But the guys and gals who lived, loved, and died across all of these little kingdoms never knew they were in that ‘story’, nor did they recognise their homes as roadblocks towards an inevitable conclusion

LITTLE KINGDOMS is not a book about this story. It offers 62 beginnings, rather than an ending

V is for victors

History is often written by them, you might have heard, and in so doing, much nuance and truth is sacrificed on the altar of clean, linear narratives

For example, you’ve no doubt all heard a variation of the ‘unification of Anglo-Saxon England’, oft told from the POV of Wessex

Is this Dark (2017/2020)? Amazing show

The Lord Of The Rings (1954-55) by J.R.R. Tolkien

Not an ‘academic’ book per say, nor non-fiction, but given its Old English/ Welsh blood I’d like to commemorate re-reading it in my book thread. Certainly, at least, Tolkien’s wordsmithing has been very inspiring for my own ongoing / future works

Welcome as ever! It was either going to be for U or V…

…this book is worth including! When I started writing LITTLE KINGDOMS, Harland’s work and his words of wisdom were key guiding points - this is a massive work which moves the discussion away from ‘Britons v Anglo-Saxons’ to something much more nuanced

I hope LITTLE KINGDOMS follows suit!

U is for the ‘u’ in the phrase ‘aduentus saxonum’, some would say ‘adventus’, and also the title of a hugely important and influential book written by @jmharland.bsky.social, ‘Ethnic Identity & The Archaeology of the Aduentus Saxonum’

This alphabetical inclusion might be a bit of a reach, but…

I believe the kids would call it aura farming

I do, drop me a DM and we can sort it out!

Thank you very much Mark! And thats a great analogy!

How better to honour the concept of history than to amend and add layers to already old things? It’s what we’ve always done!

As someone who worked (albeit briefly) in archaeology, I find it weird how many people cling to things and say they should be retained because its our heritage.

Like, just "old" =/= of value, IMO

“What can men do against such reckless prices?”

Yorkshire Philosophical Society @ypsyork.bsky.social organise regular talks at large venues in York; I can highly recommend them!

No Hot Fuzz…

And across contemporary charters + a couple high/late medieval tax rolls and forest codes, there are refs to loads of misc -sæte territories

John Baker has a brilliant paper questioning the utility of these names; I agree w/ him that they were probs just for administrators and not the locals (2/2)

I like Higham’s theory that it was originally created for Edwin, but the versions we have access to now are too garbled to be sure, and I reckon the information from the TH had a long lifetime of use. Bede refs different places + hidage values throughout HE and in other works (1/2)

Ah well count me in whenever you’re next up in the county capital looking at old buildings…! There’s quite a lot…

Are you due in York anytime soon James?