[lit-ideas] The pick o' the bunch us be
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 19:14:29 EST
As it happens,
>The South Saxons didn't have a compass.
They just used the old Roman roads -- and kept off the grass.
>If the South Saxons were
>brought in as 'mercenaries' to protect the Civitate ruled by
>some local magnate it would make loads of sense to
>teach them the topography of the landscape including
>the river systems and the road networks.
Assuming they would undestand Latin! (or whatever that druid was speaking).I
would find it very difficult to teach a South Saxon _anything_ let alone the
Highway Code or Cowes Chart.
>It so happens that the principal South Saxon settlements
>follow the road network sufficiently to be able to conjecture
>that either they were 'placed' at strategic points, or
> that when they decided to expand they used the road
>network as the routes of their advance.
Yes, they _would_ keep off the grass.
>The 'traditional' view of South Saxon expansion has
>them landing at Selsey, defeat the Brits
>occupy Chichester, fight their way along the South
>Downs until they
>fbeseiged the Romans at Pevensey.
>Trouble is, this view bears no resemblance to the archaeology. There's no
early
>Saxon remains so far discovered in Selsey, no remains within
>Chichester and, perhaps most telling
>Pevensey was continuously occupied from its inception right up to the
Middle
>ages.
It _is_ a lovely story, you must grant. I can't think Trevelyan thought
different?!
>So ... there's ample room to fit the evidence, quite
>comfortably even, into an alternative scenario, perhaps
>utilising the 'balkanisation theory'.
Is this politically correct? I mean, I care a fig but know next to nihil
about the Balkans. Are you meaning the Turks? Lord Byron, etc.
>Local magnate,
>eager for expansion or protective of his
>lands goes out and brings in a few boatloads
>of Germanic mercenaries ...
Goes out -- I hope you don't mean literally (literarily). I've been to the
Netherlands ("Witte schwanne swartze schwanne will u toe Englaland faren?")
and was surprised how *close* it is to England. So I can see the magnate
yachting to, say, Ostende to find those Saxons.
Indeed, my pet theory is that Procopius and Tacitus are right that the
Frisians _were_ in England. Not as invaders, though -- but because the North
Sea
naturally led them, sailingwise, to Anglia. Geary indeed wrote about this: he
thinks "Anglia" is the land of the 'anglers' (alla "The Compleat Angler")
>places them along the principal estuaries before settling
>them in the hinterlands north of the downs protecting the
>Roman road network.
>He pays them the gold and grain
>while he can, but when this dries up
>there's a bit of
>treacherous behaviour and they take over,
Exactly. While the 'heroic' tale says that the warriors wedded the Brit
virgin princesses.
>bossing the locals who for the
>most part just want to get on with their lives. Much later,
>when the time comes to write the histories, this doesn't have the right
kind of panache,
Exactly. Oddly, they were boring monks -- the historians (e.g. Beda). I
cannot think why they didn't stick to the truth as they knew it.
>so boatloads of mercenaries become heroic invaders
>landing in a strange hostile country and forced to fight for
>their very lives.
Quite a dilemma, but cfr. Geary, "My hero was a mercenary". Ditto in Roman,
'soldier' comes from 'salary'. Very unromantic.
>If that wasn't exciting enough Sussex is such
>that the amateur can easily trace the route of the
>Roman Road network,
with the automobile. As Duchess of Devonshire says, "It was the automobile
that re-valued the stately homes. English people found themselves with a car
but nowhere to go!" You _have_ to read "Counting my chicken". It was banned in
the US.
>find crossing points and within an hour
>be standing on the very spot where
>a confrontation took place some 1,500 years
>before.
>An hour later he might walk round the walls at
>Pevensey where there might not have been a siege,
>or maybe drive again and be at the other end of the Civitate,
>striding round the walls of Chichester which probably
>wasn't taken by Aelle after he didn't land at Selsey.
>Or maybe he can find the Ambrosian Camps established after Badon....
>The possibilities aren't endless
But the gas is! And I assume the guide tours have a fieldday. When I was in
London I took one of those guided tours and I was impressed at the lot of
bullshit the woman kept narrating for the sake of entertainment. I suppose
they
are, in price-tag Britain, even 'cycle tours' of the Balcan Sussex, no? Just
joking.
Loved your racconto!
Next we have to do Devon -- I love that ballad, that mentions all the
counties ending with "Devon":
Dorset, Somerset, Corn'all, Wales
may envy the likes of we.
For the flower of the West,
the first, the best,
the pick o' the bunch us be.
Okay -- next. So you think you know all about Devon?
Cheers,
JL
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