History of Medieval England - Thursday 6th Period: Discussion 2: Dark Ages Britain

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

All right. So we touched briefly on King Arthur of gloriously fake memory, Alfred the Great who actually lived, and Anglo-Saxon Britain. Now it's time to talk.

Your homework, which should sound familiar already is to select a topic from your readings and cut and paste give me at least 100 words. Ready, steady, go.

[[OOC: OCD threads are up, go ahead.]]

Comments

Re: DISCUSSION Topic 3: Scandinavians invading Saxon Britain

[swerval_zero]

Zero's in an impish mood, what can you do? "So, when the Vikings fought the Indians..."

Re: DISCUSSION Topic 3: Scandinavians invading Saxon Britain

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

"You know, there's actually a computer game where you can try that out (http://www.microsoft.com/games/age2/)?"

Re: DISCUSSION Topic 3: Scandinavians invading Saxon Britain

[swerval_zero]

She grins at Professor Pierson. "Really? I'll be sure to recommend it to Vala. We can get an answer to this pressing question once and for all."

Re: DISCUSSION Topic 3: Scandinavians invading Saxon Britain

[prof-methos.livejournal.com]

Methos grins back at her. "As long as she's not playing it on the laptop during class, I'm all for it."

Re: DISCUSSION Topic 3: Scandinavians invading Saxon Britain

[swerval_zero]

"Perhaps we could have an, er, study session one evening. The thing about the Vikings is, right, they were trying to survive, but they did it by stomping on other people. And that is just grinding not swerval, no matter what time period you're from."

Re: DISCUSSION Topic 3: Scandinavians invading Saxon Britain

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Although they did a better job of governing than the Britons did, a few times. Canute and Svein Forkbeard were just taking advantage of the pathetic leadership of that generation. Paying Danegeld-- what better indication of 'hello, we're weak, come invade us'?"

Re: DISCUSSION Topic 3: Scandinavians invading Saxon Britain

[swerval_zero]

"I guess they did what they thought they had to. It was a horrible idea, yeah, but...desperate people do stupid things. They really should have realized 'We'll pay you not to' means 'Please do' in raider-ese, though."

Re: DISCUSSION Topic 3: Scandinavians invading Saxon Britain

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. If it had just been a delaying tactic while they built up their armies and fleets, that would be one thing. But for longer than a year or two? Stupid. Unless I'm missing something here, I don't get it."

Re: DISCUSSION Topic 3: Scandinavians invading Saxon Britain

[swerval_zero]

"Well, the Danegeld was...it was under the reign of Aethelred the Unready, wasn't it?" Zero consults her reading. "I think that's right. And he's pretty much known for being incompetent. Or, er. Unready."

Re: DISCUSSION Topic 3: Scandinavians invading Saxon Britain

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Or ten," Parker added. "Honestly. This is why monarchy is stupid. You get ten-year-olds who are supposed to be rulers. Who's good idea is that? All you get is jockeying behind the scenes, and no oversight of who's really making the decisions. Anyway, not the point. The Danegeld opened the door, and from then until they got another strong English king, the crown goes back and forth across the North Sea for a couple generations. This is a lot more complicated than I expected, honestly. They never mention Viking Kings of England in the movies. England always wins in those."

Re: DISCUSSION Topic 3: Scandinavians invading Saxon Britain

[aka-vala.livejournal.com]

Vala glares at her.