvbgFUi-cBa2UfzK5q-4YldLdjg2XmIniSVibSpK4IMcqs2K2qsPzt3ek/w208-h320/CGreen-Britons-AngloSaxons-2ndEdn.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>I'm pleased to announce that the second edition of my <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons: Lincolnshire AD 400–650</i> has now been published and is available to buy as both a paperback (401 pages, ISBN 978-0-902668-26-3) and a PDF ebook.<br />
<br /><i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i> was first issued in 2012 and represents the published version of my Oxford DPhil thesis. It offers an interdisciplinary approach to the history of the Lincoln region in the post-Roman period, drawing together a wide range of sources. In particular, it indicates that a British polity named <i>*Lindēs</i> was based at Lincoln into the sixth century, and that the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Lindsey (<i>Lindissi</i>) had an intimate connection to this British political unit. The picture that emerges is also of importance nationally, helping to answer key questions regarding the nature and extent of Anglian-British interaction and the origins of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.<br /><br />This new second edition of <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i> includes a brand new, 52-page introduction discussing recent research into the late and post-Roman Lincoln region, consisting of sections on 'Romano-British pottery in the fifth- to sixth-century Lincoln region', 'Archaeology and the British ‘country of *<i>Lindēs</i>’', 'Place-names and history in early Anglo-Saxon Lincolnshire', and 'Territories, central clusters and persistent places in the pre-Viking Lincolnshire landscape'.<br />
<br /><i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons </i>is the third volume in the <i>Studies in the History of Lincolnshire</i>, a peer-reviewed academic project published by the History of Lincolnshire Committee (established 1966). Click here to <a href="https://www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/caitlin-green/britons-and-anglo-saxons-lincolnshire-ad-400-650/paperback/product-y9d8k4.html">buy the paperback</a> from Lulu and here to <a href="https://www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/caitlin-green/britons-and-anglo-saxons-lincolnshire-ad-400-650-second-edition-2020/ebook/product-7w9p88.html">buy the PDF ebook</a>. Alternatively, the paperback of <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i> can also be purchased from <a href="https://amzn.to/39w8wC9">Amazon.co.uk</a> or <a href="https://amzn.to/3muPsYJ">Amazon.com</a>.<br /><br />
<i>A selection of reviews of Britons and Anglo-Saxons:</i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Britons and Anglo-Saxons is an impressively interdisciplinary book that combines linguistic, historical, literary, and archaeological evidence into a coherent narrative for the post-Roman fate of Lincolnshire... [the] central contention that “the Britons based at Lincoln in the fifth and sixth centuries left a political, administrative, cultural, and even potentially a symbolic, legacy for succeeding centuries” (153) is amply borne out by [the] thorough interdisciplinary methodology, and [Green's] findings are sure to have an impact on the wider historiography of early-medieval British history... a major accomplishment by a promising young scholar...” (<i>Speculum: the Journal of the Medieval Academy of America</i>, 2013)</blockquote>
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“This book, based on the author’s doctoral thesis, explores the relationships between British and Anglo-Saxon populations in post-Roman Britain and the formation of kingdoms, using Lincolnshire as a case study... As an exploration of the aftermath of Roman Britain, the relationships between native populations and immigrant communities, and the mechanisms behind the development of subsequent administrative units, this book makes for a very thought-provoking read... It is a welcome addition to our understanding of the early centuries of post-Roman Britain.” (<i>Medieval Archaeology</i>, 2013)</blockquote>
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“This book should recommend itself to the introductory reading lists of history and archaeology students but will also serve the general reader well... This study draws upon the combined application of history, archaeology, place-names, and early literature to reconstruct its narrative —approaches that one would wish to see duplicated across the country... This book not only provides a narrative for Lincolnshire but also reinforces the potential value of similar approaches elsewhere in Britain while at the same time offering a compelling introduction to the challenges of studying this period of Britain’s past.” (<i>Midland History</i>, 2013)</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“[F]ully engaged with up-to-date scholarship and operating assuredly across all relevant disciplines... Not only does it offer a sophisticated study of Dark-Age Lincolnshire but it also makes an important contribution to wider debates about the ending of Roman Britain and the beginnings of Anglo-Saxon England... This inter-disciplinary exploration of <i>*Lindes</i> offers a new standard for regional work. It also provides a model capable of explaining how Roman Britain transmuted into Anglo-Saxon England... this book makes an important contribution to the central historical debates and will provide an important point of reference as to how we model the British/Anglo-Saxon interface for the next generation.” (N. J. Higham, <i>Lincolnshire History & Archaeology</i>, 2015)</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-77840696165928284612020-11-27T12:41:00.012+00:002021-02-27T13:11:50.513+00:00Some Arabic and Persian accounts of the export of tin from Cornwall to Egypt and Iran in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuriesThe aim of the following piece is simply to share some interesting accounts of the tin-trade in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, particularly one written in Arabic and another in Persian. Taken together, these two accounts suggest that tin from southwestern England (<i>i.e. </i>Cornwall and Devon) was exported via southern France to both Egypt and ultimately Iran in this period, with it being used by potters in the latter area to make tin-opacified ceramic glazes.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcPhyphenhyphen85JIU7HmSAnPWF-fCd3sArXz2gsdJ3XdUQnuo6xq59MrLys5xH0lIi7c6l46peXWGIlWEYM8XXnmi6ix-wqyhRikTpscFnm7-b_uGpBvHkTzIWBKWr_eUw5nz-LDFjEm-o42gOxjn/s2048/14thC-PersianVase-TinGlazed.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYxcg8ffk2qPL9pzCHV3WmYW-N6rE_IHdox5iyzYq0JSjBz14v5mtgOMIEjKZrmHWbIJBbjePMUT-oOa7J1Jl5vf-MHadnMTYt8kSNoPOLlEKYmf0MVljj1fUb7M1UAf0NHZPYDDgG23QT/s16000/14thC-PersianVase-TinGlazed-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A tin-glazed vase made in 14th-century Persia, now in The Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro; click the image for a larger view (image: Caitlin Green).<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><div><div><br /></div><div>The first account to be considered here is a short but intriguing section from the early fourteenth-century <i>Taqwīm al-buldān</i>, 'Survey of the countries' (1321), of Abū l-Fidāʾ, a Syrian prince of the Ayyūbid family, which offers both a general description of England and a short but intriguing section detailing the export of tin from England to Alexandria, Egypt, via southern France. The section that deals generally with England is explicitly derived from the earlier work of Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī, who was born born near Granada in 1213, lived for a time in Egypt, and died in 1286, and runs as follows: <blockquote><div>And the islands of Britain are eleven islands. Of the famous islands is the island of England (<i>Inkiltarah</i>). Ibn Saʿīd said: And the ruler of this island is called <i>al-Inkitār</i> in the <i>History of Salāḥ ad-Dīn (Saladin) in the wars of ʿAkkā (Acre)</i>. His capital in this island is the city of <i>Lundras </i>(London). He continued: And the length of this island from south to north, with a slight inclination, is 430 miles. Its width in the middle is about 200 miles. He continued: <b>And in this island are mines of gold, silver, copper, and tin</b>. There are no vines because of the sharpness of the frost. <b>Its inhabitants bring the precious metals of these mines to the land of France, and exchange them for wine.</b> The ruler of France has plentiful gold and silver from that source. In their country (sc. England) is made the fine scarlet cloth from the wool of their sheep, which is fine like silk. They place coverings over the animals, to protect them from rain, sun, and dust. In spite of the wealth of <i>al-Inkitār</i> and the extent of his kingdom, he admits the sovereignty of <i>al-Farans</i><i>īs</i> (the French king), and when there is an assembly, he performs his service by presenting before (the ruler of France) a vessel of food, by ancient custom.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/11/arabic-and-persian-accounts-of-cornish-tin-trade.html#fn1">1</a>)</div></blockquote><p>The mention here of mines that produce tin is noteworthy. The tenth-century Persian <i>Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam</i>, written for a prince of Gūzgan in northern Afghanistan in <i>c. </i>982, intriguingly describes Britain as an 'emporium' (<i>bārgāh</i>) of Spain (<i>Andalus</i>) and also makes mention of 'numerous mountains, rivers, villages, and different mines' in Britain, but doesn't specify the nature of these mines, unlike Ibn Saʿīd and Abū l-Fidāʾ.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/11/arabic-and-persian-accounts-of-cornish-tin-trade.html#fn2">2</a>) Interestingly, the above description of the specific characteristics of the mines of England seems to have been picked up fairly rapidly by other authors aside from Abū l-Fidāʾ. For example, its influence can be seen in the <i>Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh</i> of Rashīd al-Dīn (completed in Īlkhānate-era Iran, <i>c.</i> 1307–16), and in Banākatī's derivative <i>Rawżat ūli’l-albāb</i>, written in 1317 at Banākaṯ, Transoxiana (in present-day Tajikistan, Central Asia), although their description is expanded slightly to say that in <i>Anglater</i>—England—there are 'many remarkable mountains, innumerable mines of gold, silver, copper, tin, and iron, and different kinds of fruit.'(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/11/arabic-and-persian-accounts-of-cornish-tin-trade.html#fn3">3</a>) </p><p>After the above general description of England, Abū l-Fidāʾ offers brief discussions of Ireland and of another Atlantic island where gyrfalcons and polar bears are said to be found (the former reportedly being popular with the Sultan of Egypt and the latter being said to have skin that is soft to the touch). Later on, however, he returns to the question of the export of metals from England when discussing Toulouse, France, in another section that is explicitly derived from the work of Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī:</p><blockquote><p>Ibn Said said: And to the east of Bordeaux is the city of Toulouse... The river (sc. Garonne) is south of it, and ships from the Encircling Ocean ascend it, with tin and copper, which they bring from the island of England and the island of Ireland. It is carried on pack-animals to Narbonne, and taken from there on the ships of the Franks to Alexandria.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/11/arabic-and-persian-accounts-of-cornish-tin-trade.html#fn4">4</a>)</p></blockquote><p>Needless to say, this statement is undoubtedly interesting, offering, as it does, good evidence for the long-distance export of tin from southwestern England during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The first half of the route described here is certainly an ancient one, bearing a striking similarity to the tin route described by Diodorus Siculus in the first century BC (probably drawing on the lost account of Pytheas, a fourth-century BC traveller from Marseille). He says that those who dwell in southwestern Britain 'work the tin into pieces' and sell it to merchants who 'carry it from there across the Straits of Galatia or Gaul; and finally, making their way on foot through Gaul for some thirty days, they bring their wares on horseback to the mouth of the river Rhone'. Although the route described by the above Arabic account is slightly more detailed than that recorded by Diodorus, and obviously has an additional stage from France to Egypt, the coincidence is notable, and a find of a sixth-century cruciform brooch from eastern England in south-eastern France near to Castelnaudary, Aude (about midway along the route from Toulouse to the Mediterranean), arguably offers some confirmation that the same overland route from England to the Mediterranean was indeed in use in the intervening period too.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/11/arabic-and-persian-accounts-of-cornish-tin-trade.html#fn5">5</a>)</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMINOOzNGtsMNuyymXweqcQqFj8xkcDcbQkTKME7xyZTgGq5_XeQXzu11cSOjhUKjyAJ3JAh-NI6iuAGVDmzSRNJQa5OZK6b5WxYbcTsjRWg6XmcRCpmQL4cZKqO8z0AOg_SupRAa7x1PB/s2048/14thC-Persian-tin-Jug-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="500" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjODuffeg4sibTSNMICGH86BnYbvnv26SX5VARIpjFj6-gO8ncazVut-UDD3rhyphenhyphenUgI254fXk55u0Vlic0exNs9sqHjUHLY4EQySP5nc7WaqCblNmm6Mr4JAFYzX-nItizU3Uf8zIIyiBR9I/s16000/14thC-Persian-tin-Jug-500.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A fourteenth-century, tin-glazed jug decorated with lustre and cobalt, made at Ray, Iran, and now in the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro; click the image for a larger view (image: Caitlin Green).<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The second, Persian account of the medieval tin trade is less specific about the source of the tin than this, but is nonetheless important. In particular, it offers us some idea of where a portion, at least, of the tin from southwestern England was transported to after it reached thirteenth-/fourteenth-century Egypt, as well as the purposes to which it might be put. The account itself is from a treatise on ceramics by Abū l-Qāsim Qāshānī of Kashan, Iran, that was written in <i>c.</i> 1300–01, based on the date of the earliest, autograph manuscript. This treatise mentions the importation of tin to Iran from Western Europe or <i>Farangistān</i>, a name strictly meaning the land of the Franks (the French) that was applied generally to Western Europe north of the Iberian Peninsula: </p><blockquote><p>The vessels, ingredients and materials which serve as raw materials for these people [manufacturers of tiles and other ceramic objects] are many... One of these is the form of tin called <i>raṣāṣ</i>. <u>Its mines are known in many places. The first is that from Farangistān.</u> In Farangistān it is cast in the form of pieces and stamped with a Farangī stamp <u>as prevention against adulteration</u>...(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/11/arabic-and-persian-accounts-of-cornish-tin-trade.html#fn6">6</a>)</p></blockquote><p>The account then goes on to list two other sources of tin, one to the north of Iran (in the middle Volga area of modern Russia) and another to the east in 'China' (possibly Malaysia), before including details on how such tin could be used in the making of white and turquoise ceramic glazes.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/11/arabic-and-persian-accounts-of-cornish-tin-trade.html#fn7">7</a>) Suffice to say, in the present context this account is of considerable interest. The tin from <i>Farangistān</i> mentioned here must have almost certainly originated in southwestern England, based on both what we know of tin production in this era and the above Arabic account of Abū l-Fidāʾ/Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī, with its reference to French merchants transporting English tin to Alexandria. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the tin from the middle Volga in Russia may also have ultimately come from England too, as there were no medieval native sources of tin in that region and tin does, in fact, seem to have been imported into Russia from England via Germany earlier in the medieval period.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/11/arabic-and-persian-accounts-of-cornish-tin-trade.html#fn8">8</a>) </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7rLGiPZZqA9C1cozhBa4EvdTvPL6fAVxTDrcxE-VDSMfZ5_7hkOtfe_Hw2DPpl-ix1E3d_uq2VuQSUdUz-KDadugj6gQ2DTOI1WI-I7VmRafWxmuwV-o1DgPW_MyIYfmeEmbuefSrh3kr/s2159/Two13thCBowlFrags-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="209" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAnOaKP6Wy7hTLlqWBEvopKUM7izZVrsT1XdlaKjFjI6Cu6u0Nl4DrLRnHzLzQ8r9GgGPkrIrlu11bwimvmEOAFVSNMKWliWZlqGTiiaAc9gQaZcPR9kP9BKYlucKhcH8scs6EGTM3zSR/s16000/Two13thCBowlFrags-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Two fragments of mina'i bowls probably made in the city of Kashan in the early thirteenth century, both featuring a tin-opacified glaze, now in the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro; click the image for a larger view. The left bowl, TRURI 900.479, seems to show a young prince sitting cross-legged, whilst the right bowl, TRURI 900.478, shows a male equestrian figure (image: Caitlin Green).<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In consequence, it can be said that the two main accounts under consideration here seem, when taken together, to suggest that tin from Cornwall and Devon was very probably making its way across to Iran in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, where it was used to create tin-opacified white and turquoise ceramic glazes by manufacturers of pottery and tiles. In this context, it is worth observing that Cornish or Devonshire tin was definitely used for a similar purpose in sixteenth-century Italy, and Anna McSweeney has recently argued that it was probably used for making opaque ceramic glazes in medieval Iberia too.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/11/arabic-and-persian-accounts-of-cornish-tin-trade.html#fn9">9</a>) So, for example, in 1417 a potter named Hacen Muça was paid by a French merchant from Montpellier, Joan Lorenç, in lead, tin and cobalt to undertake work that he was to deliver to the port of Valencia in two months, presumably using tin obtained by this French merchant from southwestern England, and in 1325 another contract specifies that the potter Mahomet Bensuleyman and another <i>saracen </i>from Manises, eastern Spain, would be paid in advance with lead and tin for the kiln loads that they were to supply.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/11/arabic-and-persian-accounts-of-cornish-tin-trade.html#fn10">10</a>) </p><p>Whether earlier Islamic ceramics using tin-opacified glazes similarly depended on tin from southwestern England is a matter of speculation, but it is interesting to observe that the earliest such glazes seem to have their origins in Egypt in the eighth century AD, which is perhaps suggestive, given that tin seems to have been known as 'the Brittanic metal' in Egypt only a century earlier.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2020/11/arabic-and-persian-accounts-of-cornish-tin-trade.html#fn11">11</a>) Finally, it should be noted that the tin imported into Iran from medieval England was almost certainly used for purposes other than the creation of ceramic glazes. Tin was, for example, a key ingredient in both the making of bronze vessels and the creation of tin opacifiers for glass; assuming, as seems reasonable, that Abū l-Qāsim's observations on the sources of tin hold for other uses of this metal as well, then tin from southwestern England/<i>Farangistān </i>is likely to have played a part in the creation of metal and glasswork as well as ceramics in thirteenth-/fourteenth-century Iran.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwiU3ySITy3wYaaU1j190u0cR6DkC0nTobTwXwSdFhsrG2ErCkBARHoIcYsMGcVo3YPtuN-GJ3CCiStNll3V5m5S3FlHOZRknNq-XHxAid0qMEamRgnWKFXWfhG9my7M7eQTKuNL3-CxYi/s1081/Jug-Minai-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6NIhEdm56ok6kKTdPXh4hc3C9Fru1eSwqHiFbxVx4N1jQQvp_HYk9OxY3ij-Byn3A5lF8ARmQNxS40USnc7yfd3hu-H2r7rrlWrKeAX9KDaJYoAf0fGQGRkQAif1w3NCphjJ6BcCJCG8c/s16000/Jug-Minai-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A mina'i ware </i><i>jug with seated figures and sketches, made in </i><i>Central Iran in the late 12th or early 13th century, earthenware with polychrome enamels and gold over a turquoise glaze; now in Cincinnati Art Museum (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jug_with_seated_figures_and_sketches,_Mina%27i_ware,_Central_Iran,_Seljuk_period,_late_12th_or_early_13th_century,_earthenware_with_polychrome_enamels_and_gold_over_turquoise_glaze_-_Cincinnati_Art_Museum_-_DSC04014.JPG">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><i>Footnotes</i></p>
<p><span id="fn1"></span><i>1.</i> D. N. Dunlop, 'The British Isles according to medieval Arabic authors', <i>Islamic Quarterly</i>, 4 (1957), 11–28 at pp. 24–5 (my emphasis); M. Reinaud, <i>Géographie d'Aboulféda</i>, 2 vols (Paris: A L'Imprimerie Nationale, 1848), vol. 2, pp. 265–6. Note also the reference to 'fine scarlet wool... which is fine like silk'; the fame of English wool and the regard in which it was held in medieval Europe is well-known, but this reference and two further ones in the early fourteenth century from Rashīd al-Dīn and Banākatī to 'exceedingly fine scarlet cloth' from England imply that the fame of English wool products reached well beyond Europe and even so far as Central Asia in the early fourteenth century. </p>
<p><span id="fn2"></span><i>2.</i> See further now C. Green, 'Britain, the Byzantine Empire, and the concept of an Anglo-Saxon ‘Heptarchy’: Harun ibn Yahya’s ninth-century Arabic description of Britain', in <i>Global Perspectives on Early Medieval Britain</i>,<i> </i>eds. K. L. Jolly & B. Brooks (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, forthcoming); <i>Ḥudūd al-‘Ālam, ‘The Regions of the World’ – A Persian Geography 372 A.H. – 982 A.D.</i>, ed. and trans. V. V. Minorsky (London, 1970), chp 4 (p. 59) and chp 42 (p. 158).</p>
<p><span id="fn3"></span><i>3.</i> Dunlop, 'British Isles', p. 26.</p>
<p><span id="fn4"></span><i>4.</i> Dunlop, 'British Isles', p. 25; Reinaud, <i>Géographie d'Aboulféda</i>, p. 307. See D. G. König, <i>Arabic-Islamic Views of the Latin West: Tracing the Emergence of Medieval Europe</i> (Oxford, 2015), p. 279, for Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī's own text of this section; note, he says that the tin and copper is taken by ships from Narbonne to Alexandria, but isn't explicit as to the ships used. </p>
<p><span id="fn5"></span><i>5.</i> R. Penhallurick, <i>Tin in Antiquity</i> (London: Institute of Metals, 1986), pp. 141–2; B. Cunliffe, <i>The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek </i>(London: Penguin, 2001), pp. 57, 76, 79–80; J. Hatcher, <i>English Tin Production and Trade Before 1550</i> (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973), p. 24; C. R. Green, 'The Anglo-Saxons abroad? Some early Anglo-Saxon finds from France and East Africa', blog post, 7 May 2016, <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/05/anglo-saxon-finds-france-africa.html">online</a> at <i>www.caitlingreen.org/2016/05/anglo-saxon-finds-france-africa.html</i>.</p>
<p><span id="fn6"></span><i>6.</i> J. W. Allan, 'Abū'l-Qāsim's treatise on ceramics', <i>Iran, </i>11 (1976), 111–20 at 111, 112 and 120. Note, underlined passages are found only in the later of two manuscripts of this treatise, dating from the sixteenth century, whilst those unmarked are found in the manuscript of 1300–01. On <i>Farangistān/Firanja/Ifrand̲j̲a</i>, see B. Lewis and J. F. P. Hopkins, 'Ifrand̲j', in <i>Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition</i>, ed. Bearman et al., consulted online on 25 November 2020, <i>dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0353</i>, and P. M. Cobb, <i>The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusades</i> (Oxford, 2014), pp. 15–19; on the entire Iberian Peninsula being known to geographers as al-Andalus, see A. G. Sanjuán, 'Al-Andalus, etymology and name', in <i>Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE</i>, ed. K. Fleet, G. Krämer, D. Matringe, J. Nawas, and E. Rowson (Leiden, 2018), consulted online on 26 November 2020, <i>dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_24223.</i></p>
<p><span id="fn7"></span><i>7.</i> See further on tin-opacified glazes in the Islamic world and their origins and spread, M. Matin, 'Tin-based opacifiers in archaeological glass and ceramic glazes: a review and new perspectives', <i>Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences</i>, 11 (2019), 1155–67, especially pp. 1161–2; M. Tite et al., 'Revisiting the beginnings of tin-opacified Islamic glazes', <i>Journal of Archaeological Science</i>, 57 (2015), 80–91; E. Salinas, 'From tin- to antimony-based yellow opacifiers in the early Islamic Egyptian glazes: Regional influences and ruling dynasties', <i>Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports</i>, 26 (2019), 101923; and E. Salinas et al., 'Polychrome glazed ware production in Tunisia during the Fatimid-Zirid period: New data on the question of the introduction of tin glazes in western Islamic lands', <i>Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports</i>, 34.A (2020), 102632.</p>
<p><span id="fn8"></span><i>8. </i> A. McSweeney, 'The tin trade and medieval ceramics: tracing the sources of tin and its influence on Mediterranean ceramics production', <i>Al-Masāq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean</i>, 23 (2011), 155–69 at pp. 165, 166; Allan, 'Abū'l-Qāsim's treatise on ceramics', pp. 112, 118.</p>
<p><span id="fn9"></span><i>9</i>. McSweeney, 'The tin trade', especially pp. 164–9.</p>
<p><span id="fn10"></span><i>10.</i> McSweeney, 'The tin trade', p. 168.</p>
<p><span id="fn11"></span><i>11.</i> Penhallurick, <i>Tin in Antiquity</i>, pp. 10, 237; Matin, 'Tin-based opacifiers'; Tite et al., 'Revisiting the beginnings'; Salinas, 'From tin- to antimony-based yellow opacifiers'; E. Salinas et al., 'Polychrome glazed ware'.</p><p><b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2020, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-87300752829562049922020-11-21T14:59:00.025+00:002020-11-21T19:51:35.893+00:00More monstrous landscapes of medieval Lincolnshire<p>A <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/12/the-monstrous-landscape-of-medieval.html">previous post</a> on here listed a number of field and other local minor names from Lindsey that made reference to folkloric and monstrous creatures inhabiting northern Lincolnshire; the aim of the following brief discussion is to offer some further names of the same type, based this time on the <i><a href="https://amzn.to/333fPgG">Place-Names of Lincolnshire</a></i>, volumes 1–7. Once again, it should be noted that the majority of these names derive from medieval and early modern sources and suggest the existence of local folklore and tales, long since lost, focused on the pits, mires, fields, pools and mounds of the pre-Modern Lincolnshire landscape.<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLgJ-C2OARU8bY-bllW6cNUbfWw4K3Z3hBbKsTg88cL82oDrCF_CZ3hn49p-aOpi1bM_nEUGrQXEVFOm850pzRN3vT5tVy_bwhwjm1oEIJJbds5iy5ei42FXBUhhZs7ITpGS3WoiUne_c1/s1356/Stories_of_beowulf_grendel.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="467" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg30SpcK3xIZ4JDV_MeIvqxPxiJN8yO1eWF68G86VlB6QNA0PzzoHD3iN2FavxKs4McyWXgPoBtam30NyKaTQYToY6yFkioV8oXHcGaoun63PcpOr8BszPW2jrDQ_Cn-4953fZwef6-qDa9/s16000/467px-Stories_of_beowulf_grendel.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>J. R. Skelton's 1908 illustration of Grendel, who is described as a þyrs/thyrs in Beowulf (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stories_of_beowulf_grendel.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><br /><b>Old Norse <i>þurs </i>(<i>thurs</i>)/Old English <i>þyrs </i>(<i>thyrs</i>)—a giant, a monster/ogre/demon</b><p></p><p>A word indicating a giant or similar monster with a dangerous or destructive nature; most famously found in the Old Norse compound <i>hrímþursar</i>, the 'frost giants', and as a description of Grendel in line 426 of the Old English poem <i>Beowulf</i>. It seems to indicate a <a href="https://www.academia.edu/1588997/Pyrs_ent_eoten_gigans_Anglo_Saxon_Ontologies_of_Giant">malevolent</a>, fen-dwelling monster of the Grendel type, with the Old English <i>Maxims II</i> saying that <i>þyrs sceal on fenne gewunian ana innan lande</i>, 'the <i><a href="https://www.academia.edu/32111842/Giants_and_Snake_Charmers_OE_%C3%9Eyrs">þyrs</a> </i>(giant, ogre) shall dwell in the fen, alone in his realm'; compare the <i>Thrusmyre</i> in Edlington parish, 'a mire, Old Norse <i>myrr</i>, inhabited by a <i>þurs</i>'. The names below imply a number of features thought to be either inhabited by—or made by—such creatures in the medieval/early modern Lincolnshire landscape; note, the dates indicate the year in which the name is first documented.</p><p></p>
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Thirsewell</i>, <i>Thorsey Nab</i>, Glentham (1220)—'spring haunted by giants', sometimes with <i>nabbi</i>, 'hill/knoll'.</li><li><i>Thyrstpit</i>, Usselby (1372)—'giant-pit' or 'demon-haunted pit'; note, the compound <i>þyrspyt </i>etc is first recorded in a ninth-century Old English charter.</li><li><i>Thurspits</i>, Bottesford<i> </i>(1679)—'the pits, hollows haunted by giants, demons or goblins'.</li><li><i>Low Thrush pits/Upper thrushpit</i>, Ashby near Scunthorpe (1750)—'the pit/hollow haunted by a demon or giant' or 'giant-pit'.</li><li><i>Trusdall</i>, Nettleton (1577)—'the share of land haunted by a demon or giant'.</li><li><i>Tursfeild Crosse</i>, Scawby (1669)—'the field haunted by demons, giants or goblins' + <i>cros</i>, 'cross'.</li><li><i>Threshole</i>, Saxilby and Ingleby (1766)—'the hollow occupied by a giant or demon'. Note, Bishop White Kennett, in a glossary written in <i>c. </i>1700, defines a 'Thurs-house or Thurs-hole' as 'a hollow vault... looked on as enchanted holes'.</li><li><i>Thirspitts</i>, Waltham (1601)—'the pit occupied by a giant or demon'.</li><li><i>Thuswelle closes</i>, Hemswell (1670)—'spring haunted by a giant or demon'.</li></ul><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO7YtdO91P4trbD3D73ZqJZSyMuDotjV5FQIgw9bZ8UFE-5KXRorSj3aebBjtBtd0cUWM_6IlDgnQLFJCJ_vUMKGFsmkdI_ijVLg-axbP_peHnt_s7RZNNMDVjzaSC12GaM-c02St-qdSx/s500/Puck_1629-500.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="500" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO7YtdO91P4trbD3D73ZqJZSyMuDotjV5FQIgw9bZ8UFE-5KXRorSj3aebBjtBtd0cUWM_6IlDgnQLFJCJ_vUMKGFsmkdI_ijVLg-axbP_peHnt_s7RZNNMDVjzaSC12GaM-c02St-qdSx/w400-h393/Puck_1629-500.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Image from the title page of 'Robin Goodfellow: His Mad Pranks and Merry Jests' (1629); Robin Goodfellow is generally considered a type of hob or hobgoblin (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Puck_1629.JPG">Wikimedia Commons</a>).<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Middle English <i>hob(be)</i>—a mischievous spirit/hobgoblin</b><p></p>A word for a mischievous spirit or goblin; a <i>hob </i>in Northern and Midland English folklore was a rough, hairy, creature of the 'brownie' type, whose work could bring prosperity to farms but who could become mischievous or dangerous if annoyed. Household variants might be given new clothes to get them to leave forever, although other <i>hobs </i>lived outside in caves or holes. The normal form in Northern and North Midland counties was apparently <i>Hobthrus</i> or <i>Hobthrust</i>, which is a compound of Middle English <i><a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED20919">hob(be)</a></i>, 'a hobgoblin', and <i><a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED45719">thurs(e)</a></i>, 'a devil, evil spirit', from OE <i>þyrs</i>/ON <i>þurs</i>, 'a giant, monster'; note, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/28220092/Dickins_Yorkshire_Hobs">Dickins</a> considers <i>hob</i> to be in fact an abbreviation of <i>hobthrus</i>, with the latter being the original form and the <i>hob</i> as a creature thus being a less-malevolent development of the Old Norse <i>þurs </i>(<i>thurs</i>)/Old English <i>þyrs </i>(<i>thyrs</i>).<br /><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Hob Lane</i>, East Halton (1804)—'a lane haunted by a hobgoblin'; see also the <i>Hoblurke </i>recorded at East Halton in the 1200s in the previous <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/12/the-monstrous-landscape-of-medieval.html">post</a>. A tale of a hobthurst (<i>hob + thurs</i>) from East Halton was <a href="https://amzn.to/2UOkbUw">collected</a> by Mabel Peacock around the turn of the nineteenth century, when it was apparently living in the cellar of Manor Farm in an iron pot and was described as 'a kind of devil' and 'a little fellow with a big head'. He would apparently help the farmer on occasion, for example driving sheep to the barn so that they could be sheared, although he was also mischievous and once left the wagon on top of the barn; the farmer was meant to leave the hobthrust a linen shirt for his help each year, but when he gave the creature a hempen shirt one year instead, the hobthrust set up an angry wail and refused to ever help on the farm again.</li><li><i>Hobbing hole</i>, Lissingleys in Buslingthorpe parish (1846)—'hollow frequented by a hobgoblin', presumably somewhere on the ancient medieval common pasturage and meeting-place of Lissingleys, now in Buslingthorpe parish but before 1851 an extra-parochial area shared between the surrounding parishes.</li><li><i>Hobthrust Dale</i>, Burton-upon-Stather (1698)—'the share of land haunted by a <i>hob-thrust</i>, a goblin', with <i>hob-thrust</i> as above.</li><li><i>Hobtrust Lane</i>, Goxhill (1775)—another name involving the compound <i>hobthrust</i> < <i>hob(be)</i> + <i>thurs(e)</i>. Note, Goxhill is a neighbouring village to East Halton, above.</li></ul><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtmHKO_p7NypNN1tybPaSb9sxpcl9n4b6sA_7Nn0I2dG4fS0udBYTJrstbQf9HvvKE7HpmidensmxxiX0U5hOG0bQof7cLY8LcptVQwwZY-YpiXucRTHeFwncup0XD1YPsK8-Oxb6IyPc/s500/P107b.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtmHKO_p7NypNN1tybPaSb9sxpcl9n4b6sA_7Nn0I2dG4fS0udBYTJrstbQf9HvvKE7HpmidensmxxiX0U5hOG0bQof7cLY8LcptVQwwZY-YpiXucRTHeFwncup0XD1YPsK8-Oxb6IyPc/s16000/P107b.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jane Eyre encountering Mr Rochester's horse, which she at first mistakes for a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gytrash">Gytrash</a>, a Northern English variant of the 'shag foal' (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P107b.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b><br />The 'Shag Foal'</b><b>—a rough-coated goblin horse</b></p><p></p>Also known as the Tatterfoal, he was goblin horse or donkey that was common across Lincolnshire and seems to have had a preference for hills; he is also said to have haunted Spittle Hill at Frieston, Ogarth Hill at Tathwell, Kirton-in-Lindsey, South Ferriby, and Boggart Lane at Roxby (below). According to <a href="https://amzn.to/2HmVYBv">Westwood and Simpson</a>, something akin to the 'shag foal' was first mention by Gervase of Tilbury in <i>c. </i>1211, when he termed it a 'grant'; <a href="https://amzn.to/2IV0Zlp">Eli Twigg</a> of Asgarthorpe in the nineteenth century described the shag foal as 'a shagg'd-looking hoss, and given to all manner of goings-on', including catching hold of anyone riding home drunk, pulling them from the saddle, and 'scaring a old woman three parts out of her skin, and making her drop her shop-things in the blatter and blash, and run for it'.<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Shag Foal</i>, Ulceby in North Lincolnshire (1826)—a piece of land haunted by a 'shag foal'.</li></ul><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeSeWtQG2_02q2Ch7M-52OyTIRSs9pdjLr_juGGomXfsTSBFyATmK3ag_RtzHMbZn8g4BrPqoPVoPWF-K7F_jaN6IIAe-12kFyDrjvKGmoS67w4NRHmhlSIvpmKLE1cJ-d6EhCSU6uI6DQ/s790/Roxby-oldmap.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8vaR3Ps_m4Iyq0dP4ifc6PpGPFiodxt5BcdGKGicL45iyHMY0aPQrp7qANW2qM7gcr7BWn5x8VGg4NqBbPT4nplgyeVarG_Eeik_OBusZLWYfOgMgwUiYrU6OD20fth8B-_Z6pqmnO-8l/s16000/Roxby-oldmap-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The road from Roxby to Winterton Cliff House in 1898, showing the position of Roxby Mill; this was presumably known as Boggart Lane in the 1830s, where a 'shag foal' was seen by a young man as he passed Roxby Mill (image: <a href="http://davidrumsey.georeferencer.com/maps/c0ba4b2d-04ce-5838-a338-adeb93911895/">David Rumsey</a>).<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><b><br />Boggarts</b><p></p>'Boggart' was a general northern term for a frightening creature that might be a ghost, malicious fairy or minor demon, with outdoor boggarts generally haunting pits, wells or lonely lanes.<ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Bogger Furlong</i>, Caistor (1649)—a furlong in the old open field that was haunted by a boggart.</li><li><i>Boggart Lane</i>, Roxby (1830s)—the boggart haunting this lane, also known as Goosey Lane, may be identical with the 'shag foal' met by a young man as he passed Roxby Mill, which was 'sum'ate as big as a watter-tub' and 'a gret shagg'd thing', with huge eyes; it 'shooved him roond wheniver he tried to slip past it'.</li></ul><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNOwvvcJiaTEQ3FIq4bVbWQkV3oSLYnRdqbsahge-dXSxRozEyu9T3vESpWUBSAjD17QhlR6Ru0tNFudY4jz0QeWSSfYdeJCQu1LHffioowvlrgI9NWG1Bt2eqJhOTjFPG4Np6FIjtSTSw/s1344/Stories_of_Beowulf_slave_stealing_golden_cup.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="465" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3rxSnYusxw6cX-XizwSWAYEhiTZoegWXBxgZT-pQfLl0JSzXy1M8bQAML16TOrQWg9ufBZPV34SXJDKAJ_cHjl49_tlenlLbUwVlCuq8T2IJ9-4PLeGZ1_6xyvyPH28Q2jGL8DSxbbTa/s16000/465px-Stories_of_Beowulf_slave_stealing_golden_cup.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>J. R. Skelton's 1908 illustration of the slave in Beowulf who stole the dragon's golden cup, thinking to redeem himself, and thus awoke the dragon</i><i> (image: Wikimedia Commons).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /><b>Dragons, trolls, elves & other creatures</b></p><p style="font-weight: bold;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Drakehou, drackhole</i>, Owmby by Spital (1330)—probably the hollow inhabited by a dragon, although the earliest form has the second element Old Norse <i>haugr</i>, 'mound, barrow', which would fit with other early-recorded dragons; as the Old English <i>Maxims II</i> puts it, <i>Draca sceal on hlæw, frod, frætwum wlanc, </i>'A dragon belongs in a mound, old and proud of treasures', and compare Drakelow, Derbyshire, <i>æt Dracan hlawen</i> in 942, which is Old English <i>dracan hlāw</i>, 'the dragon's mound'.</li><li><i>Drakehord</i>, Nettleham (1348–9)—Old English <i>dracanhord</i>, 'dragon's hoard'; see above.</li><li><i>Draykmoor</i>, Tetney (1764)—Middle English <i>drāke</i>, 'a dragon', + <i>mōr</i>, 'a marsh'.</li><li><i>Poke Close</i>, Willoughton (1554)—'the goblin infested enclosure', <i>pūca</i>, compare 'Puck of Pook's Hill'.</li><li><i>Trolleheudland</i>, Goxhill (1309)—'the headland (place where the plough turned) haunted by a troll'.</li><li><i>Aluehou</i>, Tetney (12th century)—a Scandinavian name meaning 'the mound, <i>haugr</i>, haunted by elves', </li><li><i>Scrittecroft</i>, Scothern (1216–72)—'croft, small field' + <i>scritta</i>, probably with the sense 'devil, wizard', cf. ON <i>skratti</i>.</li><li><i>Grimesdic</i>, Dunholme (1154–89)—'Grim's ditch', with reference to the Óðinn-name <i>Grímr</i> used as a synonym for the devil.</li><li><i>Grimeshow</i>, Nettleham (1348–9)—'Grim's mound/barrow, ON <i>haugr</i>', with reference to the Óðinn-name <i>Grímr</i> used as a synonym for the devil.</li></ul><p><br /><b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2020, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-42053343133854376142020-11-07T19:33:00.012+00:002020-11-08T12:06:29.947+00:00Some interesting early maps of Cornwall
<p>This post is primarily intended to share images of some of the interesting early maps of Cornwall that still exist, dating from the medieval era through until the early seventeenth century, following on from a similar post on early maps of <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/11/some-early-maps-of-lincolnshire.html">Lincolnshire</a>. Details of each map and a brief discussion of the principal points of interest are provided in the captions to the following image gallery, which I aim to add to over time.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv4B-myqZ1iTrdfQ9v6tBXAQqw62JlRUYfdlhEMkcvvv1lhRWMGTHvXslgeKFTPyS_zgxe2JSIefFSI8ehItpLUXXo1cPu6JatefKkXaf2-aRl2JQbCD4-unHVFJ7pQB8rpmQi3g4nMGno/s763/AS-WorldMap-1025-50.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="763" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv4B-myqZ1iTrdfQ9v6tBXAQqw62JlRUYfdlhEMkcvvv1lhRWMGTHvXslgeKFTPyS_zgxe2JSIefFSI8ehItpLUXXo1cPu6JatefKkXaf2-aRl2JQbCD4-unHVFJ7pQB8rpmQi3g4nMGno/w400-h356/AS-WorldMap-1025-50.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Detail from the Anglo-Saxon world map from Cotton MS Tiberius B V/1, dated c. 1025–50, probably drawn at Canterbury; click for a larger view. The map is in an unusual rectangular format and is believed to have been based on a model made during the Roman period. Many medieval mappa mundi don't offer any real indication of the Cornish peninsula, but this map clearly depicts it; the British Library <a href="https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/a/001cottibb00005u00056v00.html">notes</a> that the size of the Cornish peninsula is exaggerated' and suggests that this is 'probably reflecting the importance of its copper and tin mines in the ancient world'. The image drawn on the Cornish peninsula is uncertain: it could be two figures fighting, possibly a reference to conflicts between the Britons of that area and the Anglo-Saxon kings of Wessex, as the BL suggests? (image: <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/anglo-saxon-world-map">British Library</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVWzEHgvchUtxRqMNOIyL9Ca2vdYjRslIrhjxjMod21HVzeUw3WebY8XLToQBb_WMPL5Izt01A-NThZDqsVFRGEs2N65SN4-3c7Zf5JWDhkaduzci5KqLwc-I2KA53pFXqq6ygy8wcf5oM/s901/Al-Idrisi12thC-reconstructed.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="901" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVWzEHgvchUtxRqMNOIyL9Ca2vdYjRslIrhjxjMod21HVzeUw3WebY8XLToQBb_WMPL5Izt01A-NThZDqsVFRGEs2N65SN4-3c7Zf5JWDhkaduzci5KqLwc-I2KA53pFXqq6ygy8wcf5oM/w400-h318/Al-Idrisi12thC-reconstructed.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Al-Idrīsī's mid-twelfth-century Arabic map of Britain, from a late sixteenth-century copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford</i><i>; the map is split across three different drawings which have been combined together here so that the whole island can be seen </i><i>(Bodleian Library MS. Pococke 375 folios 281b-282a, </i><i>308b, 310b-311a)—click for a larger view</i><i>. The map is orientated with south at the top, rather than north; the south coast of England runs right-to-left along the top of the map and then down to the bottom right corner. As with the Anglo-Saxon Cotton Map, which may be based on a lost Roman original, the Cornish peninsula is exaggerated and very obvious as the sharp-pointed finger of land on the right of the image, though no towns or rivers are named and the peninsula is noted only as 'the extremity of England'</i><i>. For more on this map, see my note '<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/03/al-idrisi-twelfth-century-map.html">Al-Idrisi's twelfth-century map and description of eastern England</a>', which includes Konrad Miller's redrawn and transliterated version of al-Idrīsī's map, and '<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/04/islamic-gold-dinars-anglo-norman.html">Islamic gold dinars in late eleventh- and twelfth-century England</a>', which maps the towns al-Idrīsī depicts along the south coast, the most westerly of these being Dorchester, Dorset. (</i><i>Image: <a href="https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/p/636369c4-8e8b-4ace-8b99-c44643cb5975">Bodleian Library</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8hrMHBij4lXXFo4EUGxH8PgD6nfqDqrl7olRsbhrPR5Rbk-ve6OpjnOlm9J06FnKJ4vQSBix0Hj6XKvVUP1wVMBUiVaTB7yEDNNaIfNhES4JhujwrqCD0ThaxoB8fIIvF-M52RRWofuy/s1206/MatthewParisMap-Cornwall.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="997" data-original-width="1206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8hrMHBij4lXXFo4EUGxH8PgD6nfqDqrl7olRsbhrPR5Rbk-ve6OpjnOlm9J06FnKJ4vQSBix0Hj6XKvVUP1wVMBUiVaTB7yEDNNaIfNhES4JhujwrqCD0ThaxoB8fIIvF-M52RRWofuy/s400/MatthewParisMap-Cornwall.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Map of Cornwall and the South-West, extracted from the map of England by Matthew Paris, c. 1250; click for a larger view. The names Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset are large labels written in blue and red ink, with Dorset written in red ink; Dorset is oddly placed north of Somerset and Devon is curiously to the north of both of these and slightly to the east of Dorset. The place-name on the far west of Cornwall is Bodmin, with Tintagel then to the north-east of this </i><i>(above the label for Cornwall), whilst the next name to the east, on the south coast, is Dartmouth, with </i><i>a river separating it from Totnes and the Scilly Isles then being depicted as an island immediately to the south of these names; </i><i>the Corpus Christi College Library, Cambridge, version of this map (top half only) also mentions St Michael's Mount in Cornwall on its scale legend, but this is not depicted on this map.</i><i> Note, the name next to the 'Cornwall' label and on the west of a bend of the river is Exeter, with Portsmouth written vertically below this to the east of Totnes. (Image: BL Cotton MS Claudius D VI, fol. 12v, via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Britannienkarte_des_Matthew_Paris.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJqdb43fUEtR3UK3v4qrmqqozvtYv5zcz6kANhICZcV7LCVFAhe0fjf50kW9hAJEuppk4x4aIZmi-EbY9i_aAsOBQadgo1c5kLpjBEWVTZ_U1MDniW7t804JniNEbcXuSHKMHanNjzP7j/s1206/MatthewParisMap-Cornwall.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgonjTCm2r3Ms1mMXqn53Q4pdBLUMAYtMFEcr00IqIrROoxb_8RGYv1Us_hL15g5IKZN0mw3fSmk6-egRZJAYq_X9dGo5-Os46f2jy0fAqrgE2gmBt3ZLtVnjkvjwFtSiDBw-PwNLU5DXtv/s870/Cornwall-portolan-1331.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="740" data-original-width="870" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgonjTCm2r3Ms1mMXqn53Q4pdBLUMAYtMFEcr00IqIrROoxb_8RGYv1Us_hL15g5IKZN0mw3fSmk6-egRZJAYq_X9dGo5-Os46f2jy0fAqrgE2gmBt3ZLtVnjkvjwFtSiDBw-PwNLU5DXtv/s400/Cornwall-portolan-1331.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A portolan chart of south-western England and southern Wales by Genoese cartographer Pietro Vesconte with north on the right, c. 1331, based on his earlier portolan sailing charts and mariners' reports; click for a larger view. The Cornish peninsula is clearly visible, as is the Bristol Channel, and various place-names are readable, including Mousehole, St Michael's Mount, Lizard, Falmouth, Fowey and Plymouth. Note, there is significantly more detail shown of the south coast of Cornwall than there is of the north (Image: <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/portolan-chart-of-western-europe-by-pietro-vesconte">British Library</a></i><i>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBW9m2hbqxl9gNahm9zrdc5b1vR0qpyhyMXrIdMDS3AozMWKIE9qQqm40UIFSthP5JG3CxFpLq_YfxavBKZC070N55WS2ivk9HuHlZF-MDPXgqbssDjZVKaCcQV4yC_2EeivL626UYNEKg/s1505/Gough_Kaart_Cornwall.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1505" data-original-width="1246" height="483" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBW9m2hbqxl9gNahm9zrdc5b1vR0qpyhyMXrIdMDS3AozMWKIE9qQqm40UIFSthP5JG3CxFpLq_YfxavBKZC070N55WS2ivk9HuHlZF-MDPXgqbssDjZVKaCcQV4yC_2EeivL626UYNEKg/w530-h640/Gough_Kaart_Cornwall.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Close up of Cornwall and Devon on the fourteenth-century <a href="http://www.goughmap.org/">Gough Map</a> (c. 1360), which has east at the top and north on the left, showing major roads, rivers and settlements. Cornwall and Devon are written in red on the map, along with a single routeway marked in red moving from the top of the map (east) and ultimately London through to the tip of Cornwall. Important places are marked by drawings of buildings/churches of varying sizes; the names are very difficult to decipher, but the road is believed to terminate at Iwes, St Ives, which is potentially a point of some interest with regard to St Ives's local import. Other places on the map have been identified as Bodmin, Boscastle, Camelford, Fowey, ?Launceton, Liskeard, Looe, Lostwithiel, Padstow, Penzance, Redruth, St Buryan, St Colomb, St Germans, St Michael's Mount, ?Stratton, ?Tintagel, Tregony, and Truro. (Image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gough_Kaart_(hoge_resolutie).jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).
</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPL9S6aauTLbvqNbxYsoP8e4AwtCkQSb_oWVtig6ahEWRm2MyVSu4O4-zsWNvwivMjXEHbUj3ip6VbhluUo4BpTRNkVwvt64Z8hX8MO2QbtfF8-70SB6g8z1ad80zLaOVh5s2RxqxprIdH/s676/gough-redrawn.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="550" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPL9S6aauTLbvqNbxYsoP8e4AwtCkQSb_oWVtig6ahEWRm2MyVSu4O4-zsWNvwivMjXEHbUj3ip6VbhluUo4BpTRNkVwvt64Z8hX8MO2QbtfF8-70SB6g8z1ad80zLaOVh5s2RxqxprIdH/w325-h400/gough-redrawn.jpg" width="325" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A redrawn version of the Gough Map showing more clearly the details of the Devon and Cornwall; note, only a few of the names are transcribed on this; click image for a larger view. (Image: <a href="http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/hantscat/html/scggh1.htm">Ordnance Survey, 1875</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxub8DTpNZZlhPUX0-3Unkg0PIsTpH-4YtJlh5KzXMSyFngkkCK2TGB6CGHD0QdpoBRVRFgWMNGf92Z6HHUZtKSQgh1I7McYkEXO5LNkGFNCcYkIxh3DFMKoxCYzLyHjIQkx162upE64Ao/s1046/Cornwall-portolan-15thC.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="771" data-original-width="1046" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxub8DTpNZZlhPUX0-3Unkg0PIsTpH-4YtJlh5KzXMSyFngkkCK2TGB6CGHD0QdpoBRVRFgWMNGf92Z6HHUZtKSQgh1I7McYkEXO5LNkGFNCcYkIxh3DFMKoxCYzLyHjIQkx162upE64Ao/s400/Cornwall-portolan-15thC.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A portolan sailing chart of Cornwall drawn by </i><i>Grazioso Benincasa of Ancona, Italy,</i><i> dated 1466, showing numerous places including Mousehole, Falmouth, Fowey and Portsmouth. It is worth comparing this to the c. 1331 chart by Pietro Vesconte, above, as there is slightly more detail of the north coast, with two bays shown, perhaps St Ives Bay and Padstow/the Camel Estuary.</i><i> (Image: <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b59011091/f3.item">BnF</a></i><i>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47YAz0nLPg0mRbQc20c1ipt0e3UJij4SzrxTEK3j1p70WrlCJfLTa06Ta_mckePHMSVrUvN9qMGshhQzjnU_4Et1ffFYIDeCzuL-JHTA0Y_mCsTidyypSRNiidJNo_-cB9zO5S_p5ERJ8/s822/portolan-cornwall-1510.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="822" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47YAz0nLPg0mRbQc20c1ipt0e3UJij4SzrxTEK3j1p70WrlCJfLTa06Ta_mckePHMSVrUvN9qMGshhQzjnU_4Et1ffFYIDeCzuL-JHTA0Y_mCsTidyypSRNiidJNo_-cB9zO5S_p5ERJ8/s400/portolan-cornwall-1510.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Another, slightly later portolan sailing chart of Cornwall drawn by </i><i>Visconte Maggiolo of Genoa, Italy,</i><i> dated 1510; a comparison with the previous portolans of c. 1331 and 1466 shows that there had been further development of the north coast of Cornwall and Devon.</i><i> (Image: British Library, <a href="http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/p/001ege000002803u00006v00.html">Egerton MS. 2803 f. 6v</a></i><i>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBcj1wmhK1AVLEDE7fDXMu-njCpSgzqmJgV2EAgH_yD_9z7pHFUihOIWrRaXcz1VcrV7xyYANlx6PxeDewEAM4ruEmNf4nP7Ekgnte_0oiMzL4yQPqjE800eLsWqAyl3ksycx6A76vHtJc/s966/Angliae+Figura+-+Cornwall.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="966" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBcj1wmhK1AVLEDE7fDXMu-njCpSgzqmJgV2EAgH_yD_9z7pHFUihOIWrRaXcz1VcrV7xyYANlx6PxeDewEAM4ruEmNf4nP7Ekgnte_0oiMzL4yQPqjE800eLsWqAyl3ksycx6A76vHtJc/w400-h213/Angliae+Figura+-+Cornwall.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Extract from the Angliae Figura showing Cornwall and Devon (click image for a larger view), a vellum map probably created in the 1530s and perhaps hanging at Hampton Court as the property of Henry VIII; both this map and the Gough Map are thought to derive from a common source map dating from around 1290. The coastline of Cornwall and Devon is included in this extract, with Devon, Cornwall and Exeter labelled in red. A significant number of place-names in Cornwall are also labelled, including St Just, St Buryan, St Ives, Lelant, St Michael's Mount, St Columb, Falmouth, Padstow, Bodmin, Tintagel, St Austell and Looe; there are also reasonable depictions of the Hayle Estuary, the Fal Estuary, and the Tamar river. (Image: <a href="http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/a/001cotaugi00001u00009000.html">British Library</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir90FcrclWsbrRh2B2pQtfCGyEzyQAErxeEHH48RwijKD_YFXh44Lt-TnpgAMxFbDUaDaiRRXG9ia-vOfo9HMKe1CxVP8eJsg8sdOdF7XqKn8-VY7NQ4Y3bcr-c2JJQz0eUCTke8nibTU2/s1920/download+%252814%2529.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="1920" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir90FcrclWsbrRh2B2pQtfCGyEzyQAErxeEHH48RwijKD_YFXh44Lt-TnpgAMxFbDUaDaiRRXG9ia-vOfo9HMKe1CxVP8eJsg8sdOdF7XqKn8-VY7NQ4Y3bcr-c2JJQz0eUCTke8nibTU2/w400-h121/download+%252814%2529.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Cornish section of a detailed, ten-foot-long map of south-west coast of England from Exeter to Lands End, dated 1539-40; click <a href="https://images.iiifhosting.com/iiif/54b2fd5df4cd734306d5fcef8deee37f80602f08a65533088090177939d9745b/">here</a> for a zoomable version. According to the <a href="http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/s/001cotaugi00001u00035000.html">British Library</a>, this map is the result of an order by Thomas Cromwell in 1539 for the coasts to be surveyed by local people, with these then being edited and compiled and then presented to King Henry VIII and displayed in Whitehall; the intent was to show where foreign invaders might land, with forts and intended-but-unmade forts marked. The following images consist of details taken from this map. (Image: <a href="http://britishlibrary.georeferencer.com/maps/d345797b-b6f5-50ab-954d-46150cc1c513/">British Library</a>, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/12459282544">Cotton Augustus I. i. 35</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLBSIJhqet0W24yQ3-B0W07-tZwm0xfOZihqvxkEECxPfzFcBiYIu5hhzqh35ywmVLSn23jTTCAY15lKy5psdPAJ7MARVAh-XrnN-tUCdXdZRWGFLqSzCw4Wtxuw1jW1MKMySQ5toXUH5/s1282/StIvesBay-and-HayleEstuary-1539.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLBSIJhqet0W24yQ3-B0W07-tZwm0xfOZihqvxkEECxPfzFcBiYIu5hhzqh35ywmVLSn23jTTCAY15lKy5psdPAJ7MARVAh-XrnN-tUCdXdZRWGFLqSzCw4Wtxuw1jW1MKMySQ5toXUH5/s400/StIvesBay-and-HayleEstuary-1539.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>St Ives Bay and the Hayle Estuary on the above 1539-40 map of Cornwall, showing St Ives' church, medieval harbour and the fortification built in 1490 known as 'The Castle' (perhaps modern <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn10">Quay House</a> on the harbour beach</i><i>), <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/05/phillack-and-the-hayle-estuary.html">Phillack Church</a> in the Towans (sand-dunes) of St Ives Bay, and Lelant; click image for a larger view (Image: <a href="http://britishlibrary.georeferencer.com/maps/d345797b-b6f5-50ab-954d-46150cc1c513/">British Library</a>, Cotton Augustus I. i. 35).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyR_wlP3aPdm-DTXx2FVg5mzWIn0_bC5wdeDGDMOhvqop3E2MgbtkOPhe8j9kQFffGIpMQu7V4e_kKna6FL10j_h1N2V3AaipqIrxNwPnxSvrblHQq9O-El-EL4lC33g-Llzzgf65wXAcr/s2000/Cotton_Augustus_I_i_f34_MountsBay.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1404" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyR_wlP3aPdm-DTXx2FVg5mzWIn0_bC5wdeDGDMOhvqop3E2MgbtkOPhe8j9kQFffGIpMQu7V4e_kKna6FL10j_h1N2V3AaipqIrxNwPnxSvrblHQq9O-El-EL4lC33g-Llzzgf65wXAcr/s400/Cotton_Augustus_I_i_f34_MountsBay.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mount's Bay in around 1540 under a hypothetical invasion scenario, showing Mousehole on the top right, Penzance on the bottom right, St Michael's Mount in the bay, and Chapel Rock between the Mount and Marazion still with its chapel upon it. (Image: British Library, <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/mounts-bay-cornwall">Cotton MS Augustus I i 34</a></i><i>)</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7hNwSdNCt2nOfsYwLHcsKjMiUcVrp7xyHNWoij0y86lKOkfhRuou7ZyXJXfDRBo0fFJZy3fzbYGVSmqqiY4G576skXZ5xQ_P7DPhLmaNTD-3cYhGLqFDCiPseDDEWtQJ9IlOTP-cD9_aI/s1162/Mercator-Cornwall-1554.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="1162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7hNwSdNCt2nOfsYwLHcsKjMiUcVrp7xyHNWoij0y86lKOkfhRuou7ZyXJXfDRBo0fFJZy3fzbYGVSmqqiY4G576skXZ5xQ_P7DPhLmaNTD-3cYhGLqFDCiPseDDEWtQJ9IlOTP-cD9_aI/s400/Mercator-Cornwall-1554.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Cornish peninsula on the France page of Mercator's Atlas of Europe, which was based on his 1554 wall map of Europe (p. 10). (Image: British Library, <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/mercator-atlas-of-europe">Maps C.29.c.13</a></i><i>)</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7x0bnHs-NJL9lNf3o_VLr7oaM4_7CwQBjdGbdR2ih4Ili688baI3cKtpE8St4tgwsWXfdkTEIeouNfKIaTuUkZq73pLPHMMkVXLl73UCVn6HVVPK8j6r-cRbP8D2qzE5RYVp-hTvSpnsB/s1006/Mercator-Cornwall-detailed.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1006" data-original-width="931" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7x0bnHs-NJL9lNf3o_VLr7oaM4_7CwQBjdGbdR2ih4Ili688baI3cKtpE8St4tgwsWXfdkTEIeouNfKIaTuUkZq73pLPHMMkVXLl73UCVn6HVVPK8j6r-cRbP8D2qzE5RYVp-hTvSpnsB/s400/Mercator-Cornwall-detailed.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Gerard Mercator's engraving of a map of Cornwall, originally produced in 1564 and put together into atlas form in the 1570s; north is on the right hand side for this map, which is thought to have been simply engraved by Mercator from an English original, possibly produced by John Elder to assist the French or Spanish in planning an invasion to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I. It is worth noting that the map offers more detail than many earlier maps, but also has a notable number of inaccuracies, such as the placement of St Michael's Mount as inland rather than in Mount's Bay and St Ives on the east of the Hayle Estuary. (Image: British Library, <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/mercator-atlas-of-europe">Maps C.29.c.13</a>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzBhO1OTfD4SLlqHhovdhLOl-Cso0SGRllqZ-iK0YQbxdjiMq2FC43LPidXsTe9WHzfyb4TBKasyPS8rWRKeT6_U6PJBCm2-Xfzf8Dcp5X3z6mbAPPTYKW3TawXXPxngU01ZpopFJZNs4/s1602/LordBurghley-Cornwall-1595.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="1602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzBhO1OTfD4SLlqHhovdhLOl-Cso0SGRllqZ-iK0YQbxdjiMq2FC43LPidXsTe9WHzfyb4TBKasyPS8rWRKeT6_U6PJBCm2-Xfzf8Dcp5X3z6mbAPPTYKW3TawXXPxngU01ZpopFJZNs4/s400/LordBurghley-Cornwall-1595.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A section from the detailed Map of Cornwall by William Saxton, dated 1576, included in the atlas of Lord Burghley, first published 1579; click the image for a larger view of this section and <a href="http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=royal_ms_18_d_iii_f008r">here</a> for zoomable version of the entire map. (Image: British Library, <a href="http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=royal_ms_18_d_iii_f008r">Royal MS. 18. D.III, f.8r</a></i><i>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi553rocAsF2sBnEqBhtTrqxM-tcVFlP9YDviwWclDAiBZ6eF8XbI9IBEoupwxWrGsykCbeGTz5OTWSbRqiVsQPdCK535Wbp1r5pv4S1AKzI-_-bnwNVdD-1X_DQRhr36_g8r9HkvUVhDdz/s1469/Saxton-full-map-Cornwall.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1166" data-original-width="1469" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi553rocAsF2sBnEqBhtTrqxM-tcVFlP9YDviwWclDAiBZ6eF8XbI9IBEoupwxWrGsykCbeGTz5OTWSbRqiVsQPdCK535Wbp1r5pv4S1AKzI-_-bnwNVdD-1X_DQRhr36_g8r9HkvUVhDdz/s400/Saxton-full-map-Cornwall.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A full view of a different copy of the Map of Cornwall by William Saxton, dated 1576; click the image for a larger view of this map. (Image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/12458730345/in/photolist-dPvU9j-jZ1CAJ-jYWftB-QAJVfT-2gXbNiZ-QAJVnB-2gXbMUn-qvtz98-48KQCT-dPqgGX-nTdunB">British Library</a></i><i>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxgq1aJti34GwFDDmGPchBb4O-oKDGUgu71X1zg2nuJYaFRTJPl9kgXwXhO9K0wVO7oDVWhlps9TYgvEMCJyrCl9BcapxC0nX41XyqK4qnU72ASWR12TQhx2HtrN_RbwEniXezpH3PYtJ/s1784/LordBurghleyAtlas-Falmouth+Haven.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1222" data-original-width="1784" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxgq1aJti34GwFDDmGPchBb4O-oKDGUgu71X1zg2nuJYaFRTJPl9kgXwXhO9K0wVO7oDVWhlps9TYgvEMCJyrCl9BcapxC0nX41XyqK4qnU72ASWR12TQhx2HtrN_RbwEniXezpH3PYtJ/s400/LordBurghleyAtlas-Falmouth+Haven.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A map of Falmouth Haven from the atlas of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, <a href="http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/f/001roy000018d03u00016000.html">dated 1595</a>. It takes the form of a bird's eye view of Falmouth Haven, with St Mawes and its larger sister castle, Pendennis at the mouth. (Image: British Library, <a href="https://britishlibrary.georeferencer.com/maps/2a0d5c68-1403-569f-a347-ef23e9def27d/">Royal MS. 18. D.III, f.16</a></i><i>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir75r0Am7qF8ZjuzBUqRXzX4x9crYVTz6XT2uBpO6lrjxfF0AcWTzvL5TiAjO1Em3Un4JtxDtvo9iJ7IHJV-rdSUFTQJrJ1cEmn04gr-LGjXhgM1BSWsdTMauLaNE4fjIsxkyZfmIde3-b/s1861/Speed-1611-Cornwall.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1395" data-original-width="1861" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir75r0Am7qF8ZjuzBUqRXzX4x9crYVTz6XT2uBpO6lrjxfF0AcWTzvL5TiAjO1Em3Un4JtxDtvo9iJ7IHJV-rdSUFTQJrJ1cEmn04gr-LGjXhgM1BSWsdTMauLaNE4fjIsxkyZfmIde3-b/s400/Speed-1611-Cornwall.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Proof version of John Speed's 1611/12 map of Cornwall, which closely followed the Saxton map of 1576 in offering a much more accurate and detailed depiction of the county, but includes additional settlements, rivers and other details; a zoomable version of this map is available <a href="http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-ATLAS-00002-00061-00001/18">here</a>. Speed's map also includes a plan of Launceston and drawings of some stones, including The Hurlers. (Image: <a href="http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-ATLAS-00002-00061-00001/18">Cambridge University</a></i><i>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1nnZb_zq9cZBytYe1Y0I45pbbzyZyQobiC8pwHdWUhDN-f7hJFFTI6UtGg4LcEQ9eTeN0qu4yVSUmSLZDekA9vSc70iOET_wI6RvBrr0Ypuz-a24jXWqsQT73M6x0y4vY52aUCJR_dgof/s1536/Drayton1622.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1091" data-original-width="1536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1nnZb_zq9cZBytYe1Y0I45pbbzyZyQobiC8pwHdWUhDN-f7hJFFTI6UtGg4LcEQ9eTeN0qu4yVSUmSLZDekA9vSc70iOET_wI6RvBrr0Ypuz-a24jXWqsQT73M6x0y4vY52aUCJR_dgof/s400/Drayton1622.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A map of Cornwall and Devon with places and rivers represented anthropomorphically, drawn</i><i> by William Hole and </i><i>used to illustrate Michael Drayton's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly-Olbion">Poly-Olbion</a>, </i><i>from a copy dated 1622; click the image for a closer view or <a href="https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~285604~90058157#">here</a> for a zoomable version. The maps from Poly-Olbion are particularly interested in the rivers of Cornwall and the other counties of England, and depict a nymph for each major river; these are shown</i><i> 'disporting themselves in a variety of engaging poses', as the Society of Antiquaries <a href="https://www.sal.org.uk/collections/explore-our-collections/collections-highlights/river-severn-from-poly-olbion/">puts it</a>. </i><i>(Image: <a href="https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~285604~90058157#">David Rumsey</a></i><i>).</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<br /><b>The text content of this post and page is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2020, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-83850720768753999672019-12-28T19:55:00.000+00:002019-12-28T19:55:47.674+00:00A man of possible African ancestry buried in Anglo-Scandinavian YorkThe aim of the following brief note is to direct attention to a burial from a late ninth- to early eleventh-century cemetery in York. The burials here were originally excavated in 1989–90, but an osteological analysis in 2015 suggested that one of the people buried here was a man of possible African or mixed ancestry.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSdu-PZeJi2t8dftTFc9PDnQLIbRd693zOus7b6gjFr4yhS0plY3wN2UaSOvuRidCPLppnOkPmzgWXXvcNlAIsNTGwb_nWizsuJke955T5BHZJTHhpInKudE67L_Sfak0m85NUWi7Gq3ww/s1600/jorvik-cityscape_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="650" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSdu-PZeJi2t8dftTFc9PDnQLIbRd693zOus7b6gjFr4yhS0plY3wN2UaSOvuRidCPLppnOkPmzgWXXvcNlAIsNTGwb_nWizsuJke955T5BHZJTHhpInKudE67L_Sfak0m85NUWi7Gq3ww/s400/jorvik-cityscape_2.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Reconstruction painting of the wooden houses of the Viking-Age city of Jorvik (York), as it might have appeared in the early 10th century (image: <a href="https://www.mylearning.org/resources/jorvik-reconstruction">York Archaeological Trust</a>, CC BY-NC-SA).</i></td></tr>
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The burial in question is known as SK 3377, which is a well-preserved skeleton of a mature adult male that was buried in a wooden coffin dated via dendrochronology to 'after 892'. This oak coffin comes from a late ninth- to early eleventh-century cemetery that was excavated at 12-18 Swinegate, 14 Little Stonegate and 18 Back Swinegate, York, in 1989–90, this being originally the graveyard of the former St Benet's Church at York (demolished between 1299 and 1307). Around 100 burials have been excavated from this site, half of which were placed in wooden coffins with no metal fittings, and only a single burial within the cemetery was accompanied by grave goods. In this context, SK 3377 doesn't appear to have been treated noticeably different from the majority of the people who were buried there.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/12/african-viking-york.html#fn1">1</a>) Seven of the skeletons from this cemetery, including SK 3379, were subsequently examined in 2015 by Katie Keefe and Malin Holst of <a href="http://www.yorkosteoarch.co.uk/index.php">York Osteoarchaeology</a>. They concluded that the population of this cemetery as a whole showed signs of having lived a physically strenuous life and suffered from poor health, with SK 3379 being just one of a number of people buried here who had evidence for dietary deficiencies, joint disease and crush injuries to their spines. However, an examination of the remains in order to make ancestry determinations suggested that SK 3379 was unusual in one way: unlike the other six individuals examined, Malin Holst and Katie Keefe concluded that he 'may have been of African or mixed ancestry and may have migrated to York or descended from those that did'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/12/african-viking-york.html#fn2">2</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk0IU3VzIdHmNN3wU4GJ0xbAqiqRP_ek4rK4kkwM6-io6vDnMsz80agLdRABKu3l8tGwAdRyONp6809bfIHj702N_xAm4yNurw_066lHkYuYs36gHaT5dsdcv9L3WMQx501OLp35mWlnta/s1600/Jorvik_Fishermen_tableau_05_May_2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="1024" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk0IU3VzIdHmNN3wU4GJ0xbAqiqRP_ek4rK4kkwM6-io6vDnMsz80agLdRABKu3l8tGwAdRyONp6809bfIHj702N_xAm4yNurw_066lHkYuYs36gHaT5dsdcv9L3WMQx501OLp35mWlnta/s400/Jorvik_Fishermen_tableau_05_May_2017.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A tableau of fishermen working and talking at Anglo-Scandinavian York, from the <a href="https://www.jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk/">Jorvik Viking Centre</a>, York (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jorvik_Fishermen_tableau_05_May_2017.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
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Needless to say, the above possibility is of considerable interest. SK 3379 is not, of course, the first person from Late Saxon/Anglo-Scandinavian England to have been identified as of potential 'Sub-Saharan' African ancestry. As was detailed in a <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/09/a-great-host-of-captives.html">previous post</a>, a small number of other burials from this period have been identified with varying degrees of certainty as those of people of African ancestry on the basis of an examination of their skeletal remains. One of these burials was discovered in 2013 at Fairford, Gloucestershire, and has been described as being that of 'a woman, aged between 18 and 24, from Sub-Saharan Africa', with radiocarbon dating indicating that she very probably died at some point between AD 896 and 1025, although the full details of this burial are unfortunately yet to be published.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/12/african-viking-york.html#fn3">3</a>) Perhaps the best known, however, is that of an apparent African woman buried <i>c</i>. 1000 in the Late Saxon cemetery at North Elmham, Norfolk. This burial is discussed in detail in Calvin Wells' and Helen Cayton's contribution to the <i>East Anglian Archaeology </i>report on North Elmham, published in 1980, and also in Helen Cayton's 1977 PhD thesis, and the identification is said by them to 'leave little doubt' and be 'incontestable', although we do need to be aware that this ancestry determination was made some time ago and without details provided of how it was reached.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/12/african-viking-york.html#fn4">4</a>) In addition, there is an interesting body of oxygen isotope evidence drawn from archaeological human teeth for the presence of people in seventh- to ninth-century in eastern Britain who could potentially have grown up in North Africa. In particular, multiple people buried in both the Bamburgh and Ely cemeteries have phosphate oxygen isotope values that might be consistent with them having spent their youth in a warmer and more southerly region such as parts of southernmost Iberia or North Africa. Such a situation would, of course, find support in the often-noted description of Hadrian—the later seventh and early eighth-century Abbot of St Augustine's, Canterbury—as 'a man of African race' by Bede (<i>Historia Ecclesiastica</i>, IV.1), perhaps reflecting an early life spent in Libya Cyrenaica, although in the present context it must be recognised that the above isotopic evidence cannot tell us about the ancestry so much as the geographical origins of these people.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/12/african-viking-york.html#fn5">5</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjtaUU5Ehyphenhyphenbi1AGlJuIOxzLNIfeicRRWS1lLFhUgpsNYeRIv97RFWcIKtrDAeSZVxBVmNtBMiTeplwYo6lT9nj8qJmdulvM1LU95lBJTE_wD9w1IUCOOTGPdXQIEOvMyJmVJ06O_32gNQY/s1600/FA-330.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjtaUU5Ehyphenhyphenbi1AGlJuIOxzLNIfeicRRWS1lLFhUgpsNYeRIv97RFWcIKtrDAeSZVxBVmNtBMiTeplwYo6lT9nj8qJmdulvM1LU95lBJTE_wD9w1IUCOOTGPdXQIEOvMyJmVJ06O_32gNQY/s400/FA-330.png" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The final section of FA 330, detailing how the Vikings brought a 'great host' of North African captives back to Ireland, from O'Donovan's 1860 edition of the text; click the image for a larger view (image: <a href="https://archive.org/stream/annalsofirelandt00irisuoft#page/162/mode/1up">Internet Archive</a>).</i></td></tr>
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In addition to such archaeological parallels, attention can also be drawn to the evidence of the eleventh-century <i>Fragmentary Annals of Ireland</i>, which relates the story of a Viking raid on Morocco (Mauritania) in the mid-ninth century that led to the taking of 'a great host' of captives:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Then they brought a great host of them captive with them to Ireland, <i>i.e.</i> those are the black men. For Mauri is the same as <i>nigri</i>; 'Mauritania' is the same as <i>nigritudo</i>. Hardly one in three of the Norwegians escaped, between those who were slain, and those who drowned in the Gaditanian Straits. Now those black men remained in Ireland for a long time.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/12/african-viking-york.html#fn6">6</a>)</blockquote>
This account was discussed at length in a <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/09/a-great-host-of-captives.html">previous post</a>, and the notion that it reflects real events is supported by Al-Bakrī's <i>Kitāb al-Masālik wa-al-Mamālik</i>, which relates that 'Majūs [Vikings]—God curse them—landed at Nakūr [Nekor, Morocco], in the year 244 (858–9). They took the city, plundered it, and made its inhabitants slaves, except those who saved themselves by flight... The Majūs stayed eight days in Nakūr.'(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/12/african-viking-york.html#fn7">7</a>) Likewise, the late ninth-century Christian <i>Chronicle of Alfonso III</i> relates that the 'Northman pirates... sailed the sea and attacked Nekur, a city in Mauritania, and there they killed a vast number of Muslims.'(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/12/african-viking-york.html#fn8">8</a>)<br />
<br />
Of course, it does need to be emphasised that there is no reason to directly connect the burials of a small number of people of possible African or mixed ancestry in Late Saxon/Anglo-Scandinavian England with this specific, mid-ninth-century Viking raid on Morocco. Rather, the various accounts of a raid on Morocco are best interpreted as offering support for the plausibility of the sort of movement between North Africa and Britain/Ireland in this period that might have resulted in SK 3379 having 'migrated to York' or been 'descended from those that did', if he was indeed of 'African or mixed ancestry' as Keefe and Holst cautiously suggest. Likewise, we don't need to assume that all such interactions were hostile in the way described in the <i>Fragmentary Annals </i>either, nor that any people of African ancestry who might have been present in Britain at this time were enslaved or descended from enslaved people. Certainly, there is nothing from the burial of SK 3379 himself to offer support for such a conclusion; instead, he appears in both life and death to be similar to the rest of the community buried at St Benet's.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Moy0AYLVIKNNalMQvdHHUops5-sM1Reaqk5dDwtg9PDjyrU0q9HcPJpLNCcE7JrjGoNJZLiH4-nXONk4F3mX6WxdSOjm7RE-RkvhqA5s_77KjiVCQY6CJgN-xK81ftXVd-iWC6IXGfgK/s1600/DENOFCA770.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="1000" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Moy0AYLVIKNNalMQvdHHUops5-sM1Reaqk5dDwtg9PDjyrU0q9HcPJpLNCcE7JrjGoNJZLiH4-nXONk4F3mX6WxdSOjm7RE-RkvhqA5s_77KjiVCQY6CJgN-xK81ftXVd-iWC6IXGfgK/s400/DENOFCA770.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A silver penny minted at York in the name of St Peter of York, c. 921–7, found in Lincolnshire near to Newark (image: <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/930740">PAS</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<br />
<i>Notes</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span id="fn1"></span>1. </i>For details of this burial site and discussions of the material found there, see K. Keefe & M. Holst, <i>Osteological Analysis 12-18 Swinegate, 14 Little Stonegate & 18 Back Swinegate, York, North Yorkshire</i>, York Osteology Report no. 1815 (York, 2015); J. M. McComish, <i>The Pre-Conquest Coffins from 12-18
Swinegate and 18 Back Swinegate</i>, York Archaeological Trust Report no. 2015/46 (York, 2015); S. J. Allen, <i>Wooden Coffins and Grave Furniture from 12–18 Swinegate, 14 Little Stonegate, and 18 Back Swinegate, York (YORYM 1989.28, 1990.28, 1990.1): an Insight Report</i> (York, 2015); and J. L. Buckberry, A Social and Anthropological Analysis of Conversion Period and Later Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, 4 vols. (University of Sheffield PhD Thesis, 2004), vol. 1, pp. 23–5, 185, 217–19.<br />
<i><span id="fn2"></span>2. </i>Keefe & Holst, <i>Osteological Analysis</i>; see especially pp. 1 (quotation), 7–8, on the ancestry determination; my thanks to Malin Holst of the York Osteoarchaeology and the University of York for discussing this burial with me. The remains were analysed using standard methods for the assessment of ancestry in modern forensic anthropology, like those undertaken recently for a significant number of Roman-era burials from York too, using the criteria set out by S. N. Byers, <i>Introduction to Forensic Anthropology (International Edition)</i>, 3rd edn (Boston, 2010), pp. 152-65. For the Roman-era studies, see S. Leach <i>et al</i>, 'Migration and diversity in Roman Britain: a multidisciplinary approach to the identification of immigrants in Roman York, England', <i>American Journal of Physical Anthropology</i>, 140 (2009), 546–61, and S. Leach <i>et al</i>, 'A Lady of York: migration, ethnicity and identity in Roman Britain', <i>Antiquity</i>, 84 (2010), 131–45.<br />
<i><span id="fn3"></span>3. </i>M. Archer, 'Fairford schoolboys who found skull are fascinated to hear it dates back 1,000 years', <i>Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard</i>, 20 September 2013, newspaper report, available <a href="https://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/10688142.fairford-schoolboys-who-found-skull-are-fascinated-to-hear-it-dates-back-1000-years/">online</a>.<br />
<i><span id="fn4"></span>4. </i>P. Wade-Martins, <i>East Anglian Archaeology Report No. 9: Excavations in North Elmham Park 1967–72</i>, 2 vols. (Gressenhall, 1980), vol. 2, pp. 259–62, 317–9; H. M. Clayton, <i>Anglo-Saxon Medicine within its Social Context </i>(University of Durham PhD Thesis, 1977), pp. 224–6.<br />
<i><span id="fn5"></span>5. </i>The phosphate oxygen isotope values recorded from the seventh- to ninth-century cemetery at Bamburgh (the 'royal city' of the Northumbrians) and the seventh-century cemetery at Ely both show the presence of multiple people buried there with values significantly above the maximum values expected for people who grew up in the British Isles (often defined as 18.6‰ δ¹⁸O<sub>p</sub>, although people on the far western margins of Britain and Ireland could theoretically have values up to 19.2‰ δ¹⁸O<sub>p</sub>) or, indeed, anywhere in Europe: see further this <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/05/a-note-on-evidence-for-african-migrants.html">previous post</a>, especially footnote 2. So, at Ely two people buried there had results of 19.7‰ δ¹⁸O<sub>p</sub> and 19.9‰ δ¹⁸O<sub>p</sub>, whilst at Bamburgh two people had results of 20.1‰ δ¹⁸O<sub>p</sub> and 20.3‰ δ¹⁸O<sub>p</sub> and a further five people had results ranging from 19.3‰ δ¹⁸O<sub>p</sub> to 19.5‰ δ¹⁸O<sub>p</sub>. See on these sites S. Lucy <i>et al</i>, 'The burial of a princess? The later seventh-century cemetery at Westfield Farm, Ely', <i>Antiquity</i>, 89 (2009), 81–141; J. A. Evans, C. A. Chenery & J. Montgomery, 'A summary of strontium and oxygen isotope variation in archaeological human tooth enamel excavated from Britain', <i>Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry</i>, 27 (2012), 754–64 and 'Supplementary Material I' (14 pp.); and S. E. Groves <i>et al</i>, 'Mobility histories of 7th–9th century AD people buried at early medieval Bamburgh, Northumberland, England', <i>American Journal of Physical Anthropology</i>, 151 (2013), 462–76. On Hadrian's origins, see for example B. Bischoff & M. Lapidge, <i>Biblical Commentaries from the Canterbury School of Theodore and Hadrian</i> (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 84–92.<br />
<i><span id="fn6"></span>6. </i>J. N. Radner (ed. & trans.), <i>Fragmentary Annals of Ireland</i> (Dublin, 1978), FA 330, pp. 120–1.<br />
<i><span id="fn7"></span>7. </i>A. Christys, <i>Vikings in the South: Voyages to Iberia and the Mediterranean</i> (London, 2015), p. 54.<br />
<i><span id="fn8"></span>8. </i>V. E. Aguirre, <i>The Viking Expeditions to Spain During the 9th Century</i>, Mindre Skrifter No. 30 (Odense, 2013), p. 21.<br />
<br />
<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2019, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-15671588089890051832019-04-30T19:30:00.001+01:002022-11-18T21:41:15.471+00:00King Alfred and India: an Anglo-Saxon embassy to southern India in the ninth century AD<div><i>[The following post is currently being worked up for publication]</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div>One of the more intriguing references to early medieval contacts between Britain and the wider world is found in the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle', which mentions a late ninth-century AD embassy to India that was supposedly sent by King Alfred the Great. The following post offers a draft discussion of the evidence for this voyage before going on to consider its potential context and feasibility.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwphEx6gkwM9tOwgyvVisdGdg4mhrQ6cAw_1GUU7Tmgd45nbSHJPyNkA5-alIOZW3zlK8ENhj976KiOWHHwql0toDj4Q9tM4KeWemGhk7DTEQGelosMCVu8lTnHrEU07VuDqZKR_rx5mk4/s1600/ASC-MSF-883.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwphEx6gkwM9tOwgyvVisdGdg4mhrQ6cAw_1GUU7Tmgd45nbSHJPyNkA5-alIOZW3zlK8ENhj976KiOWHHwql0toDj4Q9tM4KeWemGhk7DTEQGelosMCVu8lTnHrEU07VuDqZKR_rx5mk4/s400/ASC-MSF-883.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 883 AD in MS F, which refers to Alfred sending alms to the shrines of St Thomas in India and St Bartholomew (image: <a href="http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=cotton_ms_domitian_a_viii_f055v">British Library</a>, </i><i>Cotton MS Domitian A VIII, f. 55v).</i></td></tr>
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According to the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' for AD 883, King <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great">Alfred of Wessex</a> sent two men, <a href="http://www.pase.ac.uk/jsp/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?personKey=2578">Sigehelm</a> and <a href="http://www.pase.ac.uk/jsp/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?personKey=2133">Æthelstan</a>, overseas with alms to carry both to Rome and to the shrines of 'St Thomas in <i>India/Indea</i> and to St Bartholomew', fulfilling a promise made when he besieged a Viking raiding-army at London (MSS D, E & F; also mentioned with additional details by William of Malmesbury and John of Worcester, see below).<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
883: Sigehelm and Athelstan took to Rome—and also to St Thomas in India and to St Bartholomew—the alms which King Alfred had vowed to send there when they beseiged the raiding-army in London; and there, by the grace of God, they were very successful in obtaining their prayers in accordance with those vows.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn1">1</a>)</blockquote>
Needless to say, this passage has been the subject of considerable interest. Some have suggested that 'India seems an unlikely destination for two English thanes' and argued that we might thus see <i>India/Indea</i> as a mistranscription of Judea, based on variant forms in MSS B & C.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn2">2</a>) However, whilst possible, this is by no means a necessary assumption, and a reading of Sigehelm and Æthelstan's intended goal as indeed being India remains commonly accepted.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn3">3</a>) Certainly, a final destination for Alfred's two emissaries at shrines in India, rather than Judea, would fit well with contemporary Anglo-Saxon knowledge of the two saints mentioned in the Chronicle's account. As the ninth-century <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English_Martyrology"><i>Old English Martyrology</i></a> attests, both St Thomas and St Bartholomew were said to have been martyred in India in tales that were current in King Alfred's time; likewise, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynewulf">Cynewulf</a>'s arguably ninth-century Old English poem <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fates_of_the_Apostles">The Fates of the Apostles</a></i> explicitly links these two saints with India, and so too do the works of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldhelm">Aldhelm</a>, d. 709, whom King Alfred notably considered England's finest poet.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn4">4</a>) Furthermore, it may well be that, rather than India being an 'unlikely destination for two English thanes', its remoteness from early medieval England was, in fact, the very point of Alfred's gift: that, in return for success against a Viking raiding-army that had occupied London, King Alfred had deliberately pledged to send alms to the very furthest-known reaches of Christendom, to the land that was conceived of as mirroring Britain's position on the very far edge of the known world.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn5">5</a>)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaIZCD1R8Z_3Ho1282bvCsjErYU0hwBERFYdkF1vz5iiTy_7eWBQxRvi2uRs3HhRjiUA1aPdK7-fjCapgCV_6gM0UKm3E-uxldyR22vwLW0l5OHyW9UI4BrB1GpNEnqYiysGgRr7Q0Dd18/s1600/AngloSaxon1+Cotton+MS+Tiberius+BV.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1329" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaIZCD1R8Z_3Ho1282bvCsjErYU0hwBERFYdkF1vz5iiTy_7eWBQxRvi2uRs3HhRjiUA1aPdK7-fjCapgCV_6gM0UKm3E-uxldyR22vwLW0l5OHyW9UI4BrB1GpNEnqYiysGgRr7Q0Dd18/s400/AngloSaxon1+Cotton+MS+Tiberius+BV.jpg" width="411" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><i>A Late Anglo-Saxon map of the world, orientated with east at the top; Britain and India are situated at opposite sides of the world and both at its very margins, Britain on the far bottom edge of the map and India at the far top. Click the image for a larger version of this map (image: <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/anglo-saxon-world-map">British Library</a>, Cotton MS Tiberius BV, f. 58v).</i></td></tr>
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If two emissaries of an Anglo-Saxon king carrying alms for the shrines of St Thomas and St Bartholomew were indeed sent to India in the 880s, then this would naturally raise a number of additional questions, namely what, exactly, were Sigehelm and Æthelstan travelling to visit? How might they have travelled there and what was the context for such a visit? And who actually were these two travellers?<br />
<br />
With regard to their intended destination, the usual—and most credible—interpretation of alms being sent to India by King Alfred is that they were being sent to shrines located in southern India. The existence there of an early and notable <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriac_Christianity">Syriac Christian</a> community, known usually as '<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Thomas-Christians#ref332809">Thomas</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Thomas_Christians">Christians</a>' after their claimed founder <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Apostle">St Thomas the Apostle</a>, is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/apr/15/books.guardianreview">well-established</a>. Although the exact circumstances of this community's origins are much debated, there is little doubt that stories of St Thomas's claimed missionary activity in India were circulating in the Mediterranean world by the third and fourth centuries AD, nor that there was indeed a permanent Christian community established in southern India by at least Late Antiquity.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn6">6</a>) So, for example, the <i><a href="https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004216167/Bej.9789004195158.i-804_006.xml?lang=en">Chronicle of Se’ert</a></i> is believed to offer plausible testimony for fifth-century Christians in India, referring to a bishop of Rev-Ardashir at coastal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persis">Persis</a> (Fars, Iran) sending materials for use among Christians in India in <i>c</i>. AD 470, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishodad_of_Merv">Isho'dad of Merv</a> mentions that 'Daniel the Presbyter, the Indian', assisted Mar Koumi in preparing a Syriac translation of a Greek text for Bishop Mari of Rev-Ardashir, something that must have taken place in the early to mid-fifth century. Likewise, two letters of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishoyahb_III">Isho‘yabh III</a>, bishop of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Mada%27in">Seleucia-Ctesiphon</a> and Patriarch of the Church of the East from 649 to 659, refer to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_bishop">metropolitan</a> of Fars administering Indian episcopal sees then, and India recieved its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_(East_Syriac_ecclesiastical_province)">own metropolitan bishop</a> in the seventh century by his hand and then again—possibly after a period in which it was once more under the authority of Fars—in the eighth century.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn7">7</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlnRPbLAt4RpKeHxKZ9aKNVjwzEpDtql08ouAiMhafDOD8XjsiGO3af26dpPRPuSibNQ9tLfYsMEJXptBBW3Bss-MHshifkLAfiqpgLad4PyKpGfoLjLy2q7B3Hdx1ypUTDNl9Pu4TAKag/s1600/Tharisappalli_copper_plates.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="634" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlnRPbLAt4RpKeHxKZ9aKNVjwzEpDtql08ouAiMhafDOD8XjsiGO3af26dpPRPuSibNQ9tLfYsMEJXptBBW3Bss-MHshifkLAfiqpgLad4PyKpGfoLjLy2q7B3Hdx1ypUTDNl9Pu4TAKag/s400/Tharisappalli_copper_plates.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tharisapalli_plates">copper plate grant</a> of AD 849 from Kollam, southern India, providing documentary evidence of the privileges and influence that the Saint Thomas Christians of the church at Kollam enjoyed in early Malabar; the document contains signatures of the witnesses in Pahlavi, Kufic and Hebrew scripts. For a colour image of these plates and further details, see the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170608134326/http://849ce.org.uk/">De Monfort University/British Museum project</a> on the copper plates (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tharisappalli_copper_plates.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
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As to a knowledge of this Indian Christian community, with its Persian connections, in the Mediterranean region and Europe, various pieces of evidence from the fifth century and after are suggestive of an awareness of Christians in India that extended beyond the circulating accounts of the <i>Acts of the Apostle Thomas</i>. For example, the anonymous author usually known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelasius_of_Cyzicus">Gelasius of Cyzicus</a>, writing around AD 475 in Bithynia (modern Turkey), was certainly aware that Indian Christians were linked with the Persian church. Furthermore, by <i>c</i>. AD 500 the tradition had begun to circulate in Greek, Latin and Syriac sources that St Thomas had died at <i>Kalamene</i>/<i>Calamina</i> in India (Cholamandalam), something that is thought to reflect knowledge of the establishment of a tomb/shrine associated with St Thomas on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coromandel_Coast">Coromandel coast</a> in south India by this point at the latest, presumably the site at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mylapore">Mylapore</a> where Thomas Christians venerated his tomb in subsequent periods (it is perhaps worth noting that this site is indeed mentioned in the ninth-century <i>Old English Martyrology</i> account of St Thomas, referred to above).(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn8">8</a>) Other sources take us even further. Perhaps most famously, the Byzantine author known as <a href="https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/transcultural/article/view/6127/2962">Cosmas Indicopleustes</a>—probably writing in Alexandria, Egypt, in the sixth century—demonstrates a notable degree of knowledge of India and Sri Lanka, making a number of references to Christians in India and Sri Lanka:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Even in the Island of Taprobane [Sri Lanka] in Inner India, where also the Indian sea is, there is a church of Christians, clergy and believers... The same is true in the place called Male [<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar_Coast">Malabar</a>, India], where the pepper grows, and the place called Kaliana, and there is a bishop appointed from Persia... </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[Sri Lanka] has a church of Persian Christians who are resident in that country, and a priest sent from Persia, and a deacon, and all that is required for conducting the worship of the church.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn9">9</a>)</blockquote>
Even more intriguingly, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_of_Tours">Gregory of Tours</a>—writing at Tours, France, towards the end of the sixth century—not only recounts a number of significant details regarding the shrine of St Thomas in India in his account of the saint, but also specifies the source of his knowledge of the shrine and church there as someone who had actually visited it, a point of considerable significance in the present context. The account in question is found in Gregory's <i>Glory of the Martyrs</i>, chapter 31, finished <i>c</i>. AD 590, and runs as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The tomb of the apostle Thomas... [I]n that region of India where he had first been buried there are a monastery and a church that is spectacularly large and carefully decorated and constructed. In this church God revealed a great miracle. A lamp was placed there in front of the spot where he had been buried. Once lit, by divine command it burned without ceasing, day and night: no one offered the assistance of oil or a new wick. No wind blew it out, no accident extinguished it, and its brightness did not diminish. The lamp continues to burn because of the power of the apostle that is unfamiliar to men but is nevertheless associated with divine power. Theodorus, who visited the spot, told this to me.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn10">10</a>)</blockquote>
All told, it thus seems clear that there was indeed an early Christian community in southern India that was associated with St Thomas, as per the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle', and which had a shrine and church—'spectacularly large and carefully decorated and constructed'—that visitors carrying alms from north-western Europe might journey to during the early medieval period. If the destination itself is therefore not implausible, what then of the second query outlined above, namely the context of such a visit and how two ninth-century Anglo-Saxons might have travelled to India?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir6Nihd7HJuh_uHwhMW-tN9u-GaoyYtNXjMk90RLoNNQp-J7VRq7C0EwX2ZaZ26fYq-AlkSw7HsCB1GtbCi5s2zRA4NFp76_v6_FQ6EGZGsWH9lk_RpbhQMTDIQjInh0r5LjhMZbCJYD-C/s1600/6127-Image-9225-1-17-20110629.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="1024" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir6Nihd7HJuh_uHwhMW-tN9u-GaoyYtNXjMk90RLoNNQp-J7VRq7C0EwX2ZaZ26fYq-AlkSw7HsCB1GtbCi5s2zRA4NFp76_v6_FQ6EGZGsWH9lk_RpbhQMTDIQjInh0r5LjhMZbCJYD-C/s400/6127-Image-9225-1-17-20110629.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Illustration of pepper trees, accompanying the text of Cosmas Indicopleustes's sixth-century Christian Topography in Codex Sinaiticus graecus 1186, fol. 202v, eleventh century, probably from Cappadocia, now at St. Katherine's monastery, Sinai; the text associated with it is translated as follows in Faller 2011: 'This is a picture of the tree which produces pepper. Each separate stem being very weak and limp twines itself, like the slender tendrils of the vine, around some lofty tree which bears no fruit. And every cluster of the fruit is protected by a double leaf. It is of a deep green colour like that of rue.' Faller suggests that both the image and text are 'so detailed and accurate that personal inspection and experience are almost a certainty' (image: <a href="https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/transcultural/article/view/6127/2962">Faller 2011</a>, used under the CC BY 3.0 licence <a href="https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/transcultural/about/submissions#authorGuidelines">specified</a> by the Journal of Transcultural Studies).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQoqhpeCW5dllr3Pdh2NMF_c32eLZ4Ka224lfbQRJePVc96uWtpqDkWDqTKQ9nAxA5QQn6AWehi2Vb7gtUlyqbcxLkDRjlu57qHv08HkHb7uuGtcKk7hZ-TtmlmFPMvc88sq1zzIlA3FSi/s1600/cotdomai55v-wen-salve.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="1000" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQoqhpeCW5dllr3Pdh2NMF_c32eLZ4Ka224lfbQRJePVc96uWtpqDkWDqTKQ9nAxA5QQn6AWehi2Vb7gtUlyqbcxLkDRjlu57qHv08HkHb7uuGtcKk7hZ-TtmlmFPMvc88sq1zzIlA3FSi/s400/cotdomai55v-wen-salve.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An Old English <a href="https://forthewynnblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/25/silk-and-spices-pepper-and-peacocks/">recipe</a> for a salve against cysts, which contains a number of ingredients including radish, turnip and pepper from India, from BL Cotton MS Domitian A. i, f.55v</i><i> (image: <a href="http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Cotton_MS_Domitian_A_I">British Library</a>, via <a href="https://forthewynnblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/25/silk-and-spices-pepper-and-peacocks/">For the Wynn</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<br />
With regard to this wider context, the early medieval journey of Theodorus to St Thomas's church in India, probably located at <i>Kalamene</i>/<i>Calamina</i> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mylapore">Mylapore</a>), and then back to western Europe—where he could inform the Bishop of Tours, Gregory, of the magnificent monastery and church that he found there—coincides with a period in which there is <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html">significant</a> <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/03/a-very-long-way-from-home.html">material evidence</a> for contact between the Mediterranean and Europe on the one hand and the Indian Ocean world on the other.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn11">11</a>) However, there is no reason to think that subsequent centuries saw the severing of routes between India and the Mediterranean/Europe. Certainly, pepper from India continued to be used in north-western Europe into the mid-seventh century and beyond, and in impressive quantities: for example, the mid-seventh-century Merovingian king <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlothar_III">Chlothar III</a> granted an annual rent of 30 pounds of pepper (grown in India) to a single monastery at Corbie in northern France, along with sizeable amounts of other spices including cinnamon (from Sri Lanka) and cloves (from Indonesia), and this grant was reconfirmed by Chilperic II in 716.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn12">12</a>) Likewise, in England <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bede">Bede</a>'s few personal possessions included pepper when he died in AD 735, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldhelm">Aldhelm</a> at the end of the seventh century composed a riddle to which the answer was 'pepper', indicating that he expected his audience to be familiar with this spice:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I am black on the outside, covered with wrinkled skin, yet inside I have a glistening core. I season the delicacies of the kitchen: the feasts of kings and extravagant dishes and likewise sauces and stews. But you will find me of no value unless my inwards are crushed for their shining contents.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn13">13</a>) </blockquote>
Indeed, in the probably late ninth-century '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald%27s_Leechbook">Bald's <i>Leechbook</i></a>', written for Anglo-Saxon physicians in King Alfred's reign, Indian pepper frequently occurs and is, it should be noted, mentioned more times than many native ingredients, being prescribed in more than thirty recipes in the first book alone.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn14">14</a>) Perhaps most famously of all, however, several trade routes leading from western Europe to India and beyond were, in fact, documented during the mid-ninth century in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khordadbeh">Ibn Khordadbeh</a>'s account of the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4810020/The_Radhanite_Merchants">Jewish</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3632174?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Radhanite</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radhanite">merchants</a> found in his <i><a href="http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ebn-kordadbeh">Book of Roads and Kingdoms</a></i>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
These merchants speak Arabic, Persian, Roman (i.e. Greek and Latin), the Frank, Spanish, and Slav languages. They journey from West to East, from East to West, partly on land, partly by sea. They transport from the West eunuchs, female slaves, boys, brocade, castor, marten, and other furs, and swords. They take ship from Firanja (France), on the Western Sea, and make for Farama (Pelusium, Egypt). There they load their goods on camel-back and go by land to al-Kolzom (Suez), a distance of twenty-five farsakhs (parasangs). They embark in the East Sea (Red Sea) and sail from al-Kolzom to al-Jar (port of Medina) and Jeddah (port of Mecca), then they go to Sind, India, and China. On their return from China they carry back musk, aloes, camphor, cinnamon, and other products of the Eastern countries to al-Kolzom and bring them back to Farama, where they again embark on the Western Sea. Some make sail for Constantinople to sell their goods to the Romans; others go to the palace of the King of the Franks to place their goods. Sometimes these Jew merchants, when embarking from the land of the Franks, on the Western Sea, make for Antioch (at the mouth of the Orontes); thence by land to al-Jabia (? al-Hanaya on the bank of the Euphrates), where they arrive after three days’ march. There they embark on the Euphrates and reach Baghdad, whence they sail down the Tigris, to al-Obolla. From al-Obolla they sail for Oman, Sind, Hind, and China... These different journeys can also be made by land. The merchants that start from Spain or France go to Sus al-Aksa (Morocco) and then to Tangier, whence they walk to Afrikia (Kairouan) and the capital of Egypt. Thence they go to ar-Ramla, visit Damascus, al-Kufa, Baghdad, and al-Basra (Bassora), cross Ahwaz, Fars, Kirman, Sind, Hind, and arrive in China.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn15">15</a>)</blockquote>
In light of all this, it seems clear that Sigehelm and Æthelstan's claimed late ninth-century journey from England to 'St Thomas in India' was not only credible in terms of its proposed destination, as noted above, but also the availability of routes for getting there, to judge both from the continued availability of imports from India (and beyond) in north-western Europe and Ibn Khordadbeh's testimony as to routes accessible in the ninth century for travelling from West to East and back again (note, a northern trade-route that brought a small number of Indian coins and at least one statuette of the Buddha to eighth- to tenth-century northern Europe and England <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2014/12/indian-silver-coins-in-viking-age.html">also existed</a>, but is perhaps less relevant to the present inquiry, not least because King Alfred is said to have sent Sigehelm and Æthelstan with alms for Rome as well as India).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_953Y-MYBn8HD_s4-oITGhtZpLOsNRQ5tS2R91G8KzZMonLEEAP8MNs374oA9a6A8pcXMGd7J44rnOB6-zlMhqqKfSCYUZnXfm_d0xHMjmKrIP75nFjXuv7gXU_BeUfCNFV-m9DFOb_bm/s1600/Radhanites-large.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ctdHfpgbbYYF1a3qT3it2Gwvh_LZsQ8PZirw4wmtYlfUViaG504_ZsU8L9WrGlR77ppBXaV8boZYRlbARLhmo57mneuq66fUtAW-XV9_9S3eTWqx6J8R0dVExD2YWsQ-9BsT_Y-tODzB/s1600/Radhanites-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Map of Eurasia and North Africa, c. AD 870, showing trade routes of the Radhanite Jewish merchants (blue) and other major routes (purple) blue; cities with sizable Jewish communities are shown in brown. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_953Y-MYBn8HD_s4-oITGhtZpLOsNRQ5tS2R91G8KzZMonLEEAP8MNs374oA9a6A8pcXMGd7J44rnOB6-zlMhqqKfSCYUZnXfm_d0xHMjmKrIP75nFjXuv7gXU_BeUfCNFV-m9DFOb_bm/s1600/Radhanites-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Radhanites2.png">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<br />
Finally, as to the question of the identity of these two Anglo-Saxon royal emissaries, several candidates have been proposed. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Malmesbury">William of Malmesbury</a>, writing in England in the early twelfth century, identified Sigehelm as a bishop of Sherborne in both his <i>Gesta Pontificum Anglorum</i> and his <i>Gesta Regum Anglorum</i>, and claims that the gems Sigehelm brought back from India could still be seen at Sherborne in William's day:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He [Ealhstan, bishop of Sherborne] was followed as bishop by Heahmind, Æthelheah, Wulfsige, Asser and Sigehelm. Both the last two are known to have been bishops in the time of king Alfred, who was the fourth son of Æthelwulf... Sigehelm was sent overseas on almonry duties for the king, even getting as far as to St Thomas's in India. Something which could cause wonder for people of this generation is that his journey deep into India was a marvellously prosperous one, as he brought back exotic precious stones, in which the land abounds, and some of them can still be seen in precious objects in the church.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn16">16</a>)</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Being devoted to almsgiving, he [King Alfred] confirmed the privileges of churches as laid down by his father, and sent many gifts overseas to Rome and to St Thomas in India. For this purpose he dispatched an envoy, Sigehelm bishop of Sherborne, who made his way to India with great success, an astonishing feat even today, and brought with him on his return gems of exotic splendour and the liquid perfumes of which the soil there is productive...(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn17">17</a>)</blockquote>
This identification of Sigehelm is also briefly alluded to by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Worcester">John of Worcester</a> in the early twelfth-century <i>Chronicon ex Chronicis</i>, in which he states that the 'bishop of Sherborne', Swithelm [<i>sic</i>], 'carried King Alfred's alms to St Thomas in India, and returned thence in safety'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn18">18</a>) Needless to say, the claim that Sigehelm returned from India bringing with him 'exotic precious stones' that 'can still be seen in precious objects in the church' suggests that William was basing his account on local traditions at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherborne_Abbey">Sherborne</a>. Nonetheless, his identification has been subject to some scepticism on account of the fact that William omits the names of three bishops of Sherborne who come between Asser and Sigehelm in the preserved episcopal lists, and that Sigehelm signs charters as bishop from AD 925 to 932, not in Alfred's reign, 871–99.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn19">19</a>) Whether these discrepancies are fatal to William's identification is open to debate, however. The mistaken attribution of Sigehelm's episcopacy to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great">Alfred's reign</a> and the omission of three intervening bishops in the <i>Gesta Pontificum Anglorum</i> may simply reflect an attempt by William and/or his source to reconcile a local Sherborne tradition that Sigehelm, bishop of Sherborne, was Alfred's envoy to India—and that he returned with riches subsequently used to endow the church at Sherborne with, and which could still be pointed out in the early twelfth century—with the dates of King Alfred, working from a false assumption that Sigehelm must have been bishop when he was sent overseas. In this light, it is worth pointing out that Sigehelm could conceivably have both travelled to India in 883 <i>and </i>attested charters from 925–32 if his pilgrimage carrying alms to India for King Alfred took place in his relative youth and he had become the Bishop of Sherborne in his relative old age.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn20">20</a>)<br />
<br />
On the other hand, if the early tenth-century bishop of Sherborne named Sigehelm was not the Sigehelm sent to India in 883, contrary to what William of Malmesbury appears to have been told and shown of his supposed spoils from his trip at Sherborne, then identifying him is significantly more difficult: he could be the western Kentish <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ealdorman">ealdorman</a> killed by the Danes in 902, as some have speculated, but he could equally well be another Sigehelm active in the era, either <a href="http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/pdb?dosp=VIEW_RECORDS&st=PERSON_NAME&value=2578&level=1&lbl=Sigehelm">recorded</a> or otherwise. As to Sigehelm's companion, Æthelstan, he is even more obscure, and unfortunately no recorded traditions of his identity survive. He may be a Mercian priest and chaplain of this name who was associated with Alfred according to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asser">Asser</a>'s contemporary <i>Life of Alfred</i>, but the name is <a href="http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/pdb?dosp=VIEW_RECORDS&st=PERSON_NAME&value=13&level=1&lbl=%C3%86thelstan">very common</a> and there are multiple alternative candidates available, including at least two thegns and an ealdorman active in Alfred's reign.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn21">21</a>)<br />
<br />
In conclusion, what can be said of King Alfred's apparent embassy to India in the 880s? All told, it seems credible that India was indeed the intended destination for the alms carried by Sigehelm and Æthelstan in 883. Not only is this reading of the text the most commonly supported position and backed by the majority of the manuscripts, but it accords well with the identity of the two saints whose shrines were to be visited according to the <i>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</i>, St Thomas and St Bartholomew: these were both explicitly and repeatedly associated with India in material current in Alfred's day. Indeed, India's remoteness from early medieval England could well have been the very point of Alfred's gift, as noted above, and it would moreover fit with what we know of Alfred's own intellectual curiosity about the wider world and its limits, as Oliver Pengelly has recently pointed out.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn22">22</a>) Beyond this, it would seem that such a journey would also have a good context. It is clear that there was indeed a permanent Christian community in India from at least Late Antiquity, if not before, and knowledge of a shrine and church dedicated to St Thomas at Mylapore had spread to the west by <i>c. </i>500; indeed, Gregory of Tours' account of the church and monastery of St Thomas in India indicates that Sigehelm and Æthelstan would have been by no means the first to visit this shrine in the early medieval era. Furthermore, a journey from western Europe to southern India appears plausible in terms of not only its proposed destination, but also the availability of routes for getting there, given the continued availability of imports from India and Ibn Khordadbeh's account of ninth-century trans-continental routeways. Finally, whilst the identity of King Alfred's two emissaries, Sigehelm and Æthelstan, remains uncertain, it can be tentatively suggested that we should be wary of rejecting outright the apparent Sherborne tradition recorded by William of Malmesbury in the early twelfth century that Sigehelm, bishop of Sherborne, was one of those who travelled to India; likewise, it is not impossible that Æthelstan may have been the Mercian priest of that name who appears in Asser's contemporary <i>Life of Alfred</i> as Alfred's close confidant.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MM0nQvi6Jz_V7_gcjsZk9o99Q0WnphCxrkYflaJaPcw3yrNdhgMKdDJk11IIFTtBu7OIfNo6B6pfPFTNHlN0TPiKddbA5W7KRSMG80Cl85_iKoL8GsOrpTXxRS_nf8GjiDTx_7HlcZ9G/s1600/Persian_cross_1.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MM0nQvi6Jz_V7_gcjsZk9o99Q0WnphCxrkYflaJaPcw3yrNdhgMKdDJk11IIFTtBu7OIfNo6B6pfPFTNHlN0TPiKddbA5W7KRSMG80Cl85_iKoL8GsOrpTXxRS_nf8GjiDTx_7HlcZ9G/s1600/Persian_cross_1.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The famous stone cross preserved on St Thomas's Mount, Mylapore, Chennai; the cross includes an inscription in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Persian">Pahlavi</a> ('Our lord Christ, have pity on Sabriso, (son) of Caharboxt, (son) of Suray, who bore (brought?) this (cross).') that is considered to date on palaeographic grounds to around the eighth century AD.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2019/04/king-alfred-and-india.html#fn23">23</a>) The cross was found in the area of India believed to be the location of the Indian tomb/shrine associated with St Thomas that was known in the early medieval west as Kalamene/Calamina, discussed above; as such, if Sigehelm and Æthelstan did indeed travel to India to visit the shrine of St Thomas in the late ninth century, then it is not implausible that they could have looked on this cross during their visit there (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Persian_cross_1.png">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<br />
<i>Notes</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span id="fn1"></span>1.</i> M. J. Swanton (ed. & trans.), <i>The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</i> (London, 1996), p. 79. Note, this annal is missing from MS A of the <i>Chronicle</i> but is present in MSS B, C, D, E and F, and is thus thought to represent a contemporary insertion into the text—see, for example, O. Pengelly, <i>Rome in Ninth-Century Anglo-Saxon England</i> (University of Oxford D.Phil Thesis, 2010), pp. 164–5, 246, 286; S. Keynes, 'King Alfred and the Mercians', in M. A. S. Blackburn & D. N. Dumville (eds.), <i>Kings, Currency, and Alliances: History and Coinage of Southern England in the Ninth Century</i> (Woodbridge, 1998), pp. 1–45 at pp. 21–4.<br />
<i><span id="fn2"></span>2.</i> J. Harris, 'Wars and rumours of wars: England and the Byzantine world in the eighth and ninth centuries', <i>Mediterranean Historical Review</i>, 14 (1999), 29–46, quotation at p. 39; others holding to this interpretation include R. Abels, <i>Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England</i> (London, 1998), p. 192, and J. Parker, 'Ruling the waves: Saxons, Vikings, and the sea in the formation of an Anglo-British identity in the nineteenth century', in S. I. Sobecki (ed.), <i>The Sea and Englishness in the Middle Ages: Maritime Narratives, Identity and Culture</i> (Cambridge, 2011), pp.195–206 at p. 200.<br />
<i><span id="fn3"></span>3.</i> See, for example, M. J. Swanton (ed. & trans.), <i>The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</i> (London, 1996), p. 79; D. Anlezark, <i>Alfred the Great</i> (Bradford, 2017), p. 54; C. R. Hart, <i>Learning and Culture in Late Anglo-Saxon England and the Influence of Ramsey Abbey on the Major English Monastic Schools</i> (Lampeter, 2003), p. 178; O. Pengelly, <i>Rome in Ninth-Century Anglo-Saxon England</i> (University of Oxford D.Phil Thesis, 2010), pp. 245–7, 254, 267, 277; M. B. Busbee, 'A paradise full of monsters: India in the Old English imagination', <i>LATCH</i>, 1 (2008), 51–72; R. E. Frykenberg, <i>Christianity in India </i>(Oxford, 2008), pp. 112, 117; N. J. Andrade, <i>The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity: Networks and the Movement of Culture</i> (Cambridge, 2018), pp. 225 (fn. 67) & 228; H. R. Loyn, <i>Society and Peoples: Studies in the History of England and Wales, c. 600-1200</i> (London, 1992), p. 253; D. Whitelock (ed. & trans.), <i>The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Revised Translation</i> (London, 1961), p. 50; and Dr Beachcoming, 'Anglo-Saxons in southern India?', blog post, 15 July 2011, <a href="http://www.strangehistory.net/2011/07/15/anglo-saxons-in-southern-india/">online</a> at <i>http://www.strangehistory.net/2011/07/15/anglo-saxons-in-southern-india/</i>.<br />
<i><span id="fn4"></span>4.</i> <i>Old English Martyrology</i>: C. Rauer (ed. & trans.), <i>The Old English Martyrology: Edition, Translation and Commentary</i> (Cambridge, 2013), pp. 167, 227 ('On the twenty-first day of the month [December] is the feast of the apostle St Thomas, who in Greek was called Didymus... And after Christ's ascension he instructed many nations in Christ's faith...[including] two Indian nations... he travelled through the lands of pagan people and the eastern parts of the world, and in India he built their king's hall in heaven, whose name was Gundaphorus... In another Indian country... one of the pagan bishops then killed the servant of Christ, and the texts sometimes say that he was stabbed with a sword, sometimes they say he was stabbed with spears. He suffered in the city of Calamina in India...'; 'On the twenty-fifth day of the month [August] is the feast of the apostle St Bartholomew; he was Christ's missionary in the country of India, which is the outermost of all regions... In this country he cast out idols which they had previously worshipped there...'). <i>The Fates of the Apostles</i>: S. A. J. Bradley (ed. & trans.), <i>Anglo-Saxon Poetry</i> (London, 1995), pp. 155–6 ('Certainly, it has been no secret fact abroad that Bartholomew, a soldier strong in the strife, went to live among the people of India... So too Thomas bravely ventured to other parts in India, where the heart was illumined and the purpose strengthened in many people through his holy word...'). <i>The works of Aldhelm</i>: M. Lapidge & J. L. Rosier, <i>Aldhelm: the Poetic Works</i> (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 53–4, 55 ('On Thomas: ...Christ, therefore, the holy offspring of God, sent this man, who was performing many miracles with magnificent success, to convert the peoples of the orient with holy books. India at that time worshipped icons with unspeakable rite... but it confessed the true faith when Thomas won its salvation and (henceforth) believed in Christ, Who controls the sceptres of heaven.'; 'On St Bartholomew: Mighty India stands as the last of the lands of the earth... Given over to pagan rites, India used to worship idols. But Bartholomew destroyed the pagan shrines, duly smashing the images of the pagan gods...'); M. Lapidge & M. Herren, <i>Aldhelm: the Prose Works</i> (Cambridge, 1979), p. 81 ('Didymus [Thomas] at one time the disbelieving doubter of the Lord's resurrection—but once the scars of Christ's wounds had been seen, (became) its confident preacher—who illumined the tripartite provinces of eastern India with the clear light of evangelical preaching and totally annulled the... rites of (pagan) sanctuaries...'). On King Alfred's view of Aldhelm as the finest Anglo-Saxon poet, see M. Lapidge, 'The career of Aldhelm', <i>Anglo-Saxon England</i>, 36 (2007), 15–69 at p. 18 and fn. 17, & A. Orchard, <i>The Poetic Art of Aldhelm</i> (Cambridge, 1994), p. 5.<br />
<i><span id="fn5"></span>5.</i> For the view that there was indeed a Viking raiding-army that occupied London in 883, see S. Keynes, 'King Alfred and the Mercians', in M. A. S. Blackburn & D. N. Dumville (eds.), <i>Kings, Currency, and Alliances: History and Coinage of Southern England in the Ninth Century</i> (Woodbridge, 1998), pp. 1–45 at pp. 21–4; for the idea that India was conceived of as mirroring Britain's position on the edge of the known world, see M. B. Busbee, 'A paradise full of monsters: India in the Old English imagination', <i>LATCH</i>, 1 (2008), 51–72. See further O. Pengelly, <i>Rome in Ninth-Century Anglo-Saxon England</i> (University of Oxford D.Phil Thesis, 2010), pp. 246–7, 267, 277–8, on how dispatching a expedition to the far-eastern limits of Christendom may have been a deliberate choice on Alfred's part.<br />
<i><span id="fn6"></span>6.</i> See especially R. E. Frykenberg, 'Thomas Christians and the Thomas tradition', in Frykenberg, <i>Christianity in India</i> (Oxford, 2008), pp. 91–115; N. J. Andrade, <i>The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity: Networks and the Movement of Culture</i> (Cambridge, 2018); S. Neill, <i>A History of Christianity in India</i> (Cambridge, 1984); and W. Baum & D. W. Winkler, <i>The Church of the East: A Concise History</i> (London, 2003), pp. 51–8.<br />
<i><span id="fn7"></span>7.</i> N. J. Andrade, <i>The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity</i> (Cambridge, 2018), especially pp. 143–4; M. D. Gibson (ed. & trans.), <i>The Commentaries of Isho'dad of Merv, Bishop of Hadatha</i> (Cambridge, 1916), vol. V, part 2, pp. xi–xiv; C. Buck, 'The universality of the Church of the East: how Persian was Persian Christianity?', <i>Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society</i>, 10 (1996), 54–95 at pp. 68–9; S. Neill, <i>A History of Christianity in India</i> (Cambridge, 1984), p. 44.<br />
<i><span id="fn8"></span>8. </i>N. J. Andrade, <i>The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity</i> (Cambridge, 2018), especially pp. 144–5, 212–13, 222–5, 227–32; C. G. Cereti, L. M. Olivieri & J. Vazhuthanapally, 'The problem of the Saint Thomas Crosses and related questions: epigraphical survey and preliminary research', <i>East and West</i>, 52 (2002), 285–310 at pp. 303–04. On the shrine/tomb and associated church at Mylapore, Chennai, see further Cereti, Olivieri & Vazhuthanapally, 'The problem of the Saint Thomas Crosses and related questions', <i>East and West</i>, 52 (2002), 285–310 at pp. 302–09.<br />
<i><span id="fn9"></span>9.</i> R. E. Frykenberg, <i>Christianity in India</i> (Oxford, 2008), p. 110; on Cosmas Indicopleustes and his knowledge of India, see further S. Fallar, 'The world according to Cosmas Indicopleustes—concepts and illustrations of an Alexandrian merchant and monk', <i>Journal of Transcultural Studies</i>, 1 (2011), 193–232. Incidentally, it is worth noting that Cosmas Indicopleustes's work was probably known in Anglo-Saxon England, see B. Bischoff & M. Lapidge, <i>Biblical Commentaries from the Canterbury School of Theodore and Hadrian</i> (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 208–11.<br />
<i><span id="fn10"></span>10.</i> R. Van Dam (trans.), <i>Gregory of Tours: Glory of the Martyrs</i> (Liverpool, 1988), p. 51; N. J. Andrade, <i>The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity</i> (Cambridge, 2018), p. 227.<br />
<i><span id="fn11"></span>11.</i> Long-distance trade and contacts in the fifth to seventh centuries AD have been the topic of several previous posts on this site, especially C. R. Green, 'A very long way from home: early Byzantine finds at the far ends of the world', blog post, 21 March 2017, <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/03/a-very-long-way-from-home.html">online</a> at <i>https://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/03/a-very-long-way-from-home.html</i>, & C. R. Green, 'Indo-Pacific beads from Europe to Japan? Another fifth- to seventh-century AD global distribution', blog post, 22 July 2018, <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html">online</a> at <i>https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html</i>. See further, for example, R. Tomber, <i>Indo-Roman Trade: From Pots to Pepper</i> (London, 2008); K. R. Dark, 'Globalizing late antiquity: models, metaphors and the realities of long-distance trade and diplomacy', in A. Harris (ed.), <i>Incipient Globalisation? Long-Distance Contacts in the Sixth Century</i> (Oxford, 2007), pp. 3–14; J. Drauschke, '"Byzantine" and "oriental" imports in the Merovingian Empire from the second half of the fifth to the beginning of the eighth century', in A. Harris (ed.), <i>Incipient Globalisation? Long-Distance Contacts in the Sixth Century</i> (Oxford, 2007), pp. 53–73; C. Pion & B. Gratuze, 'Indo-Pacific glass beads from the Indian subcontinent in Early Merovingian graves (5th–6th century AD)', <i>Archaeological Research in Asia</i>, 6 (2016), 51–64.<br />
<i><span id="fn12"></span>12.</i> D. W. Rollason, <i>Early Medieval Europe 300-1050: The Birth of Western Society</i> (London, 2012), p. 160; I. Wood, <i>The Merovingian Kingdoms 450–751</i> (London, 1994), pp. 215–16.<br />
<i><span id="fn13"></span>13.</i> Aldhelm: M. L. Cameron, 'Bald's <i>Leechbook </i>and cultural interactions in Anglo-Saxon England', <i>Anglo-Saxon England</i>, 19 (1990), 5–12 at p.8. Bede: <i>Epistola de Obitu Bede</i>, 'Cuthbert's letter on the death of Bede', translated in J. McClure & R. Collins (ed.), <i>Bede: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People</i> (Oxford, 1994),<i> </i>p. 302. Another reference to pepper (and cinnamon) in Anglo-Saxon England comes in a letter of 732–42 to an English abbess named Cuniburg that mentions the sending of both pepper and cinnamon to her: E. Emerton, <i>The Letters of St Boniface</i> (New York, 1940), pp. 55–6.<br />
<i><span id="fn14"></span>14.</i> M. L. Cameron, 'Bald's <i>Leechbook </i>and cultural interactions in Anglo-Saxon England', <i>Anglo-Saxon England</i>, 19 (1990), 5–12 at p.8; K. S. Beckett, <i>Anglo-Saxon Perceptions of the Islamic World</i> (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 62–5. Note, 'Bald's <i>Leechbook</i>' is not the only Anglo-Saxon medical recipe book to include pepper and other eastern ingredients; they also occur in the tenth-century <i>Lacnunga</i>, for example. Moreover, it is worth emphasising that the evidence is against these medical recipes being simply indiscriminately copied and not actually used: whole recipes containing rarely used exotic ingredients were omitted and other recipes saw modification to omit perishable exotic ingredients, whilst further recipes see pepper and cinnamon compounded with native ingredients according to typical English methods, as Beckett, p. 65, observes.<br />
<i><span id="fn15"></span>15.</i> Ibn Khordadbeh in E. N. Adler, <i>Jewish Travellers in the Middle Ages</i> (New York, 1987), pp. 2–3; on the Radhanite merchants, see further M. Gil, 'The Rādhānite merchants and the land of Rādhān', <i>Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient</i>, 17 (1974), 299–328.<br />
<i><span id="fn16"></span>16.</i> William of Malmesbury, <i>Gesta Pontificum Anglorum</i>, chapter 80, trans. D. Prest (Woodbridge, 2002), pp. 117–18.<br />
<i><span id="fn17"></span>17.</i> William of Malmesbury, <i>Gesta Regum Anglorum</i>, ii.122.2, ed. and trans. R. A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson, & M. Winterbottom (Oxford, 1998), vol. 1, pp. 190–1.<br />
<i><span id="fn18"></span>18.</i> John of Worcester, <i>Chronicon ex Chronicis</i>, trans. T. Forester, <i>The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester</i> (London, 1854), p. 73.<br />
<i><span id="fn19"></span>19.</i> For the bishops and their dates, see M. A. O'Donovan, 'An interim revision of episcopal dates for the province of Canterbury, 850–950: Part II', <i>Anglo-Saxon England</i>, 2 (1973), 91–113 at pp. 104–05. For scepticism over William's identification, see W. H. Stevenson, <i>Asser's Life of King Alfred</i> (Oxford, 1904), pp. 289–90; D. Whitelock, 'William of Malmesbury on the works of King Alfred', in D. A. Pearsall & R. A. Waldron (eds.), <i>Medieval Literature and Civilization: Studies in Memory of G. N. Garmonsway</i> (London, 1969), pp. 78–93 at p. 83. R. M. Thomson & M. Winterbottom, <i>William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum: II, General Introduction and Commentary</i> (Oxford, 1999), pp. 98–9, accept Stevenson's scepticism, but also note that 'There is no reason to doubt that William here represents local (Sherborne) tradition' (p. 99), and Whitelock similarly considers that William of Malmesbury must have been 'told at Sherborne that this church still had in its possession some rare gems brought back from India by Bishop Sigehelm' (Whitelock, 'William of Malmesbury', p. 83).<br />
<i><span id="fn20"></span>20.</i> See, for example, L. White, <i>Medieval Religion and Technology: Collected Essays</i> (London, 1978), pp. 214–5.<br />
<i><span id="fn21"></span>21.</i> The two specific alternative candidates for Sigehelm and Æthelstan detailed here are supported by W. H. Stevenson, <i>Asser's Life of King Alfred</i> (Oxford, 1904), p. 290; D. Pratt, 'The illnesses of King Alfred the Great', <i>Anglo-Saxon England</i>, 30 (2001), 39–90 at p. 69; and R. Abels, <i>Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England</i> (London, 1998), p. 191. Æthelstan, a priest, is said to have been summoned from Mercia by King Alfred in Asser's <i>Life of Alfred</i>, chp. 77; he attests a number of charters and may be the Æthelstan who was appointed bishop of Ramsbury in <i>c. </i>909, which is intriguing given the traditional identity of his companion, Sigehelm, and the suggestion made above as to his career: S. Keynes & M. Lapidge, <i>Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources</i> (London, 1983), pp. 92–3, 259.<br />
<i><span id="fn22"></span>22.</i> O. Pengelly, <i>Rome in Ninth-Century Anglo-Saxon England</i> (University of Oxford D.Phil Thesis, 2010), pp. 246–7, 267, 277–8; Pengelly has argued that the dispatch of the mission arguably reflects 'something of the king's intellectual curiosity about the wider world and its limits... Alfred was probing the horizons of the wider world he had inherited from Christian Latin culture' (p. 247).<br />
<i><span id="fn23"></span>23.</i> S. Neill, <i>A History of Christianity in India</i> (Cambridge, 1984), pp. 47–8; C. G. Cereti, L. M. Olivieri & J. Vazhuthanapally, 'The problem of the Saint Thomas Crosses and related questions: epigraphical survey and preliminary research', <i>East and West</i>, 52 (2002), 285–310; N. J. Andrade, <i>The Journey of Christianity to India in Late Antiquity</i> (Cambridge, 2018), pp. 211–2.<br />
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<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2019, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-1145931623709571132018-09-15T09:08:00.000+01:002018-10-02T12:10:08.655+01:00Were there camels in medieval Britain? A brief note on Bactrian camels and dromedaries in fifteenth-century KentThe following brief note is concerned with an intriguing fifteenth-century reference to both Bactrian camels and dromedaries (aka Arabian camels) in England, examining both the context of these specific animals in late medieval Kent before moving on to look at the wider evidence for the presence of camels in medieval Britain and Ireland.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZ8bh1C7YrNnF6dnorrYC5TMKvJVw8XRhzOmACoQUpwbDFgMhjtruCrTybQOU97XRqYc3Q5CgJO1eiVaLlI2-1OreoxtoT9A_Ha0s0eMQ3_ZNpx_in4cWHps7PX6XPcRgetCwc8-nZcUz/s1600/kingarthur-camel-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="1000" height="415" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZ8bh1C7YrNnF6dnorrYC5TMKvJVw8XRhzOmACoQUpwbDFgMhjtruCrTybQOU97XRqYc3Q5CgJO1eiVaLlI2-1OreoxtoT9A_Ha0s0eMQ3_ZNpx_in4cWHps7PX6XPcRgetCwc8-nZcUz/s1600/kingarthur-camel-1000.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>King Arthur riding a camel on a glass roundel of c. 1500; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZ8bh1C7YrNnF6dnorrYC5TMKvJVw8XRhzOmACoQUpwbDFgMhjtruCrTybQOU97XRqYc3Q5CgJO1eiVaLlI2-1OreoxtoT9A_Ha0s0eMQ3_ZNpx_in4cWHps7PX6XPcRgetCwc8-nZcUz/s1600/kingarthur-camel-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this picture (image: <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/471121">Met Museum</a>).</i></td></tr>
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Previous posts on here have discussed the archaeological and textual evidence for the presence and use of camels in <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/11/were-there-camels-in-roman-britain.html">Roman</a> and <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/05/camels-in-early-medieval-western-europe.html">early medieval Europe</a>, but have only touched on their presence in medieval Britain and Ireland. The prompt for the present discussion is an intriguing reference in the fifteenth-century work known as <i>John Stone's Chronicle</i>, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/christchurchcant00searrich#page/96/">f. 78b</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the year of the Lord 1466, on the twelfth day of the month of December, namely, on the vigil of St. Lucy the Virgin, there came to Canterbury [gap in text] the Lord Patriarch of Antioch, who, in honor of the king and queen, had here four dromedaries and two camels. And this had never before been seen in England.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/09/were-there-camels-in-medieval-britain.html#fn1">1</a>)</blockquote>
Needless to say, this is a most intriguing reference, indicating the presence of both two-humped <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactrian_camel">Bactrian camels</a> and single-humped <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dromedary">dromedaries</a> (or Arabian camels) in medieval Kent! The chronicle itself is preserved in a fifteenth-century manuscript, <a href="https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/qx830kw1352">CCCC MS 417</a>, written by a monk of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_of_Christ_Church">Christ Church</a>, <a href="http://www.canterburytrust.co.uk/catpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/christ_church_priory_plans_200dpi.pdf">Canterbury</a>, in 1467, with contemporary additions through until 1472, and as such can be considered an exemplary witness. The context of the presence of six camels at Canterbury is rather more mysterious. In particular, the identity of the '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchate_of_Antioch_(disambiguation)">Lord Patriarch of Antioch</a>' who seems to have brought these camels to Canterbury 'in honour of the king and queen', has often been unclear. The first editor of the text, W. G. Searle, identified him simply as 'Peter II, Maronite patriarch' of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antioch">Antioch</a>, following W. F. Hook's <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=I3xWAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA357#v=onepage&q&f=false">suggestion</a> in his 1867 <i>Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury</i>.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/09/were-there-camels-in-medieval-britain.html#fn2">2</a>) However, it seems likely that he was, in fact, <a href="http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ludovico-da-bologna_(Dizionario-Biografico)/">Ludovico Severi da Bologna</a>, a Franciscan observant who styled himself as Patriarch of Antioch and papal legate to the East.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNaJz7poILxWgJbn2ZEf0fwtL4Hiwkqbsm21G3AJABrLgMyH7zTLLiCI3Jrd2DeU3Y-TRquPsLPCXPDibiME3RpQalxEzjU86jngp4OjmDMryMaHMbGrSzVMxMfdvpwjXHGeTzriANOJK5/s1600/2008BV4595_jpg_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNaJz7poILxWgJbn2ZEf0fwtL4Hiwkqbsm21G3AJABrLgMyH7zTLLiCI3Jrd2DeU3Y-TRquPsLPCXPDibiME3RpQalxEzjU86jngp4OjmDMryMaHMbGrSzVMxMfdvpwjXHGeTzriANOJK5/s1600/2008BV4595_jpg_l.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One of a number of gold camels bearing flower baskets that march across the fifteenth-century Erpingham Chasuble, embroidered in late medieval England (image © <a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O84718/chasuble-unknown/">Victoria and Albert Museum, London</a>, used under their non-commercial <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/terms-of-use#3">licence</a>). </i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibsx0syPLzppa24OmRiIw8ti5OyE8jJUyO8v1QkaJ1vtA39rs9jNocrnHwXWdaqB4kcXqJeFXjjZmSqBuNMNQ_afBQSwUgCG-r5rDtisOnDPDQ6Y5os-KIrlhgV_Re2B-cTp4dFE3eL2u-/s1600/Camel-15thC-EdwardIC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibsx0syPLzppa24OmRiIw8ti5OyE8jJUyO8v1QkaJ1vtA39rs9jNocrnHwXWdaqB4kcXqJeFXjjZmSqBuNMNQ_afBQSwUgCG-r5rDtisOnDPDQ6Y5os-KIrlhgV_Re2B-cTp4dFE3eL2u-/s1600/Camel-15thC-EdwardIC.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A miniature of a camel from a manuscript probably made for King Edward IV of England (1461–70, 1471–83), who was the king in whose honour the six camels were paraded by the Patriarch of Antioch in 1466; from MS Royal 15 E III f. 200 (image: <a href="http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=47686">British Library</a>).</i></td></tr>
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Although Ludovico da Bologna is sometimes described as a fraud, this is <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cdxeCwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA165&pg=PA165#v=onepage&q&f=false">arguably unfair</a>. Ludovico first appears in a papal bull of 1454, when he is residing in Jerusalem and is granted privileges and dispensation by Pope Nicholas V to travel to Ethiopia and India, and in 1456 he is again engaged to act as Pope Callixtus III's messenger to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zara_Yaqob">Ethiopia</a>. In 1457 Ludovico is sent by the pope with letters of recommendation to the Christians of Persia and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Georgia">Georgia</a>, and the next pope, Pius II, confirmed these tasks and the perogatives granted to him in 1458. In 1460, Ludovico returned from the East accompanied by what seem to be genuine ambassadors from a number of eastern rulers including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_of_Trebizond">David Megas Komnenos</a>, the Emperor of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Trebizond">Trezibond</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_VIII_of_Georgia">George VIII of Georgia</a>, who were seeking aid against the Ottomans, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzun_Hasan">Uzun Hasan</a>, the Turkoman ruler of Persia, who was said to be ready to provide military assistance. Upon meeting with Pope Pius II, the ambassadors not only specified the readiness of their kingdoms to engage in military action, but also requested that Pope Pius II name Ludovico as Patriarch of Antioch, something that the pope agreed to do but stipulated that Ludovico should not use the title until he was consecrated as such by him after both the completion of his mission and the territorial jurisdiction of the patriarchate had been defined. Ludovico's party was then sent on by the pope to Milan, France and Burgundy—where they were received with apparent enthusiasm and great celebrations—in order to obtain and confirm commitments for a future crusade against the Ottomans, before returning to Italy in 1461.<br />
<br />
It is at this point that things seem to have gone somewhat awry, as Ludovico da Bologna and his party for some reason decided not to wait any longer for Pope Pius II to do as he promised and instead had Ludovico consecrated as Patriarch of Antioch immediately in Venice, a decision that aroused papal wrath and saw Ludovico having to leave Venice to escape this. In the long-term, however, this dispute over his proper consecration as patriarch seems not to have greatly affected Ludovico's ability to function as a papal envoy and diplomat. In 1465, for example, he is recorded as acting as papal legate for Pope Paul II (1464–71) to the first Crimean khan <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hac%C4%B1_I_Giray">Hacı I Giray</a> and then subsequently ambassador from the khan to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_IV_Jagiellon">Casimir IV Jagiellon</a>, King of Poland, with Ludovico using the title Patriarch of Antioch whilst in Poland. Similarly, in 1468–9 he seems to have been present in Denmark as papal ambassador and 'Patriarch', where he helped in ending the rivalries between Denmark and Sweden, and in 1471 he was in Rome meeting with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_II">Pope Paul II</a> on behalf of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzun_Hasan">Uzun Hasan of Persia</a>. In 1472, the new pope, Sixtus IV, reconfirmed and republished Ludovico's nomination to Patriarch of Antioch and invited him to resume negotiations for an anti-Ottoman alliance. Ludovico was subsequently also appointed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_the_Bold">Charles the Bold</a>, Duke of Burgundy, as his ambassador to Persia in 1473, and in 1475 he was recorded in Persia in audience with Uzun Hasan, who sent back positive messages with him to Europe.<br />
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In light of all of the above, it thus seems highly likely that the 'Lord Patriarch of Antioch' who arrived in England in December 1466 can be identified as Ludovico Severi da Bologna. Not only was he clearly active as a diplomat in this period, visiting a number of northern European countries as a papal ambassador using just this title, but he also clearly had close connections to a number of eastern rulers and states that might have provided the camels that he brought with him 'in honor of the king and queen' of England, if they weren't sourced in Europe itself. The visit of 1466 was presumably an otherwise-unrecorded diplomatic endeavour by Ludovico acting as 'Patriarch of Antioch' to promote positive relations and commitments for an anti-Ottoman alliance between the rulers of East and Europe.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkvc5tQkpa-koQDr3iRrxHxBedaa6XqC1tADZk5KDwwhNX2up-NxZmX_R5zRSMEZvHGNabhSaN7_H5cxlLlE3WQo1DicXP5tnCgoFOad-bepp_flPdF_u9ifk05YokNxaGCaROrFQu5s8k/s1600/E031718.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkvc5tQkpa-koQDr3iRrxHxBedaa6XqC1tADZk5KDwwhNX2up-NxZmX_R5zRSMEZvHGNabhSaN7_H5cxlLlE3WQo1DicXP5tnCgoFOad-bepp_flPdF_u9ifk05YokNxaGCaROrFQu5s8k/s1600/E031718.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A miniature of a man riding a camel, probably drawn in south-east England (possibly Rochester, Kent); from the mid-thirteenth-century MS Royal 12 F XIII f. 38v (image: <a href="http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=43186">British Library</a>).</i></td></tr>
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If this is the immediate political context for the presence of four dromedaries (Arabian camels) and two Bactrian camels in fifteenth-century Kent, what of the wider context of camels in medieval Britain? Whilst John Stone's assertion that such a mixed troop of six Bactrian and Arabian camels 'had never before been seen in England' could be true, it is demonstrably not the case that 1466 represented the first appearance of camels in Britain since the Roman era. Indeed, the earliest reference to camels as definitely present in medieval Britain comes rather from the beginning of the twelfth century. William of Malmesbury, writing in the early twelfth century, records the following of the menagerie of King <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England">Henry I</a> of England (1100–35) installed at Woodstock near Oxford, which he had apparently visited himself:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Henry took a passionate delight in the marvels of other countries, with much affability... asking foreign kings to send him animals not found in England—lions, leopards, lynxes, camels—and he had a park called Woodstock in which he kept his pets of this description. He had put there an animal called a porcupine, sent him by William of Montpellier, which is mentioned by Pliny in the eighth book of his <i>Natural History</i> and in Isidore in his <i>Etymologies</i>; they report the existence of an animal in Africa, called by the Africans a kind of hedgehog, covered with bristling splines, which it has the power to shoot out at dohgs pursuing it. The spines, as I have seen for myself, are a palm or more in length, and sharp at both ends, something like goose quills at the point where the feather-part leaves off, but rather thicker, and as it were striped black and white.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/09/were-there-camels-in-medieval-britain.html#fn3">3</a>)</blockquote>
Moreover, the king of England was not the sole possessor of camels in Britain and Ireland then, with the Irish <i><a href="https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100004/text066.html">Annals of Inisfallen</a></i> recording under 1105 that 'in the above year a camel, an animal of remarkable size, was brought from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar,_King_of_Scotland">king of Alba</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muirchertach_Ua_Briain">Muirchertach Ua Briain</a>', indicating that the rulers of both Scotland and Ireland had camels amongst their own royal menageries in the early twelfth century. Whether there were any camels in medieval Britain or Ireland before the start of the twelfth century is undocumented, although <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodulfus_Tortarius">Rodulf Tortarius</a> writing, according to Mark Hagger, at the end of the eleventh century in his Epistula IX, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=D7Q4DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA523&pg=PA523#v=onepage&q&f=true">recounts</a> that William the Conqueror provided the citizens of Caen in Normandy with a wild animal show involving lions, leopards, lynxes, camels and ostriches that Rodulf <a href="https://archive.org/stream/MN40034ucmf_3#page/n389">himself</a> <a href="https://archive.org/stream/MN40034ucmf_3#page/n26">witnessed</a>. If correct, this obviously raises the distinct possibility that an Anglo-Norman royal menagerie containing camels may have been at least occasionally present in William's English domains too, and that Henry I's menagerie at Woodstock could furthermore have been partly an inheritance from his father.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdktXwWgcdfOr6DZ7wW3kT2aAwDm8qnrxeczYWeP_eSfTCXqqIPoAx2KS7uurB0H4f83Isfv1SEKPkG36hwLFAWoAjh6jB3sM3ZcRsAZ0-43i-fK1uAkLGvUil1zZ4q4eVXfl2Umqz15k/s1600/Bayeux-camels-william.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="459" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDdktXwWgcdfOr6DZ7wW3kT2aAwDm8qnrxeczYWeP_eSfTCXqqIPoAx2KS7uurB0H4f83Isfv1SEKPkG36hwLFAWoAjh6jB3sM3ZcRsAZ0-43i-fK1uAkLGvUil1zZ4q4eVXfl2Umqz15k/s1600/Bayeux-camels-william.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Two Bactrian camels positioned above Duke William of Normandy, later King William I of England, on the Bayeux Tapestry, probably made in England in the 1070s (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BayeuxTapestryScene13.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwYNYeyy-89sevp01mCyrxF6dvJprbMtD5CWHnHGCSaruicanNk3QfQbXJaCBckRMn-IgdiNMuZKoZMln_a3L0ON7eB5EINoPQhEHYkp2XkEmrBQBxu8EtdsG7GG9BDbIaOjVPW2V6jpkj/s1600/11thC-camels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="1118" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwYNYeyy-89sevp01mCyrxF6dvJprbMtD5CWHnHGCSaruicanNk3QfQbXJaCBckRMn-IgdiNMuZKoZMln_a3L0ON7eB5EINoPQhEHYkp2XkEmrBQBxu8EtdsG7GG9BDbIaOjVPW2V6jpkj/s400/11thC-camels.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Camels in the eleventh-century Old English Hexateuch, British Library, MS Cotton Claudius B IV, f. 39v (image: <a href="http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=cotton_ms_claudius_b_iv_f039v">British Library</a>).</i></td></tr>
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Looking forward in time from Henry I, the medieval English <a href="https://londonist.com/london/history/the-tower-of-london-menagerie">royal menagerie</a> seems to have regularly included camels. For example, in 1235 the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II <a href="https://archive.org/stream/matthewparissen01rishgoog#page/n23/mode/2up">sent a camel</a> to King Henry III of England 'as a token of the continuation of his regard', and Henry's son King Edward I is recorded as having kept a camel at his palace at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Langley_Palace">Kings Langley</a>, Hertfordshire, for the amusement of his children. Edward II likewise kept a camel at Kings Langley Palace—his camel-keeper was called Ralph Camyle and the animal's feed included hay, beans, barley and oats, with the area of the royal park responsible for producing the camel's fodder apparently being subsequently known as <i>Camylesland</i>. Edward II is also recorded as being the recipient of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-YsFBQAAQBAJ&lpg=PP142&pg=PP142#v=onepage&q&f=false">two camels</a> in 1317 from the wealthy Genoese merchant Antonio di Pessagno in return for appointing him steward of Gascony, and camels continued to be kept during the reigns of Edward III and Richard II too. Indeed, the latter <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008966072;view=1up;seq=221">granted</a> John Wyntirbourne 'the keepership of the king's camel' for life in January 1393 and apparently receiving a camel and a pelican from the people of London at around the same time, the two events presumably being related. Finally, moving into the fifteenth century, Henry VI is recorded as having received 'of late three camels and an ostrich from Turkey' in <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031079604;view=1up;seq=178">March 1443</a> from an Italian merchant named Nicholas Jone of Bologna, and in 1472 Edward IV sent a <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2nc4AQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA396&pg=PA396#v=onepage&q&f=false">camel to Ireland</a>, this being potentially one of the beasts brought to England in 1466 by the Patriarch of Antioch 'in honor of the king and queen'.<br />
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In conclusion, it seems possible to elucidate the context of the intriguing reference to both Bactrian camels and dromedaries in medieval Kent found in <i>John Stone's Chronicle</i> for 1466. Firstly, the 'Lord Patriarch of Antioch' who paraded six of these beasts in Canterbury can be identified as Ludovico Severi da Bologna, an important papal diplomat who was promoting positive relations and a potential anti-Ottoman alliance between the rulers of East and Europe in this period. The four dromedaries and two Bactrian camels that John Stone saw were presumably intended as gifts for King Edward IV as part of this diplomatic effort, and in this light it is interesting to note the possibility that one of these camels was subsequently 'regifted' by Edward IV to Ireland a few years later. Secondly, although John Stone expressed astonishment at the sight of these six exotic beasts, it ought to be emphasised that they were by no means the first camels to be physically present in medieval Britain. Indeed, there is solid evidence for the presence of such creatures in England, Scotland and Ireland at least as far back as the early twelfth century, with potential hints of an even earlier presence, and English kings are recorded as receiving a number of camels as gifts from other rulers as well as townsfolk and merchants at various points in previous reigns.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsn7GvFQd-M0fveVPxJCGafptrii34XODumoHBGP7nfTC3V7Mzd1l7yITAeY-gcXO6GuSUY-lhQ2Tu28Hzc96LmXlmp04U82irDaLX6vc8mYpltURlk73BxSNlbvtndSZ1tPydl7U1N1Z/s1600/camel-england-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRsSf5oYEcCzw4aHVSRs9XG86o4cUpt8A7A5XNpmzknnV1brmDGjRtcljxHR4YAdP-MtqMNDr-UEuRiNPzp6YxnaBzQ9cei2wCb884FPIiVvZBwpzVrh26IU_4rck-kwR2lsVhnJohNDNm/s1600/camel-england-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Barbary macaque riding backwards on a camel, England, c. AD 1300; note, there is both documentary and <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html">archaeological evidence</a> for the presence of Barbary macaques in medieval Britain and Ireland. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsn7GvFQd-M0fveVPxJCGafptrii34XODumoHBGP7nfTC3V7Mzd1l7yITAeY-gcXO6GuSUY-lhQ2Tu28Hzc96LmXlmp04U82irDaLX6vc8mYpltURlk73BxSNlbvtndSZ1tPydl7U1N1Z/s1600/camel-england-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this illustration (image: </i><i><a href="http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet/s/3re23z">MS. Douce 151 f.26r</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1qUnHKf76QCC6Qyf60oyNOa9bYTEG_OqP3kZuIIrDPjGzwO6NKMao7al3u_jDwqxVsT0u3B2QlJXbuAhZ1bFvsd1ooT7taPSafUzvJr6ukUQ1AoaphbCTCvBv8DhVBz537f-EmPyf57V/s1600/15411603161_c77533026d_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="983" data-original-width="1024" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1qUnHKf76QCC6Qyf60oyNOa9bYTEG_OqP3kZuIIrDPjGzwO6NKMao7al3u_jDwqxVsT0u3B2QlJXbuAhZ1bFvsd1ooT7taPSafUzvJr6ukUQ1AoaphbCTCvBv8DhVBz537f-EmPyf57V/s400/15411603161_c77533026d_b.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A kneeling camel misericord carving, c. 1390, in the Church of St Botolph, Boston, Lincolnshire (image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hunky_punk/15411603161">Spencer Means</a>, CC BY-SA 2.0).</i></td></tr>
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<i>Notes</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span id="fn1"></span>1. </i>M. Connor (ed. & trans.), <i>John Stone's Chronicle: Christ Church Priory, Canterbury, 1417–1472</i> (Kalamazoo, 2010), p. 116, and W. G. Searle (ed.), <i>Christ Church, Canterbury: I. The Chronicle of John Stone</i> (Cambridge, 1902), p. 97; my thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/richard_hopper">Richard Hopper</a> for drawing my attention to this reference.<br />
<i><span id="fn2"></span>2.</i> W. G. Searle (ed.), <i>Christ Church, Canterbury: I. The Chronicle of John Stone</i> (Cambridge, 1902), p. 122; W. F. Hook, <i>Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury</i> (London, 1867), vol. v, p. 357.<br />
<i><span id="fn3"></span>3.</i> William of Malmesbury, <i>Gesta Regum Anglorum</i>, v.409.2–3, ed. and trans. R. A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson, & M. Winterbottom (Oxford, 1998), vol. 1, pp. 740–1.<br />
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<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2018, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-40734985444140207362018-08-16T19:02:00.000+01:002018-08-18T14:12:57.954+01:00The submerged prehistoric forests on Trusthorpe and Cleethorpes beaches, LincolnshireThe aim of this post is simply to share some recent images of the underwater prehistoric forests at Trusthorpe and Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. The submerged forest at Trusthorpe is only rarely seen, especially since beach replenishment works along the coast here; however, an unusually low tide on Monday 13th August, 2018, exposed at least two of the tree stumps and I was able to take the following pictures of these.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKr-I2eA-HLBtk3aJJtWOJc3VPgUX3z7RPiQNq6UTXw0jCpgGcuBKBaW9UPCgyrP6QeQwQuDhkwR8gpuheXZamWBDKj3eNMn1JZ7NX8NchFmlZGLVIa6GVEGarz756XqG9wPXaFIma8xZ/s1600/caitlingreen-trusthorpe-tree1-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWQA5_9G4jNqYFY49AYkykC7hM_izNSuxgQanhOIb5HMIlt9_3G-2AmDpwbhXSoUgW7c-8vpgejqyvzMofHkUDzgi5kC5koemKgJq1ZznXURec8RWKscFTwDk8sdmvv36VJAnntEAZrDb/s1600/caitlingreen-trusthorpe-tree1-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One of the tree stumps exposed on Monday, 13th August 2018 at Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKr-I2eA-HLBtk3aJJtWOJc3VPgUX3z7RPiQNq6UTXw0jCpgGcuBKBaW9UPCgyrP6QeQwQuDhkwR8gpuheXZamWBDKj3eNMn1JZ7NX8NchFmlZGLVIa6GVEGarz756XqG9wPXaFIma8xZ/s1600/caitlingreen-trusthorpe-tree1-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQz-a1fporKWRBBYVYQSx6D_SK1rAsygmFjdM0M-vEetY1OZ2UPp3r5hOfK3JK0os4gqTb5Wcde6paWGWuPKQKYOF-AEBZmb70SzPzwACjWWJmJuSmcx7em5IHGmD2pXkZ-WBUh5EnVXm4/s1600/caitlingreen-trusthorpe-tree2-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="462" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizSJM_SgSCrq9I_wVxLpO54X1OtK_2kqKVzEjHtzS3UaJyGUg2DE1tQkLv51U7MhUM3RP8netwNPehKzGCutaXn4EstvzPCqyOM9nIRwKHY1v0Zc_0yl08YclKHMTyMim2PrBJEHnv7qTO/s1600/caitlingreen-trusthorpe-tree2-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Top view of the submerged prehistoric tree stump exposed at Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire, in August 2018, showing its tree rings; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQz-a1fporKWRBBYVYQSx6D_SK1rAsygmFjdM0M-vEetY1OZ2UPp3r5hOfK3JK0os4gqTb5Wcde6paWGWuPKQKYOF-AEBZmb70SzPzwACjWWJmJuSmcx7em5IHGmD2pXkZ-WBUh5EnVXm4/s1600/caitlingreen-trusthorpe-tree2-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEgHQbaUG76GRiZT-m_mbsrRX_uw9jcziefxCU1fvCCwVK31bxnyrOX7dp22TeONA_Zv_83tcJ2L1I4ttF8aF_Nlwy0KSh9R4tfLo7ajHyv-evuqNXit0mj2DypZr0oCo0GBN1TFI0iUX0/s1600/caitlingreen-trusthorpe-tree3-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq1PCE0zZDyRFJTjNFL2Pck4wyQNSWUsKfIMEW9_1XdRiy_RbpXlC_v-zCOpO8oI9TYGQ-8AF_3E40SHWJe3jszuXHZNohkyWPp54FbljZbAzm30HG_v8Y3SuLRpgUrrQe_Fvq2tMpXCfF/s1600/caitlingreen-trusthorpe-tree3-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Another of the prehistoric tree stumps exposed by an exceptionally low tide at Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEgHQbaUG76GRiZT-m_mbsrRX_uw9jcziefxCU1fvCCwVK31bxnyrOX7dp22TeONA_Zv_83tcJ2L1I4ttF8aF_Nlwy0KSh9R4tfLo7ajHyv-evuqNXit0mj2DypZr0oCo0GBN1TFI0iUX0/s1600/caitlingreen-trusthorpe-tree3-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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The tree stumps and trunks that are revealed by such very low tides and in excavations all along the Lincolnshire coast from Immingham to Ingoldmells have their origins in a drowned prehistoric forest that once stretched out over what is now the floor of the North Sea after the last Ice Age, when global sea-levels dropped to around 120 metres below their current levels. For the early part of the Mesolithic era, beginning <i>c.</i> 9600 BC, the actual coastline lay a significant distance to the north-east and eastern Lincolnshire represented part of an upland district rather than a coastal zone. However, from about 8,500 years ago, this situation began to change as the inexorably rising sea-level due to the melting of the glaciers <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/06/prehistoric-evolution-lincolnshire-coastline.html">pushed the coastline ever nearer</a>. Sometime around 6200 BC, the land bridge connecting Britain to the continent was severed, perhaps being finally destroyed by the <a href="http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/documenta/pdf35/weninger35.pdf">Storegga Slide tsunami</a>, and by approximately 6000 BC the flooding of what remained of Doggerland had advanced sufficiently that the coastline probably lay just to the seaward of its present position along much of east Lincolnshire. As this process continued, the trees that are now found submerged off the Lincolnshire coast were first subject to waterlogging as the water-table rose and were then submerged by the rising tide. The date of this waterlogging and submersion varies from site to site, depending on the elevation of the land on which the forest grew: at Immingham and Theddlethorpe the waterlogging of the prehistoric landscape has been dated to 5840–5373 BC and 6205–6012 BC respectively, whilst at Anderby Creek and Cleethorpes the trees on the foreshore were submerged in 3514–3349 BC and 2912–2299 BC, as determined by the radiocarbon dating of their wood.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpv4nG-5k4AgU31bQh_AaxPAgr5AwREWHbjRf5ArakR-AgMYevtxUKgv1BEvs92WiQJeUsI7T09MTQga5GSf0c5p-JEL8vjemTk_xvYRprJxnePMzphOR7NvMHak5byXEVT3ZjRkVVMXIF/s1600/Doggerland_maximum2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpv4nG-5k4AgU31bQh_AaxPAgr5AwREWHbjRf5ArakR-AgMYevtxUKgv1BEvs92WiQJeUsI7T09MTQga5GSf0c5p-JEL8vjemTk_xvYRprJxnePMzphOR7NvMHak5byXEVT3ZjRkVVMXIF/s1600/Doggerland_maximum2.jpg" title="The extent of Doggerland during the Younger Dryas, around 12,000 years ago" width="431" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The extent of Doggerland about 12,000 years
ago at the end of the last glacial era, with possible reindeer migration routes shown (drawn by C. R. Green for <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/p/the-origins-of-louth-archaeology-and.html">Origins of Louth</a>, based on <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ice-Age-Britain-English-Heritage/dp/0713488352" target="_blank">Barton, 2005</a> and <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eBwQzsBTWWAC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA299#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Shennan et al, 2000</a>, with permission).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjofV99ys8Dn3F6o-z-oQCDNLAKsmKZ4mhg66LRPeUmbLujGyxOmokZH3uhS1tZXAqcjGEw6c8zRqRwUdGnUypQW2yqvafmeGuedSLlXSTWaAev49QMp_4jfJntlSlGc7LUbTUxpt6SN4BW/s1600/PalaeoMaps_Doggerland2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjofV99ys8Dn3F6o-z-oQCDNLAKsmKZ4mhg66LRPeUmbLujGyxOmokZH3uhS1tZXAqcjGEw6c8zRqRwUdGnUypQW2yqvafmeGuedSLlXSTWaAev49QMp_4jfJntlSlGc7LUbTUxpt6SN4BW/s1600/PalaeoMaps_Doggerland2.jpg" title="The drowning of Doggerland and the emergence of Lincolnshire" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The last stages in the drowning of Mesolithic Doggerland, from the perspective of Lincolnshire and the Fens (drawn by C. R. Green for <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/p/the-origins-of-louth-archaeology-and.html">Origin of Louth</a>, based on <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eBwQzsBTWWAC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA299#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Shennan et al, 2000</a>, with permission). Louth is marked to help in understanding the changes; darker blue indicates areas permanently under water, light blue the inter-tidal zone and low-lying marshland.</i></td></tr>
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The photographs of submerged trees at Trusthorpe included above were taken at approximately 14:30 in the afternoon, when the tide was at its lowest point of 0.4 metres above chart datum, equivalent to around 3.35 metres below Ordnance Datum. Unfortunately, this wasn't quite low enough to expose more than a handful of tree stumps, especially after beach replenishment works along this coast, although wading a short way out beyond the shoreline revealed a number of additional tree stumps lying just below the water's surface. A number of photographs are available online of the more dramatic exposures in the Mablethorpe to Huttoft area visible in previous decades, especially those in <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29450962@N08/4995022479/in/photostream/">1984</a> and <a href="https://www.suttononsea.info/history/forest.htm">1992</a>, although none of these in turn seem to approach those recorded in previous centuries, leading to the suggestion that the drowned forest remains have been subject to recent erosion as well as being covered up by beach replenishment schemes. In particular, the outcrop of exposed forest seen in 1796 by Sir Joseph Banks and Joseph Correa de Serra was around 1 mile wide just to the south of Trusthorpe at Sutton-on-Sea (something also apparent on Robert Mitchell's 1765 coastal sailing chart, where the forest 'islets' are marked as a wide belt of 'Clay Huts' between Sutton and Anderby Creek), whereas in 1923 it was only 150 yards wide. According to A. J. Clapham, 'even allowing for the shifting pattern of the sand covering the foreshore and the fact that the tides might not have fallen as low in 1923 as on the 1796 visit, this is evidence for considerable erosion of the outcrop in a century and a quarter'.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/08/drowned-forest-trusthorpe.html#fn1">1</a>) With regard to the 1796 exposure, it is worth quoting Joseph Correa de Serra's 1799 description of the 'submarine forest' at length as an indication of what was visible in the eighteenth century:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It was a common report in Lincolnshire, that a large extent of islets of moor, situated along its coast, and visible only in the lowest ebbs of the year, was chiefly composed of decayed trees. These islets are marked in Mitchell's chart of that coast, by the name of the <i>clay huts</i>... In the month of September, 1796, I went to Sutton, the coast of Lincolnshire, in company with the Right Hon. President of this Society [Sir Joseph Banks], in order to examine their extent and nature. The 19th of the month, being the first day after the equinoctial full moon, when the lowest ebbs were to be expected, we went in a boat... and soon after set foot upon one of the largest islets then appearing. Its exposed surface was about thirty yards long, and twenty-five wide, when the tide was at its lowest. A great number of similar islets were visible round us, chiefly to the eastward and southward... These islets, according to the most accurate information, extend at least twelve miles in length, and about a mile in breadth, opposite to Sutton shore... The channels between the several islets [representing the eroded lines of drainage from wave backwash], when the islets are dry, in the lowest ebbs of the year, are from four to twelve feet deep.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/08/drowned-forest-trusthorpe.html#fn2">2</a>)</blockquote>
Banks and De Serra examined the composition of these 'islets' on the 19th, 20th and 21st of September, 1796, and concluded that<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
they consisted almost entirely of roots, trunks, branches, and leaves of trees and shrubs, intermixed with some leaves of aquatic plants. The remains of some of these trees were still standing on their roots; while the trunks of the greater part lay scattered on the ground, in every possible direction. The bark of the trees and roots appeared generally as fresh as when they were growing; in that of the birches particularly, of which a great quantity was found, even the thin silvery membranes of the outer skin were discernible. The timber of all kinds, on the contrary, was decomposed and soft, in the greatest part of the trees; in some, however, it was firm, especially in the knots.... The sorts of wood which are still distinguishable are birch, fir, and oak...<br />
The soil to which the trees are affixed, and in which they grew, is a soft, greasy clay; but for many inches above it is entirely composed of rotten leaves, scarcely distinguishable to the eye, many of which may be separated by putting the soil in water, and dextrously and patiently using a spatula, or a blunt knife. By this method, I obtained some perfect leaves of <i>Ilex Aquifolium </i>[holly], which are now in the Herbarium of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks; and some other leaves which, though less perfect, seem to belong to some species of willow. In this stratum of rotten leaves, we could also distinguish several roots of <i>Arundo Phragmites</i> [common reed].</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBRHU2Vjq49wlC3It7lWPYwCMlNlXMlCDdLCNGS25isNayWj8T0MDc5HRiqiH9NdKjus0nlV-dvWvZS3Md47NM93jdYL44v4bGtJc_A_LyJw-S6_rqhE2yGMkQgX5-BrnJBX6aFrPEvLq/s1600/MitchellChart1765-detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBRHU2Vjq49wlC3It7lWPYwCMlNlXMlCDdLCNGS25isNayWj8T0MDc5HRiqiH9NdKjus0nlV-dvWvZS3Md47NM93jdYL44v4bGtJc_A_LyJw-S6_rqhE2yGMkQgX5-BrnJBX6aFrPEvLq/s1600/MitchellChart1765-detail.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Robert Mitchell's 1765 coastal sailing chart of Lincolnshire, showing 'clay huts' (islets of exposed submerged forest separated by deep eroded backwash channels) extending significantly offshore from Sutton to Anderby Creek.</i></td></tr>
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Whilst only the tops of a few tree stumps were visible at Trusthorpe as a result of the unusually low tides this August, rather more was visible of the <a href="https://citizan.org.uk/blog/2016/Aug/25/three-submerged-forests/">submerged forest</a> at Cleethorpes on 14 August 2018 (when low tide was only 0.1 metres higher than on the previous day) and some pictures from this visit are shared below as a comparison. As was noted above, the forest at Cleethorpes is perhaps a thousand years younger than that further south at Mablethorpe–Anderby, being probably drowned in the Late Neolithic era, and both this and the lack of intensive beach replenishment as seen elsewhere on the Lincolnshire coast may explain why significantly more trees are visible here. In any case, as can be seen from the pictures below, a variety of fallen tree trunks, stumps and roots were easily to be seen on Cleethorpes beach without having to venture too far out, many well-persevered due to a layer of marine crustaceans overlying them.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoqi0MyOwyhcgId-T7-XtjWioSDLNuk_mIKjKZAMrzv8v8ii6WcINdUwDWaA8cT0Ma9iUuYewo75mxY1Yy4UAHvhu_YBN514HkHKb_pfEQNeFchRANsOghTHsuf_tSf1y0wFURUFM6c_Uz/s1600/cleethorpes-trees4-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBvnKhASNd_l6ooeJ4EMMGgoWCJ1nA99BLGkm9ExABmDD81lkHIZ6_SbcgwiNSckLzPbIsiaVopGd9t1hHas0BVECKDl9Zj6BGFXfT0tkqQ9YUakxvCVLd0nmIE_qDP-YxRbAaigbQ7cR/s1600/cleethorpes-trees4-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A tree stump from the Late Neolithic drowned forest on Cleethorpes beach; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoqi0MyOwyhcgId-T7-XtjWioSDLNuk_mIKjKZAMrzv8v8ii6WcINdUwDWaA8cT0Ma9iUuYewo75mxY1Yy4UAHvhu_YBN514HkHKb_pfEQNeFchRANsOghTHsuf_tSf1y0wFURUFM6c_Uz/s1600/cleethorpes-trees4-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQGfUc6yC0Bgcc_uye6Qh7AS0rMrZGnj1HirAt3o7X4OOfou_FzqPNzCPkozzaAAfYvPU8LcKTvY-7vHc-HX02FQjauKD70XcCh2UpZP8vAvDBbMnjtyViCs71LrYEKOQVPuetqEM5U6P/s1600/cleethorpe-trees1-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7R1xaFt0ae3uBSkWPa57qvoZWprcHEqqb_KYw0bhRtLGqrO-JFGKPAVL3EDoS3IuauyTc-9GN51DvWdvMC3yuJjbtXz6LmN2h4i1TCPHHG-JwWHvLQXv9VMZNDbYCMR5iiwvRLYmdO3dX/s1600/cleethorpes-trees1-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Two fallen trees from the Late Neolithic drowned forest on Cleethorpes beach; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQGfUc6yC0Bgcc_uye6Qh7AS0rMrZGnj1HirAt3o7X4OOfou_FzqPNzCPkozzaAAfYvPU8LcKTvY-7vHc-HX02FQjauKD70XcCh2UpZP8vAvDBbMnjtyViCs71LrYEKOQVPuetqEM5U6P/s1600/cleethorpe-trees1-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw1SFG9b9_JmUGRQaoGa5JRFQq9etaGw3MgNHzMo0u5CLfWAnH_N9B7FrvXr6q2xAVvqYg0oS0s7aSz8ObigLLcAd35RN2Id2DeYPx5Nx0B08LI0Onj2kuEY-Qw7pDQwhaPleH6cubYdnf/s1600/cleethorpes-trees7-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZ-kcaitSGbKygIvUaXO_DXK3aucjMgodXZRyIfgcUmdsFooINFmG_at9VV0wVycNT-9G7BefgrQuE2vXunuurZxwLGvPZsRhkt5Dw0Dei1-lPrMJruvcB2pTGQp7YOd_M4xtHxxs7KGe/s1600/cleethorpes-trees7-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Another tree trunk from the Late Neolithic drowned forest on Cleethorpes beach; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw1SFG9b9_JmUGRQaoGa5JRFQq9etaGw3MgNHzMo0u5CLfWAnH_N9B7FrvXr6q2xAVvqYg0oS0s7aSz8ObigLLcAd35RN2Id2DeYPx5Nx0B08LI0Onj2kuEY-Qw7pDQwhaPleH6cubYdnf/s1600/cleethorpes-trees7-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25Zb20W6u5kGicSVieI7n1vDMDvFeJgTKHZb1fAkPKBjwOamlhCjgqH9ZwuYoB3ru6VsKAkxUbc2moZVh_4gRJG40GmB3ZPDCVq8Fio_szdYj2ZE7e6EunVqm2YrINYS5ZiGBeedTPQo2/s1600/cleethorpes-trees3-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZqem6p4qhdUtSrebnVZH5b0uho1I2sR1IX4j9dP4lQzVVEDDEPAlZ4pGzA1X94VMi-4xxhMQy6mYpPLs-rfU8YdiAk3FOZky8MBcOyWt5Xl07fwRVAdSUs5TrkO-KDHvH-MIgCgOgdWUB/s1600/cleethorpes-trees3-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A tree stump from the submerged prehistoric forest on Cleethorpes beach; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25Zb20W6u5kGicSVieI7n1vDMDvFeJgTKHZb1fAkPKBjwOamlhCjgqH9ZwuYoB3ru6VsKAkxUbc2moZVh_4gRJG40GmB3ZPDCVq8Fio_szdYj2ZE7e6EunVqm2YrINYS5ZiGBeedTPQo2/s1600/cleethorpes-trees3-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIT_XXy8b4NFb5Bha_8PhVb79bkU7WwG_us8tjfq5gK6hHOif6bwbjBZ5ONvEJTcbTCykJ2F-zWg225vtVdk5kb40U9Ztg-B3cqHNKRmKIXPuylt66vFfAGj1mXDip1YWoCWeQPUIkpcb2/s1600/cleethorpes-trees6-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgltrt9-4cIe_IZ5Pm8qr-Ual8IZRyHF2bnOuxa5k3JMap0OrCPnYTKwyGO4xrJFjvIKIGdV0WIzzqomcCf75fZBMaqLXu0ZXGXsQsSc0cKNPday753p61VMQ7vbTYfdmTNTCEBzzFkJTTs/s1600/cleethorpes-trees6-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Another piece of the drowned Late Neolithic forest visible on Cleethorpes beach; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIT_XXy8b4NFb5Bha_8PhVb79bkU7WwG_us8tjfq5gK6hHOif6bwbjBZ5ONvEJTcbTCykJ2F-zWg225vtVdk5kb40U9Ztg-B3cqHNKRmKIXPuylt66vFfAGj1mXDip1YWoCWeQPUIkpcb2/s1600/cleethorpes-trees6-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<i>Notes</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span id="fn1"></span>1.</i> See A. J. Clapham, <i>The Characterisation of Two Mid-Holocene Submerged Forests </i>(Liverpool John Moores University PhD Thesis, 1999), pp. 62–4, for a brief discussion.<br />
<i><span id="fn2"></span>2.</i> This and the following quotation are taken from J. C. de Serra, 'On a submarine forest, on the east coast of England', <i>Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London</i>, 89 (1799), 145–56.<br />
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<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations unless otherwise stated, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2018, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-91253367776038627272018-07-22T09:00:00.000+01:002018-08-23T15:05:11.891+01:00Indo-Pacific beads from Europe to Japan? Another fifth- to seventh-century AD global distributionThe aim of the following post is to briefly discuss another global distribution from Late Antiquity, this time of Indo-Pacific beads. Indo-Pacific beads were made in southern India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia from the third century BC onwards, and by <i>c. </i>400 to 700 AD they have an impressive distribution stretching from northern and eastern Africa across to China, Korea and Japan, with recent research demonstrating that they were exported to Europe at this time too.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLyOqJzQ1pAAM984wicV_9RRw1uC4UX08gTJSC7nNAFlLf-lGRVjfJU_TJ_rUrKCiGXl7xAUdryBGPGN_01EWklFFtXPnnCAHQUA6BtbFjTtQsHIzzZytgATvepQFsLCdXFMcSDzRjn3Rt/s1600/indopacific-map-large.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRLxfejnQZOmfCghq8BNNwj0aL9B4aecShiqS8ya51YJmznhjZbGGc4I7mcXV-D7yYKM_mY-4Xz1v2_KBlcBzyGBKhwd1hGB6ZLle_Gi1c3oYvUZo5stilM0JnV9Rl35pkjTOmwDZXskic/s1600/indopacific-map-small.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Distribution of Indo-Pacific beads and Jatim beads during Late Antiquity, c.AD 400 to c.700, showing both findspots (dots) and production sites (stars) thought to be active during finds of the fifth to seventh centuries; Indo-Pacific beads are shown in orange and Jatim beads in red, with the latter included here for interest due to the fact that an example has been recovered from the Byzantine Red Sea port of Berenike alongside a sizeable quantity of Indo-Pacific. For a larger version of this map, click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLyOqJzQ1pAAM984wicV_9RRw1uC4UX08gTJSC7nNAFlLf-lGRVjfJU_TJ_rUrKCiGXl7xAUdryBGPGN_01EWklFFtXPnnCAHQUA6BtbFjTtQsHIzzZytgATvepQFsLCdXFMcSDzRjn3Rt/s1600/indopacific-map-large.png">here</a>. Note, the map is based on the sources listed in <a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html#fn1">fn. 1</a> and is not exhaustive; rather, it is intended to offer an impression of the wide distribution of these beads across Eurasia and Africa in this era based on published discussions. Likewise, findspots of Jatim beads are very general for some territories and are only be plotted at a country/region level in these cases. Image: C. R. Green.</i></td></tr>
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<br />
Previous posts on this site have discussed fifth- to seventh-century AD global distributions of <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/03/a-very-long-way-from-home.html">Early Byzantine</a> and <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/07/sasanian-finds-in-early-medieval-britain.html">Late Sasanian</a> objects stretching across Eurasia and Africa. The following piece looks at an additional global distribution from Late Antiquity, this time of <a href="https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/16976/1/AP-v29n1-1-23.pdf">tiny glass beads</a> produced in southern India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, which are recognizable both morphologically/typologically and by <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2007.00350.x">chemical analysis</a> due to their use of Southern Asian high aluminous soda glass. These Indo-Pacific monochrome drawn beads were first produced in the third century BC and continued to be made through until the early twenty-first century in India, but they seem to have reached their widest pre-modern distribution from the late fourth century through to the seventh century.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html#fn1">1</a>) For example, over 150,000 of these beads were discovered during excavations of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongning_Pagoda">Yongningsi Temple</a> site in the Northern Wei capital of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luoyang">Luoyang</a>, China, founded by the Empress Wu in AD 516 and destroyed by lightning in 534.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html#fn2">2</a>) Similarly, thousands of these beads have been recovered from fifth- to seventh-century <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sila/hd_sila.htm">Silla</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofun">Kofun</a> tombs in Korea and Japan, and significant numbers have also been found on a number of sites in Africa—indeed, 51% of the beads discovered from the Late Roman/Early Byzantine Red Sea port of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berenice_Troglodytica">Berenike</a>, Egypt, are Indo-Pacific beads, with finds from this site also including a probably sixth-century Jatim bead made on the Indonesian island of Java, and such beads are also found as far afield as sixth- to seventh-century <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unguja_Ukuu">Zanzibar</a> (Tanzania) and the <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/10/saharan-and-trans-saharan-contacts.html">Late Garamantian kingdom</a> in the Fazzan area of the Libyan Sahara.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html#fn3">3</a>)<br />
<br />
In this light, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352226716300095?via%3Dihub">recent work</a> by Constantin Pion and Bernard Gratuze is of particular interest as it extends this Late Antique distribution of Indo-Pacific beads even further, into the far west of Eurasia. They have demonstrated that thousands of these tiny beads were imported into continental Europe during the fifth and sixth centuries, being found on 44 sites stretching from Spain across to <a href="http://www.livius.org/articles/place/viminacium/">Serbia</a>, with one cemetery in France (Saint-Laurent-des-Hommes, Dordogne) containing as many as 3,037 of these Indo-Pacific beads.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html#fn4">4</a>) Pion and Gratuze date the graves containing these beads primarily to the period from the mid-fifth to later sixth centuries and note that these are the smallest of the glass beads that appear in early medieval European cemeteries, being predominantly <i>c. </i>2.5mm or smaller in diameter and green in colour. In 75% of the graves where the deposition context is clear, these tiny imported beads were used within necklaces, whilst in 25% of graves they were used to decorate the embroidery of textiles, notably headresses of silk, and it is possible that they arrived in Europe already attached to such textiles as well as on their own (the latter witnessed by the discovery of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309952695_Title_Cross-cultural_bead_encounters_at_the_Red_Sea_port_site_of_Berenike_Egypt_Preliminary_assessment_seasons_2009-2012">uniform strings</a> of these beads at the Byzantine Red Sea port of Berenike). Even more interestingly, these Indo-Pacific beads are found in graves of 'varying degrees of richness' and 'do not appear to be the prerogative of a privileged few', which is a conclusion of considerable interest when considering the wider significance of these very long-distance imports to early medieval Europe.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html#fn5">5</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGDyvRYY4aSDFPZ1u4jxtMmiRQWM3-HTi0x2nbPQuZhn64VjZC3m5wKHZIrpuxF2BZ_K7vIWqAZ4FyAopKujVWlksaXWHzicSlALszZUEVa3yLkZQaYNOlk49hl68ZG1cUnrJX6XA26e7v/s1600/petrie-indopacific.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="499" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGDyvRYY4aSDFPZ1u4jxtMmiRQWM3-HTi0x2nbPQuZhn64VjZC3m5wKHZIrpuxF2BZ_K7vIWqAZ4FyAopKujVWlksaXWHzicSlALszZUEVa3yLkZQaYNOlk49hl68ZG1cUnrJX6XA26e7v/s1600/petrie-indopacific.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Indo-Pacific beads discovered in the Roman/Early Byzantine cemetery at Qau, Egypt, similar to those discovered in fifth- to sixth-century Europe, from bead assemblage UC74134 (image: <a href="http://petriecat.museums.ucl.ac.uk/detail.aspx">Petrie Museum</a>, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).</i></td></tr>
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As to the context of these imports from India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, it should be remembered that they do not stand alone as Red Sea and Indian Ocean products traded through to western Europe in the fifth to seventh centuries AD. Perhaps the most obvious of these other imports were the garnets used in the <a href="https://twitter.com/caitlinrgreen/status/894150359169585152">polychrome gold jewellery</a> of this period that is found widely distributed across Europe, notable examples including the garnet cloisonné items discovered in the late fifth-century burial of <a href="http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/37323">Childeric</a> (at Tournai, Belgium) and the probably mid- to late sixth-century <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=1533776001&objectId=86877&partId=1">shoulder clasps</a> from the early seventh-century <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Hoo">Sutton Hoo</a> ship-burial (Suffolk, England); these garnets have been shown via <a href="http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/masala/article/view/16942">archaeometric data</a> to have had their origins in India and Sri Lanka.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html#fn6">6</a>) Likewise, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowry">cowrie shells</a> that were popular all across early medieval northwestern Europe and Anglo-Saxon England as amulets and elements within necklaces are believed to have their origins either in the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean, whilst recent studies of the large number of ivory rings now known from both sixth- to seventh-century England and the continent confirm that they came from the tusks of African <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_bush_elephant">savannah elephants</a>, probably obtained via the Red Sea from the east coast of Africa. Indeed, not only were both imported cowrie shells and ivory rings found in significant quantities right across northwestern Europe and England, but they were also not simply confined to high-status graves during the sixth- and seventh centuries, instead being used more widely; as such, they offer an important parallel to and confirmation of the situation outlined above with regard to the use of Indo-Pacific beads in Europe.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html#fn7">7</a>) Finally, it is likely that a number of other gemstones in use in Europe during this period, such as sapphires and perhaps amethysts, were definitely or possibly ultimately obtained from India/Sri Lanka, as were most certainly the spices such as pepper that are recorded in impressive quantities in Europe during this period and after: for example, the mid-seventh-century Merovingian king <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlothar_III">Chlothar III</a> granted an annual rent of 30 pounds of pepper (grown in India) to the monastery of Corbie in northern France, along with sizeable amounts of other spices including cinnamon (from Sri Lanka) and cloves (from Indonesia).(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html#fn8">8</a>)<br />
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Lastly, in addition to such Indo-Pacific beads, the map included at the start of this post also shows the distribution of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HiSUl9aN88MC&lpg=PA336&pg=PA336#v=onepage&q&f=false">Jatim beads</a> made in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Java">East Java</a>, Indonesia, and these deserve a brief concluding comment too. Such beads were produced from the end of the fourth century AD through until perhaps the seventh century, and have a fairly extensive distribution in Southeast Asia and across to Korea and Japan, where—like Indo-Pacific beads—they are found in <a href="https://twitter.com/caitlinrgreen/status/967735505998753794">Silla</a> Kingdom and Kofun period tombs. Although no examples of these beads are (yet) known from sites in Europe, at least some definitely made their way to the fifth-/sixth-century Byzantine Empire, as an <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Eyemu-_MncwC&lpg=PA138-IA8&pg=PA138-IA8#v=onepage&q&f=false">example</a> was found at the Byzantine Red Sea port of Berenike, Egypt, in 1999. This is, in itself, fascinating and worthy of note. However, what is particularly interesting about these beads is that they also help illustrate trade in the opposite direction too, as recent <a href="https://www.academia.edu/22146727/A_study_of_mid-first_millennium_CE_Southeast_Asian_specialized_glass_beadmaking_traditions_Lankton_et_al_2008_ISEA_">compositional analysis</a> indicates that both <a href="https://twitter.com/caitlinrgreen/status/997759182341398529">Early Byzantine</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/caitlinrgreen/status/967735505998753794">Sasanian</a> Persian glass was used to produce some of these beads in East Java!(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/07/indo-pacific-beads-europe.html#fn9">9</a>)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4nod9yABOuBXm0RzA5PZMWf-5T1X3U-RY2dtEyCyGTDa6Z8awJiM1jStwlQjmb8Nq2AUPq9vG-F0RRjCEU7hLv7Fk3NO70xvfm66oqNSdkrBQT9KmTIOsZesvsDrS2gOIjdKfY8xL11Ri/s1600/RedSeaTrade-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHlXjQrwRBiQ98CdfP6igboLz1T08ZyQ3plQsLr2ST0zCoiBGucXTmOOv8KascF44imDPNyBvydZkMG-Uka8p162eRpDNByL9kjj8lldFNwzRvjxy7PKVeDD_A_0tP8bG_2y6HFZP3RUK4/s1600/RedSeaTrade-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The distribution of possible Red Sea and Indian Ocean imports in fifth- to seventh-century Britain; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4nod9yABOuBXm0RzA5PZMWf-5T1X3U-RY2dtEyCyGTDa6Z8awJiM1jStwlQjmb8Nq2AUPq9vG-F0RRjCEU7hLv7Fk3NO70xvfm66oqNSdkrBQT9KmTIOsZesvsDrS2gOIjdKfY8xL11Ri/s1600/RedSeaTrade-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map. Finds of garnet are indicated by diamonds, cowries by dots, ivory rings by open squares, and amethysts by stars (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQ7un0i0ni9tQyCM4Y_tLQS7ylUGWk0yx96q3-Sb414sO6AlMcogQGTGOyyX7rfshlv9Xp1RHpKI9-jWJDo-RGJ0dl_Y1AsIN32GJ59l6FwUkKykY-_0gXKN1jqrjuIq1sNXA29La82hK/s1600/AN00175890_001_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="818" data-original-width="750" height="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQ7un0i0ni9tQyCM4Y_tLQS7ylUGWk0yx96q3-Sb414sO6AlMcogQGTGOyyX7rfshlv9Xp1RHpKI9-jWJDo-RGJ0dl_Y1AsIN32GJ59l6FwUkKykY-_0gXKN1jqrjuIq1sNXA29La82hK/s400/AN00175890_001_l.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The stunning gold, garnet and millefiori glass shoulder-clasps from the Sutton Hoo ship-burial, using garnets imported from India or Sri Lanka; although they were deposited in the early seventh-century, Noël Adams has concluded that they were probably made in the mid- to late sixth century, see N. Adams, 'Rethinking the Sutton Hoo shoulder clasps and armour', in C. Entwistle & N. Adams (eds.), Intelligible Beauty: Recent Research on Byzantine Jewellery (London, 2010), pp. 83–112 (image: <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=1533776001&objectId=86877&partId=1">British Museum</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGdK1JOAdae6HG5ff8xrnAOW7dKMNlr57eSf6R-zgPI2B_7e6hr4Mrwb-YRBOVfeEKyWTLjW083HEV5rTBndZCtLf40KD2LS6wVilXM1PEcKu5JNcF4Fm0JSZn2IemR8ZNvw3pTIgonE3/s1600/ruskington-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="996" data-original-width="1000" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGdK1JOAdae6HG5ff8xrnAOW7dKMNlr57eSf6R-zgPI2B_7e6hr4Mrwb-YRBOVfeEKyWTLjW083HEV5rTBndZCtLf40KD2LS6wVilXM1PEcKu5JNcF4Fm0JSZn2IemR8ZNvw3pTIgonE3/s400/ruskington-1000.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A probable elephant ivory ring from an early Anglo-Saxon bag, found at Ruskington, Lincolnshire; such rings from early Anglo-Saxon burials have been to shown to be cut from the base of tusk of an African savannah elephant (image: C. R. Green). </i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiR8z8ZmuVLo9ndt_83WV_SiopHLZnbs_L4u3ozg58KCrLnzJbO9VfRWf147TO6Z0foGJ38VGexr2H20EO1UfyEUaZUDANb8TJHDEnATRmUBevPnypzYA-4EtING0-dDWlr67FZLGdLgRG/s1600/B6VutDlCEAEkL5N.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="663" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiR8z8ZmuVLo9ndt_83WV_SiopHLZnbs_L4u3ozg58KCrLnzJbO9VfRWf147TO6Z0foGJ38VGexr2H20EO1UfyEUaZUDANb8TJHDEnATRmUBevPnypzYA-4EtING0-dDWlr67FZLGdLgRG/s400/B6VutDlCEAEkL5N.png" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A cowrie shell from the Red Sea or Indian Ocean found in an Anglo-Saxon grave in Lincolnshire (image: <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/163917">PAS</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl1_H4VqRtQJPdN0Vr5d59h8zuEhCL3ReRcUotp0UegDRZxumXoWWZrD6uoIjVmaEcfRQkPZonDkmHriQWJk_zq69hwY8VkGxRneC1yCOGJutfLh1rPdseUmbWVLSRGRlTz0cHKe2thOzB/s1600/sapphire-escrick-ring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="595" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl1_H4VqRtQJPdN0Vr5d59h8zuEhCL3ReRcUotp0UegDRZxumXoWWZrD6uoIjVmaEcfRQkPZonDkmHriQWJk_zq69hwY8VkGxRneC1yCOGJutfLh1rPdseUmbWVLSRGRlTz0cHKe2thOzB/s400/sapphire-escrick-ring.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The fifth- or sixth-century AD <a href="http://www.medievalhistories.com/the-esrick-ring/">Escrick Ring</a>, found in Yorkshire, set with a central cabochon sapphire gem from Sri Lanka (image: <a href="https://www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/collections/search/item/?id=15968">Yorkshire Museums Trust</a>, CC BY-SA 4.0).</i></td></tr>
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<br />
<i>Notes</i><br />
<br />
<i><span id="fn1"></span>1.</i> The distribution map of Indo-Pacific and Jatim beads and production sites in the fifth to seventh centuries AD included here is based on a number of sources including C. Pion & B. Gratuze, 'Indo-Pacific glass beads from the Indian subcontinent in Early Merovingian graves (5th–6th century AD)', <i>Archaeological Research in Asia</i>, 6 (2016), 51–64; A. K. Carter, 'The Production and Exchange of Glass and Stone Beads in Southeast Asia from 500 BCE to the early second millennium CE: an assessment of the work of Peter Francis in light of recent research', <i>Archaeological Research in Asia</i>, 6 (2016), 16–29; S. A. Abraham, 'Glass beads and glass production in early South India: contextualizing
Indo-Pacific bead manufacture', <i>Archaeological Research in Asia</i>, 6 (2016), 4–15; J. W. Lankton, L. Dussubieux & T. Rehren, 'A Study of Mid-first Millennium CE Southeast Asian Specialized Glass Beadmaking Traditions', in E. Bacus, I. Glover & P. Sharrock (eds.),<i> Interpreting Southeast Asia’s Past: Monument, Image and Text</i> (Singapore, 2008), pp. 335–56; K-W. Wang, <i>Cultural and Socio-Economic Interaction Reflected by Glass Beads in Early Iron Age Taiwan</i> (University of Sheffield PhD Thesis, 2016); J. Then-Obluska, 'Cross-cultural bead encounters at the Red Sea port site of Berenike, Egypt: preliminary assessment (seasons 2009–2012)', <i>Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean</i>, 24 (2015), 735–77; M. Wood, 'Glass beads from pre-European contact sub-Saharan Africa: Peter Francis's work revisited and updated', <i>Archaeological Research in Asia</i>, 6 (2016), 65–80; M. Wood <i>et al</i>, 'Zanzibar and Indian Ocean trade in the first millennium CE: the glass bead evidence', <i>Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences</i>, 9 (2017), 879–901; V. Leitch <i>et al</i>, 'Early Saharan trade: the inorganic evidence', in D. J. Mattingly <i>et al</i> (eds.), <i>Trade in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond</i> (Cambridge, 2017), pp. 287–340; A. K. Carter, S. A. Abraham & G. O. Kelly (eds.), <i>Asia's Maritime Bead Trade</i>, special issue of <i>Archaeological Research in Asia</i>, 6 (2016), pp. 1–104; P. Frances, <i>Asia's Maritime Bead Trade: 300 B.C. to the Present</i> (Honolulu, 2002); A. K. Carter, 'Beads, exchange networks and emerging complexity: a case study from Cambodia and Thailand (500 BCE–CE 500)', <i>Cambridge Archaeological Journal</i>, 25 (2015), 733–57;A. Jiayao, 'Glass beads found at the Yongningsi Temple', <i>Journal of Glass Studies</i>, 42 (2000), 81–4; J. W. Lankton, I-S. Lee & J. D. Allen, 'Javanese (Jatim) beads in late fifth to early sixth-century Korean (Silla) tombs', in <i>Annales du 16e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre</i> (Nottingham, 2005), pp. 327–30; T. Power, <i>The Red Sea from Byzantium to the Caliphate: AD 500–1000</i> (Oxford, 2012), pp. 38, 41, 45; S. Lee & D. P. Leidy, <i>Silla: Korea's Golden Kingdom</i> (New York, 2013), pp. 115–9; I. Nakai & J. Shirataki, 'Chemical Composition of Glass Beads Excavated from Kofun (ca. AD 2nd to 7th c.) in Western Japan by Portable XRF Showing Glass Trade among Asian Countries', in F. Gan <i>et al</i> (eds.), <i>Recent Advances In The Scientific Research On Ancient Glass And Glaze</i> (Hackensack, 2016), pp. 73–94; and K. Oga & T. Tomomi, 'Ancient Japan and the Indian Ocean interaction sphere: chemical compositions, chronologies and trade routes of imported glass beads in the Yayoi-Kofun periods (3rd century BCE – 7th century CE', <i>Journal of Indian Ocean Archaeology</i>, 9 (2013), 35–65. Unfortunately, no cemeteries in England were examined as part of Pion & Gratuze's research into early medieval European Indo-European beads; however, it seems more than credible that these beads were also imported to early Anglo-Saxon England too given both that other exotic imports of the period are indeed found on both sides of the English Channel and that some of the beads recorded from fifth- to sixth-century graves in eastern England appear to be similar to Pion & Gratuze's continental examples. Consequently, one such English site that contains potential Indo-Pacific beads is plotted here to reflect this; my thanks are due to Dr Sue Brunning, the curator of the European Early Medieval Collections at the British Museum, and to Dr Rose Broadley, archaeological glass specialist and Kent Historic Environment Record officer, for sharing photographs and thoughts on some of these beads from early Anglo-Saxon Kent.<br />
<i><span id="fn2"></span>2.</i> A. Jiayao, 'Glass beads found at the Yongningsi Temple', <i>Journal of Glass Studies</i>, 42 (2000), 81–4.<br />
<i><span id="fn3"></span>3.</i> For Korea and Japan, see S. Lee & D. P. Leidy, <i>Silla: Korea's Golden Kingdom</i> (New York, 2013), pp. 115–9; I. Nakai & J. Shirataki, 'Chemical Composition of Glass Beads Excavated from Kofun (ca. AD 2nd to 7th c.) in Western Japan by Portable XRF Showing Glass Trade among Asian Countries', in F. Gan <i>et al</i> (eds.), <i>Recent Advances In The Scientific Research On Ancient Glass And Glaze</i> (Hackensack, 2016), pp. 73–94; and K. Oga & T. Tomomi, 'Ancient Japan and the Indian Ocean interaction sphere: chemical compositions, chronologies and trade routes of iimported glass beads in the Yayoi-Kofun periods (3rd century BCE – 7th century CE', <i>Journal of Indian Ocean Archaeology</i>, 9 (2013), 35–65. On Berenike, Egypt, see for example T. Power, <i>The Red Sea from Byzantium to the Caliphate: AD 500–1000</i> (Oxford, 2012), pp. 38, 41, 45; J. Then-Obluska, 'Cross-cultural bead encounters at the Red Sea port site of Berenike, Egypt: preliminary assessment (seasons 2009–2012)', <i>Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean</i>, 24 (2015), 735–77; J. W. Lankton, I-S. Lee & J. D. Allen, 'Javanese (Jatim) beads in late fifth to early sixth-century Korean (Silla) tombs', in <i>Annales du 16e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre</i> (Nottingham, 2005), pp. 327–30. On Indo-Pacific beads from the earliest layers at the Unguja Ukuu site, Zanzibar Island, Tanzania, see for example M. Wood, 'Glass beads from pre-European contact sub-Saharan Africa: Peter Francis's work revisited and updated', <i>Archaeological Research in Asia</i>, 6 (2016), 65–80; M. Wood <i>et al</i>, 'Zanzibar and Indian Ocean trade in the first millennium CE: the glass bead evidence', <i>Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences</i>, 9 (2017), 879–901, and M. Wood, 'Glass beads from pre-European contact sub-Saharan Africa: Peter Francis's work revisited and updated', <i>Archaeological Research in Asia</i>, 6 (2016), 65–80. For the Garamantian kingdom, see V. Leitch <i>et al</i>, 'Early Saharan trade: the inorganic evidence', in D. J. Mattingly <i>et al</i> (eds.), <i>Trade in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond</i> (Cambridge, 2017), pp. 287–340.<br />
<i><span id="fn4"></span>4.</i> C. Pion & B. Gratuze, 'Indo-Pacific glass beads from the Indian subcontinent in Early Merovingian graves (5th–6th century AD)', <i>Archaeological Research in Asia</i>, 6 (2016), 51–64.<br />
<i><span id="fn5"></span>5.</i> Pion & Gratuze, 'Indo-Pacific glass beads from the Indian subcontinent in Early Merovingian graves', p. 59.<br />
<i><span id="fn6"></span>6. </i>For the origins of the garnets in use in Europe from the fifth to seventh centuries AD, see T. Calligaro <i>et al</i>, 'Contribution à l'étude des grenats mérovingiens (Basilique de Saint-Denis et autres collections du musée d'Archéologie nationale, diverses collections publiques et objets de fouilles récentes): nouvelles analyses gemmologiques et géochimiques effectuées au Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France', <i>Antiquités Nationales</i>, 38 (2006–07), 111–44; for a distribution map and discussion of garnet finds from Britain, see H. Hamerow, 'The circulation of garnets in the North Sea Zone, AD 400–700', in A. Hilgner, S. Greiff & D. Quast (eds.), <i>Gemstones in the First Millennium AD</i> (Mainz, 2017), pp. 71–86; for the date of the Sutton Hoo shoulder clasps, see N. Adams, 'Rethinking the Sutton Hoo shoulder clasps and armour', in C. Entwistle & N. Adams (eds.), Intelligible Beauty: Recent Research on Byzantine Jewellery (London, 2010), pp. 83–112.<br />
<i><span id="fn7"></span>7.</i> For the continent, see J. Drauschke, '"Byzantine" and "oriental" imports in the Merovingian Empire from the second half of the fifth to the beginning of the eighth century', in A. Harris (ed.), <i>Incipient Globalisation? Long-Distance Contacts in the Sixth Century</i> (Oxford, 2007), pp. 53–73, especially pp. 67 and 72; C. Hills, 'From Isiodore to isotopes: ivory rings in early medieval graves', in H. Hamerow & A. MacGregor (eds.), Image and Power in the Archaeology of Early Medieval Britain (Oxford, 2001), pp. 131–46; and J. Drauschke, 'Byzantine Jewellery? Amethyst beads in East and West during the early Byzantine period', in C. Entwistle & N. Adams (eds.), <i>'Intelligible Beauty': Recent Research on Byzantine Jewellery</i> (London, 2010), pp. 50–60. For Britain, see J. W. Huggett, 'Imported grave goods and the early Anglo-Saxon economy', <i>Medieval Archaeology</i>, 32 (1988), pp. 63–96; H. Geake, <i>The Use of Grave-Goods in Conversion-Period England, c.600–c.850</i> (Oxford, 1997); and C. Hills, 'From Isiodore to isotopes: ivory rings in early medieval graves', in H. Hamerow & A. MacGregor (eds.), Image and Power in the Archaeology of Early Medieval Britain (Oxford, 2001), pp. 131–46. For recent work on the ivory rings confirming that they were indeed made of elephant ivory, not walrus ivory, see Hills, 'From Isiodore to isotopes: ivory rings in early medieval graves', and, for example, G. Edwards & J. Watson, <i>Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report 31/91: Mineral Preserved Organic Material from Empingham Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, Rutland</i> (London, 1991), p. 2, which notes that seven ivory rings from Empingham Anglo-Saxon cemetery, Rutland, could be shown to be elephant ivory cut from the base of a tusk.<br />
<i><span id="fn8"></span>8.</i> D. W. Rollason, <i>Early Medieval Europe 300-1050: The Birth of Western Society</i> (London, 2012), p. 160; I. Wood, <i>The Merovingian Kingdoms 450–751</i> (London, 1994), pp. 215–16.<br />
<i><span id="fn9"></span>9.</i> J. W. Lankton, L. Dussubieux & T. Rehren, 'A study of mid-first millennium CE Southeast Asian specialized glass beadmaking traditions', in E. Bacus, I. Glover & P. Sharrock (eds.),<i> Interpreting Southeast Asia’s Past: Monument, Image and Text</i> (Singapore, 2008), pp. 335–56; J. W. Lankton, I-S. Lee & J. D. Allen, 'Javanese (Jatim) beads in late fifth to early sixth-century Korean (Silla) tombs', in <i>Annales du 16e Congrès de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre</i> (Nottingham, 2005), pp. 327–30; T. Power, <i>The Red Sea from Byzantium to the Caliphate: AD 500–1000</i> (Oxford, 2012), pp. 39–40; J. Then-Obluska, 'Cross-cultural bead encounters at the Red Sea port site of Berenike, Egypt: preliminary assessment (seasons 2009–2012)', <i>Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean</i>, 24 (2015), 735–77 at p. 751.<br />
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<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations unless otherwise stated, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2018, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-68791324347952664492018-05-31T12:29:00.000+01:002018-05-31T12:32:05.326+01:00Phillack and the Hayle Estuary in the Late Roman and early medieval periodsThe existence of early medieval Christian and secular centres in the Hayle Estuary, Cornwall, was mentioned in a <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html">previous post</a>. The aim of the following post is simply to share—for the sake of interest—a number of pictures of some of the key sites and finds from this area, not least the important late fourth-/fifth-century <i>chi-rho</i> stone now built into Phillack Church, along with a brief discussion of the Late and post-Roman archaeological evidence from here.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6Kp1A9irQZAdFTA3AwkqmB0nAlpG9XBQSNrI6JAey2Ily0rCfpLTDeOMwNSOMBHIQwgOIL4e_4bgv6vD0y7p0gOV09RhXhPBe49o2KjM1GBZBYnE_BIxUtXqQmTfqVszK2bFYadJFkx1/s1600/saxton1576.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="777" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6Kp1A9irQZAdFTA3AwkqmB0nAlpG9XBQSNrI6JAey2Ily0rCfpLTDeOMwNSOMBHIQwgOIL4e_4bgv6vD0y7p0gOV09RhXhPBe49o2KjM1GBZBYnE_BIxUtXqQmTfqVszK2bFYadJFkx1/s400/saxton1576.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>St Ives Bay and the Hayle Estuary on Christopher Saxton's 1576 map of Cornwall, showing Phillack, Lelant, St Ives and Gwithian (image: PD via the <a href="http://www.bsjwtrust.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/St-Ives-History.pdf">BSJW Trust</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDLRow0Uic2HFwukcrWwxzbP7jdSBQHCYkUBKEtqde9KNPX04Tvu7zzO_VgbQkEea0c-PtveB2oPNWEcJrKdh4ieKdWXccLXb5sRrzlA7wyXdrE-W7VIHBBolaTziEvt31MmYG1dnnAY7O/s1600/HayleEstuary-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMIPKlsBCScR6Ge0Hf1TC_pJLXs6jWmhqWTLU2gsqCvOYDFUhOL5uM6ad3RHM3220uUGOVaJlHM6mYeDIFZczlW5B59nEZ8om1TOYTLLAr8p6A296mUPjuR80cy_UtU8KND1EDTRe-LoKs/s1600/HayleEstuary-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A topographic map of the Hayle Estuary overlaid on top of the satellite image of the area. </i><i>Marked on the map are Phillack church, Carnsew fort, Lelant church, and the early chapel and fourth-/fifth-century burial site just to the north-east of Lelant church, marked here by a simple cross. The coastal zone, estuary and low-lying land is shown in blue, with the surrounding higher land shown in green, yellow, orange and purple, in order of increasing height; note, with regard to the early extent of the East Pool of the estuary before the modern era, the British Geological Survey map of this area accords relatively well with this topographic map, showing Holocene tidal flat (estuarine) deposits extending eastwards beyond the current limit of the estuary across to approximately the A30 Loggans Moor Roundabout. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDLRow0Uic2HFwukcrWwxzbP7jdSBQHCYkUBKEtqde9KNPX04Tvu7zzO_VgbQkEea0c-PtveB2oPNWEcJrKdh4ieKdWXccLXb5sRrzlA7wyXdrE-W7VIHBBolaTziEvt31MmYG1dnnAY7O/s1600/HayleEstuary-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map (image: C. R. Green, based on a topographic map from <a href="http://en-gb.topographic-map.com/places/Hayle-3844143/">topographic-map.com</a> that incorporates satellite imagery © 2018 Google, TerraMetrics, Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO, and map data © 2018 Google, used in accordance with their <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/permissions/geoguidelines/attr-guide.html">attribution guidelines</a>).</i></td></tr>
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The Hayle Estuary is one of the few natural safe landing-ports of any size on the north coast of Cornwall and, as such, it is perhaps unsurprising that there should be evidence for activity here during the Roman and early medieval eras. In this light, the evidence from Phillack (or <i>Egloshayle</i>), which overlooks the East Pool of the Hayle Estuary may be of particular interest. A significant quantity of mainly Late Roman coins have been discovered from a number of sites in Phillack in recent years, with this regionally unusual concentration of Late Roman non-hoarded coinage including coins from eastern Mediterranean mints such as Alexandria and Heraclea that are rarely represented amongst site-finds in Britain.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/05/phillack-and-the-hayle-estuary.html#fn1">1</a>) Needless to say, such finds have attracted attention, being both supportive of the idea that the Hayle Estuary might have functioned as a Roman-era landing-port and also of there having potentially been a direct maritime trading link between Cornwall and the Mediterranean in the fourth century AD. Any such trading links between the north coast of Cornwall and Mediterranean would obviously prefigure the well-known post-Roman trading links between these areas, which are primarily evidenced by extensive finds of fifth- to sixth-century eastern Mediterranean imported pottery in the county (as discussed in a <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/04/heptarchy-harun-ibn-yahya.html">number</a> of <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html">previous posts</a>), and, as such, are of considerable interest, with the coins found at Phillack thus perhaps reflecting items lost or exchanged by seaborne long-distance traders who landed in the Hayle Estuary after following similar trade-routes to those in use in the following centuries.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/05/phillack-and-the-hayle-estuary.html#fn2">2</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPORdboAddS_FWTmbSjt3PMwFWyR_7gXgj9snoR6d3CW332KmfLyCesOjZpqbSkjvYm796vUQPAMAt2i0z8T3TzLZ70fi8xfOFSo6OgT4fZWabN10bzVZ-H4hTXBPzkmUsr0EtN4lLZUc5/s1600/Phillack-coins-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ouPfEtPBJ9RO9oAm924QZVIMpJzhbh3__IOyCINUP0bT2bcr6f_LwwZCwoQ2qsENSLmtPX_kaJu12WR3_8qttVuUNiptywLfGH-G17fBUmvAHdiLso3jOoskMyzWl28Vl5gKAkGCRWNh/s1600/Phillack-coins-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Two fourth-century AD Roman coins minted in the eastern Mediterranean and found on two different sites at Phillack. The top coin is a copper alloy nummus of Constantine I, mint of Heraclea, c. AD 330–3; the bottom coin is a copper alloy nummus of Constantius II, mint of Alexandria, c. AD 340. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPORdboAddS_FWTmbSjt3PMwFWyR_7gXgj9snoR6d3CW332KmfLyCesOjZpqbSkjvYm796vUQPAMAt2i0z8T3TzLZ70fi8xfOFSo6OgT4fZWabN10bzVZ-H4hTXBPzkmUsr0EtN4lLZUc5/s1600/Phillack-coins-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of these coins (images: PAS, <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/97675">CORN-367F46</a> and <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/101765">CORN-6D9753</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecZRMJbPbFVNImp21_ID0j2IiBe3_1yeNAWdu8UGORXuMbyExnysMVTUCBZVW16oORfEQVUeNoRdcapE8kXF_-7Zy9J_67znTxihm30VdeoX5IIdWNwumHVyVDw6dga7f1KOvwUSAKxzE/s1600/phillack-church-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZUX859R2i2x-PcnFKW1JaJKC8CULjIV8Y-AVhSdNx3XrxspGhOGFUzIxpbKXLPD_GJqC4MluuoIDhjHs8wZWsZvDYwIH93UcQF-mt50nZ5SBpe1QHZVvo16-P-mKe5NDiCMXbwjp0yegU/s1600/phillack-church-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Phillack church; the church here was extensively rebuilt in the nineteenth century, but contains an unusual amount of physical evidence for post-Roman/early medieval activity. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecZRMJbPbFVNImp21_ID0j2IiBe3_1yeNAWdu8UGORXuMbyExnysMVTUCBZVW16oORfEQVUeNoRdcapE8kXF_-7Zy9J_67znTxihm30VdeoX5IIdWNwumHVyVDw6dga7f1KOvwUSAKxzE/s1600/phillack-church-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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Moving into the fifth and sixth centuries, there is good evidence for Phillack and the Hayle Estuary continuing to be a site of some significance. First and foremost, links with the eastern Mediterranean are indicated by the discovery at Phillack of a rim-sherd of late fifth- or early sixth-century Phocaean Red Slip-Ware from what is now western Turkey associated with a number of pre-Norman long-cist graves, some of which were cut into the underlying bedrock, during a limited excavation of the edge of the churchyard due to road-widening work in 1973.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/05/phillack-and-the-hayle-estuary.html#fn3">3</a>) Second, an important and very early <i>chi-rho</i> stone was found in the church walls during nineteenth century rebuilding work and was subsequently incorporated into the gable of the south porch. Charles Thomas has argued that this stone almost certainly dates from the early to mid-fifth century AD and the stone has subsequently been compared to early <i>chi-rhos</i> from the continent and eastern Mediterranean, which is intriguing given the above finds from Phillack and the potential Early Byzantine origins of <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html">St Ia</a>, the patron saint of nearby St Ives.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/05/phillack-and-the-hayle-estuary.html#fn4">4</a>)<br />
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Other evidence and finds from Phillack develop this picture further. For example, a probably late sixth- or early seventh-century memorial stone inscribed with the name CLOTUALI MOBRATTI still stands in the churchyard and the church also seems to have been the focus for more than a hundred early cist burials, found both within the current churchyard and in its immediate vicinity, whilst Phillack's original patron saint <i>Felec</i> is named in a tenth-century list of Cornish saints, suggesting an early origin and significance. Taken together, this concentration of early medieval evidence has been considered indicative of Phillack probably being a significant and very early Christian centre and burial site from the fifth century onwards, potentially one that was monastic in character and comparable with early Welsh monasteries such as Llandough, and Charles Thomas moreover raises the possibility that Christianity may have been introduced to here via the sea from Gaul or even further afield.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/05/phillack-and-the-hayle-estuary.html#fn5">5</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpJcDL7B6r9RIVw6G14vuMYZVsymqPJ6503ybd8Q2GMg6zLmYNHhrfsjPBsRe3pLvCk1_GBrXv4Y6xJZpW3TmOVDNtYNUGLlhmMuJhYIzWR6jjsOVSdqo2kEGTUrmVq-W2cCSk-uU7wvI/s1600/chi-rho-phillack-stone-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1YrbrJ2p4ztInu8Rq4c5AhgNRkZY0pFUi3h_HQ4vJFYofyIQG_8zJTMfMtcZjJhCDFqEZDpI_V1iQM2EQLd2SxcqE3OxUicorKzVyDGYVRhrS2LKkj0-9S7oI-aLb6sWYOtPT1ZVarbVv/s1600/chi-rho-phillack-stone-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A probably fifth-century AD small chi-rho stone from the porch gable of the church at Phillack, or Egloshayle, photographed with raking evening light to show up the surface detail. This chi-rho which has been compared to early chi-rhos from the continent and eastern Mediterranean, e.g. S. M. Pearce, South-Western Britain in the Early Middle Ages (Leicester, 2004), p. 244, and C. Thomas, And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain (Cardiff 1994), pp. 199–200. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpJcDL7B6r9RIVw6G14vuMYZVsymqPJ6503ybd8Q2GMg6zLmYNHhrfsjPBsRe3pLvCk1_GBrXv4Y6xJZpW3TmOVDNtYNUGLlhmMuJhYIzWR6jjsOVSdqo2kEGTUrmVq-W2cCSk-uU7wvI/s1600/chi-rho-phillack-stone-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlVLMn8Th2aoBhpUCVzKaJ2SayqgCHhlgMZ7PS6u6SY56s7QfwNRBrto5ewrCz0r9erApZu3_Tw4r5m4HTENK8P7iVnaX_yktftqUO4MslFTThOQH87qyFEFGQ8dqCONDceSJlEi7lOgG/s1600/chi-rho-phillack-closeup-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI7b6wgrl4K3dq0cNNeE05ZT3OmMoz0MI5NuzyC2xJK-E3tNC6PVQOG7ZA47MaZNGsUH7ax5bWSfHhIq37vaPxlF2kH19JMtHFziXZhtkZqVIt-u1TmHcCPj9zRi83DqFQWQ0WWxil33RL/s1600/chi-rho-phillack-closeup-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A close-up view of the fifth-century Chi-Rho stone from Phillack; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlVLMn8Th2aoBhpUCVzKaJ2SayqgCHhlgMZ7PS6u6SY56s7QfwNRBrto5ewrCz0r9erApZu3_Tw4r5m4HTENK8P7iVnaX_yktftqUO4MslFTThOQH87qyFEFGQ8dqCONDceSJlEi7lOgG/s1600/chi-rho-phillack-closeup-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsL5OZW8WqliMvQC9f0nvf6zuemMDxe6oL0wRUIG_I7fAYTbdC53FCPReUrnN38r34bMxVYPHr_bC8GhYvbGsgjh4AjUG-YkxID20AsLiFy8BRQOxXy5p6n_1W6HhqqySVaDuFhCzwiEKw/s1600/chi-rho_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="265" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcmu9qWzFQ06n8koJM0W5t9U5MzCjSkqbi33Lhhpw0yzdfVwV0-I547YLzsyh5dFYTt-ouJp3kQZr44TJNRCizZnwmVULBrtMABgq4-g4-nyDgcaRoumbv_c2DMZqlPt-O-BLA5o3EWxBo/s1600/chi-rho_small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Left: drawing of the Phillack chi-rho stone (photo: C. R. Green, from an original drawing by Charles Thomas in the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro). Right: drawing of the other early chi-rho stone found in Cornwall, from St Helen's Chapel, Cape Cornwall, near St Just; the original was taken to St Just church where it was displayed for a while, until it was apparently thrown down a well in the Rectory garden in the nineteenth century by a Rector who objected to it as being 'Roman Catholic' (image: Langdon 1893, plate I, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/archaeologiacam20moorgoog#page/n121/mode/2up">Internet Archive</a>). Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsL5OZW8WqliMvQC9f0nvf6zuemMDxe6oL0wRUIG_I7fAYTbdC53FCPReUrnN38r34bMxVYPHr_bC8GhYvbGsgjh4AjUG-YkxID20AsLiFy8BRQOxXy5p6n_1W6HhqqySVaDuFhCzwiEKw/s1600/chi-rho_large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this combined image.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_p8ktaLV6uh25uYIEWODNm4JvTXqlBoBkXwuD5fQOElLQ3UBO51f1-HCn7-5UWgNmwkHZeRwh1QHLVoaYJ9isBxDNw25yzMyYK5YtfCBpKXvMj7En16KKtZPoaH7fmX0RjrzdVtvd2mv/s1600/phillack-stone-small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_p8ktaLV6uh25uYIEWODNm4JvTXqlBoBkXwuD5fQOElLQ3UBO51f1-HCn7-5UWgNmwkHZeRwh1QHLVoaYJ9isBxDNw25yzMyYK5YtfCBpKXvMj7En16KKtZPoaH7fmX0RjrzdVtvd2mv/s1600/phillack-stone-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A perhaps late sixth- or seventh-century memorial stone inscribed with the name CLOTUALI MOBRATTI in the churchyard at Phillack, and a slightly modified drawing of the lettering from R. A. S. Macalister, Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum (Dublin, 1945), vol. 1 (images: C. R. Green & </i><i>Macalister 1945).</i></td></tr>
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In addition to the finds from Phillack above the East Pool, there are also a number of interesting features around the Carnsew Pool, to the south of the mouth of the Hayle Estuary. This is the location for Carnsew Hillfort, a small coastal multivallate hillfort that commands the entrance to the Hayle Estuary and sits atop a low cliff around 15 metres high. The hillfort—which has been partially destroyed by ploughing, a deep railway cutting, and the construction of an ornamental park along its ramparts in 1845 ('The Plantation')—dates originally from the Iron Age, but there are indications of potential later activity. One of these is a Late Roman hoard of several thousand coins apparently deposited in the late third century in a bronze container; this was found a little to the west of the hillfort in 1825, when workmen were taking away the upper part of the cliff and the adjoining field during the construction of the Hayle causeway. Even more interesting is a late fifth- or very early sixth-century AD burial and associated inscribed memorial stone that originally stood at the foot of the hillfort on its eastern side. The stone pillar found by the grave in 1843 contains an unusually long Latin inscription running to ten lines which has been read as follows: 'Here in peace lately went to rest Cunaide. Here in the grave she lies. She lived 33 years.'(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/05/phillack-and-the-hayle-estuary.html#fn6">6</a>) In light of this, it has been suggested that Carnsew Hillfort may well have had a role to play in our period, perhaps as a secondary centre of secular power within the post-Roman kingdom of Dumnonia, complementing an ecclesiastical centre at Phillack, with such a centre potentially being responsible for the distribution of Mediterranean imports within western Cornwall.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/05/phillack-and-the-hayle-estuary.html#fn7">7</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsYs8yFmpZPW8to5cPnEoTlUvFpYQ-rFuRpVF34FGtin1PuN6718fwSdz5G8RoBuMpl4aBWgwVbdCGEylqFKd_FnCXVQ-KhAOZcKJ_fOnwCop1NZue5sYRtZQQSJSP2DfCDUeMvRZlj0RV/s1600/carnsew-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbPbi37KBa4cz1LqWswgn3He5aG4SLNSqiCix_QRG0ls5DPVd1PfwifO8FIwzUea0mIbYHLNqxcJ7f3HtkRrM59ENTf7I9WQE1-xZEfc_NN1q8th8ivP39bkVBrcu4CFzMwzc0oihDf-Oi/s1600/carnsew-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Carnsew Hillfort, Hayle; the photo shows the north-east corner of this multivallate coastal hillfort, which was somewhat landscaped in the nineteenth century to become 'The Plantation'. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsYs8yFmpZPW8to5cPnEoTlUvFpYQ-rFuRpVF34FGtin1PuN6718fwSdz5G8RoBuMpl4aBWgwVbdCGEylqFKd_FnCXVQ-KhAOZcKJ_fOnwCop1NZue5sYRtZQQSJSP2DfCDUeMvRZlj0RV/s1600/carnsew-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB53_ArFWCT-JDcA6P25p-6kIDJcqt9jehgYPdvy3olz1sE44z8z6arn8-Tq8cjwLcEQ662XHJQpLuw-ryra3O2ioZOedr3ghk7_9gF2a0Rnr4VBjGUYxww0B7hPY7auEaCngy4HOUzC7-/s1600/estuary-entrance-carnsew-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJit8_uaQeIeJHV32LEEGxXW7s5eRrzjjLir79ijMe3yAtGtM-JM7IlOsNeFvA3KZNay439mltyxj2W-xHBDYogoUGuaPBol0l6jOaebVjyAc97LVEJkPY4cU1GJWZYVygzkQXJHAN_RqV/s1600/estuary-entrance-carnsew-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The view from Carnsew Hillfort, which commands the entrance to the Hayle Estuary and sits atop a low cliff around 15 metres high. Click <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Po9X8qBOJrU/Wvbaz12_xMI/AAAAAAABy8%20/gMIakXNeGmA30jnSyGiQvYY4oJy8jQ_vwCLcBGAs/s1600/estuary-entrance-carnsew-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3240UN34u-y_dnT2cnMUIBVt1hvXo_bHBa2NO8fe6IoNbnN4s31s_CyzD385jerZercQEXbO9d-_IqR3G_ZJrTur3VuPSKGzFj0tErYiFkTScP9VMF13UCUgTaXmOQHCwGpp6ynncKa8/s1600/cunaide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3240UN34u-y_dnT2cnMUIBVt1hvXo_bHBa2NO8fe6IoNbnN4s31s_CyzD385jerZercQEXbO9d-_IqR3G_ZJrTur3VuPSKGzFj0tErYiFkTScP9VMF13UCUgTaXmOQHCwGpp6ynncKa8/s1600/cunaide.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Left: photograph of the late fifth- or very early sixth-century Cunaide Stone; this originally stood at the foot of the hillfort by a grave, but was set into a wall of The Plantation (a Victorian park created from the landscaped ramparts of Carnsew Hillfort) after its rediscovery in 1843 and was subsequently removed to <a href="http://www.hayleheritagecentre.org.uk/cunaide-undercover/">Hayle Heritage Centre</a> in December 2017. Right: drawing of the lettering on the stone from R. A. S. Macalister, Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum (Dublin, 1945), vol. 1; note, Charles Thomas reads the inscription differently to Macalister: HIC PACE NVP(er) REQVIEVIT CVNAIDE HIC (IN) TVMVLO IACIT VIXIT ANNOS XXXIII, 'Here in peace lately went to rest Cunaide. Here in the grave she lies. She lived 33 years.' (Photograph and image: <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/cisp/database/stone/hayle_1.html">CISP</a> & Macalister 1945).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTk0k_YIGapZWCMuS6Iu4RFLIa7J0X2MzS-BmTvqx8pnMU79Hl2jpy59dDkt-_zZVOfGvBm-VKtq5jmas1MJRyAmp-GaqJ00NAac3EkVnK-eIi5rTUKNWdAcWmlUDoWVfno4L_7Fd91G1/s1600/hayle-hoard-penlee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="456" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3Cq16_7HFzzEwMyVBCJk2uN4EmVW_ELEWt4J5eZmQ6isFTyLKlCP2Eb_yMseP9fOPOMZslbGyJjmEfOgyF95Def2MBv69nXP_5tC6Tm-t4y4EQXqsI6blsq6644OQUO5ylAxr8CwFglV/s1600/hayle-hoard-penlee-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A number of coins from a Late Roman hoard deposited in the late third century in a bronze container on the edge of the Hayle Estuary; it was found a little to the west of Carnsew Hillfort in 1825, when workmen were taking away the upper part of the cliff and the adjoining field during the construction of the Hayle causeway. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTk0k_YIGapZWCMuS6Iu4RFLIa7J0X2MzS-BmTvqx8pnMU79Hl2jpy59dDkt-_zZVOfGvBm-VKtq5jmas1MJRyAmp-GaqJ00NAac3EkVnK-eIi5rTUKNWdAcWmlUDoWVfno4L_7Fd91G1/s1600/hayle-hoard-penlee.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH3Wx8jm5rXfjag2gIivkpG6IFV6SMOMAB8HAWSG1P6QOIsDEF3Icyrh3RkBCPRLuf3eCnjcD0ipSMHeQU2Ul-ZGfjeFxvEmSbqvuSW6rf1KvZL9ppxoK9cULj29jfpvqVW0FTpj8ZycEi/s1600/phillack-from-carnsew-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCARxs5hBDC_unEufoa5uhXos2O0ubRKujZNAFm-T7uji1KJpGDgNWeEpKD5a95-5q7o7Yc853FE_8F170_Wqp-MJMEtNqioYaxXdz2q7QkXWFjrDxjkRbtVTZXUH2DEXnPrF4K96J4GQ/s1600/phillack-from-carnsew-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Phillack Church seen from Carnsew Hillfort, Hayle, with the sand dunes of The Towans behind. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH3Wx8jm5rXfjag2gIivkpG6IFV6SMOMAB8HAWSG1P6QOIsDEF3Icyrh3RkBCPRLuf3eCnjcD0ipSMHeQU2Ul-ZGfjeFxvEmSbqvuSW6rf1KvZL9ppxoK9cULj29jfpvqVW0FTpj8ZycEi/s1600/phillack-from-carnsew-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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If there were arguably Late/post-Roman centres within the Hayle Estuary at Phillack and Carnsew, it is worth noting that they didn't stand alone. For example, on the western side of the entrance to the estuary at Lelant there is a probably fourth- or fifth-century AD burial site and an apparently early chapel located close to the cliff edge that was uncovered during the laying of the railway to St Ives in the late nineteenth century, and it has moreover been suggested that the churchyard within which Lelant parish church now sits may preserve the rectangular platform of a Roman fort that was well placed to control access to the estuary.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/05/phillack-and-the-hayle-estuary.html#fn8">8</a>) Likewise of potential interest is the Neolithic tor enclosure and Iron Age multivallate hillfort of Trencrom Hill, which is located 1.5 miles to the west of the Hayle Estuary. This impressive site not only overlooks both the Hayle Estuary and Carnsew Hillfort, but also has good views across St Ives Bay—whose skyline it dominates—to the north and Mount's Bay/St Michael's Mount on the south coast. Although the site is unexcavated, an early medieval inscribed memorial stone has been identified in a stile at the foot of the hill and there are reports of early medieval grass-marked wares having been found on the fort, which might offer a degree of support for Charles Thomas's suggestion of some sort of role for Trencrom Hill in the post-Roman era.(<a href="https://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/05/phillack-and-the-hayle-estuary.html#fn9">9</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEU1tj5c9jG7dbV2yklnxATg-z2C-1W7Ob3HeOAMB_l4JpNuQDdHWZ7C4KH3ZypipHIJW9atoApZjQiFV3xjFs8Ly6fx6UIeN7bSGaKI-yFkSjl4i1eBHco-zlknnmXBrNVnBtmSKxi1Dx/s1600/lelant-from-carnsew-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_LSUqmRyc2zoYOq_I2H7TqSj0EUFu1kt8AJgzf073O9SOt7UrbH2y7yjv7P4iCQzcgTLpbqG6xtLqDd9WZwQiSw0caggAcsizj7-FrCDkofyu25yK_Q7_7LV-MmhHdxP28OKeuWPGGmkP/s1600/lelant-from-carnsew-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lelant Church and churchyard as seen from Carnsew Hillfort, Hayle, showing the intervisibility of the two sites; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEU1tj5c9jG7dbV2yklnxATg-z2C-1W7Ob3HeOAMB_l4JpNuQDdHWZ7C4KH3ZypipHIJW9atoApZjQiFV3xjFs8Ly6fx6UIeN7bSGaKI-yFkSjl4i1eBHco-zlknnmXBrNVnBtmSKxi1Dx/s1600/lelant-from-carnsew-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCOO2LSF_WrS1o7BFHCsX_x32lCJxRYk5aXS7Mm2h44EQejhRhJIMHBclpOsv4WC3yPYlsXkdt8RCUTO-nqrYeycdtM_cbhHCeyi7aVBPLIXS_-qgpwu5N83sp1BqtxoaKM8UHOZzHSEh/s1600/lelant-churchyard-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3vJye4fCZqY6k7t55hofLA-hAKfSibiNjLM0syZQaIjCnxOF4Qe-jeimZgdfrGVDqbm4Ta_6vVqUhcwgYEF-XXmzyB5Jx1MZwPORMaPqXSwZtYAR15GZtTaS8mDCroVlQEM3a9z6tqXOA/s1600/lelant-churchyard-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A closer view of Lelant's rectangular churchyard which sits around 1.5 metres above the surrounding ground; it has been suggested that the churchyard may preserve the rectangular platform of a Roman fort that was well placed to control access to the estuary. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCOO2LSF_WrS1o7BFHCsX_x32lCJxRYk5aXS7Mm2h44EQejhRhJIMHBclpOsv4WC3yPYlsXkdt8RCUTO-nqrYeycdtM_cbhHCeyi7aVBPLIXS_-qgpwu5N83sp1BqtxoaKM8UHOZzHSEh/s1600/lelant-churchyard-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYx1PclpURUEukoMWvBT8X8S6WwyTBIc13Iiix75n8DJRU8y2m8D-0MZyu1H7skFALR-0aqKaJxtxoZPuC9Acbd5XWos8jfiiAq0s8tArqAhZIYG75bo4DXr1rTNTtwq3ci5vtrv5QnhSf/s1600/lelant-churchyard-view-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja394U_vDJ0szawdZouMtkAVLFpNCN39w9KReOXWJOt2TVaeoN8ftxUadvOhPScZtCdg3l4XjfHh0c-qLIKwzxj_YX-UAxdk00zssjqGIhWhPJvQYeerTgjnlHK0YDFd0V87SmUZGdK6E0/s1600/lelant-churchyard-view-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>View of the entrance to the Hayle Estuary from the north-east corner of Lelant churchyard; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYx1PclpURUEukoMWvBT8X8S6WwyTBIc13Iiix75n8DJRU8y2m8D-0MZyu1H7skFALR-0aqKaJxtxoZPuC9Acbd5XWos8jfiiAq0s8tArqAhZIYG75bo4DXr1rTNTtwq3ci5vtrv5QnhSf/s1600/lelant-churchyard-view-1000.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Smm-gE8DqpR2hQCPdjuM1gB4lahXSRhoMBWfMhvHsy-DHqIa3Ur8NLbTq9G9OMpSzDNIS-3XPilwbq1OMZYJGV8WWivCGi-e_Z7OqYgLpQpHuFR9mUA2Q_-7a67VoN4V1uI_KFG5Jdvu/s1600/trencrom-from-hayle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfNPg92wn2F8lSQ2WV9gxgmHlC_XgieEOYNofniHmcQDgH-2CLb2JytLPO1BbOs7jqeB_NOYpNwkOTJj3ZLkcnqZznVs8_EiXQ3kmzfr2MR-SdzcaFN597PueAu-M9AWV4Yp_Oygc6Hyvw/s1600/trencrom-from-hayle-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Trencrom Hill as seen above the Hayle Estuary near to Carnsew Hillfort; the hillfort dominates the western skyline both from the estuary and from St Ives Bay. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Smm-gE8DqpR2hQCPdjuM1gB4lahXSRhoMBWfMhvHsy-DHqIa3Ur8NLbTq9G9OMpSzDNIS-3XPilwbq1OMZYJGV8WWivCGi-e_Z7OqYgLpQpHuFR9mUA2Q_-7a67VoN4V1uI_KFG5Jdvu/s1600/trencrom-from-hayle.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEcaF-xSfYRPIr4_DClTLuM5U5cSWgGjc5zN89AdsYSY205lbtdGpIVsVnG4WKPHT8tiPtpFwN7uyyeOlc2-JZfLYSnY4tP0vLe5833k9pd3t1RCZkbmywQ4O6KuWVrUcloHLqUw8hmK62/s1600/trencrom-stivesbay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9pBoqCaChyphenhyphenSx4qJmviCds9USrIm4vMNY0Nmj9D_4gAy687vR6zQBhxoTMP7O3ACbIBW4KRBBkd2SPBajlE0BeZXi4eOy_bICq5kkaidirYY_ASPT5JN-HfJfBpd32V5XGe3UA5zt-eIGZ/s1600/trencrom-stivesbay-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A view of St Ives Bay and the entrance to the Hayle Estuary from Trencrom Hill; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEcaF-xSfYRPIr4_DClTLuM5U5cSWgGjc5zN89AdsYSY205lbtdGpIVsVnG4WKPHT8tiPtpFwN7uyyeOlc2-JZfLYSnY4tP0vLe5833k9pd3t1RCZkbmywQ4O6KuWVrUcloHLqUw8hmK62/s1600/trencrom-stivesbay.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5VpiQm28bqK0BKsU36zotP-162F5On3XZkV90g2wI3-1BfMUusyA2HJKthWFJCEvb2Dun7C5oOrTqlws1YM6VrCbYMiV649FqkuQG_PC4dkRO6S692X-8NOt6fBsqALDFR4cBg9Ac5Zyk/s1600/trencrom-stmichaelsmount.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg79qP0tgo4UD68-vgMrYTKsWcYy34cqFhoMptS4t4rtz57H3gPIJWCMtgzpQnEQU2OWUm-iRb37OZTUYmXFE1IIkywYvNsTV4U2SEuBad6k-Gf-dcY7YzmsgyN5BGJIuowRWxAbzpZmakM/s1600/trencrom-stmichaelsmount-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>St Michael's Mount and Mount's Bay on the south coast of Cornwall as seen from Trencrom Hill; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5VpiQm28bqK0BKsU36zotP-162F5On3XZkV90g2wI3-1BfMUusyA2HJKthWFJCEvb2Dun7C5oOrTqlws1YM6VrCbYMiV649FqkuQG_PC4dkRO6S692X-8NOt6fBsqALDFR4cBg9Ac5Zyk/s1600/trencrom-stmichaelsmount.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<i>Notes</i><br />
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<i><span id="fn1"></span>1.</i> R. D. Penhallurick, <i>Ancient and Early Medieval Coins from Cornwall & Scilly</i>, Royal Numismatic Society Special Publication 45 (London, 2009), pp. 183–90; M. Allen, P. De Jersey & S. Moorhead, 'Coin Register 2007', <i>British Numismatic Journal</i>, 77 (2007), p. 316; A. Tyacke, 'The work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Cornwall', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 50 (2011), pp. 71–6 at pp. 74–5; Portable Antiquities Scheme database, e.g. CORN-6D9753, a copper alloy nummus of Constantius II, mint of Alexandria, c. AD 340, and CORN-367F46, a copper alloy nummus of Constantine I, mint of Heraclea, c. AD 330–33.<br />
<i><span id="fn2"></span>2.</i> S. Moorhead, 'Early Byzantine copper coins found in Britain – a review in light of new finds recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme', in O. Tekin (ed.), <i>Ancient History, Numismatics and Epigraphy in the Mediterranean World</i> (Istanbul, 2009), pp. 263–74 at pp. 264 (n. 4) & 266; I. Tompsett, <i>Social Dynamics in South-West England AD 350–1150: An Exploration of Maritime Oriented Identity in the Atlantic Approaches and Western Channel Region</i> (University of Nottingham PhD Thesis, 2012), pp. 377, 423–4; S. Moorhead, 'A group of fourth-century Roman coins from Phillack Towans, Cornwall', <i>Portable Antiquities Scheme Annual Report 2005/06</i> (London, 2006), pp. 56–7; S. Moorhead, 'Curator's report: site scatter of 35 Roman coins', Portable Antiquities Scheme entry IOW-85AAB2.<br />
<i><span id="fn3"></span>3.</i> C. Thomas, <i>Phillack Church</i> (Gwithian, 1990), pp. 24–5; C. Thomas, <i>And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain</i> (Cardiff, 1994), pp. 197–8; C. Thomas, <i>A Provisional List of Imported Pottery in Post-Roman Western Britain and Ireland</i>, Institute of Cornish Studies Special Report No. 7 (Redruth, 1981), p. 6; C. Thomas, 'The context of Tintagel: a new model for the diffusion of post-Roman Mediterranean imports', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 27 (1988), 7–25 at p. 22.<br />
<i><span id="fn4"></span>4.</i> C. Thomas, <i>And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain</i> (Cardiff, 1994), pp. 198–200; S. M. Pearce, <i>South-Western Britain in the Early Middle Ages</i> (Leicester, 2004), pp. 12, 149–51, 244; E. Okasha, <i>Corpus of Early Christian Inscribed Stones of South-west Britain</i> (Leicester, 2003), pp. 205–07.<br />
<i><span id="fn5"></span>5.</i> C. Thomas, <i>And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain</i> (Cardiff, 1994), pp. 197–8, 206, 284–6; S. Turner, 'Making a Christian landscape: early medieval Cornwall', in M. Carver (ed.), <i>The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, 300–1300</i> (Woodbridge, 2003), pp. 171–94 at pp. 175–6, 178; S. Turner, <i>Making a Christian Landscape: How Christianity Shaped the Countryside in Early-Medieval Cornwall, Devon and Wessex</i> (Exeter, 2006), pp. 35–6; I. Tompsett, <i>Social Dynamics in South-West England AD 350–1150: An Exploration of Maritime Oriented Identity in the Atlantic Approaches and Western Channel Region</i> (University of Nottingham PhD Thesis, 2012), pp. 39, 132–3, 138, 377–81; C. Thomas, <i>Phillack Church</i> (Gwithian, 1990), pp. 9–10, 25.<br />
<i><span id="fn6"></span>6.</i> For Carnsew Hillfort, see Historic England, 'Small multivallate hillfort, early Christian memorial stone and C19 landscaped paths at Carnsew', List entry no. 1006720. Details of the Roman coin hoard found just to the west are in R. D. Penhallurick, <i>Ancient and Early Medieval Coins from Cornwall & Scilly</i>, Royal Numismatic Society Special Publication 45 (London, 2009), pp. 50–1. For the probably fifth-century burial at Carnsew, see the extensive discussion in C. Thomas, <i>And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain</i> (Cardiff, 1994), pp. 190–4, translation of the inscription from Carnsew at p. 193.<br />
<i><span id="fn7"></span>7.</i> On Carnsew as a potential important secondary centre of power within the Dumnonian kingdom, see C. Thomas, 'The context of Tintagel. A new model for the diffusion of post-Roman Mediterranean imports', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 27 (1988), 7–25, especially p. 16 and fig. 3 (p. 17); C. Thomas, <i>Tintagel: Arthur and Archaeology</i> (London, 1993), pp. 95–6; C. Thomas, <i>And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain</i> (Cardiff, 1994), pp. 193–5.<br />
<i><span id="fn8"></span>8.</i> For the fourth-/fifth-century burial site and early chapel at Lelant, see I. Tompsett, <i>Social Dynamics in South-West England AD 350–1150: An Exploration of Maritime Oriented Identity in the Atlantic Approaches and Western Channel Region</i> (University of Nottingham PhD Thesis, 2012), pp. 134 (fig. 45), 375 (fig. 201), and 379–81; C. Noall, 'Nineteenth-Century discoveries at Lelant', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 3 (1964), 34–6; Cornwall & Scilly Historic Environment Record no. 31061; C. Thomas, <i>And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain</i> (Cardiff 1994), p. 198, fig. 12.1. For the possible Roman origins of the current Lelant graveyard, see N. Cahill, <i>Hayle Historical Assessment, Cornwall: Main Report</i> (Truro, 2000), p. 21; Cornwall & Scilly Historic Environment Record no. 140942; P. Herring <i>et al</i>, 'Early medieval Cornwall', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 50 (2011), 263–86 at pp. 269–70.<br />
<i><span id="fn9"></span>9.</i> For the suggestion that Trencrom Hill may have had a significant role in post-Roman western Cornwall, see C. Thomas, <i>And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain</i> (Cardiff 1994), p. 194; for the early medieval inscribed stone, see Cornwall & Scilly Historic Environment Record no. 31051 and Celtic Inscribed Stones Project TCROM/1, <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/cisp/database/stone/tcrom_1.html">online</a> at <i>http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/cisp/database/stone/tcrom_1.html</i>; for the report of early medieval grass-marked pottery from Trencrom Hill, see C. Thomas, 'Evidence for post-Roman occupation of Chun Castle, Cornwall', <i>Antiquaries Journal</i>, 36 (1956), 75–8 at p. 78.
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<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2018, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-70982931026973418822018-03-31T09:13:00.000+01:002018-05-30T16:20:54.652+01:00An eleventh-century Chinese coin in Britain and the evidence for East Asian contacts in the medieval periodThis post is concerned with a rather curious and unique find of an eleventh-century Northern Song dynasty coin from China in Cheshire, looking first at its archaeological context before going on to explore the evidence for a degree of contact between people from East Asia and Britain in the medieval era, a topic that is of interest whatever the origins of this particular coin may be.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJZJ4cZHJOurbdejG9g1kMDJSTOTMbtxNB5rFn0oRQsFQOiUsle7-Mq_LIWjI754UbtUQ9ThfN_aODVYGdg1hZYpyuw15hJBAq00EonHHVhPsR-OKSDat1z0MCGuRdklI9pzPpX4e412yQ/s1600/LVPL-4F4637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh6HlKXNvfkMSHx3hLivNUBOVX1tTfdDpfwIXpDm6tOum6GHAUQ2GVYymz6zn83gqbmUoXLiNWRbKeN1on9_U46eN0HkWm1eRU_qhl5eKVpo5rbrQaebhmErFQmqLUau6GJC-DX_AxJ6Ap/s1600/LVPL-4F4637-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Northern Song dynasty coin from China, minted during the Xining reign between 1068 and 1077, found in Cheshire; Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJZJ4cZHJOurbdejG9g1kMDJSTOTMbtxNB5rFn0oRQsFQOiUsle7-Mq_LIWjI754UbtUQ9ThfN_aODVYGdg1hZYpyuw15hJBAq00EonHHVhPsR-OKSDat1z0MCGuRdklI9pzPpX4e412yQ/s1600/LVPL-4F4637.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this picture (image: <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/444971">PAS</a>).</i></td></tr>
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The coin in question was found in the Vale Royal area of Cheshire and has been <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/444971">identified</a> by the British Museum as a cast copper alloy Chinese coin from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_dynasty">Northern Song</a> dynasty (AD 960–1127), minted during the Xining reign period of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Shenzong_of_Song">Emperor Shenzong of Song</a> between 1068 and 1077. Curiously, it appears to be a unique find from Britain—40 individual Chinese coins and one hoard are recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme, but only this eleventh-century example is of medieval date, with all of the other 146 Chinese coins being minted between the mid-seventeenth and early twentieth centuries. Needless to say, this coin has consequently been the subject of an understandable degree of scepticism, with the PAS record suggesting that it is 'doubtful that this is a genuine medieval find... more likely a more recent loss from an curated collection'. The aim of the following post is simply to ask whether it is at all possible that such a coin might have arrived in Britain during the medieval era, and, in doing so, review the evidence for contacts between East Asia and Britain in that period whatever our conclusion on this coin may be.<br />
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Looking first at the coin itself, recent losses or deliberate modern depositions of exotic finds are certainly encountered in Britain, including a <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/481355">group</a> of 107 Chinese coins dated 1659 to 1850 found buried together at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria; another <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/504114">group</a> of four coins from Foxhall, Suffolk; and a lovely Sasanian carnelian <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/201568">finger ring</a> from East Sussex that was found with an odd collection of material of various dates including a modern replica of a Byzantine coin. Nonetheless, although the possibility of a loss from a curated collection certainly cannot be discounted, it can be perhaps overused as an explanation for 'surprising' finds—as Martin Biddle has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00103424">observed</a>, 'the proverbial absent-minded college don or cathedral canon, dropping items of his collection here, there and everywhere... has never seemed a very convincing character', and in recent years the hyper-scepticism over finds of at least some exotic coins in Britain has abated somewhat.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn1">1</a>) Given the above, it is worth looking at the local context of this medieval Chinese coin, to assess whether there are any positive reasons to believe it is part of such a 'suspicious' grouping of finds or deposited curated collection. The coin itself is one of a discrete group of 24 finds found in an area less than 100 metres in all directions from the findspot, and aside from the coin being considered here, none of these other finds appear especially 'suspicious' or exotic. They consist of two worn Roman coins (a common find across England, with 263,791 recorded on the PAS as of March 2018); two late medieval lead weights, two pieces of medieval copper-alloy casting waste, and two medieval or post-medieval weights; and fifteen post-medieval finds, dating from the sixteenth to early eighteenth centuries and ranging from coins of Elizabeth I to rings, trade weights and musket balls. All told, the post-Roman finds from the site suggest relatively unremarkable activity on the site from <i>c.</i> 1300 to <i>c.</i> 1750, with nothing else found that might hint at a deliberate exotic deposition or loss from a curated collection.<br />
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Looking more widely at the context of such a coin, whilst no other medieval Chinese coins are known from Britain, this find would not stand entirely alone as a medieval-era East Asian import to these islands if it is genuine, with two British sites having apparently produced such items from stratified contexts. One of these medieval imports is a sherd of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain from a small cup or bowl that was found in a late fourteenth-century context at Lower Brook Street, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester">Winchester</a>. The other import is a small piece of bronze with the character 藤 engraved upon it, possibly representing the name 藤原, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiwara_clan">Fujiwara</a>, apparently found in a context of <i>c. </i>1300 in the north bank of the Thames at London.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn2">2</a>) Of course, both finds are markedly later in date than the apparently eleventh-century coin found in Cheshire, as are the other finds from the site where the coin was discovered (<i>c.</i> 1300–1750) and, indeed, the other non-textile East Asian imports known from elsewhere in medieval Europe, such as the fragments of a small Chinese qingbai bowl that were recovered from a late thirteenth-century context in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucera_Castle">medieval castle</a> at Lucera, Italy.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn3">3</a>) However, this chronological difference is perhaps not such a major problem as might be assumed. Northern Song coins appear to have been minted in exceptional quantities and to have remained in circulation long after their initial minting date, so that in the fourteenth century around 88% of the coins both in circulation within China and exported outside of it seem to have been actually minted under the Northern Song dynasty (960–1126). As such, if the Northern Song coin from Cheshire is a genuine medieval import then it might quite credibly have arrived at any point up to perhaps the late fourteenth century, resolving the above issue.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn4">4</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXYw_VSwPcmGmSKeDHP0IPoUjmY1eyxa_p4UdwzXcT1okTIND8pb5wr62efEJL-Rxr5cluTInceeZVW0MGf_MgXWsQOLoq2MVW-Fp1Lni7nQWHvAO0lQuX82_wPRJK3cfR1Nd9V6upv2gT/s1600/mongol-empire-500.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXYw_VSwPcmGmSKeDHP0IPoUjmY1eyxa_p4UdwzXcT1okTIND8pb5wr62efEJL-Rxr5cluTInceeZVW0MGf_MgXWsQOLoq2MVW-Fp1Lni7nQWHvAO0lQuX82_wPRJK3cfR1Nd9V6upv2gT/s1600/mongol-empire-500.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Mongol Empire at its greatest extent in the late thirteenth century (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mongol_Empire_(greatest_extent).svg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
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Such a potential thirteenth or fourteenth-century context for the arrival of an eleventh-century Chinese coin in Britain is not only supported by the archaeological evidence, but also by documentary sources. These texts make reference to both the presence of people from Britain and Ireland in East Asia and the presence of people who have, or may have, travelled from these regions in Britain during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. For example, the Flemish Franciscan missionary and explorer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Rubruck">William of Rubruck</a> (d. <i>c.</i> 1293) encountered a man of English origin whilst visiting Mongolia in 1254 AD. The man in question, named Basil, was living at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakorum">Karakorum</a> (near Kharkhorin, Mongolia), the capital of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire">Mongol Empire</a> between 1235 and 1260, and is described as 'the son of an Englishman'; he is also probably the 'nephew of a bishop' that William later mentions that he met at Karakorum and who he states was captured by the Mongols at Belgrade.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn5">5</a>) Moreover, Basil is not the only Englishman known to have been living among the Mongols during the mid-thirteenth century. Ivo of Narbonne, for example, reported in a letter copied by Matthew Paris in his <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronica_Majora">Chronica Majora</a></i> that the 'prince of Dalmatia' captured eight fugitives in 1242 during the surprise withdrawal of the Mongols from Central Europe, just as they were at the gates of Vienna, and that these captives included 'an Englishman' who<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
had twice come as an envoy and interpreter from the king of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatars#Name">Tattars</a> to the king of Hungary, and plainly threatened and warned them of the evils which afterwards happened, unless he should give up himself and his kingdom to be subject to the Tattars.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn6">6</a>)</blockquote>
This English envoy of the Mongols (Tatars/'Tartars') was apparently an exile from England who had lost all he owned to gambling at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre,_Israel">Acre, Israel</a>, and then wandered 'in a shameful state of want' further east into modern Iraq and beyond before the Mongols persuaded him to join them due to his apparent skill with languages, at which point he then travelled with them until he returned to Europe and was finally captured in Austria. Given that he had clearly travelled huge distances with the Mongols and, most especially, his role as envoy and interpreter for the Mongol khan, it seems possible that he was an earlier English visitor than Basil to the Mongol capital of Karakorum, Mongolia.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_C63Uh_z11K7fzLMPmWrHqUf8Z7TB0VYjFsuyB5ddXuOcMSa2TMmz-_LSzXEYxPSJIXapvMyru8Rn1PuKjXews03fYswkcdqrI_pumFp2ag5apvuToTFSZLZrvis6L9HnZ_5YAZacexpK/s1600/Way-of-salvation-church-militant-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-n0sIaebgtYAsDISd6bZOxtxgy1MMAA8Sz9kdBNneYxo7B2D0Nmc29SDhUWaIs9aWCPSSwoFkg0aWBi-9ku0rNQNJTpbpE92G8jd1Olh_x79ODCZV53Xa-7eKHAQT7joAmAUmEwp_Rahg/s1600/Way-of-salvation-church-militant-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A detail from Andrea di Bonaiuto's fresco 'The Way of Salvation/The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant', c. 1365–8, with the figures at the centre identified by Jacques Paviot as an English knight of the Garter talking to a Mongol (<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/p/bibliography-further-reading.html#paviot2000">Paviot, 2000, p. 318</a>; <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/p/bibliography-further-reading.html#devlin1929">Delvin, 1929</a>); the fresco is located in the Spanish Chapel at Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_C63Uh_z11K7fzLMPmWrHqUf8Z7TB0VYjFsuyB5ddXuOcMSa2TMmz-_LSzXEYxPSJIXapvMyru8Rn1PuKjXews03fYswkcdqrI_pumFp2ag5apvuToTFSZLZrvis6L9HnZ_5YAZacexpK/s1600/Way-of-salvation-church-militant-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this image (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Way-of-salvation-church-militant-triumphant-andrea-di-bonaiuto-1365.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In addition to individual English people who were living amongst the Mongols on their own account or as slaves in the thirteenth century, there were also direct diplomatic contacts between Mongol rulers and the English then. Of particular note is the evidence for unidentified Mongol envoys ('Tartars') actually crossing the Channel to visit England in 1264, much to the apparent disgruntlement of the papal legate Guy Foulques—the future <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_IV">Pope Clement IV</a>—who waiting in Boulogne for his own authorisation to cross!(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn7">7</a>) Likewise, in 1287–8 the Turkic/Chinese Christian monk and diplomat <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabban_Bar_Sauma">Rabban Bar Sauma</a>, originally from Beijing, China, visited Europe as an emissary of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilkhanate">Mongol Ilkhanate</a> that stretched from Iraq to northern Afghanistan and met with King Edward I of England in Gascony:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And they went forth from that place, that is to say, from Paris, to go to the king of England, to Kasonia [Gascony]. And having arrived in twenty days at their city [Saint-Sever], the inhabitants of the city went forth to meet them, and they asked them, "Who are you?"And Rabban Sauma and his companions replied, "We are ambassadors, and we have come from beyond the eastern seas, and we are envoys of the King, and of the Patriarch, and the Kings of the Mongols."And the people made haste and went to the king and informed him [of their arrival], and the king welcomed them gladly, and the people introduced them into his presence. And those who were with Rabban Sauma straightway gave to the king the Pukdana [<i>i.e. </i>letter of authorisation] of King Arghun, and the gifts which he had sent to him, and the Letter of Mar Catholicus. And [King Edward] rejoiced greatly, and he was especially glad when Rabban Sauma talked about the matter of Jerusalem. And he said, "We the kings of these cities bear upon our bodies the sign of the Cross, and we have no subject of thought except this matter. And my mind is relieved on the subject about which I have been thinking, when I hear that King Arghun thinks as I think."And the king commanded Rabban Sauma to celebrate the Eucharist, and he performed the Glorious Mysteries; and the king and his officers of state stood up, and the king partook of the Sacrament, and made a great feast that day. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Then Rabban Sauma said to the king, "We beseech you, O king, to give [your servants] in order to show us whatever churches and shrines there are in this country, so that when we go back to the Children of the East we may give them descriptions of them."And the king replied, "Thus shall you say to King Arghun and to all the Orientals: We have seen a thing than which there is nothing more wonderful, that is to say, that in the countries of the Franks there are not two Confessions of Faith, but only one Confession of Faith, namely, that which confesses Jesus Christ; and all the Christians confess it."And King Edward gave us many gifts and money for the expenses of the road.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn8">8</a>)</blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcuZTJYePQ_EowVXjv88DkYn5n2T28_MBhI_AIaamaY0WlETBqmyjXp2eB_zlvoFlD8D-O9ECfS-JMbMy7y9rZbprZenjHHuovJFXtn24RwEKxUbxmRDBqs6jL8kLy2aRMGSjjPFvPVwn/s1600/1024px-VoyagesOfRabbanBarSauma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="1024" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcuZTJYePQ_EowVXjv88DkYn5n2T28_MBhI_AIaamaY0WlETBqmyjXp2eB_zlvoFlD8D-O9ECfS-JMbMy7y9rZbprZenjHHuovJFXtn24RwEKxUbxmRDBqs6jL8kLy2aRMGSjjPFvPVwn/s400/1024px-VoyagesOfRabbanBarSauma.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The route taken by Rabban Bar Sauma during his journey from Beijing to Gascony in the 1280s (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VoyagesOfRabbanBarSauma.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Yet another Mongol envoy named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buscarello_de_Ghizolfi">Buscarello de Ghizolfi</a>, a Genoese adventurer who had settled in Persia, visited London in January 1290, accompanied by three squires who were probably themselves Mongols. Further envoys were sent from the Mongol Ilkhanate later that year, including a Mongol named Zagan and his nephew Gorgi, who were baptized by the Pope before being sent on to England on 2 December 1290 (accompanied again by Buscarello de Ghizolfi), and a certain Saabedin Archaon—a Nestorian cleric who had previously travelled to the west with Rabban Bar Sauma—who arrived after Zagan had left for England and who was, in turn, sent on with letters of credence in his favour addressed to Edward I by Pope Nicholas IV on 31 December.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn9">9</a>) Envoys were also dispatched in the opposite direction, with the regime at Acre sending the English Dominican friar <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_of_Ashby">David of Ashby</a> eastwards in 1260 (he returned in 1274, accompanying the Mongol embassy that attended the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Council_of_Lyon">Second Council of Lyon</a> in that year) and King Edward I sending <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_of_Langley">Geoffrey of Langley</a> with Buscarello de Ghizolfi to the Mongol Ilkhanate capital of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabriz">Tabriz, Iran</a>, on a diplomatic mission in 1291.<br />
<br />
In the early fourteenth century there is further evidence for direct diplomatic contact with both the Mongols and potentially China, which had been partly under Mongol control in the north since the first half of the thirteenth century and was ruled from 1271 by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_dynasty">Yuan Dynasty</a> of China, founded by the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan. For example, in 1313 the royal household records for Edward II record a visit to England by an ambassador of 'the emperor of the Tartars', who Jacques Paviot suggests may have been representing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurbarwada_Buyantu_Khan">Great Khan</a> in China, something perhaps supported by the fact that he was one William of Villeneuve.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn10">10</a>) This Franciscan missionary was one of seven suffragan bishops consecrated by Pope Clement V in 1307 to serve in the newly created <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_in_China#Yuan_.281271.E2.80.931368.29_Dynasty">archdiocese of Beijing</a>, China (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanbaliq">Khanbaliq</a>), at the request of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Montecorvino">John of Montecorvino</a>, the founder of the Chinese mission in the late thirteenth century. William is usually believed to have made it to India but to have then given up and not carried on to China with the others, instead returning to Italy, being next recorded at Avignon, France, in 1318.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn11">11</a>) However, this seems not to take account of the English record of his activities, which suggests that he returned to Europe as a Mongol envoy of 'the emperor of the Tartars' in 1313. Moreover, it is worth noting that Edward II sent a letter to the Emperor of China on 22 May 1313 in which he asks him to him to aid and protect the bishop William of Villeneuve, something that suggests that not only did William returned to Europe in 1313 as an envoy of the Great Khan in China, but also that he then aimed to return there.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn12">12</a>)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgalRYxuagWCsz-ePemqRdVJhiGkHnI3ZBsFDcoYvo4ROq4rGVa50Ol9G7cceWXa8kcuVN7GLQB9sWrQh3Wj-1kcGZ0CWVgPO-NiUPDLz04gqqRXhwYThanlJC4BeWSy6Xk5o_8XTMdg2M3/s1600/OdoricJamesSumatra-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhSBPzeq6iuiJBxgqDRcRd0XZ7-p_WM2hTTRYTpkcfhvLG2D8v_eCRSmZUUrCMRa5_j8engk7FSXjo49tpMXy1vK82zB-iSio6CSQg2YWrW0zkmD4e-oBfWcnr33nAFgU5U3wQXLvKHPL4/s1600/OdoricJamesSumatra-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A fifteenth-century image of James of Ireland and Odoric of Pordenone in Sumatra, from BnF Français 2810, f.104r; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgalRYxuagWCsz-ePemqRdVJhiGkHnI3ZBsFDcoYvo4ROq4rGVa50Ol9G7cceWXa8kcuVN7GLQB9sWrQh3Wj-1kcGZ0CWVgPO-NiUPDLz04gqqRXhwYThanlJC4BeWSy6Xk5o_8XTMdg2M3/s1600/OdoricJamesSumatra-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this illustration (image: <a href="http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b52000858n/f213.item">BnF</a>).</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In addition to the above, notice should also be made of the journey of James of Ireland, a cleric who travelled with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odoric_of_Pordenone">Odoric of Pordenone</a> to the east in the 1320s. Odoric's own <a href="https://archive.org/stream/cathaywaythither02yule#page/96/mode/2up/">account</a> of the journey, written in 1330 after their return to Europe, indicates that they visited India, Sumatra, Java, and Champa (southern Vietnam), before arriving at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou">Guangzhou</a>, China, in 1323–4 and reaching Beijing in 1325, where they stayed for 3 years before travelling back home; Odoric died in 1331 at Udine, north-eastern Italy, and a present of 2 marks was subsequently paid to his companion, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_of_Ireland">James of Ireland</a>, according to the public books of Udine, who unfortunately then disappears from the pages of history.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn13">13</a>) Whether other subjects of the English king undertook similar journeys eastwards to Southeast Asia and China in the later thirteenth and fourteenth centuries is unrecorded, but it is by no means implausible that they did so. Certainly, we know of a number of European merchants who travelled to China at this time, from Marco Polo and Peter of Lucalongo in the late thirteenth century onwards, and there seem to have been communities of Genoese and Venetian merchants living in Yuan China during the fourteenth century, with Latin tombstones moreover known from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katarina_Vilioni">Yangzhou</a> and Zaiton (Quanzhou) in China. In this light, it is interesting to note that late medieval English coins have apparently been found in Vietnam.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/an-eleventh-century-chinese-coin.html#fn14">14</a>)<br />
<br />
In conclusion, it may well be that this apparently eleventh-century Chinese coin from Cheshire is a modern loss from a curated collection, for example. However, given the lack of other 'exotic' items from the site where it was found, the possibility that it was actually a genuine medieval loss can perhaps be at least considered. Certainly, coins like this seem to have continued to circulate in significant numbers in China well into the fourteenth century, and in this light it is interesting that the other, largely unremarkable, post-Roman artefacts found at the site range in date from <i>c.</i> 1300–1750. Likewise, it is worth noting that there is, in fact, a small quantity of archaeological evidence for East Asian imports into thirteenth-/fourteenth-century England and, perhaps more importantly, a significant quantity of documentary evidence referring to both the presence of people from Britain and Ireland in East Asia and the presence of people who had, or who may have, travelled from these regions in England during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In consequence, a potential context can be constructed for such a coin having arrived in England in <i>c.</i> 1300 or a little after, although this is—of course—not the same thing as saying that such an origin is by any means certain, especially whilst this coin remains a unique find in Britain.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbbn7KzjFOiCkYGWNbrCw6pST72hs8ItTI48pMlkfjKD3Hrwpg0kQ9L6J-QQhmmDM1k0pOyBMw2XiuunqUH4ZRRvVR8drcaPUvif_5TiMOp-c9IagV-pGGSYdFHcuBsDChtYo3viJYfuBv/s1600/YangzhouKatarinaVilioniTomb1342.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR4a7hhpKyLP5F1OcP0TlJFyFIxEHC-al0C1C2E_r4xAIlKR1tYHYBhkHmc9MFRtL-BJuG6Au2CELY67PtX9rZNS24nL_zxY8vC2E5FQWGenwIdTRnkkpprCKs7Ow9EFbje5as15-wwtc3/s1600/YangzhouKatarinaVilioniTomb1342-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The tombstone of Katerina Ilioni, daughter of the Genoese merchant Domenico Ilioni, dated 1342 and found at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangzhou">Yangzhou</a>, China; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbbn7KzjFOiCkYGWNbrCw6pST72hs8ItTI48pMlkfjKD3Hrwpg0kQ9L6J-QQhmmDM1k0pOyBMw2XiuunqUH4ZRRvVR8drcaPUvif_5TiMOp-c9IagV-pGGSYdFHcuBsDChtYo3viJYfuBv/s1600/YangzhouKatarinaVilioniTomb1342.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this image (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:YangzhouKatarinaVilioniTomb1342.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i>Notes</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span id="fn1"></span>1.</i> See, for example, M. Biddle, 'Ptolemaic coins from Winchester', <i>Antiquity</i>, 49 (1975), 213–15; S. Moorhead, 'Early Byzantine copper coins found in Britain – a review in light of new finds recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme', in O. Tekin (ed.), <i>Ancient History, Numismatics and Epigraphy in the Mediterranean World</i> (Istanbul, 2009), pp. 263–74; E. S. Georganteli, 'Byzantine coins', in M. Biddle (ed.), <i>The Winchester Mint and Coins and Related Finds from the Excavations of 1961-71</i>, Winchester Studies 8 (Oxford, 2012), pp. 669–78; and C. Morrisson, 'Byzantine coins in early medieval Britain: a Byzantinist's assessment', in R. Naismith <i>et al</i> (ed.), <i>Early Medieval Monetary History: Studies in Memory of Mark Blackburn</i> (London, 2014), pp. 207–42.<br />
<i><span id="fn2"></span>2.</i> D. Whitehouse, 'Chinese porcelain in medieval Europe', <i>Medieval Archaeology</i>, 16 (1972), 63–78 at p. 68; P. Ottaway, <i>Winchester: Swithun’s ‘City of Happiness and Good Fortune’: An Archaeological Assessment</i> (Oxford, 2017), <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PoIlDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT485&pg=PT485#v=onepage&q&f=false">online</a>; M. Cooper, 'Cultural survey, 1991', <i>Monumenta Nipponica</i>, 47 (1992), 99–105 at p. 100. My thanks are due to Andrew West for drawing my attention to the London find.<br />
<i><span id="fn3"></span>3.</i> D. Whitehouse, 'Chinese porcelain in medieval Europe', <i>Medieval Archaeology</i>, 16 (1972), 63–78 at pp. 67–8.<br />
<i><span id="fn4"></span>4.</i> On the long life of Northern Song coins and their medieval export to Western Asia and East Africa, see J. Cribb & D. Potts, 'Chinese coin finds from Arabia and the Arabian Gulf', <i>Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy</i>, 7 (1996), 108–18. Note, both coins and pottery seem to have been exported westwards from China in the medieval period, see for example Bing Zhao, 'Chinese-style ceramics in East Africa from the 9th to 16th century: A case of changing values and symbols in the multi-partner global trade', <i>Afriques</i>, 6 (2015), <a href="http://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1836">online</a> at <i>http://journals.openedition.org/afriques/1836</i>.<br />
<i><span id="fn5"></span>5.</i> W. W. Rockhill (trans.), <i>The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World, 1253–55</i> (London, 1900), pp. 211, 222–3.<br />
<i><span id="fn6"></span>6.</i> J. A. Giles (trans.), <i>Matthew Paris's English History</i> (London, 1889), vol. 1, pp. 470–1.<br />
<i><span id="fn7"></span>7.</i> J. Paviot, 'England and the Mongols (<i>c</i>. 1260–1330)', <i>Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society</i>, 10 (2000), 305–18 at p. 308.<br />
<i><span id="fn8"></span>8.</i> E. A. Wallis Budge (trans.), <i>The Monks of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China; or, The History of the Life and Travels of Rabban Sawma</i> (London, 1928), pp. 185–7, spelling slightly modernised and adjusted for consistency.<br />
<i><span id="fn9"></span>9.</i> J. Paviot, 'England and the Mongols (<i>c</i>. 1260–1330)', <i>Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society</i>, 10 (2000), 305–18 at pp. 314–5. The letters carried by Zagan and Saabedin are in the National Archives as SC 7/30/18 ('Commendation to Edward I of Andrew formerly called Zaganus, Buscarellus de Gisulfo and Moracius, envoys of Argon, king of the Tartars', 2 Dec 1290) and SC 7/31/16 ('Letters of credence to Edward I in favour of Saabedin Archaon, envoy of Argon, king of the Tartars', 31 Dec 1290); see also P. Jackson, <i>The Mongols and the West 1221–1410</i> (London, 2005), p. 173, on Saabedin.<br />
<i><span id="fn10"></span>10.</i> J. Paviot, 'England and the Mongols (<i>c</i>. 1260–1330)', <i>Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society</i>, 10 (2000), 305–18 at p. 317; for the view that he was sent by the Middle Eastern Mongol il-khan, see for example J. R. S. Phillips, <i>The Medieval Expansion of Europe</i>, 2nd edn (Oxford, 1998), p. 129.<br />
<i><span id="fn11"></span>11.</i> J. B. Friedman & K. M. Figg (eds.), <i>Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia</i> (London, 2000), pp. 22, 402, 403.<br />
<i><span id="fn12"></span>12.</i> T. Rymer (ed.), <i>Foedera, Conventiones, Literæ, et Cujuscunque Generis Acta Publica, Inter Reges Angliæ et Alios Quosvis Imperatores, Reges, Pontifices, Principes, vel Communitates</i> (London, 1739), vol. 2 pt. 1, p. 40 (22 May 1313), which is also discussed in K. Warner, <i>Edward II: The Unconventional King</i> (Stroud, 2014). Edward II also sent letters asking for aid to be given to William of Villeneuve to the emperor of Trebizond (Alexios II), the king of Georgia (Davit VIII), and the il-khan Oljeitu, suggesting the route that William of Villeneuve was intending on taking; a similar route was followed by Odoric of Pordenone in 1318, as related in his <i>The Eastern Parts of the World Described</i> (1330).<br />
<i><span id="fn13"></span>13.</i> Odoric of Pordenone, <i>The Eastern Parts of the World Described</i>, translated by H. Yule, <i>Cathay and the Way Thither</i> (London, 1913), vol. 2, pp. 97–267, and p. 11 for the gift to James of Ireland; J. B. Friedman & K. M. Figg (eds.), <i>Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia</i> (London, 2000), p. 457.<br />
<i><span id="fn14"></span>14.</i> J. B. Friedman & K. M. Figg (eds.), <i>Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia</i> (London, 2000), pp. 107–09, 372–4, 474, 663; L. Arnold, <i>Princely Gifts & Papal Treasures: The Franciscan Mission to China & Its Influence on the Art of the West, 1250–1350</i> (San Francisco, 1999); J. Purtle, 'The Far Side: expatriate medieval art and its languages in Sino-Mongol China', in J. Caskey <i>et al</i> (eds.), <i>Confronting the Borders of Medieval Art </i>(Leiden, 2011), pp. 167–97; and J. Kermode, <i>Medieval Merchants: York, Beverley and Hull in the Later Middle Ages</i> (Cambridge, 1998), pp. 2–3 at fn. 10 for the claim that late medieval English coins have been found in Vietnam.<br />
<br />
<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2018, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-54363673386687720912018-03-09T20:00:00.000+00:002018-03-09T20:18:15.733+00:00Wulfric of Lincoln and the English Varangians: the first documented Byzantine ambassador to England in the early twelfth centuryThe following brief post is concerned with an early twelfth-century Byzantine ambassador to England who had the intriguing name of <i>Wlfricus</i>—or Wulfric—of Lincoln. Needless to say, this is a most interesting name for the first documented medieval ambassador from Constantinople to England to bear, and what follows looks briefly at what little we know of this embassy and its context.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6JORUPx3DJ42KoOCrZap6zmQ9kyNEfTjZCIM7lhkqDmC-nNzUglQh5UQig1-SlewiV31FvQUsdP4L1bkDLKY2msHBRRjXgV1DWPPcxdZT-9R4gyzMKsdV4WzkbYKudi4Scn0sC0Q2cEAa/s1600/DSCN0604.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="245" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWnSzZe61ZXMlgNODAoOqUC2H9yddxAEMeHUDPweWQZhAmyIarkLYMDFXQ_YPeg7wJOGerA2-KZPGX8i6TKo74vmem1eU47E-OHr9ZTB_bd7CnGFpURyTs1hBOCq10EjawgFjfAHlR3_8c/s1600/DSCN0604-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A contemporary imitation of a coin of the Byzantine emperor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_I_Komnenos">Alexios I Komnenus</a> (1081–1118), mint of Constantinople, found at South Shields, Tyne and Wear. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6JORUPx3DJ42KoOCrZap6zmQ9kyNEfTjZCIM7lhkqDmC-nNzUglQh5UQig1-SlewiV31FvQUsdP4L1bkDLKY2msHBRRjXgV1DWPPcxdZT-9R4gyzMKsdV4WzkbYKudi4Scn0sC0Q2cEAa/s1600/DSCN0604.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph. Note, an imperial seal of Alexios I Komnenus has been also been <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/p/bibliography-further-reading.html#dejersey1996">found</a> in England, just a few miles to the north-west of Lincoln at Torksey (image: <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/261050">PAS</a>).</i></td></tr>
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The sole reference to Wulfric of Lincoln and his early twelfth-century embassy on behalf of the Byzantine emperor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_I_Komnenos">Alexios I Komnenus</a> is found in <i>The History of the Church of Abingdon</i>, a twelfth-century history thought to have been written by a monk of Abingdon Abbey who was apparently a contemporary of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faritius">Abbot Faritius</a> of Abingdon (d. 1117), with the text reaching its final form in the 1160s. He gives the following account of the embassy of Wulfric of Lincoln to England and Wulfric's subsequent visit to Abingdon and gift of a relic of St John Chrysostom to Abbot Faritius in the early twelfth century:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It is worthwhile, moreover, to record briefly how he obtained that very sacred arm [of St John Chrysostom]. Emperor Alexius of Constantinople at that time sent to England letters and gifts for King Henry and Queen Matilda. In that embassy, Wulfric, an Englishman by birth, native of the town of Lincoln, performed with great pomp, as befitted the guide of such dignity [i.e. the relic]. He was very bold in his close relations with that emperor, and sought and received from him these relics of the blessed John, with a view to the uplifting of his homeland. He went to Abingdon to commend himself to the brethren's prayers, and there most devoutly deposited these relics, together with the dust which is said to have marvellously burst forth from the tomb of St John the Evangelist, and a part of the bones of Macarius and Anthony the abbots. The abbot, moreover, received this and enshrined it fittingly in the way customary with him.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/wulfric-of-lincoln-byzantine-ambassador.html#fn1">1</a>)</blockquote>
Unfortunately, we are unable to date the event any closer than <i>c.</i> 1100–1117, but it seems likely that the gifts sent by Emperor Alexios to King Henry I and Queen Matilda included a piece of the True Cross that was subsequently kept at Henry I's foundation of Reading, as it was said to be kept 'in a cloth that the emperor of Constantinople sent to Henry the first, king of the English', and another piece given by Queen Matilda to her foundation of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, which was likewise said to have been given by the emperor Alexios.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/wulfric-of-lincoln-byzantine-ambassador.html#fn2">2</a>)<br />
<br />
Needless to say, the fact that the first documented ambassador from the imperial capital of Constantinople to England was stated to be a native of Lincoln and bore the Old English name Wulfric is most intriguing. Given the date of the embassy and the name and origins of the ambassador, it is hard to avoid connecting this curious situation with the evidence for a significant Anglo-Saxon emigration from England to the Byzantine Empire in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest (occurring <i>c. </i>1075), discussed at length in a <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/05/medieval-new-england-black-sea.html">previous post</a>, or the fact that a substantial proportion of the imperial Varangian Guard—the personal bodyguard of the Byzantine emperor—at Constantinople subsequently appears to be of English origin right through the twelfth century and up until the siege of Constantinople in 1204, if not beyond.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/wulfric-of-lincoln-byzantine-ambassador.html#fn3">3</a>) Indeed, as late as the mid-fourteenth-century, the <i>De Officiis</i> of Pseudo-Kodinus related that the Varangians who existed then still constituted a separate people and that, at Christmas, they wished the emperor length of life 'in their native tongue, that is, English'.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/wulfric-of-lincoln-byzantine-ambassador.html#fn4">4</a>)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW2XU4DZaTfmlxDUbCq6dH2iVxo1okr2qN8cmNXZ4qSzOvQqWMM8h_U6Ip3QFN8JhCOmnWnsXMfLAlPbhyBmfQMfKgttpJlP9HSaJAw7Y0R_Yh4E-8iY_Rh2ZP4CRSSMwaLpWgvxlwq4FB/s1600/DUR-7D8726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirJN7xWwlOk4OuxpNYdJXW83wrWmzKlcN6eDVQFEBiaKR3HU2ncKaCa4l8pbgSmX97i60EtoWXjUv7UWfyJgyPqSPIz72flyHIJSPkzI8HQZqtQQZZMR2fN-6bx4wR-AlqwKddy5wtqbpc/s1600/DUR-7D8726-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A gold coin of the Byzantine emperor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_VII_Doukas">Michael VII Doukas</a> (1071–8), in whose reign the English Varangians are thought to have arrived in Constantinople, found at Hambleton, North Yorkshire; the coin has been pierced for suspension and the placing of the hole implies that it was intended to be worn displaying the image of the emperor. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW2XU4DZaTfmlxDUbCq6dH2iVxo1okr2qN8cmNXZ4qSzOvQqWMM8h_U6Ip3QFN8JhCOmnWnsXMfLAlPbhyBmfQMfKgttpJlP9HSaJAw7Y0R_Yh4E-8iY_Rh2ZP4CRSSMwaLpWgvxlwq4FB/s1600/DUR-7D8726.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/388886">PAS</a>).</i></td></tr>
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In light of all this, Wulfric of Lincoln would certainly seem to have a credible context within the Constantinople of <i>c. </i>1100. Moreover, he wouldn't be the only such post-1066 Anglo-Saxon emigrant who took on important imperial duties in this period. For example, the 'Advices to the Emperor' in Kekaumenos's <i>Strategikon</i>, which was written in the late 1070s and then revised up to <i>c. </i>1100, complains of the emperor favouring 'the foreigner who has come to us from England' and 'making him head of a department of state or general'.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/wulfric-of-lincoln-byzantine-ambassador.html#fn5">5</a>) Likewise, the <a href="http://turbulentpriests.group.shef.ac.uk/constantinople-jerusalem-and-canterbury-joseph-the-monk-and-the-norman-conquest/">account</a> of a visit to Constantinople in <i>c.</i> 1090 by a monk named Joseph from Canterbury who encountered 'men from his own homeland (<i>patria</i>) and his own friends, who were part of the emperor’s household (<i>ex familia imperatoris</i>)'(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/wulfric-of-lincoln-byzantine-ambassador.html#fn6">6</a>), is clearly noteworthy, as is Goscelin of Canterbury's (d. <i>c. </i>1100) contemporary reference to an unnamed 'honourable man' from England who,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
along with
many noble exiles from the fatherland, migrated to Constantinople; he obtained
such favour with the Emperor and Empress as well as with other powerful
men as to receive command over prominent troops and over a great number
of companions...
He married a noble and wealthy woman, and remembering the gifts of God,
built, close to his own home, a basilica in honour of the Blessed Nicholas and
Saint Augustine, his patron.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/wulfric-of-lincoln-byzantine-ambassador.html#fn7">7</a>)</blockquote>
Finally, mention ought to be made of Hardigt, who is said to have been a member of the 'Oriental Angli' who was made both chief of the Varangian Guard and commander of the imperial fleet in the <i>Laon Chronicle</i>'s thirteenth-century account of the Anglo-Saxon emigrants:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
the Oriental Angli sent a man called Hardigt to the Emperor. He was reputed to be the strongest of all the Angli, for which reason he was suspect to the Greeks, who cunningly let loose a lion to devour him. Hardigt was alone in the courtyard of the palace. But he ran to the marble columns that stood in the atrium of the palace to use them as protection against the lion. Then (by a series of adroit manoeuvres) he succeeded in braining the lion by bashing its head on a column. This Hardigt of the race of the Angli was later wrongfully accused of treason by two Greeks, but he defended his innocence against them in a flight on foot, brave though they were. One of them he forced to the ground with his arm severed from his side; the other he fell upon and split him in two from his chest. The Emperor appointed this man leader of all his guards and not long afterwards made him commander of the naval forces.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/wulfric-of-lincoln-byzantine-ambassador.html#fn8">8</a>)</blockquote>
This specific element of the <i>Laon Chronicle</i>'s account has been subject to some scepticism, but it is worth noting that Krijnie Ciggaar considers Hardigt to be a potentially genuine English emigrant who perhaps gained these roles in the later 1080s and 1090s, and Nancy Ševčenko furthermore observes that the seemingly slightly fanciful detail of the lions is arguably supported by a subsequent release of both lions and leopards to attack Lombard Crusaders camped outside the walls of Constantinople in 1101.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/03/wulfric-of-lincoln-byzantine-ambassador.html#fn9">9</a>) In any case, even setting Hardigt to one side, it seems clear that Wulfric of Lincoln's role as the Byzantine Emperor's ambassador to Norman England not only has a context in terms of the arrival of Anglo-Saxon emigrants in the Byzantine Empire after <i>c.</i> 1075, but also in the evidence for a number of these English exiles apparently fairly rapidly attaining important positions within the imperial household and the wider Byzantine state during the late eleventh century.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpPEnpRPfz_3oQa3DPm_3hcarUM5CRsKKeE-l_SOZZnmiVlgSzvLyuPx-KUVYZtx98BSyQFS-v0RtW0ReLGvqsaEssOPbIHw5CKIUAE9i0x-McxlRKQSyM32FFRKzDhbMPbg_rgueoXyWr/s1600/Byzantine11th-12thC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguhGHoeUez8F79hSOnqx88APv0pE6V5PQAnveVTqQ3SOSyBsukQ2JHnUkNHKOdVXY19XIcmAOoqCjIqrdPZecv_5-AEprKQute4-noQv5Il87gaAwi5Y5bBkFHs13F-ohugDpJNnjxAxTG/s1600/Byzantine11th-12thC-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The distribution of eleventh- to twelfth-century Byzantine coins and seals in Britain, based on data from the <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/">PAS</a>, the <a href="http://www-cm.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/emc/">EMC</a>, <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/p/bibliography-further-reading.html#dejersey1996">De Jersey 1996</a>, <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/p/bibliography-further-reading.html#biddle2012">Biddle 2012</a> and <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/p/bibliography-further-reading.html#kelleher2012">Kelleher 2012</a>; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpPEnpRPfz_3oQa3DPm_3hcarUM5CRsKKeE-l_SOZZnmiVlgSzvLyuPx-KUVYZtx98BSyQFS-v0RtW0ReLGvqsaEssOPbIHw5CKIUAE9i0x-McxlRKQSyM32FFRKzDhbMPbg_rgueoXyWr/s1600/Byzantine11th-12thC.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map. Note the two major concentrations of coins and seals shown on this map represent the finds from Winchester and London (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i>Notes</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>1.<span id="fn1"></span></i> J. Hudson (ed. & trans.), <i>Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis: The History of the Church of Abingdon, Volume II </i>(Oxford, 2002), p. 69.<br />
<i>2.<span id="fn2"></span></i> R. Bartlett, <i>England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075–1225</i> (Oxford, 2000), pp. 108–09.<br />
<i>3.<span id="fn3"></span></i> See, for example, K. N. Ciggaar, 'L'émigration anglaise à Byzance après 1066. Un nouveau texte en latin sur les Varangues à Constantinople', <i>Revue des études byzantines Année</i>, 32 (1974), 301–42; C. Fell, 'The Icelandic saga of Edward the Confessor: its version of the Anglo-Saxon emigration to Byzantium', <i>Anglo-Saxon England</i>, 3 (1974), 179–96; J. Shepard, 'The English and Byzantium: a study of their role in the Byzantine army in the later eleventh century', <i>Traditio</i>, 29 (1973), 53–92; J. Godfrey, 'The defeated Anglo-Saxons take service with the Byzantine Emperor', <i>Anglo-Norman Studies</i>, 1 (1979), 63–74; K. N. Ciggaar, <i>Western Travellers to Constantinople: The West and Byzantium, 962–1204</i> (Leiden, 1996), pp. 140–1, 144, 146, 158–9. The connection between Wulfric of Lincoln and the English Varangians was first made by E. A. Freeman in his <i>History of the Norman Conquest of England</i>, 2nd edn (Oxford, 1876), vol. 4, pp. 847–8.<br />
<i>4.<span id="fn4"></span></i> S. Blöndal & B. S. Benedikz, <i>The Varangians of Byzantium</i> (Cambridge, 1978), p. 180; J. Shepard, 'Another New England? — Anglo-Saxon settlement on the Black Sea', <i>Byzantine Studies</i>, 1 (1978), 18–39 at p. 39; D. M. Nicol, 'Byzantium and England', <i>Balkan Studies</i>, 15 (1974), 179–203 at p. 192.<br />
<i>5.<span id="fn5"></span></i> C. Fell, 'The Icelandic saga of Edward the Confessor: its version of the Anglo-Saxon emigration to Byzantium', <i>Anglo-Saxon England</i>, 3 (1974), 179–96 at p. 193; A. Shchavelev, 'A seal of Byzantine "Translator of the English" Patrikios Sphen: its date and socio-cultural context', in H. Ivakin <i>et al </i>(eds.), <i>Byzantine and Rus' Seals</i> (Kyiv, 2015), pp. 193–200 at pp. 196–8; J. Shepard, 'The English and Byzantium: a study of their role in the Byzantine army in the later eleventh century', <i>Traditio</i>, 29 (1973), 53–92 at p. 64.<br />
<i>6.<span id="fn6"></span></i> C. West, 'Constantinople, Jerusalem and Canterbury: Joseph the monk and the Norman Conquest', blog post, 18 September 2017, <a href="http://turbulentpriests.group.shef.ac.uk/constantinople-jerusalem-and-canterbury-joseph-the-monk-and-the-norman-conquest/">online</a> at <i>http://turbulentpriests.group.shef.ac.uk/constantinople-jerusalem-and-canterbury-joseph-the-monk-and-the-norman-conquest/</i>; J. Shepard, 'The English and Byzantium: a study of their role in the Byzantine army in the later eleventh century', <i>Traditio</i>, 29 (1973), 53–92 at p. 91.<br />
<i>7.<span id="fn7"></span></i> Translated in D. M. Nicol, 'Byzantium and England', <i>Balkan Studies</i>, 15 (1974), 179–203 at p. 190. His name may have been Coleman, as the thirteenth-century <i>Laon Chronicle</i> account of the Anglo-Saxon emigrants mentions a man of that name who built a church in Constantinople; the church in question is often thought to be that of Bogdan Serai, especially in light of the apparent survival of grave-markers belonging to English Varangians there until the nineteenth century: K. N. Ciggaar, 'L'émigration anglaise à Byzance après 1066. Un nouveau texte en latin sur les Varangues à Constantinople', <i>Revue des études byzantines Année</i>, 32 (1974), 301–42 at pp. 313 and 328; C. Fell, 'The Icelandic saga of Edward the Confessor: its version of the Anglo-Saxon emigration to Byzantium', <i>Anglo-Saxon England</i>, 3 (1974), 179–96 at p. 196; R. Byron, <i>The Byzantine Achievement</i> (London, 1929), p. 147 fn. 1.<br />
<i>8.<span id="fn8"></span></i> D. M. Nicol, 'Byzantium and England', <i>Balkan Studies</i>, 15 (1974), 179–203 at p. 187 (translation); K. N. Ciggaar, 'L'émigration anglaise à Byzance après 1066. Un nouveau texte en latin sur les Varangues à Constantinople', <i>Revue des études byzantines Année</i>, 32 (1974), 301–42 at pp. 305, 323 (text, lines 95–109) and 337–8 (commentary).<br />
<i>9.<span id="fn9"></span></i> K. N. Ciggaar, 'L'émigration anglaise à Byzance après 1066. Un nouveau texte en latin sur les Varangues à Constantinople', <i>Revue des études byzantines Année</i>, 32 (1974), 301–42 at pp. 305 and 337–8; K. N. Ciggaar, <i>Western Travellers to Constantinople: The West and Byzantium, 962–1204</i> (Leiden, 1996), p. 141; N. P. Ševčenko, 'Wild animals in the Byzantine park', in A. Littlewood <i>et al</i> (eds.), <i>Byzantine Garden Culture</i> (Washington, D. C., 2002), pp. 69–86 at p. 79. For a contrasting view, see C. Fell, 'The Icelandic saga of Edward the Confessor: its version of the Anglo-Saxon emigration to Byzantium', <i>Anglo-Saxon England</i>, 3 (1974), 179–96 at pp. 186–8, who considers him to be a mistaken insertion of the deeds of Harald Hardrada into the <i>Laon Chronicle</i>'s account of the Anglo-Saxon emigrants.<br />
<br />
<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2018, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-75062090633202763192018-02-26T21:17:00.003+00:002018-03-17T10:43:20.356+00:00What lies beneath? A buried medieval chapel under Porthminster Beach, St Ives, CornwallThe long, sandy beach of Porthminster, with its calm, blue waters, is located just below the railway station at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Ives,_Cornwall">St Ives</a>, Cornwall, and has found favour since the late nineteenth century as a resort, especially after the retirement of its seine fishing fleet. However, its history stretches back much further than this, with its present-day sands and landscaped green areas said to conceal the buried remains of a medieval chapel and village that once stood below the cliffs here through until the fifteenth century.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ4hKfAUCXBCS7V3UyqzdofSSr4QZxmdkuaUxpGIM62Sf3ISDv3XN750uR_WOP46AISN5lGcaVElQOHw03tw5tDouqrbDI_LNuHRcrp9rPjjjvXjv2wvTrLuSla6vm3N4PZ09eL3ptiBNI/s1600/porthminsterbeach-stevens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvENW4f9sUnNzZ6lEoQB_-8k9aCQHXefimFy5oY5cY2AVvUuueCOmcjxeLvxB55QnRb5_Qhw5TEbQhEjtuV94-aFqPXGhNUIRQzVb0Z2aw0-dXqgGOPEDlbtmUODBzLgp98IXKVf-EuAFT/s1600/porthminsterbeach-stevens-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Porthminster Beach, St Ives; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ4hKfAUCXBCS7V3UyqzdofSSr4QZxmdkuaUxpGIM62Sf3ISDv3XN750uR_WOP46AISN5lGcaVElQOHw03tw5tDouqrbDI_LNuHRcrp9rPjjjvXjv2wvTrLuSla6vm3N4PZ09eL3ptiBNI/s1600/porthminsterbeach-stevens.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this image (image: <a href="http://www.cynic.org.uk/photos/Cornwall2012/StIves/index2.html">Robin Stevens</a>, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">CC BY-NC-ND 2.0</a>).</i></td></tr>
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The magnificent beaches and dunes of St Ives and its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Ives_Bay">bay</a>, down at the far south-western tip of Britain, have long been known for their ability to swallow buildings and structures whole. For example, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holinshed%27s_Chronicles">Holinshed's Chronicles</a></i>, written in the later sixteenth century, noted that the 'whole coast from St Ives' was 'sore choked with sand', and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Leland_(antiquary)">John Leland</a> in <i>c. </i>1538 observed of St Ives that the<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
most part of the houses in the peninsula be sore oppressed or over-covered with sands that the stormy winds and rages cast up there. This calamity has continued there little above 20 years... The best part of the town now stands in the south part of the peninsula, toward another hill for defence from the sands.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn1">1</a>)</blockquote>
This situation was confirmed in the early eighteenth century by John Hicks, a former mayor of the town writing in a now-lost manuscript history of St Ives in 1722. He reported that the original buildings of St Ives lay buried beneath the sands that were blown across from <a href="https://www.thebeachguide.co.uk/south-west-england/cornwall/porthmeor-st-ives.htm">Porthmeor Beach</a>, and C. S. Gilbert, who saw Hicks's history before its loss, noted in 1817–20 that<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Mr Hicks says that the ruins of more than forty houses were to be seen in his time, in the north-west part of the town, and that whole streets had been discovered under the sands, at a place called the Floud, near the quay, by men who were digging out stones for building.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn2">2</a>)</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92gwPcaPJZNAZSWmxaO2puzgVYTIKLoY7Tgyy3RpEB-dQJLrHEg6NhHXshXVAvgmtPrAkWLP5PzrxHnBtrvVJnodf0YPk1GuGZDNEDHAfFTkiwSjP3OVC2N2DQAPAqt0nIHRmHbZx7Aac/s1600/stives-googlemaps-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicb-GpVLne70Kx3yyaAI8VlUpgN4oYCH_QfM1UoiO3_sCcY0FH0QX3jiecap0KdEbjgkSH6k36ZaWZ97dGrVqZZqvqOM4Ixc2r5SZnoMT2bS8kzZmJ1fBVS1dcT_sUCbo8abmyLyDkGrTS/s1600/stives-googlemaps-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An aerial view of St Ives and its beaches; the north-western beach is Porthmeor and the southern beach is Porthminster, with the town and the harbour between the two, shown here at low tide when it is dry. Click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92gwPcaPJZNAZSWmxaO2puzgVYTIKLoY7Tgyy3RpEB-dQJLrHEg6NhHXshXVAvgmtPrAkWLP5PzrxHnBtrvVJnodf0YPk1GuGZDNEDHAfFTkiwSjP3OVC2N2DQAPAqt0nIHRmHbZx7Aac/s1600/stives-googlemaps-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this image or <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/St.+Ives/@50.2136514,-5.4799392,1645m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x486ac1883d3d7aed:0x90fba57b84271131!8m2!3d50.2083858!4d-5.4908864">here</a> for a zoomable version (Imagery © 2018 Google, TerraMetrics, Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO, Map data © 2018 Google, used in accordance with their <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/permissions/geoguidelines/attr-guide.html">attribution guidelines</a>).</i></td></tr>
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This inundation of St Ives by the sands of its northern beach, Porthmeor, continued right up until the later eighteenth century and the completion (by 1782) of the high retaining <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/19715942466">sea-wall</a> at Porthmeor, which <a href="https://archive.org/stream/reportslatejohn00smeagoog#page/n244/mode/2up/">John Smeaton</a> had proposed in 1766 in order to stop this repeated burial of the town's houses and the related clogging of its harbour.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn3">3</a>) Of course, St Ives was not alone in having such problems: similar issues were encountered at Lelant, Phillack (Hayle) and Gwithian too, further around St Ives Bay. In 1662, for example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Uny%27s_Church,_Lelant">Lelant church</a> was described as 'almost quite covered with sand blown up by the wind', whilst other writers back into the late sixteenth century indicate that Lelant had lost at least some houses to the drifting sands, and this situation continued here too into the eighteenth century, when the churchwardens’ accounts record payments for removing sand from the church. Indeed, the problem was only finally resolved when the dunes were planted with marram grass by the early nineteenth century.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn4">4</a>) Likewise, from Upton Barton in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwithian">Gwithian</a> parish there are accounts of a farmhouse having been overwhelmed with sand in the course of a single night sometime just after 1650, with the occupants having to escape through the upper windows—the remains of Upton were subsequently briefly visible in the winter of 1808–09 following a temporary shift of sand, but have not been seen again since and are now thought to lie around twenty feet deep within a very large sand-dune.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn5">5</a>)<br />
<br />
Bearing all of the above in mind, it is perhaps unsurprising that Porthminster beach at St Ives might similarly seem to conceal evidence of earlier buildings and activity. The primary evidence for such buried structures comes from the late nineteenth century, when the foundations of a chapel/oratory and some graves were reportedly exposed here by the shifting sands. The main account of this is found in John Matthews' 1892 volume entitled <i>A History of the Parishes of Saint Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor</i>, who associates the exposed structure with the medieval church that was presumably responsible for the present-day name of the beach and cove, <i>Porthminster</i>, first recorded in the fourteenth century (Cornish <i>porth</i>, 'cove, harbour', plus <i>*mynster</i>, 'endowed church', the latter element borrowed from English <i>minster</i>):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
III. The chapel or oratory which formerly stood on the rocks under Penmester Hill, and which gives its name to the cover and neighbourhood of Porthminster ('the sandy cove of the church')... Some years ago the sand was washed down from the top of the beach, close to the Tregenna stream, leaving uncovered a portion of the foundations of this oratory, near which were found two stone coffins with leaden chalices, marking the interment of priests. It is said that these remains were deposited in the museum at Penzance, but I have never seen them. The find was made in about the year 1870...(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn6">6</a>)</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCUDGO64fVvcg7QpZN8xAEv3Ta3kzYW0TZjo0zZE7tj6osT2MExCmT47cUV-kmMzNeByiK8ETe1R7TMoiGy-CxQUn8pJZ9RDrqzsxV1PqrTpWA2_mp-bgp9aBLpZr4c_xZWd2fUJgL-V0U/s1600/StIves1845-small500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCUDGO64fVvcg7QpZN8xAEv3Ta3kzYW0TZjo0zZE7tj6osT2MExCmT47cUV-kmMzNeByiK8ETe1R7TMoiGy-CxQUn8pJZ9RDrqzsxV1PqrTpWA2_mp-bgp9aBLpZr4c_xZWd2fUJgL-V0U/s1600/StIves1845-small500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Porthminster beach, St Ives, in 1845; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzjBs9QqZ22WjEsnwD4pRrmyLBfeqgb42w89WUR3nWV7-lsv6spyzScTgGtWFkMLYgu4qCNfZaoX6yUx9yY1_AFTzY7Ez-StiSQdyQsdApjvZ2B4cbUmZL1fGUzz8H21KX74WrizZmR1pp/s1600/StIves1845.jpg">here</a> for an uncropped version of this image (image: PD, via the <a href="http://www.bsjwtrust.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/St-Ives-Fishing-Industry.pdf">BSJW Trust</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRzoF0eezuS5Vy8vayttUXigwPdta1cMTtozzQDiatA8t418eUQjmfNSi9rgt0jNcOpHCmuhNFVno-LKy08VhSwQxAFpQFOLRKmFNwqhdKG2CAVRoyXns6G-oa4hT-gLV_Utem2Axnwlj8/s1600/StIves1900-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9V48hUcL25cnN0yCYXCnmargK34Ihk-VJ3j8knQMtyrxVMdkFO-BaPAH_yR65yjlsGy3ltTXFGkyMLe87hBvQqu067xW6Ok-BZJoKyg8YrW7di3Vg4Kes-QqT_Gy-J1MswRLwxC2h7EHU/s1600/StIves1900-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Porthminster beach, St Ives, <i>c</i>. 1890–1900; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRzoF0eezuS5Vy8vayttUXigwPdta1cMTtozzQDiatA8t418eUQjmfNSi9rgt0jNcOpHCmuhNFVno-LKy08VhSwQxAFpQFOLRKmFNwqhdKG2CAVRoyXns6G-oa4hT-gLV_Utem2Axnwlj8/s1600/StIves1900-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this image and <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Ives,_Porthminster_Beach,_Cornwall,_England-LCCN2002696625.jpg">here</a> for the uncropped version. The Tregenna stream can be seen as a darker line in the sand on the left of the image, coming down from the higher ground before apparently disappearing into the beach (image:
<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Ives,_Porthminster_Beach,_Cornwall,_England-LCCN2002696625.jpg">Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress</a>).</i></td></tr>
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With regard to the exact location of this buried chapel and its associated graves, Matthews' description quoted above is not entirely helpful, identifying the remains simply as being found at the 'top of the beach, close to the Tregenna stream'. The Tregenna stream nowadays flows out across the south-eastern part of the beach, but as can be seen on early images and the 1877 OS map reproduced below, it originally flowed across what is now the start of the <a href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2505974">putting green</a>—laid out in 1930—and down the centre of the beach, immediately to the left of the present-day <a href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4723968">beach shop</a> and chalets when looking out to sea from the beach-front promenade, a course it occasionally partially resumes when it breaks its culvert. As to 'the top of the beach', this is more difficult. The images of Porthminster beach from 1845 and <i>c.</i> 1890–1900 included above show that the relatively steep area now occupied by green landscaping and a putting green were originally used to moor <a href="http://www.bsjwtrust.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/Pichard-Fishery.pdf">seine fishing boats</a> and could potentially be considered part of the beach, appearing sandy in these early pictures, something apparently confirmed by the depiction of the area on the 1877 OS map. So, was the chapel at the top of this steeper area, or further down the Tregenna stream towards or actually under the beach as it exists today? Two further brief descriptions of the exposed remains by Matthews may be helpful in addressing this question, from earlier in his 1892 history and from his 1884 <i>Guide to St. Ives and its Surroundings</i>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Tregenna stream rises on the hill of that name, flows through the grounds of Tregenna Castle, and loses itself in the sands of Porthminster, near the foundations of an ancient chapel... (<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn7">7</a>)</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Porthminster is at present the neighbourhood of the big sands to the south-east of the town. Literally, it is only the name of the beach itself, and signifies “the beach of the church”... After high tides, when the sand has been washed down by big waves, the foundations of the church are uncovered for a time.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn8">8</a>)</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4tj2Mg_1AFJlvXj8ziwxd1FKuPlaWCRBwD4MFGb_NOtQmRHUh9_9r_wjyB88_IGase0Q7mhaKUE4QpFe2oHNq5cA7TKyA3P2YS4jR2t_aGJxbCx0t1D-3p7FRVjOlo8qt9u2U_NX-BBiO/s1600/Porthminster-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ks20p-__yJZzDXVSgmY8Fb20vcYObEhqPKsW9-7rJ9MlOpA2Rzm3oUVmTNCwbr2AHUcwKdYLhaBcbCHf9m46PPl7ouO1l40a2LiTgLSeF2OgaJMv5-GaERE9eDscYIdI4ZUWDGRrpC3L/s1600/Porthminster-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Porthminster beach, St Ives, on am OS map surveyed in 1877 and printed in 1887; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4tj2Mg_1AFJlvXj8ziwxd1FKuPlaWCRBwD4MFGb_NOtQmRHUh9_9r_wjyB88_IGase0Q7mhaKUE4QpFe2oHNq5cA7TKyA3P2YS4jR2t_aGJxbCx0t1D-3p7FRVjOlo8qt9u2U_NX-BBiO/s1600/Porthminster-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this image (image: <a href="http://maps.nls.uk/view/101439185#">National Library of Scotland</a>, 2017).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTS5FBo420jfyydAj9tVm3EvIKj8X9kEssS6jA9Xt5iFcImX_sFJjBXoev2XcenCYHTThpm7wZtnr3gYh2iHjbGztjtgR5M41lHllF_VAlYLKa8fE07yuXcVqI4_kJHztYeXan9Vm4hOC/s1600/Porthminster-comparison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="219" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoD28gmKvUwEo28-FosMOGso3QT_zJ5MtXnVs-aN44EclL6cDA34cTqUQ_Fpd4XdwNtzpW4uV8djrzVWTZIfm4ATZr0WBF3pWFg4mEA4QRuVH3QXFDsFuFVYyQgyhk-wMpv_vUySAyYC5S/s1600/Porthminster-comparison-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Porthminster beach in 2018 and 1877, with the outline of the modern features transposed onto the 1877 map; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTS5FBo420jfyydAj9tVm3EvIKj8X9kEssS6jA9Xt5iFcImX_sFJjBXoev2XcenCYHTThpm7wZtnr3gYh2iHjbGztjtgR5M41lHllF_VAlYLKa8fE07yuXcVqI4_kJHztYeXan9Vm4hOC/s1600/Porthminster-comparison.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this image (Left: Imagery © 2018 Google, Map data © 2018 Google, used in accordance with their <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/permissions/geoguidelines/attr-guide.html">attribution guidelines</a>; Right: <a href="http://maps.nls.uk/view/101439185#">National Library of Scotland</a>, 2017).</i></td></tr>
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Taken together, these two accounts suggest that the remains were exposed on the upper part of the current beach or the immediately adjacent areas to its rear, rather than on the higher parts closer to the railway viaduct. First, it is said that the Tregenna stream 'loses itself in the sands of Porthminster, near the foundations of an ancient chapel'. This description can perhaps be equated with the depiction of the stream on the photograph of <i>c.</i> 1890–1900, where the Tregenna stream can be seen emerging from the area of seine boats and then disappearing on the beach, with other early photographs showing a similar situation. It is also arguably supported by the OS map surveyed in 1877, above, which shows a straight course for the stream through until just after the current promenade in front of the putting green, when it adopts a more sinuous course. Whatever the case may be, the description would seem to imply a findspot at or close to the top of the current beach for the chapel remains.<br />
<br />
Second, Matthews' 1884 comment that 'after high tides, when the sand has been washed down by big waves, the foundations of the church are uncovered for a time', obviously indicates a location that was both normally covered by sand and in an area that the highest tides could reach and temporarily expose before it became covered up by sand once more, rather than it being located well beyond the high tide line in the area of the putting green/former seine boat mooring area towards the <a href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/895880">railway viaduct</a>. As to where the highest tides reached in the later nineteenth century, this clearly varied just as it does today—the 1877 OS map, for example, places the median high tide line some distance from the current promenade, around halfway down the beach, but 1930s OS maps and the photograph of <i>c.</i> 1890–1900 show it much closer to the promenade, a little way short of where the present-day beach shop and chalets now are sited. Once again, whatever the case may be, the description would nonetheless seem to imply a location for the remains as being both under sand and in the area at or close to the top end of the present beach.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCujRYXWUBREoMCC4zCWX5roqnRMg2CQfQAu0Ubt2fQWjN8lYD8WeODIsPfFwZOg5pHger7UavZbIyJQe2MMoXX8Xh9KF6Vn8cvXrOx7-pd4lcaYrDoPXCFShxFnudEt4o5tY2cWdP9ZHn/s1600/Porthminster-stream-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEi8DW8MFe25wpAH53Gcn-L9xjTkrsVYlvfH6LFyiwu0NbWCIocBva6EJqdqDozTq3bLUSvjylV1gvnU_EUPKjJeQlr7uadJD5BQucncNqnQdx05bg7ER_R1KJc6ZyeGIlvCJBpCnzQQGr/s1600/Porthminster-stream-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Porthminster beach shop and chalets (right, with multi-coloured doors) and the Porthminster Beach Café (on the left); the beach-front promenade runs between the putting green and the beach and behind the beach shop/chalets. Note, the Treganna stream is also present in the foreground, where it has re-emerged in the centre of the beach on its former alignment after apparently breaking its culvert in the winter of 2017–18; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCujRYXWUBREoMCC4zCWX5roqnRMg2CQfQAu0Ubt2fQWjN8lYD8WeODIsPfFwZOg5pHger7UavZbIyJQe2MMoXX8Xh9KF6Vn8cvXrOx7-pd4lcaYrDoPXCFShxFnudEt4o5tY2cWdP9ZHn/s1600/Porthminster-stream-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this photograph (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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All told, then, the available evidence suggests that the buried chapel and coffins observed in the late nineteenth century lay underneath sand somewhere in or close to the top area of the main beach, rather than much further up the slope towards the viaduct, probably in the approximate vicinity of the current beach shop or a little to its north-west based on the nineteenth-century course of the Tregenna stream. Turning to the question of just what this chapel represents and its likely date, Matthews associates it with the former medieval settlement of Porthminster. John Hicks, in his now-lost 1722 manuscript history of St Ives mentioned above, seems to have had access to town records that are no longer extant and noted the following for the reign of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VI_of_England">Henry VI</a> (1422–61), according to the extracts of Hicks' MS published by C. S. Gilbert in 1817–20:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
four French ships hovered round the coast of Cornwall, burnt the town of Marazion, and afterwards sailed round the Land's End, and landed at Porthminster, about a mile from St. Ives, which they burnt to the ground, and it has never since been re-built. They also killed twenty men, and carried much plunder on board their ships, with which, and other booty, they sailed for France.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn9">9</a>)</blockquote>
<div>
If this account is reliable, then it would offer us a potential <i>terminus ante quem</i> for the buried structure of the mid-fifteenth century, although one might wonder whether the reign of Henry <i>VIII</i> was not actually meant, rather than Henry VI, given that the town of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marazion">Marazion</a> is indeed recorded as having been burnt by the French in 1514 during his reign.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn10">10</a>) In any case, a <i>terminus ante quem </i>in either the mid-fifteenth or early sixteenth century would accord well with Susan Pearce's observation that the 'two stone coffins with leaden chalices' that Matthews records exposed near to the remains of the chapel/oratory are 'clearly full medieval'.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn11">11</a>)<br />
<br />
Whether the chapel itself was purely 'full medieval' or had earlier origins/phases is, of course, uncertain, in the absence of solid archaeological or documentary evidence. On the one hand, whilst the chapel was presumably in existence before 1301, when the name 'Porthminster' is apparently first recorded, if 'Porthminster' does indeed refer to it then the somewhat curious presence of the English loanword <i>mynster</i>, 'endowed church' (< Latin <i>monasterium</i>), in the name might suggest a late foundation for the site and a possibly monastic character.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn12">12</a>) On the other hand, Imogen Tompsett has considered the Porthminster find to be a potential early medieval chapel/oratory site in her recent survey of the evidence from the South-West.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn13">13</a>) Certainly, it wouldn't be the only example of a buried early medieval chapel along the coast of Cornwall. For example, the so-called <a href="https://archive.org/stream/churchesofwestco00blig#page/136/mode/2up">St Gothian’s Oratory</a> ('the chapel in the sands') at Gwithian, St Ives Bay, was uncovered in 1827 and visible as a ruin until the early twentieth century before it was re-engulfed, and this seems to have been a small tenth-century church that was abandoned to the blowing sand after <i>c.</i> 1200, with a sequence of finds that could extend back as far as <i>c.</i> AD 700. Likewise, the well-known site of <a href="http://stpiran.org/sites/st-pirans-oratory/">St Piran's Oratory</a> near Perranporth—a probably tenth- to twelfth-century building with a likely unexcavated eighth-/ninth-century stage given the radiocarbon dates obtained from burials recently found there—was largely swallowed by shifting sand dunes sometime during the medieval period before being occasionally re-exposed and then partially excavated in 1835 and 1843 (it was reburied to protect it in 1980), and a potentially early chapel was uncovered underneath the sands of <a href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/470207">Lelant Towans</a> in 1875 during the building of the <a href="http://greatscenicrailways.co.uk/?lines=st-ives-bay-line">railway link</a> to St Ives.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/porthminster-medieval-chapel.html#fn14">14</a>) However, given the sparseness of the documentation and the apparently late place-name and burials at Porthminster, such a possibility cannot be pushed too far at present.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggw7AeY7VnNr9-UgFcfKsdb4r7NfZWWvW8brlPj2kpgIXdhSiEYz8dbCN8xFHKWi5BM0CwcdHThE-4rkHPNNIoZQWWTySJ4JU9fsEBT6ZbKn3FbcmZX7kPSjcQpC_EXi3XpWOiqP6ttCGq/s1600/stgothianchapel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggw7AeY7VnNr9-UgFcfKsdb4r7NfZWWvW8brlPj2kpgIXdhSiEYz8dbCN8xFHKWi5BM0CwcdHThE-4rkHPNNIoZQWWTySJ4JU9fsEBT6ZbKn3FbcmZX7kPSjcQpC_EXi3XpWOiqP6ttCGq/s1600/stgothianchapel.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Plan and drawing of the tenth-century St Gothian's Oratory, Gwithian, from J. T. Blight, Churches of West Cornwall (London, 1885), pp. 138–39; see C. Thomas, Gwithian: Notes on the Church, Parish and St Gothian’s Chapel (Gwithian, 1964), for a slightly more accurate plan of the oratory and a conjectural section based on earlier accounts (image: <a href="https://archive.org/stream/churchesofwestco00blig#page/138/mode/2up">Internet Archive</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<br />
<i>Notes</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>1.<span id="fn1"></span></i> John Leland, <i>Itinerary</i>, iii.21, quoted in J. H. Matthews, <i>A History of the Parishes of Saint Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor</i> (London, 1892), p. 48, and K. Newell, <i>Cornwall and Scilly Urban Survey. Historic Characterisation for Regeneration: St Ives</i>, HES Report no. 2005R069 (Truro, 2005), p. 19; note, I have modernised the spelling here.<br />
<i>2.<span id="fn2"></span></i> C. S. Gilbert, <i>An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall</i> (Plymouth, 1817–20), vol 2, part 2, p. 710. <br />
<i>3.<span id="fn3"></span></i> See J. Smeaton, <i>Reports of the Late John Smeaton, F.R.S.</i>, 2nd edn. (London, 1837), pp. 199–204 at pp. 201–02 and plate 17. The retaining sea-wall at Porthmeor was apparently completed by 1782, see Cornwall & Scilly Historic Environment Record no. MCO56020.<br />
<i>4.<span id="fn4"></span></i> C. Noall, 'Nineteenth-Century discoveries at Lelant', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 3 (1964), 34–6, who gives details of the inundation of Lelant and mentions that of Phillack; D. Gilbert, <i>The Parochial History of Cornwall</i> (London, 1838), vol 3, pp. 5–6 (Lelant) and pp. 339–40 (Phillack).<br />
<i>5.<span id="fn5"></span></i> C. Thomas, 'Minor sites in the Gwithian area (Iron Age to recent times)', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 3 (1964), 37–62 at pp. 52–3; D. Gilbert, <i>The Parochial History of Cornwall</i> (London, 1838), vol 2, pp. 149–50.<br />
<i>6.<span id="fn6"></span></i> J. H. Matthews, <i>A History of the Parishes of Saint Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor</i> (London, 1892), p. 36; O. J. Padel, <i>Cornish Place-Name Elements</i> (Nottingham, 1985), pp. 167, 300; O. J. Padel, <i>A Popular Dictionary of Cornish Place-Names</i> (Penzance, 1988), pp. 194, 200; Cornwall & Scilly Historic Environment Record nos. 29909 & 29909.01. Note, the South West Coast Path's St Ives Station–Carbis Bay walk guide, <a href="https://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/print-walk/471/">online</a> at <i>https://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/print-walk/471/</i>, claims that 'Around 1875, the construction work on the railway line unearthed a number of shallow graves in the sand at Porthminster, followed by the discovery of several stone-built cists, buried more deeply. Nearby was a primitive building, thought to be an oratory or chapel.' This appears to be a mistaken application of the Lelant Towans finds of Spring 1875 to Porthminster beach, however, as it fits the description of the former exactly both in terms of finds and date (see C. Noall, 'Nineteenth-Century discoveries at Lelant', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 3 (1964), 34–6), whilst differing significantly from all other accounts of the Porthminster finds.<br />
<i>7.<span id="fn7"></span></i> J. H. Matthews, <i>A History of the Parishes of Saint Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor</i> (London, 1892), p. 2.<br />
<i>8.<span id="fn8"></span></i> J. H. Matthews, <i>A Guide to St. Ives and its Surroundings</i> (St Ives, 1884).<br />
<i>9.<span id="fn9"></span></i> Transcribed in C. S. Gilbert, <i>An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall</i> (Plymouth, 1817–20), vol 2, part 2, pp. 710–11; J. H. Matthews, <i>A History of the Parishes of Saint Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor</i> (London, 1892), pp. 36, 47. See footnote 12, below, for some fourteenth- and fifteenth-century references to the settlement of <i>Porthmenstre</i> (Porthminster).<br />
<i>10.<span id="fn10"></span></i> W. Page (ed.), <i>Victoria History of the County of Cornwall</i> (London, 1906), p. 484. Of course, an unrecorded mid-fifteenth-century event is by no means impossible: Fowey was certainly burnt in 1457 (see Page, <i>Victoria History of Cornwall</i>, p. 483), and a fortification was moreover built at St Ives in 1490, just to the east of the medieval pier and quay—known as the 'Castle', elements of it may survive in Quay House on the harbour front, see K. Newell, <i>Cornwall and Scilly Urban Survey. Historic Characterisation for Regeneration: St Ives</i>, HES Report no. 2005R069 (Truro, 2005), p. 18).<br />
<i>11.<span id="fn11"></span></i> S. M. Pearce, <i>South-western Britain in the Early Middle Ages</i> (London, 2004), pp. 102–03.<br />
<i>12.<span id="fn12"></span></i> As noted in K. Newell, <i>Cornwall and Scilly Urban Survey. Historic Characterisation for Regeneration: St Ives</i>, HES Report no. 2005R069 (Truro, 2005), p. 15, and Pastscape Monument no. 424926. Cornwall & Scilly Historic Environment Record no. 29909 notes that the name Porthminster is first recorded in 1301 and it furthermore occurs in the name <i>Walto Porthmaystre</i>, Walter of Porthminster, in 1327 (J. H. Matthews, <i>A History of the Parishes of Saint Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor</i> (London, 1892), p. 49). In 1362–3 it is found as <i>Porthmenstre</i> in the context of a writ of April of that year directing the Sheriff of Cornwall to restore property in a number of settlements, including <i>Porthmenstre</i>, to Henry son of Richard Trewennard and Richard Tyrel and Rose his wife (H. C. Maxwell Lyte (ed.), <i>A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds: Volume 4</i> (London, 1902), deed A. 10422 at p. 555), and it is mentioned again as <i>Porthmenster</i> in 1375 (H. C. Maxwell Lyte (ed.), <i>A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds: Volume 5</i> (London, 1906), deed A. 12086 at p. 240, cross-referenced to deed A. 10422). Other instances include a William <i>Porthmynster </i>who appears in the Penwith Hundred Court Roll for 1486–7 for assaulting William Bolenov 'with force of arms, namely with sword and stones, beat, wounded and maltreated him, in breach of the king's peace' (CRO AR/2/101/1); a Vivian Aunger of <i>Porthmynster</i>, 'fyssher', who appears alongside a Henry Aunger of Porthia [St Ives], 'fyssher', in 1433 (<i>Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry VI: Volume 2, 1429-1435 </i>(London, 1933), p. 287); and a reference to 'lands, &c. in the Gewe of Porthmynster' in 1483 (Lyte (ed.), <i>Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds: Volume 4</i>, deed A. 10054 at p. 500). For the meanings of <i>minster/mynster</i> in Middle English, see S. M. Kuhn (ed.), <i>Middle English Dictionary</i> (Ann Arbor, 1977), pp. 508–09.<br />
<i>13.<span id="fn13"></span></i> I. Tompsett, <i>Social Dynamics in South-West England AD 350–1150: An Exploration of Maritime Oriented Identity in the Atlantic Approaches and Western Channel Region</i> (University of Nottingham PhD Thesis, 2012), pp. 126 (fig. 40), 128 (fig. 42), 379. On the name 'Porthminster', see Cornwall & Scilly Historic Environment Record no. 29909; O. J. Padel, <i>Cornish Place-Name Elements</i> (Nottingham, 1985), pp. 167, 300; O. J. Padel, <i>A Popular Dictionary of Cornish Place-Names</i> (Penzance, 1988), pp. 194, 200.<br />
<i>14.<span id="fn14"></span></i> St Gothian's Oratory: J. A. Nowakowski <i>et al</i>, 'Return to Gwithian: shifting the sands of time', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 46 (2007), 13–76 at p. 58; A. Preston-Jones & N. Thomas, <i>St Gothian's Oratory, Gwithian, Cornwall: Survey and Fencing</i>, CAU report no. 2001022 (Truro, 2002); C. Thomas, <i>Gwithian: Notes on the Church, Parish and St Gothian’s Chapel</i> (Gwithian, 1964). St Piran's Oratory: I. Tompsett, <i>Social Dynamics in South-West England AD 350–1150: An Exploration of Maritime Oriented Identity in the Atlantic Approaches and Western Channel Region</i> (University of Nottingham PhD Thesis, 2012), pp. 126 (fig. 40), 133, 334; S. Turner, Making a Christian Landscape: How Christianity Shaped the Countryside in Early-Medieval Cornwall, Devon and Wessex (Exeter, 2006), pp. 38, 49; D. Cole & J. Gossip, <i>St Piran's Oratory, Perranzabuloe, Cornwall: Results of Evaluation</i>, CAU report no. 2010R140 (Truro, 2010); J. Gossip, 'Dark Age skeletons found at Cornish chapel were early Christian children and women who could have been from same family', <i>Culture24</i>, 20 August 2015, <a href="http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art534565-dark-age-skeletons-found-cornish-chapel-early-christian-children-women-family">online article</a>. Lelant Towans: I. Tompsett, <i>Social Dynamics in South-West England AD 350–1150: An Exploration of Maritime Oriented Identity in the Atlantic Approaches and Western Channel Region</i> (University of Nottingham PhD Thesis, 2012), pp. 134 (fig. 45), 375 (fig. 201), and 379–81; C. Noall, 'Nineteenth-Century discoveries at Lelant', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 3 (1964), 34–6; Cornwall & Sicily Historic Environment Record no. 31061; C. Thomas, <i>And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain</i> (Cardiff 1994), p. 198, fig. 12.1.<br />
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<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2018, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-26047811410521423642018-02-18T19:18:00.000+00:002018-02-21T15:09:41.274+00:00A North African Barbary ape in fifth- to sixth-century Britain? A short note on the significance and context of the Wroxeter macaque remainsThe focus of the current post is an unusual find of Barbary ape remains from a fifth- or sixth-century AD context at Wroxeter (Shropshire), once the fourth largest city in Roman Britain. The Barbary ape, or more properly the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_macaque">Barbary macaque</a>, is primarily a North African species of monkey, but the Wroxeter find forms part of a small body of archaeological evidence for their presence as exotic pets and imported curiosities in Iron Age, Roman and medieval Europe, with a significant proportion of these finds actually coming from Britain and Ireland.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpsxnnsLrt3SyC0PzJn0uX7LWY5zQ30p6qYYlLLR9s48QJtCA4G787Tg6h1gTk0tTvkUF1x_ARX9jBYou-WF63RICUYqtXt612F4hfxEa1uarnKaqxXl96de21caUrHCkkCFkKufCBCRMs/s1600/BarbaryApe-small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="347" data-original-width="499" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpsxnnsLrt3SyC0PzJn0uX7LWY5zQ30p6qYYlLLR9s48QJtCA4G787Tg6h1gTk0tTvkUF1x_ARX9jBYou-WF63RICUYqtXt612F4hfxEa1uarnKaqxXl96de21caUrHCkkCFkKufCBCRMs/s1600/BarbaryApe-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Finds of North African Barbary ape remains from Iron Age, Roman and medieval Europe; click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLKb7HeHpOB8kQXxcL6cG-CxEExz6CG2QtXHFejCRv1s3Q7A_qT9zOKC16k6kdCrq9fDpqWio0AolApOVL_92ZggpHK4FCrWwsM6quH-GKW6iQlrGO38DSJaVT8D0IawsLWMZWsWTtaY4/s1600/BarbaryApe-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map. Archaeological excavations producing Barbary ape remains are shown by dark blue dots whilst the modern-day range of Barbary apes is shown in dark red (image: C. R. Green, based on a base map from <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BlankMap-Europe-v4.png">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
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Barbary macaques (<i><a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/12561/0">Macaca sylvanus</a></i>), commonly known as Barbary apes, are a species of Old World monkey indigenous to North Africa whose range in antiquity is thought to have extended from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria across into what is now Tunisia and western Libya, with the small European colony on the Rock of Gibraltar probably established by the eighth century AD but potentially not much earlier than this (it is not mentioned by the classical authorities who discuss the Rock). As such, the presence of Barbary ape remains in 'post-Roman' <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viroconium_Cornoviorum">Wroxeter</a>, Shropshire, is certainly intriguing.<br />
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The remains in question consist of a well-preserved first phalange of a Barbary ape from a Phase Y–Z context (E74) at the Romano-British city of <i>Viroconium Cornoviorum</i>, modern Wroxeter.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn1">1</a>) These phases of activity were ascribed by Philip Barker to the sixth to seventh centuries in his final excavation report on the <a href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/eh_monographs_2014/contents.cfm?mono=1089053">Wroxeter baths basilica</a>, although the date and significance of these post-Roman phases have subsequently been the subject of some scepticism and potential revision—so, for example, the reality of the vast timber-framed structure of Phase Z has been challenged, as has the archaeomagnetic dating of Phase X that placed that period firmly in the post-Roman era.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn2">2</a>) Nonetheless, it still seems clear that there was indeed notable activity in Wroxeter during the early post-Roman era, even if we can no longer be as certain of its scale or duration. Thus radiocarbon dates from a hearth, a dump and a surface all suggest continued activity into the late fifth and sixth centuries, and this is supported by finds of a fifth- or sixth-century memorial stone with a Latin inscription (the <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/cisp/database/stone/wrxtr_1.html"><i>Cunorix</i> stone</a>), a bronze coin of Valentinian III (<i>c</i>. AD 430–35), and sherds of imported Palestinian <a href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/amphora_ahrb_2005/details.cfm?id=16">LR4</a> amphorae which are arguably of fifth-century date here.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn3">3</a>) Needless to say, the Barbary ape remains fit well into the above context and clearly offer <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/04/heptarchy-harun-ibn-yahya.html">further</a> <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html">evidence</a> for <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/03/a-very-long-way-from-home.html">long-distance</a> <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/07/sasanian-finds-in-early-medieval-britain.html">contacts</a> between Britain and the Mediterranean in the 'post-Roman' era, particularly given that it is thought significantly more likely that the animal would have arrived in good condition if it had travelled directly from North Africa via the sea rather than indirectly overland, perhaps being imported via the port of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meols">Meols</a> on the Wirral (which has seen finds of early Byzantine coins and one or two late fifth- to mid-seventh-century St Menas pilgrim flasks from Egypt) or the River Severn (the Bristol Channel area having seen finds of 'post-Roman'-era African Red Slip Ware from North Africa as well as other Mediterranean imports).(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn4">4</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KWZDKfG-_k321mg1UcuSGfYGZVeNFsh8kLRhaDZQRLjyW7M3BlnaxO0SRMe0U9vdiz0IqDz9N0F1iFhilb6SFLKqMURTDzHEyghIszMqoZy_7PefeuYwhoFV7zd3Yg7AJLemWTrtewQH/s1600/Roman_ruins_at_Wroxeter_%25287055%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1024" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KWZDKfG-_k321mg1UcuSGfYGZVeNFsh8kLRhaDZQRLjyW7M3BlnaxO0SRMe0U9vdiz0IqDz9N0F1iFhilb6SFLKqMURTDzHEyghIszMqoZy_7PefeuYwhoFV7zd3Yg7AJLemWTrtewQH/s400/Roman_ruins_at_Wroxeter_%25287055%2529.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The remains of the 'Old Work', part of the baths basilica complex at Viroconium Cornoviorum (<a href="http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/wroxeter-roman-city/">Wroxeter</a>); this surviving 7 metre high wall and arch is the largest piece of free-standing Roman wall in Britain (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_ruins_at_Wroxeter_(7055).jpg">Nilfanion/Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
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With regard to the role that this Barbary ape might have had in fifth- or sixth-century Wroxeter, there is unfortunately no contextual evidence from Wroxeter, but it is certainly the case that other archaeological finds from Britain and Europe suggest that Barbary apes were often highly valued in Roman and Late Antique society. For example, there is currently one other Late Antique find of a Barbary ape known from western Europe, discovered in the former Roman city of <i>Iulia Libica</i>, modern <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ll%C3%ADvia">Llívia</a>, in north-eastern Spain. This animal died in the fifth or sixth century (AD 515 ± 85) at around five and a half years of age, and was <a href="http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/22134522-90000023">buried</a> with a number of offerings including decorated metallic pieces and some bronze military belts typical of the Late Roman period, something believed to be indicative of the macaque having been a military pet—perhaps associated with an officer—that may have played a symbolic role as a mascot, totem or <i>signum</i> within the unit as a whole.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn5">5</a>) In this context, it is worth noting that Roman-era finds of Barbary ape remains have likewise been found in probable military contexts from a military (legionary) necropolis at Cutry in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meurthe-et-Moselle">Meurthe-et-Moselle</a>, northern France; from the <i>vicus </i>associated with the second- to third-century Roman fort of <a href="http://www.livius.org/articles/place/rainau-buch/">Rainau-Buch</a> in Germany; and from the Roman fort of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataractonium">Cataractonium</a></i> (Catterick, North Yorkshire), where a presumed Roman-era fragmentary skull of a male individual aged around 3 years was discovered whilst digging a modern service trench.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn6">6</a>)<br />
<br />
A number of finds of Barbary apes also come from Roman urban or domestic contexts. Of particular interest here is a later third- to early fourth-century AD necropolis at the Roman city of <i>Lemonum</i>, modern <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poitiers">Poitiers</a>, where an adult Barbary ape was apparently buried alongside its owner inside a large stone-built funerary enclosure. Needless to say, this would seem to reflect the macaque being especially valued by its owner, and in this light it is perhaps worth noting that its <a href="http://journals.openedition.org/archeopages/296">burial</a> probably involved a wooden coffin and is comparable in character to a number of infant burials excavated within the necropolis.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn7">7</a>) Other finds of Barbary apes from urban or domestic contexts include an incomplete juvenile skeleton of a macaque from <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12738226_Monkey_business_in_Pompeii_-_Unique_find_of_a_juvenile_Barbary_macaque_skeleton_in_Pompeii_identified_using_osteology_and_ancient_DNA_techniques">Pompeii</a>; a skull and mandible of a young Barbary ape from Constantinople that was discovered during the excavation of the Harbour of Theodosius, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yenikap%C4%B1">Yenikapı</a>; a late second- to early third-century AD individual found at the House with the Large Triclinium at <a href="http://www.livius.org/articles/place/narbo-narbonne/narbo-narbonne-photos/narbonne-le-clos-de-la-lombarde/">Le Clos de la Lombarde</a>, Narbonne, France, where it had been deposited in a well at Marcus Claudius Aestivo's rich <i>domus </i>along with 27 human infants and dogs; and the skeleton of a young macaque found in a second-century pit at the small Romano-British town of <i><a href="http://roman-britain.co.uk/places/durocobrivis.htm">Durocobrivis</a></i>, modern Dunstable, Bedfordshire.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn8">8</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAmqjaFEANy43Wuc3AfN1s8V7C-p77owMfuxVSnB3et_qIxuZ1-Itp0t4uEps-Ex30ChyphenhyphenpBBsp_tCdD0X7T0okcxstajmWKUyRRQOtWFWOJHBKhiL4bH4dY8QrbUNCN7_rHNgcMtuLOLBn/s1600/500px-Istanbul_Museo_Mosaici_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAmqjaFEANy43Wuc3AfN1s8V7C-p77owMfuxVSnB3et_qIxuZ1-Itp0t4uEps-Ex30ChyphenhyphenpBBsp_tCdD0X7T0okcxstajmWKUyRRQOtWFWOJHBKhiL4bH4dY8QrbUNCN7_rHNgcMtuLOLBn/s1600/500px-Istanbul_Museo_Mosaici_07.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An Early Byzantine mosaic of a Barbary ape from the <a href="http://www.livius.org/articles/place/constantinople-istanbul/constantinople-photos/constantinople-palace-mosaics/">Great Palace</a> of Constantinople, usually dated to the sixth century AD (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Istanbul_Museo_Mosaici_07.JPG">Laurom/Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
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In addition to the ten finds listed above from Roman or Late Antique archaeological contexts in Europe, there have also been a small number of Iron Age and medieval Barbary apes found too. The Iron Age is represented by only two finds, one from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titelberg">Titelberg</a>, a hillfort/oppidum of the Treveri in Luxembourg, and another from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navan_Fort">Navan Fort</a>, Northern Ireland. The latter find consists of a <a href="http://irisharchaeology.ie/2014/05/a-barbary-ape-skull-from-navan-fort-co-armagh/">skull</a> and mandible of a Barbary ape radiocarbon dated to 390–20 BC and found in a phase IIIii context of <i>c. </i>250–100 BC. It was discovered within the wall-slot of one of the large central buildings of Navan Fort, something that has led to the suggestion that the macaque's remains were utilized in death as a votive offering, and its presence in Iron Age Northern Ireland has been reasonably considered evidence for a sea-trade route between northern Ireland and the western Mediterranean world at that time.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn9">9</a>) From the medieval period there are five archaeological finds of Barbary apes known. Three come from the UK and consist of a macaque excavated from a medieval context at Friars’ Street, London, which shows signs of having been kept in captivity; a fourteenth-century skeleton found at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrickfergus">Carrickfergus</a>, Northern Ireland; and a late thirteenth-century skull and clavicle from Southampton, recovered from a rubbish pit attached to a large stone house owned by <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jWHXAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA52&pg=PA52#v=onepage&q&f=false">Richard of Southwick</a>, a wealthy merchant who had trading connections with Spain.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn10">10</a>) There are also two finds made on the Continent, namely a medieval macaque discovered in Hitzacker, Lower Saxony (Germany), and a probably late twelfth-century <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299170063_A_MONKEY'S_TALE_THE_SKULL_OF_A_MACAQUE_FOUND_AT_RYURIK_GORODISHCHE_DURING_EXCAVATIONS_IN_2003">skull</a> from Novgorod, north-western Russia. The latter is the most northerly archaeological find of Barbary ape remains known from Europe and comes from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rurikovo_Gorodische">Rurikovo Gorodische</a>, a princely residence in that period.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn11">11</a>)<br />
<br />
Of course, there are also a number of textual and artistic references to the keeping of Barbary apes as pets and performers in Roman and medieval Europe which can supplement the archaeozoological record to a significant degree.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn12">12</a>) Nonetheless, the archaeological evidence summarized above is of interest in itself. First, it is clear that Barbary apes like that discovered in fifth- or sixth-century Wroxeter are a very rare archaeological find from ancient and medieval Europe, and even though Roman and Late Antique discoveries are somewhat more common than medieval, it is worth noting that they are still significantly outnumbered by, for example, finds of <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/11/were-there-camels-in-roman-britain.html">camel remains</a> across Europe. Second, at least some of the finds clearly come from high-status sites or were found in situations suggestive of the macaques being used as exotic companion animals, something that both confirms the written evidence and offers a potential context for the Wroxeter find, particularly given the interpretation of that site as a post-Roman elite centre. Third, it is interesting to note that most of the finds come from areas reasonably close to the coast or major riverine routes, again contrasting markedly with the distribution of Roman and Late Antique camel finds and thus potentially adding weight to the suggestion that pre-modern Barbary apes as exotica were primarily transported directly from the southern Mediterranean via the sea and rivers, rather than indirectly overland across Europe.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn13">13</a>) And fourth and finally, it can be observed that 7 of the 17 Barbary apes so far identified in the medieval and earlier European archaeological record (<i>c.</i> 41% of the total) were actually found in Britain or Ireland—whilst one might be tempted to suggest that an explanation may lie in the intensity of British archaeological work and its relative accessibility, this may well not be the whole story, particularly given that the pattern doesn't necessarily seem to be replicated with other long-distance exotica.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/02/barbary-ape-wroxeter.html#fn14">14</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPC-fYEx4txWR8yyVn75IgLRi8KF-lkjkklBPTPMhcNINnOBgHkt9qlAbJTCFheUk8rEKVDUSHyXqo5G6kiO5UY0jljUMWcArrH9rl1tebEmEz_nHSLoSyZ4nEyaBwAIEeAMh10zYD6xg9/s1600/medieval-ape-bl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPC-fYEx4txWR8yyVn75IgLRi8KF-lkjkklBPTPMhcNINnOBgHkt9qlAbJTCFheUk8rEKVDUSHyXqo5G6kiO5UY0jljUMWcArrH9rl1tebEmEz_nHSLoSyZ4nEyaBwAIEeAMh10zYD6xg9/s1600/medieval-ape-bl.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Barbary ape looking at itself in a mirror, from the fifthteenth-century Isabella Breviary, BL Additional 18851, f. 270r, made in the Southern Netherlands; for some more examples of medieval illuminations of monkeys, see this <a href="http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2012/04/monkeys-in-the-margins.html">blog</a> from the British Library (image: <a href="http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_18851_f270r">British Library</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<br />
<i>Notes</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>1.<span id="fn1"></span> </i>A. J. Hammon, <i>Late Romano-British – Early Medieval Socio-Economic and Cultural Change: Analysis of the Mammal and Bird Bone Assemblages from the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum, Shropshire</i> (University of Sheffield PhD Thesis, 2005), vol. 1, pp. 152–3; A. Hammon, 'Understanding the Romano-British–Early Medieval transition: a zooarchaeological perspective from Wroxeter (<i>Viroconium Cornoviorum</i>)', <i>Britannia</i>, 42 (2011), 275–305 at pp. 290, 298; P. Barker <i>et al</i>, <i>The Baths Basilica Wroxeter: Excavations 1966–90</i> (London, 1997), p. 358.<br />
<i>2.</i><span id="fn2"></span> P. Barker <i>et al</i>, <i>The Baths Basilica Wroxeter: Excavations 1966–90</i> (London, 1997); M. Fulford, 'Wroxeter: legionary fortress, baths, and the "great rebuilding" of <i>c</i>. AD 450–550'. <i>Journal of Roman Archaeology</i>, 15 (2002), 639–45; A. Lane, 'Wroxeter and the end of Roman Britain', <i>Antiquity</i>, 88 (2014), 501–515. Note, Lane's argument that Barker's interpretation of Wroxeter as a continuing Roman town stands alone and without parallel in post-Roman Britain fails to take into account the evidence from Lincoln, where continued use of the Roman forum area into the sixth-century AD is now well-established, see especially Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons: Lincolnshire AD 400–650</i> (Lincoln, 2012), pp. 65–9, 82–3, and Green, 'The British kingdom of Lindsey', <i>Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies</i>, 56 (2008), 1–43 at pp. 18–23, and the summary discussions in Green, 'The fifth-to sixth-century British church in the forum at Lincoln: a brief discussion', blog post, 11 December 2017, <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html">online</a> at <i>http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html</i>, and Green, 'Romano-British pottery in the fifth- to sixth-century Lincoln region', blog post, 12 June 2016, <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/06/romano-british-pottery-fifth-century-lincoln.html">online</a> at <i>http://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/06/romano-british-pottery-fifth-century-lincoln.html</i>.<br />
<i>3.</i><span id="fn3"></span> On the radiocarbon dates still implying post-Roman activity, see A. Lane, 'Wroxeter and the end of Roman Britain', <i>Antiquity</i>, 88 (2014), 501–515 at pp. 508, 513; he also mentions the coin and inscription as still indicative of post-Roman activity (p. 511), but doesn't refer to the amphorae sherds. On Palestinian ('Gaza') LR4 amphorae in Britain and their date, see especially K. Dark, 'Western Britain in Late Antiquity', in F. K. Haarer <i>et al</i> (eds.), <i>AD 410: The History and Archaeology of Late and Post-Roman Britain</i> (London, 2014), pp. 23–35, and also M. Duggan, 'Ceramic imports to Britain and the Atlantic Seaboard in the fifth century and beyond', Internet Archaeology, 41 (2016), <a href="https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.41.3">online</a> at <i>https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.41.3</i> on recent finds of LR4 at Bantham, Devon, and on the Continent; see the University of Southampton's <i>Roman Amphora: Digital Resource</i> (ADS 2005) for further details of <a href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/amphora_ahrb_2005/details.cfm?id=16">LR4 amphorae</a>, which are 'common in major western ports from <i>c</i>. AD 400 to early seventh century' and are usually thought to have been primarily, but not exclusively, used for transporting the famous wines of Gaza in Late Antiquity. For the Wroxeter amphorae sherds, see P. Barker <i>et al</i>, <i>The Baths Basilica Wroxeter: Excavations 1966–90</i> (London, 1997), pp. 120, 237; J. A. Riley, 'The coarse pottery from Berenice', in J. Lloyd (ed.), <i>Excavations at Sidi Khrebish, Benghazi (Berenice) II</i>, supplement to <i>Libya Antiqua</i>, 5 (1979), 91–465 at p. 221; A. Hammon, 'Understanding the Romano-British–Early Medieval transition: a zooarchaeological perspective from Wroxeter (<i>Viroconium Cornoviorum</i>)', <i>Britannia</i>, 42 (2011), 275–305 at p. 293. It is perhaps worth noting that another sherd of a Palestinian amphora has recently been recovered from the Walbrook area of the Thames foreshore at London, adding to that known from the Billingsgate bath house at London, and has been assigned a fifth-century date on the PAS: <a href="https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/580740">LON-BB27D6</a>.<br />
<i>4.</i><span id="fn4"></span> A. J. Hammon, <i>Late Romano-British – Early Medieval Socio-Economic and Cultural Change: Analysis of the Mammal and Bird Bone Assemblages from the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum, Shropshire</i> (University of Sheffield PhD Thesis, 2005), vol. 1, pp. 152–3, 162–3, 172; S. Bangert, 'Menas ampullae: a case study of long-distance contacts', in A. Harris (ed.), <i>Incipient Globalization? Long-Distance Contacts in the Sixth Century</i> (Oxford, 2007), pp. 27–33.<br />
<i>5.</i><span id="fn5"></span> O. Olesti <i>et al</i>, 'Controlling the Pyrenees: a macaque's burial from Late Antique <i>Iulia Libica</i> (Llívia, La Cerdanya, Spain)', in A. Sarantis & N. Christie (eds.), <i>War and Warfare in Late Antiquity: Current Perspectives</i> (Leiden 2013), pp. 703–31.<br />
<i>6.</i><span id="fn6"></span> F. Gerber & A. Baudry-Dautry, 'La mode de l’animal exotique dans la haute société gallo-romaine. Sépulture d’un singe dans la nécropole de la rue des Caillons à Poitiers', <i>Archéopages</i>, 35 (2012), 42–7; O. Olesti <i>et al</i>, 'Controlling the Pyrenees: a macaque's burial from Late Antique <i>Iulia Libica</i> (Llívia, La Cerdanya, Spain)', in A. Sarantis & N. Christie (eds.), <i>War and Warfare in Late Antiquity: Current Perspectives</i> (Leiden 2013), pp. 703–31 at p. 714; G. Hodgson, 'A Barbary ape from the 1958–9 bypass excavations (Site 433)', in P. R. Wilson (ed.), <i>Cataractonium: Roman Catterick and its Hinterland. Excavations and Research, 1958-1997: Volume II</i> (York, 2002), p. 415; A. J. Hammon, <i>Late Romano-British – Early Medieval Socio-Economic and Cultural Change: Analysis of the Mammal and Bird Bone Assemblages from the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum, Shropshire</i> (University of Sheffield PhD Thesis, 2005), vol. 1, p. 152.<br />
<i>7.</i><span id="fn7"></span> F. Gerber & A. Baudry-Dautry, 'La mode de l’animal exotique dans la haute société gallo-romaine. Sépulture d’un singe dans la nécropole de la rue des Caillons à Poitiers', <i>Archéopages</i>, 35 (2012), 42–7.<br />
<i>8.</i><span id="fn8"></span> J. F. Bailey <i>et al</i>, 'Monkey business in Pompeii—unique find of a juvenile Barbary macaque skeleton in Pompeii identified using osteology and ancient DNA techniques', <i>Molecular Biology and Evolution</i>, 16 (1999), 1410–14; V. Onar <i>et al</i>, 'A bridge from Byzantium to modern day Istanbul: an overview of animal skeleton remains found during Metro and Marmaray excavations', <i>Journal of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Istanbul University</i>, 39 (2013), 1–8 at p. 8; F. Gerber & A. Baudry-Dautry, 'La mode de l’animal exotique dans la haute société gallo-romaine. Sépulture d’un singe dans la nécropole de la rue des Caillons à Poitiers', <i>Archéopages</i>, 35 (2012), 42–7; and J. Schneider, 'The Manshead Archaeological Society 1951–1991', <i>Bedfordshire Archaeology</i>, 20 (1992), 96–104 at p. 102.<br />
<i>9.</i><span id="fn9"></span> See, for example, I. Armit, <i>Headhunting and the Body in Iron Age Europe</i> (Cambridge, 2012), pp. 72–3; D. M. Waterman & C. J. Lynn (eds.),<i> Excavations at Navan Fort 1961-71, County Armagh</i> (Belfast, 1997), pp. 120–4; K. A. Costa, 'Marketing archaeological heritage sites in Ireland', in Y. M. Rowan and U. Baram (eds.), <i>Marketing Heritage: Archaeology and the Consumption of the Past</i> (Walnut Creek, 2004), pp. 69–92 at p. 73.<br />
<i>10.</i><span id="fn10"></span> A. Pipe, ‘A note on exotic animals from medieval and post-medieval London’, <i>Anthropozoologica</i>, 16 (1992), 189–91 at p. 190; A. Hamlin and C. Lynn (eds.), P<i>ieces of the Past</i> (Belfast, 1988), pp. 64–5; C. Platt & R. Coleman-Smith (eds.), <i>Excavations in Medieval Southampton 1953–1969 </i>(Leicester, 1975), vol. 1, pp. 32, 334; M. Brisbane & E. Hambleton, 'A monkey's tale: the skull of a macaque found at Ryurik Gorodische during excavations in 2003', <i>Medieval Archaeology</i>, 51 (2007), 185–91 at pp. 189–90.<br />
<i>11.</i><span id="fn11"></span> D. M. Waterman & C. J. Lynn (eds.),<i> Excavations at Navan Fort 1961-71, County Armagh</i> (Belfast, 1997), pp. 120–4; M. Brisbane <i>et al</i>, 'An African monkey at the court of Novgorod princes', in <i>The Origins of the Russian State</i> (St Petersburg, 2007), pp. 74–81; M. Brisbane & E. Hambleton, 'A monkey's tale: the skull of a macaque found at Ryurik Gorodische during excavations in 2003', <i>Medieval Archaeology</i>, 51 (2007), 185–91.<br />
<i>12.</i><span id="fn12"></span> See J. M. C. Toynbee, <i>Animals in Roman Life and Art</i> (London, 1973), pp. 56–60, for a survey of references to monkeys in classical literature and art, and K. Walker-Meikle, <i>Medieval Pets</i> (Woodbridge, 2012), pp. 13–4, and M. Brisbane & E. Hambleton, 'A monkey's tale: the skull of a macaque found at Ryurik Gorodische during excavations in 2003', <i>Medieval Archaeology</i>, 51 (2007), 185–91 at p. 190, for medieval documentary references. See also Widukind in the tenth century for a reference to 'monkeys' at the court of Otto I of Germany: H. Mayr-Harting, 'The church of Magdeburg: its trade and its town in the tenth and early eleventh centuries', in D. Abulafia <i>et al</i> (eds.), <i>Church and City, 1000–1500: Essays in Honour of Christopher Brooke</i> (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 129–50 at p. 144. Charlemagne is likewise suggested to have kept monkeys in the late eighth century, and the menagerie of animals that accompanied Thomas Becket's mission to France in 1158 included apes: W. B. Clark, <i>A Medieval Book of Beasts: The Second-family Bestiary </i>(Woodbridge, 2006), pp. 17–18.<br />
<i>13.</i><span id="fn13"></span> As noted above: A. J. Hammon, <i>Late Romano-British – Early Medieval Socio-Economic and Cultural Change: Analysis of the Mammal and Bird Bone Assemblages from the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum, Shropshire</i> (University of Sheffield PhD Thesis, 2005), vol. 1, pp. 152–3, 172, and D. M. Waterman & C. J. Lynn (eds.),<i> Excavations at Navan Fort 1961-71, County Armagh</i> (Belfast, 1997), p. 123.<br />
<i>14.</i><span id="fn14"></span> The obvious comparison is again with camel remains—<i>c.</i> 50 sites in Europe have produced Roman-era camel remains, but only one of these is in Britain: C. R. Green, 'Were there camels in Roman Britain? A brief note on the nature and context of the London camel remains', blog post, 8 November 2017, <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/11/were-there-camels-in-roman-britain.html">online</a> at <i>http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/11/were-there-camels-in-roman-britain.html</i>. However, we might likewise note the lack of medieval parrot remains or, indeed, the almost total lack of Early Modern–Modern guinea pig remains from Britain, despite textual evidence for the presence of these species here then; see, for example, T. O'Connor, 'Animals in urban life in Medieval to Early Modern England', in U. Albarella <i>et al</i> (eds.), <i>The Oxford Handbook of Zooarchaeology</i> (Oxford, 2017), pp. 214–29 at p. 222. Note also, perhaps, the presence of leopard and ostrich remains at Rome versus their absence from the Roman-era zooarchaeological record in Britain: M. MacKinnon, 'Supplying exotic animals for the Roman amphitheatre games: new reconstructions combining archaeological, ancient textual, historical and ethnographic data', <i>Mouseion: Journal of the Classical Association of Canada</i>, 6 (2006), 137–161 at pp. 154–5.<br />
<br />
<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2018, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-52768453334323651082018-01-17T20:00:00.000+00:002018-05-30T17:29:59.131+01:00St Ia of St Ives: a Byzantine saint in early medieval Cornwall?The origins and identity of St Ia, the patron saint of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Ives,_Cornwall">St Ives, Cornwall</a> (<i>Porthye/</i><i>Sancta Ya</i> in 1284, <i>Porthia</i> in 1291), has rarely been seriously investigated, beyond noting the existence of late medieval legends that claim she arrived in Cornwall <i>c.</i> 500 AD from Ireland on a leaf.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn1">1</a>) However, recent work suggests that St Ia may be rather more interesting than she at first appears, perhaps having been originally a Byzantine saint whose cult arrived in south-western Britain in the fifth or sixth century, at the same time as the exceptional quantities of imported eastern Mediterranean goods known from sites such as Tintagel and Gwithian (St Ives Bay).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisK-e6yzU34tS5xtIIg8EgSEabT0YPO45RXdN1nCPugwlitYEVaH-CdE8MdN1sIcqcvYVXElvNpOB_13ObhPSw3q1f37i-O5nAhA6OFpzGDEdIfMYqaC9gJXgmWuGzJdHO1S1Nrv10zdKJ/s1600/church-st-ia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisK-e6yzU34tS5xtIIg8EgSEabT0YPO45RXdN1nCPugwlitYEVaH-CdE8MdN1sIcqcvYVXElvNpOB_13ObhPSw3q1f37i-O5nAhA6OFpzGDEdIfMYqaC9gJXgmWuGzJdHO1S1Nrv10zdKJ/s1600/church-st-ia.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The fifteenth-century church of St Ia at St Ives, Cornwall, looking across the roofs from the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden, with the opposite side of St Ives Bay visible in the background, an area that has seen notable finds of imported eastern Mediterranean pottery of the fifth to sixth centuries (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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The earliest known traditions about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ia_of_Cornwall">St Ia</a> are found in the <i>Life of Gwinear</i>, written in around 1300 by Anselm, who tells how St Ia—supposedly an Irish virgin of noble birth living over 800 years or so earlier in <i>c.</i> 500 AD—failed to make it to the coast on time to catch the boat from Ireland to Cornwall with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Gwinear">St Gwinear</a> and his 777(!) companions, but was able to follow after them on a leaf that miraculously enlarged itself to the size of a boat. William of Worcester in the fifteenth century and John Leland in the sixteenth add further details, including the rather dubious claims that she was the sister of two other obscure Cornish saints, St Euny and St Erch, and that she landed at <i><a href="https://www.simplystives.co.uk/tag/pendinas/">Pendinas</a></i>, the rocky peninsula next to St Ives, where a great lord in Cornwall with the name <i>Dinan</i> (a transparent case of a person invented out of a local place-name) built her a church. Needless to say, none of this inspires great confidence, being both late and clearly fantastical. Indeed, even the bare suggestion of an Irish origin for St Ia probably cannot be relied upon; as <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JxIjiMStTKIC">Nicholas Orme</a> has emphasised, such an origin was routinely claimed in the late medieval era for Cornish saints and carries little weight.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn2">2</a>)<br />
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In light of all this, St Ia could easily be considered simply an obscure saint about whom little to nothing solid can be said. However, it is worth noting that in her case at least, this may not be the end of the matter. The reason for this is that the name St Ia is not, in fact, 'otherwise unknown', but rather also belonged to a Late Roman/Early Byzantine female saint too, as Ken Dark has pointed out.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn3">3</a>) This eastern St Ia is said to have been a woman who was martyred in the fourth century by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasanian_Empire">Sasanian</a> emperor <a href="http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/shapur-ii">Shapur II</a> (d. 379) as part of his long and bloody <a href="https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/handle/10161/3844">persecution</a> of the Christians from <i>c. </i>339. Furthermore, not only was a Greek version of her <a href="https://archive.org/stream/lesversionsgrecq00dele#page/453/mode/2up">life</a> circulating along with other <i>Passions</i> of the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zeCKBAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA73&pg=PA73#v=onepage&q&f=false">Persian martyrs</a> in the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire, but her cult was also clearly an established one in Early Byzantine Constantinople, given both that her shrine was located right by the main imperial ceremonial entrance to the city, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walls_of_Constantinople#Golden_Gate">Golden Gate</a>, and that it was apparently extensively and lavishly renovated by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I">Emperor Justinian</a> (527–65), as Procopius in the mid-sixth century <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Procopius/Buildings/1C*.html">notes</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And on the left as one enters the gate which is known as the Golden Gate, this Emperor found a martyr's shrine of St. Ia, fallen in ruins, which he restored with all sumptuousness. Such were the labours accomplished by the Emperor Justinian in connection with the holy places in Byzantium... (<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn4">4</a>)</blockquote>
Such a situation is, of course, most intriguing. On the one hand we have an obscure female saint in Cornwall named Ia about whom only very late, untrustworthy legends survive, and on the other hand we have a female St Ia who was martyred in fourth-century Persia and venerated in the eastern Mediterranean, with her shrine being next to the Golden Gate at the imperial capital and renovated with care by the Emperor Justinian himself in the sixth century. In this light, it certainly seems permissible to wonder whether the enigmatic Cornish St Ia and the Early Byzantine St Ia might not, in fact, be one and the same, especially given that they are both female saints. So, how credible is it that a Late Antique eastern Mediterranean cult of a female St Ia might have been transferred to south-western Britain?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbz1XIJiJ0-FVMYFOOVqqKyqIDwobz4qo2dhf3CkEOH93VNarAA83O0Va0LsJFtH1HKkzZnwM1MBRnMuM2M5mKPZpasHuQRD3eXxkpbvDDBdvSS63Q-fcodfyA-fjW8WQUIN5mCUkIGkWO/s1600/Ia_of_Persia_%2528Menologion_of_Basil_II%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="939" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbz1XIJiJ0-FVMYFOOVqqKyqIDwobz4qo2dhf3CkEOH93VNarAA83O0Va0LsJFtH1HKkzZnwM1MBRnMuM2M5mKPZpasHuQRD3eXxkpbvDDBdvSS63Q-fcodfyA-fjW8WQUIN5mCUkIGkWO/s400/Ia_of_Persia_%2528Menologion_of_Basil_II%2529.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Byzantine depiction of the martyrdom of St Ia of Persia, from the late tenth-century <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menologion_of_Basil_II">Menologion of Basil II</a>, MS Vat.gr.1613 (image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ia_of_Persia_(Menologion_of_Basil_II).jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFn6Zx7UtT5oLmqM-UCTDxsX2WOWQr-gYPQJlhfCV67m34S3okOiWBv5t43BZIcUeg3USm5tln07lePm9QQ2BRYeDl-j_J6HLisvjWw7b6SdDHTNlDp8d5Q1HEdVSDQM7uOmaJwNGGsydj/s1600/tintagel-prsw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFn6Zx7UtT5oLmqM-UCTDxsX2WOWQr-gYPQJlhfCV67m34S3okOiWBv5t43BZIcUeg3USm5tln07lePm9QQ2BRYeDl-j_J6HLisvjWw7b6SdDHTNlDp8d5Q1HEdVSDQM7uOmaJwNGGsydj/s1600/tintagel-prsw.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Two sherds of fifth- to sixth-century eastern Mediterranean Phocaean Red Slip Ware with impressed crosses found at Tintagel, Cornwall (image: C. R. Green)</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC2hWpjYYhKjl3SioPSfs7hVtzEGmhMzfhj0ZyDJJ68NjIMLZg1LJueufqm2jBsxHHi5bx5w35xZsKP70ibziOT1Jw2L5X3uL9otQNO9zJ2BxOdgbk779ujDNnAVyzoD1ZYJeu-IfdarU9/s1600/tintagel-amphora-small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC2hWpjYYhKjl3SioPSfs7hVtzEGmhMzfhj0ZyDJJ68NjIMLZg1LJueufqm2jBsxHHi5bx5w35xZsKP70ibziOT1Jw2L5X3uL9otQNO9zJ2BxOdgbk779ujDNnAVyzoD1ZYJeu-IfdarU9/s1600/tintagel-amphora-small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A fragment of an Early Byzantine wine amphora found at the important fifth- to sixth-century site of Tintagel, Cornwall (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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With regard to this, it is worth pointing out <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/04/heptarchy-harun-ibn-yahya.html">once</a> <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/03/a-very-long-way-from-home.html">again</a> that there is now solid evidence for a substantial degree of contact between western Britain and the Byzantine Empire in the 'post-Roman' period. For example, there have been significant finds of fifth- to sixth-century eastern Mediterranean and North African <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bBwtGITEd1oC&lpg=PA297&pg=PA297#v=onepage&q&f=false">pottery</a> from a range of sites in western Britain and Ireland, with around half of the total coming from the probable royal site of <a href="http://www.medievalhistories.com/luxury-tintagel-early-medieval-period/">Tintagel</a>, Cornwall, as well as discoveries of early Byzantine coins and other items such as Late Antique eastern Mediterranean pilgrim flasks associated with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Menas">St Menas</a>.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn5">5</a>) Moreover, a recent isotopic analysis of burial sites in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030544031300023X">South Wales</a> suggests that people who had probably grown up in Byzantine North Africa or further afield were actually being buried in western/Atlantic Britain in the post-Roman period, something that is undoubtedly of considerable interest in the present context.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn6">6</a>) In this light, we might also note here the seventh-century <i>Life of St John the Almsgiver</i>, which tells of a ship from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria">Alexandria</a>, Egypt, that visited Britain around AD 610–620 and exchanged a cargo of corn for one of tin (a tale that is clearly suggestive as to continuing seventh-century contacts with the tin-producing Cornish peninsula), and the probably late sixth-century memorial stone at <a href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1839341">Penmachno</a>, North Wales, which dates itself with reference to a Byzantine consulship, stating that it was erected 'in the time of the consul Justin', probably meaning here the Emperor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_II">Justin II</a> (d. 578). Indeed, the latter may be of especial interest, given that Thomas Charles-Edwards has recently argued that this inscription probably reflects 'British loyalty to the Emperor Justin' and functioned as an affirmation that the erectors of the stone believed that they 'still belonged to the far-flung and loose-knit community of citizens of which he was the head'.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn7">7</a>)<br />
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Looking specifically at the immediate vicinity of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Ives,_Cornwall">St Ives</a>, the available evidence would certainly seem to accord well with the above general portrait of close links between western Britain and the eastern Mediterranean in the fifth and sixth centuries. Thus whilst there have been no relevant and reliable modern excavations in St Ives itself, two other sites in St Ives Bay <i>have</i> produced imported fifth- to sixth-century pottery from North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. The first is an important 'post-Roman' specialised industrial complex at <a href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/gwithian_eh_2007/index.cfm">Gwithian</a>, across the bay from St Ives, which has produced both North African and eastern Mediterranean finewares—<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_red_slip_ware">African Red Slip Ware</a> from modern Tunisia and <a href="http://potsherd.net/atlas/Ware/PRSW">Phocaean Red Slip Ware</a> from what is now western Turkey—along with a substantial quantity (82 sherds) of eastern Mediterranean transport amphorae.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn8">8</a>) The second is a find of Phocaean Red Slip Ware made just around the bay from St Ives in the churchyard of Phillack (aka <i>Egloshayle</i>), Hayle, a site that also houses a probably fifth-century <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Rho">Chi-Rho</a> <a href="http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=424661">stone</a> and is the focus for a large number of early east–west cist burials. This site has been recently interpreted by Charles Thomas and others as the location for a significant and very early Christian centre, and it has moreover been reasonably suggested that St Ives Bay was home to an important secondary centre of power within the post-Roman kingdom of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumnonia">Dumnonia</a> too, perhaps situated at the as-yet-unexcavated multivallate hillfort at <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1006720">Carnsew</a> that is located within and overlooking the <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/hayle-estuary">Hayle Estuary</a> (around 2.5 miles or so directly across the bay from the church of St Ia at St Ives), with this centre potentially being responsible for distributing Mediterranean imports within western Cornwall.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn9">9</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDn-mV07TLr-pZha3h3-KW2qlJG7YanDbzL-3wm-6niyNrdbecLAfOLISUd87b_0uYDrRcCku5ABEhACdKsqYEawQrMahI8ueUzzZU_ir5IyWi7nHLod7MwbmRj2KXs764y_mqLJxG9tZy/s1600/st-ives-bay-finds-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="828" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDn-mV07TLr-pZha3h3-KW2qlJG7YanDbzL-3wm-6niyNrdbecLAfOLISUd87b_0uYDrRcCku5ABEhACdKsqYEawQrMahI8ueUzzZU_ir5IyWi7nHLod7MwbmRj2KXs764y_mqLJxG9tZy/s400/st-ives-bay-finds-large.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A map of Mediterranean imports and early Christian sites of the fifth to seventh centuries in and around St Ives Bay, Cornwall. St Ives lies at the western end of the bay, with the Hayle Estuary at its centre (Phillack or Egloshayle is located just north of the eastern branch of the estuary) and Gwithian on the Red River at its north-eastern end; click the image or <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDn-mV07TLr-pZha3h3-KW2qlJG7YanDbzL-3wm-6niyNrdbecLAfOLISUd87b_0uYDrRcCku5ABEhACdKsqYEawQrMahI8ueUzzZU_ir5IyWi7nHLod7MwbmRj2KXs764y_mqLJxG9tZy/s1600/st-ives-bay-finds-large.jpg">here</a> for a larger version of this map or go <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/50.2132/-5.4351">here</a> for a zoomable version of the base map. Finds of Mediterranean imports are indicated by a red dot (with the debated finds from Hellesvean, St Ives, mentioned in <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn8">fn. 8</a>, indicated by a red ring), probable early chapel/church sites by small crosses (see <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn9">fn. 9</a> on Lelant), the likely ecclesiastical centre at Phillack by a large cross, and the <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn9">suggested</a> secular centre at Carnsew hillfort, Hayle, by a purple star; early Christian inscribed memorial stones are also shown, depicted by an upright black rectangle (image: C. R. Green, on a base map from <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/50.2132/-5.4351">OpenStreetMap</a>, CC BY-SA 2.0).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZa1cjKnhXfsi7nZtFGHn4nRWkFYw1Hf2UZvgX1IBB2RnPr9egfF3uQZ-tfgO4peUPe0PyKFLj9dvQUTO-kcERK4WZC123qD8bHuDzAHhQVPBaofCRe4mz50E1Lm7NrV4s0LarXAHBzPMR/s1600/Byzantine-finds-western-britain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZa1cjKnhXfsi7nZtFGHn4nRWkFYw1Hf2UZvgX1IBB2RnPr9egfF3uQZ-tfgO4peUPe0PyKFLj9dvQUTO-kcERK4WZC123qD8bHuDzAHhQVPBaofCRe4mz50E1Lm7NrV4s0LarXAHBzPMR/s1600/Byzantine-finds-western-britain.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The distribution of Mediterranean imports in fifth- and sixth-century western Britain and Ireland, after E. Campbell, Continental and Mediterranean Imports to Atlantic Britain and Ireland, AD 400–800, Council for British Archaeology Research Report 157 (York, 2007), and A. M. Kelly, 'The Discovery of Phocaean Red Slip Ware (PRSW) Form 3 and Bii ware (LR1 amphorae) on sites in Ireland - an analysis within a broader framework', Proceedings Of The Royal Irish Academy, 110 (2010), 35–88 (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjISj1IH0dKBZDRkx8QPbW7mdi6zgw34qcXcuSplvGJyu9ILfDIbUDQDcvKIzoqTi-EgPK_1jeQsBsZYzbh282bOxa5KDJ91uo-4fWiqDrsRNvnvy1SKmmQ4S7kMN2Fhdwv4Hfyl5hLb9kM/s1600/hayle-estuary-entrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjISj1IH0dKBZDRkx8QPbW7mdi6zgw34qcXcuSplvGJyu9ILfDIbUDQDcvKIzoqTi-EgPK_1jeQsBsZYzbh282bOxa5KDJ91uo-4fWiqDrsRNvnvy1SKmmQ4S7kMN2Fhdwv4Hfyl5hLb9kM/s400/hayle-estuary-entrance.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The entrance to the Hayle Estuary, with Porthkidney Sands, Lelant, on the left and Hayle beach on the right (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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In addition to such archaeological and textual evidence for fifth- to seventh-century contacts with the Byzantine world, it is also worth noting that St Ia may well not stand entirely alone either. There are, in fact, a handful of other possible imported cults in early medieval Cornwall and South Wales which might offer further support and context for the transference of a female St Ia to western Cornwall in the fifth or sixth century. So, for example, Ken Dark has recently directed attention to the dedication of a <a href="http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/94100/details/st-justinians-chapel">chapel</a> near St David's, Wales, to an otherwise unknown and obscure 'St Stinian', noting the intriguing fact that this saint's name is a form of the Byzantine imperial name <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I">Justinian</a>, who was coincidentally both the ruler responsible for restoring St Ia's shrine at Constantinople and the ruler in whose reign a significant proportion of the Byzantine imports to western Britain arrived. Likewise, Andrea Harris has argued that St Just of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Just_in_Penwith">St Just-in-Penwith</a>, western Cornwall, may be a post-Roman dedication to the fourth-century <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justus_of_Lyon">St Justus</a>, who served as the 13th bishop of Lyon before retiring to Egypt as a hermit, and in this context it is perhaps worth recalling that a fifth- or sixth-century Chi-Rho <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/cisp/database/stone/sjust_1.html">stone</a> has been found in the church here, confirming a post-Roman Christian presence.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2018/01/st-ia-of-st-ives-byzantine-saint.html#fn10">10</a>)<br />
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All told, then, it would thus seem clear that there is at least a case to be made for identifying the obscure St Ia of St Ives, Cornwall, with the Byzantine St Ia of Persia (a martyr whose shrine by the Golden Gate at Constantinople was sumptuously restored by the emperor Justinian in the sixth century), rather than seeing her as an otherwise unknown female saint with a coincidentally identical name, with this cult of St Ia perhaps having been introduced to western Cornwall in the later fifth or sixth centuries. Certainly the shared name, the fact that they are both female saints, and the sheer quantity of the evidence now available for contact between Cornwall/western Britain and the eastern Mediterranean in the fifth and sixth centuries—including from what appears to be an important Christian site in St Ives Bay itself—are all at the very least suggestive, as is the potential for there having been other imported cults elsewhere in Cornwall and western Britain. Whilst a coincidence cannot, of course, be ruled out, the possibility of an origin for the Cornish St Ia in the Byzantine eastern Mediterranean would consequently seem to deserve at least some serious consideration.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3az82UeXLOmYFneWF759QvlQB23yIgRxBpLpyMhUXupDTuTzuSxKO2GvW4PZJJYsqn_RSYZDHpSePAse4F5RBkNyMBdENVlTTaVLnYgi_lVtUpH7jHjtCpjwCrKLGxfg-4uyvvoFfU2D/s1600/chi-rho-phillack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="491" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3az82UeXLOmYFneWF759QvlQB23yIgRxBpLpyMhUXupDTuTzuSxKO2GvW4PZJJYsqn_RSYZDHpSePAse4F5RBkNyMBdENVlTTaVLnYgi_lVtUpH7jHjtCpjwCrKLGxfg-4uyvvoFfU2D/s1600/chi-rho-phillack.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Drawing of the probably fifth-century AD small Chi-Rho stone from the porch gable of the church at Phillack (or Egloshayle), Hayle, which has been compared to early Chi-Rhos from the continent and eastern Mediterranean, e.g. S. M. Pearce, South-Western Britain in the Early Middle Ages (Leicester, 2004), p. 244, and C. Thomas, And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain (Cardiff 1994), pp. 199–200; a photograph of the stone can be seen <a href="https://acornishjourney.wordpress.com/the-churches/phillack-church/phillack-10/">here</a> (photo: C. R. Green, from an original drawing by Charles Thomas in the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH22Uia9UN86FL5H4IpH22ScPzCtvGndNoAvvFQjmkqPHjDLnePneAAHL5UXLgeHtES9ffcjss65gthtSYYQaavYOULzHniBQKRR1iPw6eqERW3YJVtf5fMh-LWDoOwwt7vmGj7onflA33/s1600/porthminster-500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH22Uia9UN86FL5H4IpH22ScPzCtvGndNoAvvFQjmkqPHjDLnePneAAHL5UXLgeHtES9ffcjss65gthtSYYQaavYOULzHniBQKRR1iPw6eqERW3YJVtf5fMh-LWDoOwwt7vmGj7onflA33/s1600/porthminster-500.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Hayle Beach seen across St Ives Bay from Porthminster beach, St Ives; for a larger version of this image click <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7iSgJQDA0D-xInN6-ZVCTYMEqJ18PhYymSvWRQN8OsaX4ruNdUZcgQzCisVn4XBEpHkeLk1cZVMdabIbsad2gMTHYoyl4cg6_i4NZv9JhiZ74GhscnkPnHiVwXkmF6iwIZmh-L0ChZZfV/s1600/porthminster-750.jpg">here</a>. Interestingly, a report from the late nineteenth century notes that a medieval chapel and two burials were exposed at Porthminster, St Ives, by the shifting sands in c. 1870, but were then buried again; certainly the presence of a chapel and burials might help explain the 'minster' element in the name here, which is first recorded in 1301 (image: C. R. Green).</i></td></tr>
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<i>Notes</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><span id="fn1"></span>1.</i> N. Orme, <i>The Saints of Cornwall</i> (Oxford, 2000), p. 144; O. J. Padel, <i>Cornish Place-Names</i> (Penzance, 1988), p. 100. Note, the correct form of the saint's name is Ia, <i>not</i> Ive or similar, as found in the modern English form of the place-name: the intrusive <i>-v-</i> is non-original and probably emerged under the influence of the unrelated place-names St Ive in eastern Cornwall (<i>Sanctus Ivo</i> in 1201) and/or St Ives in Cambridgeshire (<i>Sancto Ivo de Slepe</i> in 1110), both of which reference a distinct male saint named St Ivo; see further Padel, <i>Cornish Place-Names</i>, p. 100, and D. Mills, <i>A Dictionary of British Place-Names</i> (Oxford, 2011), p. 401; V. Watts, <i>Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names</i> (Cambridge, 2004), p. 520..<br />
<i><span id="fn2"></span>2.</i> See especially N. Orme, <i>The Saints of Cornwall</i> (Oxford, 2000), generally on the claimed 'Irish' origins of Cornish saints, of which he is sceptical; he discusses St Ia on pp. 144–5 and St Gwinear on pp. 136–8. See also P. C. Bartrum, <i>A Welsh Classical Dictionary</i> (Cardiff, 1993), pp. 426–7, and G. H. Doble, <i>The Saints of Cornwall: Part One, Saints of the Land's End District</i> (Felinfach, 1997), pp. 89–94, on St Ia.<br />
<i><span id="fn3"></span>3.</i> K. R. Dark, <i>Britain and the End of the Roman Empire</i> (Stroud, 2000), p. 163; K. R. Dark, 'Globalizing late antiquity: models, metaphors and the realities of long-distance trade and diplomacy', in A. Harris (ed.), <i>Incipient Globalisation? Long-Distance Contacts in the Sixth Century</i> (Oxford, 2007), pp. 3–14 at p. 7.<br />
<i><span id="fn4"></span>4.</i> Procopius, <i>Buildings</i>, <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Procopius/Buildings/1C*.html">I.ix.16–17</a>; the text of St Ia's passion is printed in H. Delehaye, <i>Les versions grecques des actes des martyrs Persans sous Sapor II</i> (Paris, 1907), vol. II, pp. 453–73.<br />
<i><span id="fn5"></span>5.</i> See, for example, M. Fulford, 'Byzantium and Britain: a Mediterranean perspective on post-Roman Mediterranean imports in western Britain and Ireland', <i>Medieval Archaeology</i>, 33 (1989), 1–6; A. Harris, <i>Byzantium, Britain and the West: the Archaeology of Cultural Identity, AD 400</i><i>–</i><i>650</i> (Stroud, 2003); E. Campbell, <i>Continental and Mediterranean Imports to Atlantic Britain and Ireland, AD 400–800</i>, Council for British Archaeology Research Report 157 (York, 2007); A. Harris, 'Britain and China at opposite ends of the world? Archaeological methodology and long-distance contacts in the sixth century', in A. Harris (ed.), <i>Incipient Globalisation? Long-Distance Contacts in the Sixth Century</i> (Oxford, 2007), pp. 91–104; E. Campbell & C. Bowles, 'Byzantine trade to the edge of the world: Mediterranean pottery imports to Atlantic Britain in the 6th century', in M. M. Mango (ed.), <i>Byzantine Trade, 4th-12th Centuries: The Archaeology of Local, Regional and International Exchange</i> (Farnham, 2009), pp. 297–314; T. M. Charles-Edwards, <i>Wales and the Britons, 350–1064</i> (Oxford, 2013), pp. 222–3; M. Duggan, 'Ceramic imports to Britain and the Atlantic Seaboard in the fifth century and beyond', <i>Internet Archaeology</i>, 41 (2016), <a href="http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue41/3/index.html">online</a> at <i>http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue41/3/index.html</i>; S. Moorhead, 'Early Byzantine copper coins found in Britain – a review in light of new finds recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme', in O. Tekin (ed.), <i>Ancient History, Numismatics and Epigraphy in the Mediterranean World </i>(Istanbul, 2009), pp. 263–74; W. Anderson, 'Menas flasks in the West: pilgrimage and trade at the end of antiquity', <i>Ancient West and East</i>, 6 (2007), 221–43; and S. Bangert, 'Menas ampullae: a case study of long-distance contacts', in A. Harris (ed.), <i>Incipient Globalization? Long-Distance Contacts in the Sixth Century</i> (Oxford, 2007), pp. 27–33.<br />
<i><span id="fn6"></span>6.</i> K. A. Hemer <i>et al</i>, 'Evidence of early medieval trade and migration between Wales and the Mediterranean Sea region', <i>Journal of Archaeological Science</i>, 40 (2013), 2352–59. See further C. R. Green, 'Some oxygen isotope evidence for long-distance migration to Britain from North Africa & southern Iberia, <i>c</i>. 1100 BC–AD 800', 24 October 2015, blog post, <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/10/oxygen-isotope-evidence.html">online</a> at <i>http://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/10/oxygen-isotope-evidence.html</i>, and K. A. Hemer <i>et al</i>, 'No Man is an island: evidence of pre-Viking Age migration to the Isle of Man', <i>Journal of Archaeological Science</i>, 52 (2014), 242–9.<br />
<i><span id="fn7"></span>7.</i> For the reference to an early seventh-century ship visiting Britain, see Leontius, <i>Life of St John the Almsgiver</i>, chapter 10; C. Snyder, <i>An Age of Tyrants: Britain and the Britons, AD 400–600</i> (Stroud, 1998), p. 152; C. J. Salter, 'Early tin extraction in the south-west of England: a resource for Mediterranean metalworkers of late antiquity', in M. M. Mango (ed.), <i>Byzantine Trade, 4th–12th Centuries: The Archaeology of Local, Regional and International Exchange</i> (Farnham, 2009), pp. 315–22 at p. 320; M. M. Mango, 'Tracking Byzantine silver and copper metalware, 4th–12th centuries', in M. M. Mango (ed.), <i>Byzantine Trade, 4th-12th Centuries: The Archaeology of Local, Regional and International Exchange</i> (Farnham, 2009), pp. 221–36 at p. 223. For the Penmachno stone, see T. M. Charles-Edwards, <i>Wales and the Britons, 350–1064</i> (Oxford, 2013), pp. 234–8, quotations at p. 235 and 238.<br />
<i><span id="fn8"></span>8.</i> For the Gwithian site, see now J. A. Nowakowski <i>et al</i>, 'Return to Gwithian: shifting the sands of time', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 46 (2007), 13–76, and I. Tompsett, <i>Social Dynamics in South-West England AD 350–1150: An Exploration of Maritime Oriented Identity in the Atlantic Approaches and Western Channel Region</i> (University of Nottingham PhD Thesis, 2012), pp. 360–82. Note, there are confused reports of Mediterranean imports from just to the south of St Ives proper at <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Hellesvean,+Saint+Ives/@50.2111501,-5.4959903,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x486ac2b2b337a26b:0x28109be97512577e!8m2!3d50.2072501!4d-5.4973636">Hellesvean, St Ives</a>; however, the circumstances of the excavations, first undertaken in the 1920s, mean that they need to be treated with caution and Ewan Campbell rejects them on the grounds that they we cannot be certain that the finds ascribed to Hellesvean don't come from other sites: E. Campbell, <i>Imported Material in Atlantic Britain and Ireland c.AD 400–800</i>, 2007, project archive, <a href="http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/campbell_cba_2007/index.cfm">online</a> at <i>http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/campbell_cba_2007/index.cfm</i>, sites database. For what it is worth, claimed post-Roman Mediterranean imports from Hellesvean, St Ives, include "5 sherds of Aii imported Mediterranean ware [<i>i.e. </i>African Red Slip Ware from the Carthage region]" (G. Hutchinson, 'The bar-lug pottery of Cornwall', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 18 (1979), 81–103 at p. 96) and a possible sherd from a Biii amphora (<i>Cornwall and Scilly Historic Environment Record</i>, PRN 31135.02).<br />
<i><span id="fn9"></span>9.</i> C. Thomas, <i>A Provisional List of Imported Pottery in Post-Roman Western Britain and Ireland</i>, Institute of Cornish Studies Special Report No. 7 (Redruth 1981), p. 6; C. Thomas, 'The context of Tintagel. A new model for the diffusion of post-Roman Mediterranean imports', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 27 (1988), 7–25 at p. 22; C. Thomas, <i>And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain</i> (Cardiff 1994), pp. 197–201; E. Okasha, <i>Corpus of Early Christian Inscribed Stones of South-west Britain </i>(Leicester, 2003), pp. 205–07; S. M. Pearce, <i>South-Western Britain in the Early Middle Ages</i> (Leicester, 2004), pp. 12, 149–51; S. Turner, 'Making a Christian landscape: early medieval Cornwall', in M. Carver (ed.), <i>The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, 300–1300</i> (Woodbridge, 2003), pp. 171–94 at pp. 175–6; S. Turner, <i>Making a Christian Landscape: How Christianity Shaped the Countryside in Early-Medieval Cornwall, Devon and Wessex </i>(Exeter, 2006), pp. 35–6; and I. Tompsett, <i>Social Dynamics in South-West England AD 350–1150: An Exploration of Maritime Oriented Identity in the Atlantic Approaches and Western Channel Region</i> (University of Nottingham PhD Thesis, 2012), pp. 39, 132, 378–81. On the potential important secondary centre of power for the Dumnonian kingdom located in the Hayle Estuary, see C. Thomas, 'The context of Tintagel. A new model for the diffusion of post-Roman Mediterranean imports', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 27 (1988), 7–25, especially p. 16 and fig. 3 (p. 17). Thomas suggests that this secular focus was located at the 'small coastal fort of Carnsew commanding the Hayle inlet,' which is 'unexplored, hardly recorded but suggestively placed' (p. 16); in this context, it is worth noting that the small multivallate hillfort at <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1006720">Carnsew</a>, Hayle, was the site of an antiquarian find of an early post-Roman inscribed memorial stone and cist grave that Thomas dates to the fifth century ('The context of Tintagel', p. 21; <i>And Shall These Mute Stones Speak?</i>, pp. 191–3), and moreover occupies a strategically significant controlling position on a low but prominent small hill overlooking the Hayle Estuary. Another potentially notable early site on the Hayle Estuary is at Lelant, where a probably fourth- or fifth-century AD burial site and a chapel were uncovered in the late nineteenth century, see I. Tompsett, <i>Social Dynamics in South-West England AD 350–1150: An Exploration of Maritime Oriented Identity in the Atlantic Approaches and Western Channel Region</i> (University of Nottingham PhD Thesis, 2012), pp. 134 (fig. 45), 375 (fig. 201), and 379–81; C. Noall, 'Nineteenth-Century discoveries at Lelant', <i>Cornish Archaeology</i>, 3 (1964), 34–6; Cornwall & Scilly Historic Environment Record no. 31061; C. Thomas, <i>And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain</i> (Cardiff 1994), p. 198, fig. 12.1.<br />
<i><span id="fn10"></span>10.</i> K. R. Dark, <i>Britain and the End of the Roman Empire</i> (Stroud, 2000), p. 163; K. R. Dark, 'Globalizing late antiquity: models, metaphors and the realities of long-distance trade and diplomacy', in A. Harris (ed.), <i>Incipient Globalisation? Long-Distance Contacts in the Sixth Century</i> (Oxford, 2007), pp. 3–14 at p. 7; A. Harris, <i>Byzantium, Britain and the West: the Archaeology of Cultural Identity, AD 400</i><i>–</i><i>650</i> (Stroud, 2003), pp. 159–60; S. M. Pearce, <i>South-Western Britain in the Early Middle Ages</i> (Leicester, 2004), p. 244. On St Just, it is worth noting that he, like St Ia, is often described as 'obscure' and a saint about whom 'nothing is known' (N. Orme, <i>The Saints of Cornwall</i> (Oxford, 2000), p. 155; V. Watts, <i>Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names</i> (Cambridge, 2004), p. 520).<br />
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<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2018, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-75072259015649994362017-12-24T11:10:00.002+00:002018-03-17T09:10:32.454+00:00A Christmas visitor: the Byzantine emperor's trip to London in the winter of 1400–01The aim of following post is to share an interesting fifteenth-century image of the meeting between King Henry IV and the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos in 1400 at London. The emperor was touring western Europe trying to solicit help for the Byzatine Empire against the Ottoman Turks and visited England for two months over the winter of 1400–01, staying with king for Christmas and being lavished by him with presents and entertainments.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfm7a1e-dFJzJAGav_8AtXGWFqX73l62yoIfqgDQAP8lriXPxPloY9ozuHG04TylpnkJRZxNowcgdbn8GAloMCIKesf7CH3LyyrkQ9YM1WmepP3YaT85oUrmnyJywNX_rrmNzDi-Nog0PB/s1600/Emperor1400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="908" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfm7a1e-dFJzJAGav_8AtXGWFqX73l62yoIfqgDQAP8lriXPxPloY9ozuHG04TylpnkJRZxNowcgdbn8GAloMCIKesf7CH3LyyrkQ9YM1WmepP3YaT85oUrmnyJywNX_rrmNzDi-Nog0PB/s400/Emperor1400.jpg" width="453" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The meeting between King Henry IV of England and the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos at London in 1400, from a late fifteenth-century <a href="http://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/luna/servlet/s/b739w4">manuscript</a> of the St Alban's Chronicle (image: </i><i><a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/445997169341236743/">Lambeth Palace Library MS 6, f. 240r</a>).</i></td></tr>
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The trip to England by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire">Byzantine</a>, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Greeks#Eastern_perception">Eastern Roman</a>, emperor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_II_Palaiologos">Manuel II Palaiologos</a> in 1400 was the first such visit to these islands by a Roman emperor since Emperor Constans arrived in Britannia in <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=T5tic2VunRoC&pg=PA142#v=onepage&q&f=false">AD 343</a>, more than 1,000 years before. Emperor Manuel had been urging the rulers of western Europe to send men or money to the aid of Constantinople against the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_of_the_Ottoman_Empire">Ottoman Turks</a>, who were close to a final conquest of the Byzantine Empire, and it was eventually decided that the emperor should travel to the west himself to put his case personally, which he did in 1400. Arriving initially in Italy and France, the emperor brought with him a large retinue of his own priests and dignitaries, alongside a collection of relics and treasures to offer as gifts to his hosts, as he sought to enlist their aide in his cause.<br />
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It appears that the emperor at first intended to <a href="https://ojs.lib.uom.gr/index.php/BalkanStudies/article/view/1145">cross over to England</a> to visit Henry IV in the September of 1400, but was forced to wait whilst the new king dealt with the Scots in the north of the island. Emperor Manuel finally set sail from Calais to Dover on 11 December 1400, suffering a rough sea crossing, and was greeted by the Prior of Christ Church at Canterbury on 13 December, where he visited <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket">Thomas Becket</a>'s shrine. He then travelled on to London with an English noble escort and met King Henry at Blackheath on 21 December, subsequently staying with the king for nearly two whole months. Needless to say, this visit by the Emperor of Constantinople excited considerable interest in England at the time, with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Walsingham">Thomas Walsingham</a>'s <i>Chronicle</i> observing his arrival as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
At the same time the Emperor of Constantinople visited England to ask for help against the Turks. The king with an imposing retinue, met him at Blackheath on the feast of St Thomas [21 December], gave so great a hero an appropriate welcome and escorted him to London. He entertained him there royally for many days, paying the expenses of the emperor's stay, and by grand presents showing respect for a person of such eminence. (<i><a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ORhjd-QXVTAC&lpg=PA319&pg=PA319#v=onepage&q&f=false">Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham</a></i>, s.a. 1400)</blockquote>
An apparent eyewitness account to his arrival is also offered by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_of_Usk">Adam Usk</a>, who comments on the emperor's retinue of priests, the unusual dress of the visitors, and his feelings about the emperor's plight that drove him to tour western Europe:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On the feast of St Thomas the apostle [21 December], the emperor of the Greeks visited the king of England in London to seek help against the Saracens, and was honourably received by him, staying with him for two whole months at enormous expense to the king, and being showered with gifts at his departure. This emperor and his men always went about dressed uniformly in long robes cut like tabards which were all of one colour, namely white, and disapproved greatly of the fashions and varieties of dress worn by the English, declaring that they signified inconstancy and fickleness of heart. No razor ever touched the heads or beards of his priests. These Greeks were extremely devout in their religious services, having them chanted variously by knights or by clerics, for they were sung in their native tongue. I thought to myself how sad it was that this great Christian leader from the remote east had been driven by the power of the infidels to visit distant islands in the west in order to seek help against them. (<i><a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gzFWP306imUC">The Chronicle of Adam Usk, 1377-1421</a></i>, pp. 119-21)</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zK36xjJSkln6LofOw8WYr-QiAZbcVANGE7C2rfVZKCOAW7KqlEpl7PAa9zoUiXW2vGkqjrkxE35TAI3Ali0OGpobg5HWhkW_eprT5854tROuElpJ_M8zAS0140Q9EQWfGZAFevHqgWec/s1600/8257067017_d4316df87e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zK36xjJSkln6LofOw8WYr-QiAZbcVANGE7C2rfVZKCOAW7KqlEpl7PAa9zoUiXW2vGkqjrkxE35TAI3Ali0OGpobg5HWhkW_eprT5854tROuElpJ_M8zAS0140Q9EQWfGZAFevHqgWec/s1600/8257067017_d4316df87e.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The surviving late fifteenth-century Great Hall of Eltham Palace, London (image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/duncanh1/8257067017">Dun.can/Flickr</a>, CC BY 2.0).</i></td></tr>
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<br />
Whilst at London, the emperor stayed with Henry at his favourite palace of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eltham_Palace">Eltham</a> (now within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, south-east London), where he was treated to a grand Christmas party, with a great tournament being staged in the palace grounds in his honour. The people of London also went out of their way to entertain their exalted guest, with the <i><a href="https://archive.org/stream/chronicleoflondo00nicouoft#page/86/mode/2up">Chronicle of London</a></i> recording under 1400 that 'In this year was here the emperor of Constantinople: and the king held his Christmas at Eltham; and men of London made a great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummers_play">mumming</a> to him of 12 aldermen and their sons, for which they had great thanks.'<br />
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As for Emperor Manuel, he was clearly highly impressed by the lengths the king had gone to in order to entertain his imperial guest, as a letter written by the emperor whilst in London to his friend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Chrysoloras">Manuel Chrysoloras</a> indicates:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Now what is the reason for the present letter? A large number of letters have come to us from all over bearing excellent and wonderful promises, but most important is the ruler with whom we are now staying, the king of Britain the Great, of a second civilized world, you might say, who abounds in so many good qualities and is adorned with all sorts of virtues. His reputation earns him the admiration of people who have not met him, while for those who have once seen him, he proves brilliantly that Fame is not really a goddess, since she is unable to show the man to be as great as does actual experience.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This ruler, then, is most illustrious because of his position, most illustrious too, because of his intelligence; his might amazes everyone, and his understanding wins him friends; he extends his hand to all and in every way he places himself at the service of those who need help. And now, in accord with his nature, he has made himself a virtual haven for us in the midst of a twofold tempest, that of the season and that of fortune, and we have found refuge in the man himself and his character. His conversation is quite charming; he pleases us in every way; he honours us to the greatest extent and loves us no less. Although he has gone to extremes in all he has done for us, he seems almost to blush in the belief—in this he is alone—that he might have fallen considerably short of what he should have done. This is how magnanimous the man is. (<i><a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AdbgOudLnj4C&lpg=PA102&pg=PA102#v=onepage&q&f=false">Letters of Manuel II Palaeologus</a></i>, Jan/Feb 1401, p. 102)</blockquote>
Manuel II Palaiologos finally returned to France in February 1401, with high hopes of the king providing substantial help and funds for Constantinople. On taking his leave, he was apparently showered with gifts by Henry IV and in return he presented the king with a priceless piece of the seamless tunic woven by the Virgin Mary for her son, which is <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V-F3CwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA179&pg=PA179#v=onepage&q&f=false">said to have</a> delighted the king—he subsequently divided the piece in two and gave one half to Westminster Abbey and other to Thomas Arundel, who gifted it to the high alter at Canterbury where it was placed in a silver-gilt reliquary alongside a thorn from the crown of thorns and a drop of Becket's blood.<br />
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Unfortunately, the emperor's hopes for aid were only partially realised. Whilst Henry provided Emperor Manuel with the huge sum of £2,000 in funds before he departed England, no military help appears to have materialised, despite a <a href="https://ojs.lib.uom.gr/index.php/BalkanStudies/article/view/1145">subsequent letter</a> from the emperor's nephew in Constantinople, John VII, in June 1402 requesting official military aid and paying tribute to the English noblemen who were apparently then engaged in the defence of Constantinople in a personal capacity. Fortunately for the Byzantine Empire, however, such aid was not in the end required—the Turkish Sultan <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayezid_I">Bayezid I</a> was defeated and captured by the Turco-Mongol ruler <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur">Timur</a> at the Battle of Ankara in 1402, granting Constantinople a reprieve and postponing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople">final fall</a> of the Byzantine Empire for another 51 years.<br />
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<b>The content of this post and page, including any original illustrations, is Copyright © Caitlin R. Green, 2017, All Rights Reserved, and should not be used without permission.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7645039336306801884.post-49878752417732522652017-12-11T20:00:00.000+00:002019-05-29T15:06:35.057+01:00The fifth- to sixth-century British church in the forum at Lincoln: a brief discussionThe aim of the following brief note is simply to bring wider attention to the post-Roman British apsidal church in the centre of the Roman forum of the former Late Roman provincial capital of Lincoln. A variety of dates have been proposed over the years, but a recent reconsideration of all the available evidence, including a Bayesian modelling of the radiocarbon data from the cemetery, indicates that the timber apsidal church almost certainly dates from the fifth to sixth centuries and had been demolished to make way for a cemetery by <i>c.</i> AD 600. The following discussion is based primarily on the analyses of the evidence found in my <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/p/britons-and-anglo-saxons-lincolnshire.html"><i>Britons and Anglo-Saxon</i>s</a> and an earlier <a href="https://www.academia.edu/27372761/The_British_Kingdom_of_Lindsey">article</a>, with additions and expansion as required.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn1">1</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DheCHZ9CltybIIhAZQ8qoWE26SeCf7e9-Q_-7btDh8wNwUeu-HtGBwC_j1L-_upQCYNF0ID79vmyqUlChyphenhyphenYkmUR6Mk9OB9G6tt4wCYFOk1LzgeAH3tth1n6MI0QInhkL9lqmN-p_xp_2/s1600/Green_fig12_Stpaul_forum_Jones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DheCHZ9CltybIIhAZQ8qoWE26SeCf7e9-Q_-7btDh8wNwUeu-HtGBwC_j1L-_upQCYNF0ID79vmyqUlChyphenhyphenYkmUR6Mk9OB9G6tt4wCYFOk1LzgeAH3tth1n6MI0QInhkL9lqmN-p_xp_2/s1600/Green_fig12_Stpaul_forum_Jones.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The sequence of buildings at St Paul in the Bail, Lincoln, showing their relationship to the Roman forum. Image: Green, <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/p/britons-and-anglo-saxons-lincolnshire.html">Britons and Anglo-Saxons</a>, 2012, fig, 12, copyright English Heritage.</i></td></tr>
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Although the former Romano-British provincial capital of Lincoln (<i>Lindum Colonia, </i>British <i>Lindon</i>,<i>*Lindocolonia</i>) has produced little to no evidence for a pre-seventh-century 'Anglo-Saxon' cultural presence, there are nonetheless strong indications of activity in the city from the post-Roman period. In particular, a complex sequence of east–west orientated burials and two timber buildings were excavated from the St Paul-in-the-Bail site here—at the centre of Lincoln's former Roman forum—in the 1970s. One of these buildings is now generally agreed to have been an apsidal timber church and it cuts the foundations of an earlier structure which belonged to the same building tradition, had the same orientation, and potentially had the same function too.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn2">2</a>) The apsidal church is in turn overlain by complex sequence of inhumation burials, some of which cut the wall-line of the church or cut post-church layers from within its walls.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn3">3</a>)<br />
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The question of the date of this timber apsidal church—capable of holding around 100 worshippers—has been the subject of considerable discussion ever since its discovery, with initial reports suggesting that it could be the documented seventh-century church constructed in Lincoln by Paulinus sometime around AD 630.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn4">4</a>) However, there are significant issues with this idea, even before we look at the radiocarbon dating of the post-church cemetery and its implications, not least that the seventh-century church of Paulinus at Lincoln mentioned by Bede in <i>c.</i> 731 was still standing in his day and is clearly stated by him to have been made of <i>stone</i>, not wood. Likewise, the fact that the apsidal church in the forum appears to be the second in a sequence of two buildings is a further significant potential impediment to accepting it as Paulinus's church.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn5">5</a>) An alternative proposition is that we have here a sequence of very late and post-Roman British churches, located in the centre of the forum courtyard and orientated with reasonable precision to follow the alignment of the forum itself, with the proximity of the unexcavated west ends of the churches to the western portico of the forum implying that they were designed to be entered from between its columns. Certainly, this positioning and alignment of the buildings and their apparent relationship with the forum's western portico has been seen as highly suggestive of a late/post-Roman British origin, and it has been moreover argued that such an origin might well be supported by, for example, the building style/plan of the churches and the recovery of a coin of Arcadius (388–402) from beneath a metalled surface within the walls of the structures.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn6">6</a>)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8htgHYsIeAQm3ICIoeCNtW1D15omWALvafiPcAslcCzrqZ3PjoEv7dqQuo5tnMJ5PRQwGKzvb11MMkOskSygrmSRnCFxivK3k1gaUkOBO5GWWkxoiQRvobPEN2tbr2FWfO3Tk6jAzvJz/s1600/DVale_stpaul_drawing_extract_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8htgHYsIeAQm3ICIoeCNtW1D15omWALvafiPcAslcCzrqZ3PjoEv7dqQuo5tnMJ5PRQwGKzvb11MMkOskSygrmSRnCFxivK3k1gaUkOBO5GWWkxoiQRvobPEN2tbr2FWfO3Tk6jAzvJz/s1600/DVale_stpaul_drawing_extract_small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Reconstruction of the fifth- to sixth-century apsidal church at St Paul in the Bail, Lincoln, located in the centre of the Roman forum and entered from the western portico. Image: Green, <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/p/britons-and-anglo-saxons-lincolnshire.html">Britons and Anglo-Saxons</a>, 2012, fig. 13, by David Vale/SLHA.</i></td></tr>
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Perhaps the most telling evidence for a pre-seventh-century date for the apsidal church, however, comes from the radiocarbon dates of the graves excavated at the St Paul-in-the-Bail site. One of the most important of these appears to be a foundation deposit for the apsidal timber church, and this has a medial date of cal AD 441 within a likely date range from the very late fourth to the mid–late sixth century, which is certainly suggestive.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn7">7</a>) Even more important are the burials from the graveyard stage of the site, which Brian Gilmour has argued almost certainly only began after the demolition of the apsidal church had taken place, with three of the earliest of these moreover either cutting the wall-line of the apsidal church or cutting stratigraphically post-church layers from its interior.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn8">8</a>) Although the radiocarbon results from these graves have often been used individually (and occasionally rather dubiously) in arguments about the dating of the church, recent Bayesian modelling of the radiocarbon dates of these burials has now put things on a much sounder footing. The three burials that cut the walls and interior post-church levels together indicate that there is a very high probability (>85%) that the apsidal church was demolished <i>before </i>AD 600, given their relationship with this structure, and if the graveyard stage as a whole postdates this church, as it is indeed believed to, then an end to the church sequence before <i>c.</i> 600 becomes even more likely on the basis of the Bayesian modelling (<i>c.</i> 95%), although the available evidence would still just allow for a demolition as late as the early seventh century.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn9">9</a>)<br />
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All told, then, by far the most credible scenario—strongly supported by the radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling—is that we do indeed have here a sequence of two British churches set up in a significant area of the city (in the centre of the Roman forum and probably entered from its western portico), with the earlier structure rebuilt at some point perhaps around the mid–late fifth century into a larger apsidal church capable of holding around 100 worshippers, which then continued in use into the sixth century before being demolished by <i>c.</i> AD 600.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn10">10</a>) Such a sequence of very late and post-Roman churches not only makes best sense of all of the available evidence from the St Paul-in-the-Bail site, including the recent reassessment of the dating evidence, but it would also have a plausible context within late and post-Roman Britain. After all, just about the only sin that Gildas does not accuse his fellow sixth-century Britons of is paganism, indicating that he considered them to be Christians, albeit sinful ones, and Roman Lincoln moreover is known to have had its own bishop from the early fourth century, when Adelphius, Bishop of Lincoln, was sent to the Council of Arles in 314.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn11">11</a>) In this context, it is also worth noting that other evidence does exist for a partial survival of Romano-British Christianity in at least some areas of early medieval lowland Britain, including the numerous <i>eccles</i> place-names that occur right the way across to East Anglia and Kent, the apparent British cult of an unknown St Sixtus encountered by St Augustine in south-eastern England in <i>c.</i> 600, and Steven Bassett's case for there having been post-Roman British bishops in places such as Gloucester and Lichfield before there were Anglo-Saxon ones installed.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn12">12</a>)<br />
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A sequence of fifth- to sixth-century British churches in the centre of the Roman forum at Lincoln would likewise seem to have a very good local and regional context too. First, Lincoln itself seems to have remained economically vital into the very late Roman era, with not only good evidence for continuing specialist industry, cohesive central organization, considerable population and a thriving market at Lincoln right into the very late fourth century, but also indications of both continued urban activity into the early fifth century and the operation of the Romano-British pottery industry here at least partway through the fifth century, as was discussed in a previous post.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn13">13</a>) Second, and most importantly, there is now a reasonably substantial body of evidence to suggest that the former Roman provincial capital at Lincoln actually retained its centrality into the post-Roman period, becoming the focus of a British polity known as <i>*Lindēs </i>(from British-Latin <i>Lindenses</i>), as has been discussed at length elsewhere. This polity would eventually become the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon kingdom of <i>Lindissi</i>/Lindsey (a name which derives from Late British <i>*Lindēs</i>), but as a British political territory it is now thought likely to have survived right through the fifth century and at least some way into the sixth.(<a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2017/12/fifth-to-sixth-century-british-church-lincoln.html#fn14">14</a>) Needless to say, this is a point of considerable significance in the present context.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOx4ifcZXyvbQ2GYco3oDXRlzNHFRX_Q5rkWS1rkeNEPA_n8zY7GMcIrAzdvwRnVFNoR7hlVXtvplANbw2X_WG8v2bSMr5herbe3BgNP1c4AyeFf_Ipy_U2Fvwx5vmxq6F83Q_Gj9RV-2U/s1600/Mint-wall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOx4ifcZXyvbQ2GYco3oDXRlzNHFRX_Q5rkWS1rkeNEPA_n8zY7GMcIrAzdvwRnVFNoR7hlVXtvplANbw2X_WG8v2bSMr5herbe3BgNP1c4AyeFf_Ipy_U2Fvwx5vmxq6F83Q_Gj9RV-2U/s400/Mint-wall.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Roman Mint Wall, Lincoln. This is the surviving portion of the basilica wall immediately to the north of the St Paul-in-the-Bail site; it originally stood nine metres high. It has been argued that the forum area must have remained open and maintained, with graves from the post-church inhumation cemetery marked, right through into the tenth century, when a small stone church was then built around what would seem to be one of the most important of the inhumation graves here (a late sixth- or seventh-century cist grave containing the only grave gift recovered from the whole cemetery, a Late Celtic hanging-bowl). In this light, one credible interpretation is that after the apsidal church was demolished, significant activity—be it ecclesiastical or secular—continued in this part of Lincoln, focused on the former large basilica that formed the north of the forum: certainly, this would explain not only the significant surviving elements of the basilica here, but also the presence of the graveyard in the forum (image © copyright Richard Croft, via <a href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3431311">Geograph</a>, CC BY-SA 2.0).</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWPExYgW_e89rznvtyqUbpxK0LzmEDviBsszH9rteHdcurTIs52SitbyWsz4_4K0xZG9rBNCRlkx8zAWLIUsgE7RE9Rha4XgVz68fiaaXrRwj8eWC-1QwMmbFzibcqv1oJS5vsy5GoUsqW/s1600/RomanWellLincolnForum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="640" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWPExYgW_e89rznvtyqUbpxK0LzmEDviBsszH9rteHdcurTIs52SitbyWsz4_4K0xZG9rBNCRlkx8zAWLIUsgE7RE9Rha4XgVz68fiaaXrRwj8eWC-1QwMmbFzibcqv1oJS5vsy5GoUsqW/s400/RomanWellLincolnForum.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Roman well in Lincoln's forum, located immediately to the east of the fifth- to sixth-century apsidal church and possibly used as its baptistery; the well remained in use until the seventeenth century (image © copyright Tiger, via <a href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/596657">Geograph</a>, CC BY-SA 2.0).</i></td></tr>
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<i>Notes</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>1.</i><span id="fn1"></span> Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons: Lincolnshire AD 400–650</i> (Lincoln, 2012), pp. 65–9, 82–3 (based on my PhD thesis), and Green, 'The British kingdom of Lindsey', <i>Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies</i>, 56 (2008), 1–43 at pp. 18–23, supported recently by J. Hines & A. Bayliss (eds.), <i>Anglo-Saxon Graves and Grave Goods of the 6th and 7th Centuries AD: A Chronological Framework</i>, Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph 33 (London, 2013), pp. 549, 550.<br />
<i>2.</i><span id="fn2"></span> See, for example, K. Steane, <i>The Archaeology of the Upper City and Adjacent Suburbs</i> (Oxford, 2006), especially p. 192; M. J. Jones, 'St Paul in the Bail, Lincoln: Britain in Europe?', in K. Painter (ed.), <i>Churches Built in Ancient Times: Recent Studies in Early Christian Archaeology</i> (London, 1994), pp. 325–47 at pp. 328–30 and fig. 5; M. J. Jones, 'The Colonia era: archaeological account', in D. Stocker (ed.), <i>City by the Pool </i>(Oxford, 2003), at pp. 127–9, 137; M. J. Jones, <i>Roman Lincoln: Conquest, Colony and Capital</i> (Stroud, 2002), p. 127; Green, 'British kingdom of Lindsey', pp. 18–23; Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i>, pp. 65–9, 82–3; <i>pace </i>B. Gilmour, 'Sub-Roman or Saxon, pagan or Christian: who was buried in the early cemetery at St-Paul-in-the Bail, Lincoln?', in L. Gilmour (ed.), <i>Pagans and Christians – from Antiquity to the Middle Ages</i> (Oxford, 2007), pp. 229–56.<br />
<i>3.</i><span id="fn3"></span> Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i>, p. 65; Steane, <i>The Archaeology of the Upper City and Adjacent Suburbs, </i>especially pp. 160–1; Gilmour, 'Sub-Roman or Saxon', pp. 249, 252.<br />
<i>4.</i><span id="fn4"></span> See especially Sawyer, <i>Anglo-Saxon Lincolnshire</i> (Lincoln, 1998), pp. 226–30, for a championing of this theory, but beware his use of the radiocarbon data, which stretches it to the very utmost limits and beyond; this dating is also supported, far more tentatively, in A. G. Vince, 'Lincoln in the early medieval era, between the 5th and 9th centuries: the archaeological account', in D. Stocker (ed.), <i>The City by the Pool. Assessing the Archaeology of the City of Lincoln</i> (Oxford, 2003), pp. 147-151.<br />
<i>5.</i><span id="fn5"></span> For criticisms of Sawyer's theory, see further Green, 'British kingdom of Lindsey', especially pp. 19–20 at fn. 85; Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i>, pp. 65–9, 82. It should be noted that Alan Vince acknowledges that the theory of a seventh-century origin for the apsidal church requires both a degree of special pleading and doesn't account for the first building on the site, which Vince would (somewhat bizarrely given that the alternative interpretation of the whole site) have as a late Roman or post-Roman British church: Vince, 'Lincoln in the early medieval era', pp. 149, 150–1, and see further below.<br />
<i>6.</i><span id="fn6"></span> Green, 'British kingdom of Lindsey', pp. 19–20; Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i>, p. 65; M. J. Jones, 'St Paul in the Bail, Lincoln: Britain in Europe?', in K. Painter (ed.), <i>Churches Built in Ancient Times: Recent Studies in Early Christian Archaeology</i> (London, 1994), pp. 325–47; K. Steane, 'St Paul-in-the-Bail – a dated sequence?', <i>Lincoln Archaeology</i>, 3 (1990–1), 28–31; M. J. Jones, 'The Colonia era: archaeological account', in D. Stocker (ed.), <i>City by the Pool </i>(Oxford, 2003), pp. 127–9, 137; M. J. Jones, <i>Roman Lincoln: Conquest, Colony and Capital</i> (Stroud, 2002), pp. 127–9; B. Eagles, 'Lindsey', in S. Bassett (ed.), <i>The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms</i> (London, 1989), p. 207.<br />
<i>7.</i><span id="fn7"></span> Sample number 34, see B. Gilmour, 'Sub-Roman or Saxon', in L. Gilmour (ed.), <i>Pagans and Christians</i> (Oxford, 2007), pp. 229–56 at pp. 247–9, 252; Steane, <i>Archaeology of the Upper City</i>, pp. 157, 210; Jones, 'St Paul in the Bail, Lincoln: Britain in Europe?', pp. 332–3, 344; Jones, 'The Colonia era: archaeological account', p. 129.<br />
<i>8.</i><span id="fn8"></span> Sample numbers 30, 29 and 26, see Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i>, pp. 65–6; Steane, <i>Archaeology of the Upper City</i>, especially pp. 160–1, 210; Gilmour, 'Sub-Roman or Saxon', pp. 248–50, 252–3. See also Jones, 'St Paul in the Bail, Lincoln', pp. 332, 344; Steane, ‘St Paul-in-the-Bail – a Dated Sequence?’, pp. 30–1.<br />
<i>9.</i><span id="fn9"></span> On the results of the Bayesian modelling, see Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i><i>: Lincolnshire AD 400–650</i> (Lincoln, 2012), pp. 65–7, 83 (fn. 37), supported recently by J. Hines & A. Bayliss (eds.), <i>Anglo-Saxon Graves and Grave Goods of the 6th and 7th Centuries AD: A Chronological Framework</i>, Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph 33 (London, 2013), pp. 549, 550; as I note in <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i>, my thanks are due here to Alex Bayliss, the Head of Scientific Dating at English Heritage, both for constructing a Bayesian model and for her analysis and advice with regard to the radiocarbon dates and chronology of this site.<br />
<i>10.</i><span id="fn10"></span> Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i><i>: Lincolnshire AD 400–650</i> (Lincoln, 2012), pp. 65–9, 82–3; J. Hines & A. Bayliss (eds.), <i>Anglo-Saxon Graves and Grave Goods of the 6th and 7th Centuries AD: A Chronological Framework</i>, Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph 33 (London, 2013), pp. 549, 550. Incidentally, it should be noted here that Gilmour's variant theory on St Paul-in-the-Bail (outlined in his 2007 paper 'Sub-Roman or Saxon'), which posits a mid-sixth-century <i>de novo</i> start for the church-stage of the site, is not discussed in the present post, as it both does not seem to have been widely adopted and—as was noted in Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i>, p. 82, and Green, 'British kingdom of Lindsey', p. 20, fn. 86—can be considered significantly less plausible than the scenario outlined here, lacking an obvious context and, moreover, seeming to be largely contradicted by the Bayesian modelling of the site.<br />
<i>11.</i><span id="fn11"></span> Green, 'British kingdom of Lindsey', p. 21; Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i>, pp. 25, 67; and see further Jones, 'St Paul in the Bail, Lincoln: Britain in Europe?'; Jones, 'Colonia era: archaeological account', pp. 127–9, 137; A. C. Thomas, <i>Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500</i> (London, 1981), p. 197; K. Leahy, <i>The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey</i> (Stroud, 2007), p. 117.<br />
<i>12.</i><span id="fn12"></span> For <i>eccles</i> names, see for example K. Cameron, '<i>Eccles</i> in English place-names', in K. Cameron (ed.), <i>Place-Name Evidence for the Anglo-Saxon Invasion and Scandinavian Settlements</i> (Nottingham, 1987), pp. 1–7; P. Sims-Williams, <i>Religion and Literature in Western England, 600–800 </i>(Cambridge, 1990), p. 80; C. Hough, '<i>Eccles</i> in English and Scottish place-names', in E. Quinton (ed.), <i>The Church in English Place-Names</i> (Nottingham, 2009), pp. 109–24. For St Augustine and the British St Sixtus, see N. P. Brooks, <i>The Early History of the Church of Canterbury</i> (London, 1984), p. 20; P. Schaff (ed.), <i>Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second Series, Volume XIII Gregory the Great, Ephraim Syrus, Aphrahat</i> (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 77. On British bishops, see for example S. Bassett, 'Church and diocese in the West Midlands', in J. Blair and R. Sharpe (eds.), <i>Pastoral Care Before the Parish</i> (London, 1992), pp. 13–40; S. Bassett, 'Medieval ecclesiastical organisation in the vicinity of Wroxeter and its British antecedents', <i>Journal of the British Archaeological Association</i>, 145 (1992), 1–28; B. Yorke, 'Lindsey: the lost kingdom found?', in A. Vince (ed.), <i>Pre-Viking Lindsey </i>(Lincoln 1993), pp. 141–50 at p. 145; Jones, ‘Colonia era: archaeological account’, p. 137. See also S. Bangert, 'Menas ampullae: a case study of long-distance contacts', in A. Harris (ed.), <i>Incipient Globalization? Long-Distance Contacts in the Sixth Century</i> (Oxford, 2007), pp. 27–33.<br />
<i>13.</i><span id="fn13"></span> On late fourth- and fifth-century Lincoln, see, for example, K. Dobney <i>et al</i>, <i>Of Butchers and Breeds: Report on vertebrate remains from various sites in the City of Lincoln</i> (Lincoln, 1996), pp. 2–4, 57–61; K. Dobney <i>et al</i>, ‘Down, but not out: biological evidence for complex economic organization in Lincoln in the late 4th century’, <i>Antiquity</i>, 72 (1998), 417–24; Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i>, pp. 25–7. On the evidence for a degree of continuity in the pottery industry here into the fifth-century and possibly even slightly beyond, see Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i>, pp. 111–12, and Green, 'British kingdom of Lindsey', pp. 23–4, and the expanded discussion in Green, 'Romano-British pottery in the fifth- to sixth-century Lincoln region', blog post, 12 June 2016, <a href="http://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/06/romano-british-pottery-fifth-century-lincoln.html">online</a> at <i>http://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/06/romano-british-pottery-fifth-century-lincoln.html</i>.<br />
<i>14.</i><span id="fn14"></span> The case is fully developed in Green, 'The British kingdom of Lindsey', <i>Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies</i>, 56 (2008), 1–43, and Green, <i>Britons and Anglo-Saxons</i><i>: Lincolnshire AD 400–650</i> (Lincoln, 2012).<br />
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