h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Mustapha
You may have already thought of this, but do you reckon it would be worthwhile setting up an "Ask the Historians" wing of the society ... so that people can ask some history related question that they have been dying to know the answer to, and have it answered by one of our cohort of historical researchers? Sort of like the "Ask H2G2" page but a bit more specific.
What do you think?
Cheers
Bran.

Excellent idea, Bran! In fact, there was a historical question I asked Ask h2g2 not long after I first joined. You may know the answer.

The question concerns Scotland Yard, the original one. I have heard that it was built as a kind of medieval embassy for visiting Scottish kings and the soil was Scottish soil so the Scottish king would never be parted from it. It was supposed to have been built for a King Malcolm, the question being "Which Malcolm?"

Anyone?

A damn good question and one that I have no answer to, I'm afraid.

Any other takers reading this thread?

Perhaps the correct question should be "When was the palace first built?" then we could go from there.

It was once Whitehall Palace, previously the London residence for the Archbishops of York and called York Place until Henry VIII took it over. Considering Malcolm IV died in 1195 it seems unlikely that any King Malcolm used the Palace as his appartments while in London, but it was set aside by the archbishops and Tudors as the Scottich King's quartres while in London.

It became the headquartres for the Metroploitan Police in 1829 at Great Scotland Yard, but as the Little and Middle Scotland yards no longer existed the Great was soon dropped.

* sheepishly * You know, I just checked Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, and it turns out K Edgar gave the Yard not to Malcolm, but Kenneth.

However this would seem to predate Malcolm IV, and certainly Henry VIII. Whitehall may well have been built on the site of this earlier residence.

Unfortunatley I have yet to get much beyond the Henry VIII history of palaces on that site. But won't stop looking.

Wrt King Edgar giving the Yard to Kenneth - if this is the K Edgar that I am thinking of, it is roughly mid-10th century, which places it in a still reasonably obscure period. Do you happen to know the source of the information Mustapha? I have a reasonable collection of pre-conquest material ... it might be in there.
Cheers
Bran.

Brewer's attributes this assertion to a fellow named Pennant. Beyond that I can't say.

There's a Kenneth II who was King of Scotland from 973 to 995 (an extremely long reign for a Scottish king at the time) which would make him contemporaneous with Edgar. Which narrows it down a bit.

I think you're right. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (manuscript E) for 972 has Edgar being rowed on the River Dee (near Chester) by six kings (as an act of deference to him on his coronation). In the later Chronicle of Florence of Worcester, this event is elaborated upon by providing the names of the six kings (possibly anachronistically). Anyway ... one of them is Kenneth, King of the Scots. Another is Malcolm, King of the Cumbrians (probably referring to Stathclyde).

But, nothing in the Chronicle about Scotland Yard. Edgar only had a short reign (I think he died in 975), but it is possible that some tradition was passed down or remembered somehow.

Ahh ... those Dark Ages.
Bran.

Hmm, doesn't give much time a whole palace to be built, but then what sort of tastes did the Anglo-Saxons have, in regards to royal residences?

Well they were generally stone and sturdily built to offset invading forces particulary Viking hoardes. So the time scale would not have been too much a problem, esp. if the palace/castle were started before the alliance was formed. We may assume more castle like than the Tudor or later design of a Palace, it may of course have evolved over the centuries into a more palatial palace in the full sence of the word.

I have a date. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1534 making the approach to the royal residence of James V at Whitehall, officially Scottish Territory and henceforth it was known as Scotland Yard.

I have a couple more questions, which arise from the BBC series "Walking with Dinosaurs":

1) Why do palaeontologists feel the need to change the names they give the dinosaurs? Eg the episode I've just seen, covered the sea-dwelling dinos, just the three basic models which I had learnt ages ago (when I was a young 'un) as ichthyosaur, plesiosaur (Nessie!) and pliosaur. But now they all have new names for no apparent reason!

2) When are people finally going to get bored with dinosaurs and start making CGI mega-mammals? I want to see a 3 metre long sabretooth tiger, dammit!

As far a question 1 goes I too have been confused kids come up to me and talk about these dinasaurs and I know nothing about them, then they show me a picture and it's like meeting an old friend who's gone off and had thier name changed by deed poll or marriage and just hasn't gotten around to telling me yet.

But imagine if people were making all kinds of conjectures and assumptions about your friends without even meeting them? That's what I'm thinking when I watch this doco.