History of Medieval England - Thursday 6th Period: Discussion 1: Introduction and Pre-history to 500

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

Good afternoon, class. Now I get to torture you all by making you all stand up and introduce yourselves to your classmates. This is because I'm sadistic want to get you used to the concept of talking during our discussion sessions. Please give your name and what one thing you'd like to find out in this class.

Your homework, due next Tuesday but to be posted in this post is to pick a topic from the once-optional-now-mandatory reading list I gave you on Prehistoric Britain and Roman Britain and give me ETA a minimum of one hundred Wikipedia words on it. Got it? Good.

[[OOC comment threads are done!]]

[[ETA: OOC: At some point I stopped receiving comment notifications for this post. I'm scanning and trying to jump into discussions. But since I'm trying to foster discussion *amongst* all of you, I try not to jump in everywhere.]]

Comments

Re: DISCUSSION 3: General Medieval English History Questions

[forlornslayer.livejournal.com]

"Joseph of Arimathea was gradually inflated into a major saint and cult hero, as well as the supposed ancestor of many British monarchs. He is said to have brought with him to Britain a cup, said to have been used at the Last Supper and also used to catch the blood dripping from Christ as he hung on the Cross. A variation of this story is that Joseph brought with him two cruets, one containing the blood and the other, the sweat of Christ. Either of these items are known as The Holy Grail, and were the object(s) of the quests of the Knights of King Arthur's Round Table. One legend goes on to suggest that Joseph hid the "Grail" in Chalice Well at Glastonbury for safe-keeping."

Re: DISCUSSION 3: General Medieval English History Questions

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"This sounds like the American myths of Christ coming to visit the Native Americans," Parker said skeptically. "What kind of facts are they basing this on?"

Re: DISCUSSION 3: General Medieval English History Questions

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

"What's more important, Parker? Facts of what is believed? Henry II managed to score a great deal of political clout by being the king to 'find' King Arthur's body, and buried it with high ceremony -- at Glastonbury Abbey, for the record -- thus both showing honor to a native hero of his people and definitively stating that said hero was dead, and thus would not be rising again."

Re: DISCUSSION 3: General Medieval English History Questions

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Smart," Parker said cynically. "And if they already associated Glastonbury with Avalon, it tied it up even *more* neatly. I just wish we could pin down where the stories start, but I suppose that's impossible. Word-of-mouth being what it is."