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

Entry: The Battle of Brunanburh - A3418139
Author: Frenchbean <6 stars> Back in the rhythm - U236943

Hello Peerers

I was born and brought up here An article in the paper caught my eye last week and I was ashamed to realise I knew nothing about my home village's claim to fame So I decided to do something about it.

Can anybody help with the Churchill comment? What were the other two battles he was refering to? Hastings? A Civil War battle?

Oh, and should the date of the battle be in the title?

I hope you enjoy the read. Comments please


Six Frenchbean

...
should surely read
Hastings, Bannockburn, Agincourt, the Boyne...

Interesting (and completely unfamiliar)
Off to look for Churchill's Three Battles. One of them must be Blenheim, surely?

How could I have missed Bannockburn? I'll go sort that immediately

Thanks Pinn; I'd really appreciate knowing those other two battles. I suspect the answer is in Churchill's The English Speaking Peoples, which is at my Mum's house I don't think she'd be able to read the whole lot, just to find out what he said about Brunanburh

Actually, Pedro I think that Culloden is more significant than Bannockburn The latter was kind of a temporary blip in the dominance of England over Scotland. I know that had it not been for Bannockburn, James might never have become king of Britain, but Culloden was the battle which knocked on the head for good the chances of the Scots having much independence

Thoughts?

Never heard of this. In fact the whole period between Boadicea and Stamford Bridge is a bit of a mystery. So I've learnt one thing already today.

sprout

Yeah, I was a bit hazy on the period between the Romans and Hastings. I feel a little better informed now

Well, this is nice to see! The Brunanburh poem is one of my little favourites from way back.

I'll have to take a closer look at the entry later on, but it is certainly nice to see.

Makes me wonder: is there a Battle of Maldon entry yet?

I have one suggestion:

'Olaf Guthfrithsson was King of Dublin and another Norseman.'

would read better as

'Olaf Guthfrithsson, another Norseman, was King of Dublin.'

I'll change it anhaga

Is that it?

Nice entry, Frenchbean . A few comments:

- "It was the end of any Celtic or Norse ambition..." While this may be true for a few decades after the battle, this sentence suggests that it was the end of Norse ambition forever. This isn't true, ie. King Cnut in early-11th century.
- Fullstop required after footnote five.
- It would be nice to include an excerpt from the poem in the A-S Chronicle, using the tag, in the 'How do we know...' section. As well as making the section look cool and more interesting, it would form a nice introduction to the style of the source.
- Related entries to reference: A695478 (Old English), A1339120 (Erik Bloodaxe). I suggest doing a search or two, as I'm sure that there are several more EG entries to reference.
- BBC links: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/index.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/lj/conquestlj/coin_entry.shtml?site=history_anglosaxons
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/index.shtml.

I confess that my initial reaction is that it's a little bare. I agree with Rocketman's suggestions and I wouldn't mind a bit more of a discussion of the poem (like the bit at the end where the Angles and Saxons are metaphorically the rising sun) but that might be something for a different entry. You ask in the introduction why the battle isn't on the school curriculum but you never explicitly answer that question. Similarly, I don't think you really make clear why the battle was important. As Rocketman mentioned, the Norse presence in Britain was hardly ended (although Cnut's rule was something very different from the period of various Viking kindgoms).

Good comments folks

I shall get onto a bit of a re-write tomorrow, to take account of those points

There's an article on page 18 of today's (London) Times about this. The journalist has written a very similar introduction to yours, which is a strange coincedence.

The bit at the end about the battle field being located on hole 11 of a golf course is quite interesting.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1409683,00.html

Well, those are the same people who were quoted two weeks ago in the Independent saying that the battle site was Bromborough Now they're saying it's Bebington. Okay, they're next door to each other, but the golfcourse isn't I'm going to have to rewrite the bit about location as a result

I think that journo reads h2g2

Btw, I did a big re-write yesterday, only to lose the whole lot when my computer froze So I'll re-re-write today - and alter the locational bit too

I've re-written quite a lot and re-ordered paragraphs as well. I think it looks better now.

Next, I'll put some more links in

I feel like the opening bit could be tightened up a bit. If I were writing it, which I realize I'm not, I might say something like this:

'Hastings, Culloden, Agincourt, the Boyne are battles well known to British schoolchildren as those that shaped the nation of today. There was another great and bloody battle, however, in which five kings, seven earls and a large number of warriors were slaughtered in a day. On a forgotten battlefield called Brunanburh in 937AD England was established as an Anglo-Saxon nation.'

What was it all about and why do we know so little about it?'

But that's just me.

You have started something Frenchbean. There was an item on BBC North West News tonight about the battle. No mention of Bromborough though, they seemed more concerned that someone was going to come along and rip up the Golf course.

Donald

Aha! Thank you anhaga I knew I had the right words in the intro, but not in the right order I shall uplift you paras if that's okay and transplant them into the entry

Donald However, I can't take the credit It all started for me with an article in the Independent on Dec 8th

Links added