*Please note- This site search does not include the Vic. & Tas. BMD's, Lots o' Links & Worth a Look Books
|
JOHN DYER
POET, travelling ARTIST, Reverend, law apprentice
ca.1701-1757
Many people, will aspire to something and not achieve fame or fortune, but have something that they long to express, that may never be recognised by the world outside of their own environment. One line, one thought, one stroke of the brush, may give us an insight into the past, that otherwise, without their contributions to art, poetry, song, or whatever they had to share, we may never have had that knowledge, as seen through their tiny window, with a view of days gone by. Those creative, but virtually unrecognised people, are by no means, a less important chain in the events that have led us to where we are today. The poet John Dyer, although, not totally unknown, was one such person, who through his poem 'The Fleece', has given us insight into the Wool industry, among other things.
John Dyer, born ca.1700, was the fourth child & second son, of six children born to Robert and Catherine Cocks Dyer in Llanfynydd, Carmarthenshire, five miles from Grongar Hill. The register which would have shown the date of his birth has been lost, but he died in 1757, at fifty-six years of age. His grandfather was churchwarden there and his father was a highly successful solicitor in Llanfynydd and owned several properties in the neighborhood. Either for financial opportunity, or greater living space for the children, the family moved in 1710 to the mansion of Aberglasney, a considerable house, in the parish of Llangathen, in Carmarthenshire,
John was educated first at a country school, then at Westminster School, in London, under Headmaster, Dr Robert Freind (1667–1751), but didn't have much interest in retaining what he'd learned. It's likely that he painted and wrote verse at an early age; one of his works- 'Grongar Hill', was said to have been planned when he was only sixteen years old. He was taken away from Westminster, so that he could be instructed in his father's profession. His talent in the field of law was evidenced by the lawsuits in which he was involved in. His father died July 8th, 1720 and this ended John's apprenticeship of law and as he was not named in his father's will, released him from handling the lawsuit riddled estate bequeathed to his brother Robert. Soon after his father's death, John left Aberglasney for London, to pursue his love for painting.
His interest led him to become a pupil of Jonathan Richardson, in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Richardson was an artist of considerable reputation at that time, but was better known later for his books, rather than his paintings. As a student of Richardson, Dyer never achieved anything beyond a skilled mediocrity. According to one of his own published letters, he refers to himself as, 'an itinerant painter' in South Wales and the neighbouring counties of England. It was under Richardson that Dyer met his coffee house group of friends,
Thomas Edwards, Daniel Wray, George Knapton and Arthur Pond. Richard Savage and Aaron Hill were among his friends also. John's character was gentle, amiable, independent and unworldly, this made him endearing to those that he met.
Around 1724, still pursuing his career as an artist, he travelled to Italy, spending two years in Rome and Florence, sketching the most picturesque & beautiful views of those and other cities. Like some of the 19th century's poets that came after Dyer, he was delighted by the riches of Nature, the Renaissance, the Middle Ages and antiquity which he saw. He was in his glory, sketching the romantic sights of the Baths of Caracalla and the Colosseum. He is said to have been more successful with pen and ink sketches, than with crayon and oils, but working with colour, trained his eye, to appreciate nature, which he expressed later in his poems.
While in Italy, he contracted a malarial fever caught in Campagna, (a small town of the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Southern Italy) so he began to contemplate his future.
1726, saw the publication of Thomson's 'Winter' and Savage's book of 'Miscellany' of that date, contained five pieces of poetry from Dyer's pen- 'The Inquiry', 'To Aaron Hill', 'An Epistle to a Painter' (written for Richardson) 'The Country Walk' and 'Grongar Hill', which appeared in its final shape, the following year. Dyer briefly returned to Aberglasney, but became estranged from his brother Robert, so the next several years were spent between London and Herefordshire, or on painting trips. In 1734 he restored to profitability a rundown farm belonging to an aunt and spent several more years as a gentleman farmer in other counties.
He had a love of animals, a fondness for books, solitude & reflection and even though he'd had some practical experience with agriculture, he was not a hearty out-door philosopher. His health was always indifferent, and his illness in Italy, had injured it further. It's said of him, that he had an amiable, constitutional melancholy, and in 1729, in his late 20's, he is said to have written his epitaph. Later on, he would refer to himself as "old and sickly" and yet he should have been still in the prime of his life. In the latter part of his life, he was deaf; yet remained true to the character which was given to him by Aaron Hill, who said, "You look abroad serene, And marking both extremes, pass clear between."
Italy must have lived on in his memory, most likely taking many notes while he was there, as he wrote 'The Ruins of Rome', published in its final shape in 1740 and portions of it praised by Wordsworth and others.
In 1741, Dyer travelled to Worcester to paint the portrait of Bishop John Hough and while he was there, he was persuaded to seek ordination in the Church of England. In September of that year he was made a deacon and by October, was made priest of Catthorpe in Leicestershire (about 80 pounds a year), a position he held for the next nine years. He was ordained by the bishop of Lincoln, and had the degree of 'Bachelor of laws' conferred upon him. Around this same time, he married a 26-year-old widow, Sarah Ensor Hawkins, of Coleshill in
Warwickshire."Her grandmother", he noted in a letter to the Rev. James Duncombe, "was a Shakspeare" descended from a brother of every body's (the) Shakspeare.
He left Catthorpe in 1751, for Belchford, being appointed by Lord Hardwicke, Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the recommendation of Daniel Wray one of his coffee house friends, who was Deputy Teller. A year after, through the same contact, Sir John Heathcote (Normanton, Rutlandshire) got him a position in Coningsby, near Horncastle, in Lincolnshire, then in 1756, Kirkby-on-Bane in the same county (140 pounds a year). He lost money going from Belchford to Coningsby, due to repairs to the parsonage house, travel and other expenses.
Coningsby Rectory was from then on, his home, which he rarely left and when he did, it was unwillingly. He was careful in the performance of his duties, preached fair sermons, and built part of the present rectory, while keeping a very neat registers.
His last work was full of reminiscences of Wales, with his longest poem, 'The Fleece', writing it while receiving medical advice from Akenside, who helped him in the work. It was Dyer's biggest effort and his greatest success and was praised among his contemporaries, with something written about him in 'The Monthly Review' and other reviews.
Living in the Lincolnshire fens,"Among reeds and mud, begirt with dead brown lakes", as he reported in verses sent to a friend, proved fatal to Dyer's tubercular condition and he died on December, 15th 1757, 'aged 56', as recorded in the register at Coningsby, the year of the publication of his last work. He left four children the youngest, was a boy, eight years of age, at the time of his father's death. Dyer was buried at Coningsby,
without memorial. After Dyer's death, his poems were published in 1761, in one volume. The three principal pieces were, 'Grongar Hill', 'The Ruins of Rome', and 'The Fleece'.
As it mentions in the introduction of his book of poems, "The employment of a hedger a ditcher, a ploughman or a thresher, are humble only with respect to rank and affluence; and no employment can be naturally
degrading, as Dyer refers to shearing and even washing of sheep, in 'The Fleece'". "Dyer acknowledged the
simplicity of the scene, but with no thought of any condescension adhering to it. The employment of rural labour, has always been a favourite subject with the poets'.
His poetical imagination, perfectly original with a natural simplicity, connected with the true sublime and warmest sentiments of benevolence and virtue, have been universally observed and admired.
Reference
The Poems of John Dyer
https://archive.org/stream/poemsofjohndyer00dyeriala#page/n7/mode/2up
Universal Magazine April 1793, John Dyer
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=2Sc2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA240&dq=universal+magazine+April+1793
John Dyer, born ca.1700, was the fourth child & second son, of six children born to Robert and Catherine Cocks Dyer in Llanfynydd, Carmarthenshire, five miles from Grongar Hill. The register which would have shown the date of his birth has been lost, but he died in 1757, at fifty-six years of age. His grandfather was churchwarden there and his father was a highly successful solicitor in Llanfynydd and owned several properties in the neighborhood. Either for financial opportunity, or greater living space for the children, the family moved in 1710 to the mansion of Aberglasney, a considerable house, in the parish of Llangathen, in Carmarthenshire,
John was educated first at a country school, then at Westminster School, in London, under Headmaster, Dr Robert Freind (1667–1751), but didn't have much interest in retaining what he'd learned. It's likely that he painted and wrote verse at an early age; one of his works- 'Grongar Hill', was said to have been planned when he was only sixteen years old. He was taken away from Westminster, so that he could be instructed in his father's profession. His talent in the field of law was evidenced by the lawsuits in which he was involved in. His father died July 8th, 1720 and this ended John's apprenticeship of law and as he was not named in his father's will, released him from handling the lawsuit riddled estate bequeathed to his brother Robert. Soon after his father's death, John left Aberglasney for London, to pursue his love for painting.
His interest led him to become a pupil of Jonathan Richardson, in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Richardson was an artist of considerable reputation at that time, but was better known later for his books, rather than his paintings. As a student of Richardson, Dyer never achieved anything beyond a skilled mediocrity. According to one of his own published letters, he refers to himself as, 'an itinerant painter' in South Wales and the neighbouring counties of England. It was under Richardson that Dyer met his coffee house group of friends,
Thomas Edwards, Daniel Wray, George Knapton and Arthur Pond. Richard Savage and Aaron Hill were among his friends also. John's character was gentle, amiable, independent and unworldly, this made him endearing to those that he met.
Around 1724, still pursuing his career as an artist, he travelled to Italy, spending two years in Rome and Florence, sketching the most picturesque & beautiful views of those and other cities. Like some of the 19th century's poets that came after Dyer, he was delighted by the riches of Nature, the Renaissance, the Middle Ages and antiquity which he saw. He was in his glory, sketching the romantic sights of the Baths of Caracalla and the Colosseum. He is said to have been more successful with pen and ink sketches, than with crayon and oils, but working with colour, trained his eye, to appreciate nature, which he expressed later in his poems.
While in Italy, he contracted a malarial fever caught in Campagna, (a small town of the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Southern Italy) so he began to contemplate his future.
1726, saw the publication of Thomson's 'Winter' and Savage's book of 'Miscellany' of that date, contained five pieces of poetry from Dyer's pen- 'The Inquiry', 'To Aaron Hill', 'An Epistle to a Painter' (written for Richardson) 'The Country Walk' and 'Grongar Hill', which appeared in its final shape, the following year. Dyer briefly returned to Aberglasney, but became estranged from his brother Robert, so the next several years were spent between London and Herefordshire, or on painting trips. In 1734 he restored to profitability a rundown farm belonging to an aunt and spent several more years as a gentleman farmer in other counties.
He had a love of animals, a fondness for books, solitude & reflection and even though he'd had some practical experience with agriculture, he was not a hearty out-door philosopher. His health was always indifferent, and his illness in Italy, had injured it further. It's said of him, that he had an amiable, constitutional melancholy, and in 1729, in his late 20's, he is said to have written his epitaph. Later on, he would refer to himself as "old and sickly" and yet he should have been still in the prime of his life. In the latter part of his life, he was deaf; yet remained true to the character which was given to him by Aaron Hill, who said, "You look abroad serene, And marking both extremes, pass clear between."
Italy must have lived on in his memory, most likely taking many notes while he was there, as he wrote 'The Ruins of Rome', published in its final shape in 1740 and portions of it praised by Wordsworth and others.
In 1741, Dyer travelled to Worcester to paint the portrait of Bishop John Hough and while he was there, he was persuaded to seek ordination in the Church of England. In September of that year he was made a deacon and by October, was made priest of Catthorpe in Leicestershire (about 80 pounds a year), a position he held for the next nine years. He was ordained by the bishop of Lincoln, and had the degree of 'Bachelor of laws' conferred upon him. Around this same time, he married a 26-year-old widow, Sarah Ensor Hawkins, of Coleshill in
Warwickshire."Her grandmother", he noted in a letter to the Rev. James Duncombe, "was a Shakspeare" descended from a brother of every body's (the) Shakspeare.
He left Catthorpe in 1751, for Belchford, being appointed by Lord Hardwicke, Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the recommendation of Daniel Wray one of his coffee house friends, who was Deputy Teller. A year after, through the same contact, Sir John Heathcote (Normanton, Rutlandshire) got him a position in Coningsby, near Horncastle, in Lincolnshire, then in 1756, Kirkby-on-Bane in the same county (140 pounds a year). He lost money going from Belchford to Coningsby, due to repairs to the parsonage house, travel and other expenses.
Coningsby Rectory was from then on, his home, which he rarely left and when he did, it was unwillingly. He was careful in the performance of his duties, preached fair sermons, and built part of the present rectory, while keeping a very neat registers.
His last work was full of reminiscences of Wales, with his longest poem, 'The Fleece', writing it while receiving medical advice from Akenside, who helped him in the work. It was Dyer's biggest effort and his greatest success and was praised among his contemporaries, with something written about him in 'The Monthly Review' and other reviews.
Living in the Lincolnshire fens,"Among reeds and mud, begirt with dead brown lakes", as he reported in verses sent to a friend, proved fatal to Dyer's tubercular condition and he died on December, 15th 1757, 'aged 56', as recorded in the register at Coningsby, the year of the publication of his last work. He left four children the youngest, was a boy, eight years of age, at the time of his father's death. Dyer was buried at Coningsby,
without memorial. After Dyer's death, his poems were published in 1761, in one volume. The three principal pieces were, 'Grongar Hill', 'The Ruins of Rome', and 'The Fleece'.
As it mentions in the introduction of his book of poems, "The employment of a hedger a ditcher, a ploughman or a thresher, are humble only with respect to rank and affluence; and no employment can be naturally
degrading, as Dyer refers to shearing and even washing of sheep, in 'The Fleece'". "Dyer acknowledged the
simplicity of the scene, but with no thought of any condescension adhering to it. The employment of rural labour, has always been a favourite subject with the poets'.
His poetical imagination, perfectly original with a natural simplicity, connected with the true sublime and warmest sentiments of benevolence and virtue, have been universally observed and admired.
Reference
The Poems of John Dyer
https://archive.org/stream/poemsofjohndyer00dyeriala#page/n7/mode/2up
Universal Magazine April 1793, John Dyer
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=2Sc2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA240&dq=universal+magazine+April+1793
1. Carmarthenshire
2. What's With Wales?
3. Counties of Wales
4. Myths & Legends
5. Quaint Old Customs
6. Westminster School
7. Aberglasney Manor
8. A Tax for This & That
9. The Rhyme & Reason
10 No Rhyme nor Reason?
11 Travel & Associates
12 Campania, Italy
13 Malaria
2. What's With Wales?
3. Counties of Wales
4. Myths & Legends
5. Quaint Old Customs
6. Westminster School
7. Aberglasney Manor
8. A Tax for This & That
9. The Rhyme & Reason
10 No Rhyme nor Reason?
11 Travel & Associates
12 Campania, Italy
13 Malaria
Carmarthenshire
Grongar Hill, 1830
Steve Bartrick, antique prints and maps
http://www.antiqueprints.com/proddetail.php?prod=h1514
Steve Bartrick, antique prints and maps
http://www.antiqueprints.com/proddetail.php?prod=h1514
St Egwad
Llanfynydd Church, dedicated to St Egwad, is a prominent feature in the village and it’s southern divisions date back to the 13th Century, while the northern parts of the church were added in the 15th Century. |
Llanfynydd is a village, parish and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. There is another Llanfynydd in Flintshire. The area holds an assortment of archaeological remains providing evidence of early prehistoric activity. Round barrows in the area indicate that Bronze Age people settled here, probably farming the fertile sheltered lands of the lower hillsides and valleys and choosing the prominent hills in the area to bury their dead. Llanfynydd has strong connections with the Dark Ages (often termed the “Age of the Saints” in Wales) and the growth of Christianity following Roman rule. One of Wales’s finest examples of an early Christian stone cross (the Cross of Eiudon) carved with an intricate pattern of Celtic knots and thought to date back to tenth century, once stood on a mound at the southern tip of the parish. The parish church was dedicated to Egwad, a Celtic saint of the Dark Ages, and the medieval parish name was Llanegwad Fynydd.
http://www.llanfynydd.net/photos/page/2/ Dyfed Family History Society
Carmarthenshire place-names and parishes http://www.dyfedfhs.org.uk/cmn-placenames.php |
First lines of Grongar Hill by John Dyer
|
From the Dyfed Family History Centre Website & more......
Dyfed marriage index 1813-1837 This index contains the names of all persons known to have married in Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire and Pemrokeshire in the period 1813-37. http://www.dyfedfhs.org.uk/marriages-indices.php 1851 Census - Index to the inhabitants of some of the main towns http://www.dyfedfhs.org.uk/1851-census-towns.php Pembroke People by Richard Rose, Index of names http://www.dyfedfhs.org.uk/uploads/pembrokeshire Index to the Pembrokeshire Muster Books for 1613 http://www.dyfedfhs.org.uk/pembs-muster-books |
In 1731 Griffith Jones started circulating schools in Carmarthenshire, held in one location for about three months before moving (or "circulating") to another location. The language of instruction in these schools was Welsh. By Griffith Jones' death, in 1761, it is estimated that up to 250,000 people had learnt to read in schools throughout Wales.
Griffith Jones was a Welsh minister of the Church of Eng. & promoter of Methodism. An enthusiastic member of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge he taught people to read so they might know the things that were necessary for their salvation – the curriculum at his schools consisted only in the study of the Bible and the catechism of the Church of England. But in doing so he created a country with a literate population with a deep knowledge of the Christian scriptures.
|
What's With Wales?
Medieval Wales 5th-15th century
The names "Wales" and "Welsh" are traced to the Proto-Germanic word "Walhaz" meaning "foreigner", "stranger", "Roman", "Romance-speaker", or "Celtic-speaker" which was used by the ancient Germanic peoples to describe inhabitants of the former Roman Empire, who were largely romanised and spoke Latin or Celtic languages.
The Romans had everything except what is modern day Scotland.
http://www.britainfirst.tv/celtic-and-roman-britain The Northern Region of Great Britain comprising present-day Scotland was known by the Romans as Caledonia, after a local Celtic tribe, the Caledones. Caledonia was inhabited by two main groups of people. The first of Celtic origin, the second group, known as the Picts, or painted people.
http://www.unrv.com/provinces/caledonia.php Scotland during the Roman Empire was known to them as Caledonia
The Roman Emperor 'Hadrian', ordered a wall to be built in AD 122, to divide their land from the inhabitants of the Northern Region, then another wall further north, was ordered to be built in AD 142, by Emperor Antonine, who ruled after Hadrian
The Romans occupied the whole of the area now known as Wales
The Romans occupied the whole of the area now known as Wales, but was a military occupation, except for the southern coastal region of Sth Wales
east of the Gower Peninsula, and some southern sites such as Carmarthen. Within the area now known as Wales, the Romans extracted large amounts of gold, copper, lead and modest amounts of some other metals such as zinc and silver. By the 5th century A.D. barbarian tribes were attacking other parts of the Roman Empire, so
Emperor Honorius decided that the Roman legions in Britain were needed elsewhere. Germanic Tribes, Barbarians
http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsEurope/ The first of the barbarians were the Goths, who were Teutons (Jutland) or Germans They were tall and strong, with blue eyes & long fair hair. They were lawless, greedy and treacherous
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=ma In AD 47 or 48 the new governor, Publius Ostorius Scapula, moved against the Deceangli along the N/E coast of Wales, devastating their lands. He campaigned successfully but indecisively against the Silures and then the Ordovices, both tribes were lead against him by Caratacus. Scapula died in 52, the same year that the resurgent Silures inflicted a defeat on one of the Roman legions. Scapula was succeeded by a number of governors who made steady but inconclusive gains against the two tribes. Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was in the process of conquering Anglesey in AD 60 when the revolt led by Boudica in the east forced a delay in the final conquest of Wales. A decade of peace followed while Roman attention was elsewhere.
Roman conquest of Britain, Map AD 43-60
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_conquest Roman Britain circa AD 213
http://www.emersonkent.com/wars_and_battles After the Romans had withdrawn from Britain in 410 AD, the
Anglo-Saxons invaded The first people to be called 'English' were the Anglo-Saxons, a group of closely related Germanic tribes that began migrating to eastern and southern Great Britain, from southern Denmark and northern Germany, in the 5th century AD, after the Romans had withdrawn from Britain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_people
8th century, border between England & Celtic Wales
http://www.historyworld Kingdom of Mercia. Offa's Dyke AD 784-96
bordering off the Welsh Scandinavian society was heavily dependent on fishing herring, and when that failed, the seafaring Norse sailors turned to navigating around much
of Europe, including the U.K.
Following the devastation of the Viking raids, Various hoards of treasure were buried in England at this time, some of which may have been deposited by Anglo-Saxons attempting to hide their wealth from Viking raiders, and some of which may have instead been buried by the Viking raiders themselves as a way of protecting their looted treasure.
In 1939 Mrs Edith Pretty, a landowner at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, asked archaeologist Basil Brown to investigate the largest of several Anglo-Saxon burial mounds on her property. Inside, he made one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries of all time. Beneath the mound was the imprint of a 27-metre-long ship. At its centre was a ruined burial chamber packed with treasures
http://www.britishmuseum.org/visiting/galleries/ Ship Burials at Sutton Hoo, Karmøy and Oseberg
http://www.medievalhistories.com/ship-burials THE SUTTON HOO SOCIETY
http://suttonhoo.org/images/nggallery/page/ Sutton Hoo National Trust Online Collection
http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/result A more hostile approach needed to be taken against the Vikings(Danes) so on
St Brice's Day 13 November 1002, King Æthelred the Unready ordered that all Danes living in England would be executed. It would come to be known as the St. Brice's Day massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_activity List of massacres in Great Britain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres Normans: 1067–1283
The Norman invasion of Wales was shortly after the Norman conquest under William the Conqueror, who believed England to be his birthright. It was not William's intention to invade Wales, but Welsh attacks under King Gruffudd ap Llywelyn,(unifier of Wales), against the Normans, starting in the years prior to 1066, forced William's hand. The Welsh greatly disliked the cruel Normans & by 1101 they had control of the greater part of their country under King Gruffudd ap Cynan, who was imprisoned by the Normans for 12 years before his escape. Gruffudd had some indirect help from King Magnus III of Norway (Magnus Barefoot) who attacked the Normans briefly off the Isle of Anglesey killing Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury leaving the Normans depleted & demoralized. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_invasion Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, Lord of Leinster, Justiciar (head of government) of Ireland (1130 – 20 April 1176), a Norman lord from southern Wales, notable for his leading role in the Norman invasion of Ireland (1 May 1169). Like his father, he was also commonly known as ‘Strongbow’
http://www.doyle.com.au/Awen/Summer11a.html Edward's main concern following his victory was to ensure the military security of his new territories and the stone castle was to be the primary means for achieving this. Rebellions continued to occur in Wales sporadically. The financial cost of the conquest was heavy. Including the construction of the new castles Edward's financial need contributed to the extension of the role and membership of the English Parliament as taxes were needed to be raised in consequence. (wiki)
|
The Invasions of Britain
or Why does your DNA come from all over the place? Even though Scotland, Wales & England are all on One Chunk of Land, they ended up being separate from each other because of a number of invasions-
The Picts were in Scotland before the Romans came, who were invaded by the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, the Danes & the Normans When the Romans arrived in 43 AD, there were people already there, mainly, The Picts, The Celts & Four Tribes that later inhabited Wales.
The Known Tribes in Wales when the Romans invaded Britain 43 - 410 AD, were the Ordovices and Deceangli in the north, and the Silures and Demetae in the south.
The Ordovices were one of the Celtic tribes living in Great Britain before the Roman invasion. They farmed & kept sheep, building fortified strongholds & hill forts. They were among the few British tribes that resisted the Roman invasion. Their leader
Caratacus, exiled in their lands after the defeat of his tribe in the Battle of the Medway. Caratacus became the warlord of the Ordovices & neighbouring Silures and a Roman public enemy in the 50's AD. Following the Battle of Caer, governor Publius Ostorius Scapula defeated Caratacus, so the Ordovices were no longer a threat to Rome, probably due to heavy losses. The name of this tribe appears to be preserved in the place name Dinorwig (Fort of the Ordovices) in North Wales. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordovices The Deceangli or Deceangi were a Celtic tribe, also living in Britain, prior to the Roman invasion. They lived mainly in what is now north-east Wales. The tribe occupied an area between the Clwyd and Dee rivers and lived in hill forts running in a chain through the Clwydian Range. Their tribal capital was Canovium. Assaults on the tribe were made under the legate Publius Ostorius Scapula, who attacked the Deceangli in 48 AD. They appear to have surrendered with little resistance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deceangli The Demetae were Celtic people, who inhabited modern Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire in south-west Wales, giving their name to the county of Dyfed. Vortiporius, "tyrant of the Demetae", is one of the kings condemned by Gildas in his 6th century polemic De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae. The Latinized element Demet, has a clear and well attested relationship with the Welsh Dyfed, even after the imposition of the English Shire system, the use of the name Dyfed for the former tribal lands continued unabated. A plausible relationship with the word defaid (English: sheep) was suggested in 1832 as it was "a country fit for the pasture of sheep" Local people were noted for their cultivation of large numbers of sheep & goats from ancient times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetae The Silures had a dark complexion with dark curly hair
The Caledonians had reddish hair and large loose-jointed bodies The Silures were a powerful & warlike tribe, occupying what is now south east Wales and perhaps some adjoining areas. They were bordered to the north by the Ordovices; to the east by the Dobunni &to the west by the Demetae. According to Tacitus's biography of Agricola, the Silures usually had a dark complexion and curly hair. Due to their appearance, he believed they'd crossed over from Spain at an earlier date. Physical remains of the Silures, are hillforts, at Llanmelin and Sudbrook, there is also archaeological evidence of
roundhouses at Gwehelog, Chepstow and elsewhere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silures In AD 60 the revolt led by Boudica in the east forced a delay in the final
conquest of Wales Expansion into Wales resumed in 73, under Sextus Julius Frontinus, defeating the Silures, followed by Gnaeus Julius Agricola defeating the Ordovices & completing the conquest of Anglesey in AD 77–78.
There is no indication of any Roman campaigns against the Demetae, their territory did not have a series of forts, nor overlaid with roads, suggesting that they quickly made their peace with Rome. The main fort in their territory was at Moridunum (modern Carmarthen), built around AD 75, and it eventually became the centre of a Roman civitas. The Demetae are the only pre-Roman Welsh tribe that emerged from Roman rule with their tribal name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales_in_the_Roman Roman Empire AD 96
The Project Gutenberg eBook, Early Britain--Roman Britain, by Edward Conybeare
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12910/12910-h/12910 Welsh, meaning- foreigner, stranger, Roman, or Celtic-speaker
The Jutes settled in Kent, The Saxons settled just south of the river Thames, The Angles (from Schleswig-Holstein) and the 'Welsh' got pushed further over.
Germanic (Anglo-Saxon) invasions of Britain 5th cent
https://www.uni-due.de/SHE/HE_GermanicInvasions By the mid-9th century, Anglo-Saxon England was divided into four separate and independent kingdoms; East Anglia, Wessex, Northumbria, and Mercia, the latter of which was the strongest military power. Between half a million and a million people lived in England at this time, with society being rigidly hierarchical. (wiki)
Vikings were Norse seafarers, who raided and traded
Norse activity in the British Isles occurred during the Early Medieval period when members of the Norse populations of Scandinavia travelled to Britain and Ireland to settle, trade or raid. The Norse peoples who came to the British Isles have often been generally referred to as Vikings, but it is a matter of debate if the term Viking represented all Norse settlers or just those who raided. (wiki)
Plan of attack: How the Vikings invaded Britain during the 9th and 10th centuries
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article At the start of the Early Medieval period, Norse kingdoms of Scandinavia had developed trade links across southern Europe and the Mediterranean, giving them access to foreign imports such as silver, gold, bronze and spices. These trade links also extended westward into Ireland and the British Isles
In the last decade of the 8th century AD, Norse raiders sacked a series of Christian monasteries located in what is now the United Kingdom. Norsemen would have appeared visibly different from the Anglo-Saxons, wearing Scandinavian styles of jewellery and their own style of clothing. The Norsemen had their hair shaved at the back & shaggy at the front, Anglo-Saxons wore long hair
From 865 Norse attitude towards the British Isles changed, as they saw it as a place for potential colonisation rather than a place to raid, so larger armies arrived, with the intention of conquering land
England had been ravaged by Danish raids every year from 997-1001, in 1002 the king was told that the Danish men in England "would faithlessly take his life, and his councillors, possessing his kingdom afterwards". In response, he "ordered to be slain, all the Danish men who were in England"
Æthelred's nickname, "the Unready" translates from the Old English unræd, as "bad counsel, folly"
The Battle of Hastings 14 October 1066
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings History of Gwynedd during the High Middle Ages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History Gruffudd ap Cynan escapes from Chester, Illustration by T. Prytherch in 1900
By the 13th century Wales was divided between native Welsh principalities and the territories of the Anglo-Norman Marcher lords. The leading principality was Gwynedd whose princes had gained control of the greater part of the country, making the other remaining Welsh princes their vassals and had taken the title Prince of Wales. Although English monarchs had made several attempts to seize control of the native Welsh territories, it was not until Edward's war of conquest against Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ("Llywelyn the Last") of 1277-1283 that this was achieved on a lasting basis.
Conquest of Wales by Edward I https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conqu Particularly after 1283, Edward embarked on a policy of English colonisation and settlement of Wales, creating new towns like Flint, Aberystwyth, and Rhuddlan.Outside of the towns, Welsh peasants were evicted from key areas and their land resettled by English peasants
English Conquest of Wales
http://epicworldhistory.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/ DNA study reveals fate of ancient Britons
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/03/18/420 |
Horrible Histories Vicious Vikings: Navigation
1:37 |
Horrible Histories: Normonopoly
0:29 |
In the Wars of the Roses, which began in 1455, both sides made considerable use of Welsh troops.
Prince of Gwynedd was recognised by the English Crown as Prince of Wales in 1267, holding his lands with the king of England as his feudal overlord. It was thus that the English interpreted the title of
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Lord of Aberffraw, which was briefly held after his death by his successor Dafydd ap Gruffudd. When Llywelyn rebelled, the English interpreted it as an act of treason, and so, his lands escheated to the king of England & Edward I took possession of the Principality of Wales by military conquest from 1282-83, so the principality became "united & annexed" to the Crown of England https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Rhuddlan |
the English parliament passed Penal Laws in 1402, which prohibited the Welsh from carrying arms, holding office & dwelling in fortified towns. The laws also applied to men who married Welsh women.
|
Counties of Wales
As a country, Wales began with Henry VIII's Act of Union in 1536. Before that time Wales had been a loose collection of independent kingdoms and lordships with influxes and incursions from Europe.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/culture/sites/aboutwales/pages/history.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/culture/sites/aboutwales/pages/history.shtml
Principle areas of Wales-
For local government purposes, Wales has since 1 April 1996 been divided into 22 principal areas. 1 April 1996 - present
Wales, by Owen M. Edwards 1901
https://archive.org/stream/walesedwards00edwaiala The REED series edition of dramatic records for the principality of Wales, up to and including 1660.https://archive.org/stream/walesreed00brituoft#page/ What is the Lady of Wales pointing to?
Its English name refers to the "Island of the Bards", or possibly the island of the Viking chieftain, "Barda".
Ramsey Island
At nearly 120m (400 ft) in places, the western cliffs on the island are among the highest in Wales. They are home to ravens, peregrines and buzzards. In spring, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars, kittiwakes and shags come to nest too. The island is awash with colour from May to September, with bluebells, then pink thrift and purple heather. http://www.visitpembrokeshire.com/explore-pembrok During the spring, Skomer is covered in a display of beautiful Bluebells so vast that the island appears blue. Puffins, Rabbits and Short-eared Owls are particularly active throughout the day.
https://www.welshwildlife.org/skomer-day-trip/ |
The preserved counties of Wales are the current areas used in Wales for the ceremonial purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty.
The Historic counties of Wales are sub-divisions of Wales. They were used for various functions for several hundred years, but have been largely superseded by contemporary sub-national divisions
Historic counties of Wales
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_counties Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales, Vol 1 By Thomas Nicholas 1872
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=yONSAAAAc Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales, Vol 2 By Thomas Nicholas 1872 https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Y1IBAAAAQ The History and Antiquities of Glamorganshire and Its Families: By Thomas Nicholas 1874 https://archive.org/stream/historyandantiq00nichgoo Bardsey Island known as the legendary
"Island of 20,000 Saints" Photo Bardsey Island Credit: ITV Cymru Wales
Inhabited in Neolithic times, as traces of hut circles remain. During the 5th century, the island was a refuge for persecuted Christians and a small monastery existed. Around 516, Saint Einion, King of Llyn, invited the Breton Saint Cadfan to move to the island from his first residence in Tywyn. Under Cadfan, St Mary's Abbey was built. For centuries, the island was important as "the holy place of burial for all the bravest & best in the land". Bards called it "the land of indulgences, absolution & pardon, the road to Heaven, & the gate to Paradise",and in medieval times three pilgrimages to Bardsey were considered to be of equivalent benefit to the soul as one to Rome. A Celtic cross amidst the ruins commemorates the 20,000 saints reputed to be buried on the island. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardsey_Island Bardsey has a legendary claim to be the burial site of King Arthur
List of islands of Wales
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands Sixteen Beautiful Islands off the coast of Wales http://www.walesonline.co.uk/incoming/gallery/ Skokholm Island
From 1324 for over 200 years Skokholm was a rabbit farm like many islands. Earlier there had been occupation of the island but there's been little archaeological exploration. The first evidence of a house was on a map dated 1693 & Lewis Morris’s map of 1748 also shows a house. The present cottage, associated buildings, field walls & possibly the lime kiln were built around 1760. The lighthouse on the west side of the Island was one of the last of its type and was built in 1905. https://www.welshwildlife.org/skomer-skokholm The Gaels occupatied Anglesey, Carnarvon, Monmouth & Cardiganshire & a portion at least of Denbigh, Montgomery and Radnor, with minor settlements in South Wales, until the accession of Caswallawn Low Hir (443, 517)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/fab/fab007.htm The earliest Welsh genealogies give Maximus the role of founding father for several royal dynasties, including those of Powys and Gwent. He is given as the ancestor of a Welsh king on the Pillar of Eliseg, erected nearly 500 years after he left Britain, and he figures in lists of the Fifteen Tribes of Wales.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Maximus |
Caldey has been inhabited since the Stone Age, and has been home to various orders of monks since Celtic times. It is now owned by monks of the Cistercian Order, whose picturesque monastery overlooks the Village Green and the pretty cottages of the islanders. The Lighthouse opens up spec-tacular panoramic views of the Pembrokeshire Coast http://www.caldey-island.co.uk/ |
Raglan, a village in Monmouthshire Wales
The year AD 383 denotes a significant point in Welsh history, remembered in literature & considered to be the foundation point of several medieval royal dynasties. Roman general Magnus Maximus stripped all western & northern Britain of troops & senior administrators, launching a successful bid for imperial power, continuing to rule Britain from Gaul as emperor.
Wales has the greatest number of Ogham stones of any region outside of Ireland
The Story Of The Welsh Flag
2:41 Animated Why is Wales called Wales?
3:11 Welsh naming (BBC)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/ Portal:Wales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Wales |
Cardigan, a town in Ceredigion Wales
Llangathen Genealogical Records
http://forebears.io/wales/carmarthenshire/llangathen
Story of Wales- England and Wales prt1
14:13 Part 2 14:02 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Izj2CBKyI Part 3 14:18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLW-yRw0qhs Part 4 16:06 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8f1ZkYghjg History and ancestry
http://www.wales.com/history-ancestry Timeline of Wales http://www.wales.com/history_timeline Historic U.K. - Wales http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/History |
Myths & Legends
There are many Myths & Legends that are associated with Wales and most countries
There are also many unexplained things in the world, like 'Stonehenge', the 'Cotswold Circles of Stones', the 'Lochness Monster', so should we just be passing these legends off as 'Fairytales'? or is there some truth to them?
There are also many unexplained things in the world, like 'Stonehenge', the 'Cotswold Circles of Stones', the 'Lochness Monster', so should we just be passing these legends off as 'Fairytales'? or is there some truth to them?
Food for thought-
We can only draw from what we know, unless we have a wild imagination? Was there a 'Stephen King' or 'J.K. Rowling' back then?, but even modern day authors have drawn from past stories & built on them & exaggerated them to an extreme? What if we'd never heard about Murders, Wizards, Witches, Fairies, Monsters, Assassins, Kidnappings, Satanic cults, no news reports, or Law Breakers & people with Bizarre Behaviours of any kind?, if we just lived in our own perfect bubble? could the authors still come up with these wild stories? like the Myths & Legends of old? |
Folklore, Folktales, and Fairy Tales from Wales
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/wales.html Welsh Fairytales & other Stories 1894
https://archive.org/stream/welshfairytaleso00 Origin of the Welsh (folklore)
................then the warriors leaped out, and the horn blew, and the army hurried up, and the town was taken after great slaughter; but a number escaped with their wives and children, and fled on to the Crimea, whence they were driven by the Russians, so they marched away along the sea to Spain, and bearing up through France, they stopped. Some wanted to go across the sea, and some stayed in the heart of France: they were the Bretoons. [Footnote: Bretons.] The others came on over in boats, and landed in England, and they were the first people settled in Great Britain: they were the Welsh. http://www.worldoftales.com/European_folktales |
Many personal accounts from a few hundred years ago, mention 'Little Folk' & 'Fairies'
The fairy of the Dell (folklore)
........."Oh, no! we fairies look young to the day of our death; we live to a great age, but die naturally of old age........"Cursed be he or she, that crosses my circle to see me," Folktales of the World- Wales http://www.worldoftales.com/ |
The Craig-y-don blacksmith (folklore)
..................as he got near a small stream a lot of little men suddenly sprang up from the rocks................they all disappeared as quickly as they had come. The old blacksmith thought a good deal about what the fairies had told him........................When the old blacksmith came to pull down the masonry to rebuild it, he found three brass kettles full of money. http://www.worldoftales.com/Welsh_fairy_tales.html |
Welsh mythology and history was recorded orally by specialists such as druids. This oral record has been lost or altered as result of outside contact and invasion over the years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_mythology What if- 'Giants' were just really big people? 'Fairies' just very small Fair people? 'Monsters' just things that were unfamiliar, so it was the fear of the unknown? Was 'Imp' or 'Impish' short for impetuous little people?
It was firmly believed in Wales, that the Fairies exchanged their own weakly or deformed offspring for the strong children of mortals. The child supposed to have been left by the Fairies in the cradle, was commonly called a changeling. www.welsh-mythsandlegends.walesdirectory.co
A Relation of Apparitions of Spirits, in the Principality of Wales; to which is added, the remarkable account of the apparition in Sunderland 1780 By Edmund JONES https://books.google.com.au/books?id=kOBUAAAA |
Goblins Well Mold
https://wellhopper.wordpress.com/2012/03/08/goblin Edmund Jones (1702–93) was a Welsh Independent minister and religious historian. Like many Protestant Reformers & Puritan divines before him, Jones was fascinated by the occult. Throughout his life he amassed what he believed to be convincing evidence for the existence of good & evil apparitions (ghosts, demons, fairies, witches, angels, & giants) of the ‘invisible world’. His book- 'The Appearance of Evil: Apparitions of Spirits in Wales' contains the testimonies of many witnesses to supernatural encounters in 17th & 18th century Wales, from abductions by fairies, appearances of ghosts, devils and witches, to poltergeist activity.
http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s-JONE-EDM-1702.html A Relation of Appar. of Spirits, County Monmouth, and Principalities of Wales 1813 By Edmund JONES
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=_95UAAAA |
No matter what your beliefs are? most people would agree, that there is definitely a force for good & a force for evil that exists in our world.
The Mabinogion by (Lady Charlotte Guest) [1877]
The Mabinogion, Welsh legends collected in the Red Book of Hergest, a manuscript which is in the library of Oxford University. Mabinogion means 'tales of youth'. Lady Guest appropriated it as the title of this book, and The Mabinogion is now used as the name of the entire collection. The stories are based on historical characters and incidents from the dark ages in Wales and environs, embellished with supernatural and folklore elements. Throughout there are echoes of primordial Celtic mythology and folklore, including the ancient gods and goddesses. it is believed that all the Mabinogion in which these details were found were written in Dyfed. http://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/index.htm |
Were these things that people believed they'd witnessed, 'Apparitions'? or did they mistakenly eat a 'Magic Mushroom'?
If there were to have been little 'Fair people', did they move quickly in a stealthful manner wearing long flowing white clothes, to give the appearance of wings?, or were wings given to them in the tale, so as to describe their mobility?, like the artists of old when painting Angels?
The family tree of two important families in the Welsh mythology
The Children of Llyr and the Children of Don. http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/welshhouses Mabinogion
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=aFUA |
The Mermaid superstition is seemingly
absent in Wales |
The Bwbach/Boobach, Bogie or Hobgoblin, is what we would call 'The Boogie man'
|
The following information is from-
British goblins : Welsh folk-lore, fairy mythology, legends and traditions by Sikes, Wirt, Pub. 1880 Wales may be spoken of as the cradle of fairy legend Arthur of British history & tradition stands to Welshmen much the same as Alfred the Great stands to Englishmen. The belief in fairies is less nearly extinct than casual observers would be likely to suppose. The rector of Merthyr, being an elderly man, accredits to his youth. "I am old enough to re-member" he wrote me under date of Jan. 30th,1877, "that these tales were thoroughly believed in among country folk forty or fifty years ago". In Arthur's day & before that, the people of Sth Wales regarded Nth Wales as pre-eminently the land of faerie....the chosen abode of giants, monsters, magicians, and all the creatures of enchantment. |
The sovereign of the fairies, and their especial guardian & protector, was..Gwyn ap Nudd. Ruler over the goblin tribe. His name often occurs in ancient Welsh poetry. Popular belief as to the whereabouts of fairy-land corresponds with Avalon of the Arthurian legends. (British goblins,Sikes)
The fairies of Wales may be divided into five classes
1. The Ellyllon are the pigmy elves who haunt the groves and valleys. Their gloves, are the bells of the
digitalis, or fox-glove, the leaves of which are well known to be a strong sedative.
Pwca, or Pooka, is but another name for the Ellylldan, as Puck is another name for the Will-o'-wisp
2. The Coblynau, are fairies which haunt the mines, quarries and underground regions of Wales. Their dress is
a grotesque imitation of the miner's garb, and they carry tiny hammers, picks and lamps. All miners of a
proper spirit refrain from provoking them, because their presence brings good luck.
3. The Bwbach, or Boobach, is the good-natured goblin which does good turns for the tidy Welsh maid who
wins its favour by a certain course of behaviour. The same confusion in outlines which exists regarding the
Bogie & Hobgoblin gives the Bwbach a double character, as a household fairy and a terrifying phantom.
4. The Gwragedd Annwn, or fairies of the lakes and streams
5. The Gwyllion, or mountain fairies. (British goblins,Sikes)
1. The Ellyllon are the pigmy elves who haunt the groves and valleys. Their gloves, are the bells of the
digitalis, or fox-glove, the leaves of which are well known to be a strong sedative.
Pwca, or Pooka, is but another name for the Ellylldan, as Puck is another name for the Will-o'-wisp
2. The Coblynau, are fairies which haunt the mines, quarries and underground regions of Wales. Their dress is
a grotesque imitation of the miner's garb, and they carry tiny hammers, picks and lamps. All miners of a
proper spirit refrain from provoking them, because their presence brings good luck.
3. The Bwbach, or Boobach, is the good-natured goblin which does good turns for the tidy Welsh maid who
wins its favour by a certain course of behaviour. The same confusion in outlines which exists regarding the
Bogie & Hobgoblin gives the Bwbach a double character, as a household fairy and a terrifying phantom.
4. The Gwragedd Annwn, or fairies of the lakes and streams
5. The Gwyllion, or mountain fairies. (British goblins,Sikes)
The Welsh word Gwyll is variously used to signify gloom, shade, duskiness, a hag, a witch, a fairy, and a goblin;
but especially to mountain fairies of gloomy & harmful habits
but especially to mountain fairies of gloomy & harmful habits
Welsh fairies are most often dancing together when seen. They seek to entice mortals to dance with them, and when anyone is drawn to do so, it is more than probable he will not return to his friends for a long time. Edmund William Rees, of Aberystruth, was thus drawn away by the fairies, and came back at the year's end, looking very bad. But he could not give a very clear account of what he had been about, he only said he had been dancing. This was a common thing in these cases. Either they were not able to, or they dared not, talk about their experience (Sikes)
The circles in the grass of green fields, which are commonly called fairy rings, are numerous in Wales, and it is deemed just as well to keep out of them, even in our day. The peasantry no longer believe that the fairies can be seen dancing there ......but they do believe that the fairies, in a time not long gone, made these circles with the tread of their tripping feet &... misfortune will probably befall any person intruding upon this..ground. Welsh sheep, it is affirmed, are the only beasts which will eat the grass that grows in the fairy rings; all other creatures avoid it
British goblins, Sikes https://archive.org/stream/britishgoblinswe00sikeuo We can't forget King Arthur & his knights of the round Table?
|
A Carmarthenshire tradition names among those who lived for a period among the Tylwyth Teg no less a person than the translator into Welsh of Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress' He was called 'I ago ap Dewi', and lived in the parish of Llanllawddog, Carmarthenshire, in a cottage situated in the wood of Llangwyly. He was absent from the neighbour-hood for a long period & the universal belief among the peasantry was that 'I ago' got out of bed one night to gaze on the starry sky, as he was accustomed (astrology one of his favourite studies) & ... the fairies (...in a neighbouring wood), passing by, carried him away & he dwelt with them 7 years. Upon his return he was questioned by many as to where he had been, but always avoided giving them a reply. (British goblins,Sikes)
Welsh sheep, are the only beasts which will eat the grass that grows in the fairy rings; all other creatures avoid it
A protection from fairies is eithin, or prickly furze,
common in Wales One of the manifestations of fairy ring growth is a necrotic zone—an area in which grass or other plant life has
withered or died https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring The Truth Behind King Arthur - History Channel.
45:01 House of Arthur & Culhwch
http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/culhwch.html Because there's so much about the history of this planet that we don't know, we shouldn't just treat all of these Myths as 'Fairytales'?. On the other hand, I'm a great one to sprinkle glitter when a tooth has been lost, but do I expect to see the 'Tooth Fairy'? No, but there may have been a group of people, or birds, even the mouse theory, at some point in time, who stole teeth? we don't know? Look at the
Bower Bird? |
Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found
Dead Sea Scrolls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_Scrolls One of the most curious scrolls is the Copper Scroll. Discovered in Cave 3, the scroll records a list of 64 underground hiding places in the land of Israel, for safekeeping. The deposits are to contain certain amounts of gold, silver, aromatics & manuscripts.
25 Facts about the Dead sea Scrolls http://www.centuryone.com/25dssfacts.html How many Journals or Records are there still out there, that haven't been found yet? telling us things that we would never otherwise know?
Another great find from history
gone by- Boy's diary places convicted pedophile near where Beaumont children disappeared June 8, 2017
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/06/08/09/50/ The Beaumont children disappeared on Jan 26 1966
Charles Perrault was a French writer who lived in the second half of 17th century. He was one of the first writers in European literature who turned his eyes to Folklore & Fairytales. The fairy tales you know may not be as they seem? While the Brothers Grimm are credited with creating the fairy tale as we know it, Perrault wrote popular stories 200 years before them.
http://www.worldoftales.com/fairy_tales/Perrault Perrault wrote Little Red Riding Hood in the late 1600's, this is part of the moral that was written at the end of the story-
The Wolf, I say, for Wolves too sure there are Of every sort, and every character. Some of them mild and gentle-humour'd be, Of noise and gall, and rancour wholly free; Who tame, familiar, full of complaisance Ogle and leer, languish, cajole and glance; With luring tongues, and language wond'rous sweet, Follow young ladies as they walk the street, Ev'n to their very houses, nay, bedside, And, artful, tho' their true designs they hide; Yet ah! these simpering Wolves! Who does not see, Most dangerous of Wolves indeed they be? http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29021/29021-h/29021 ‘The Happy Ending’ expresses hopes
Harvey 1950 (full Movie)
1:26:38 |
Should we believe other Stories passed down or discovered, like the Dead Sea Scrolls? Were they Folklore? or History?
What makes these documents so important, that the originators kept them in such a fashion (jars in caves, buried, carved on stone etc.) as to ensure that they survived through time? Were these discoveries true historical records? Did the people of the past want their future generations, to know what it was like back then? so we could learn? There are nonbiblical writings along the order of commentaries on the O.T., paraphrases that expand on the Law, rule books of the community, war conduct, thanksgiving psalms, hymnic compositions, benedictions, liturgical texts, and sapiential (wisdom) writings There are elements of truths even in 'Old Wive's Tales' & Sayings 'Fairytales' are different from 'Tales of Fairies' Fairy tales are fiction, having a moral & a 'Happy' ending, Folklore, is considered to be true stories passed down through time.
Haven't we described a brutal attacker as 'A Monster'? or someone with psychic abilities, to be 'A Witch'?, a predator as 'A Wolf in sheep's clothing'? there are hidden meanings in Fairytales, with the character's appearance changed into something that we can associate with to understand their behaviour.
What was happening in the community when they were written? Were the stories made scarier to warn children? Were there male predators on the loose at that time? I bet parents didn't send their kids to the beach alone after the Beaumont children went missing? & warned their kids of the dangers? Little Red Cap Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's text
As soon as the wolf had satisfied his desires, he climbed back into bed, fell asleep, and began to snore very loudly. A huntsman was just passing by. He thought, "The old woman is snoring so loudly. You had better see if something is wrong with her." He stepped into the parlor, and when he approached the bed, he saw the wolf lying there. "So here I find you, you old sinner," he said. "I have been hunting for you a long time." Slightly more sinister wording than the 'Little Red Riding Hood' of today? http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimmtales.html The fairy tales of Charles Perrault 1628-1703
https://archive.org/stream/fairytalesofchar00perr# James Stewart had an invisible friend who was a 'Pooka' (or Welsh Pwca) a 6 foot 3 & a half inch Rabbit, in the 1950 movie 'Harvey'
From 'British Goblins & Welsh Mythology', by Sikes
|
Quaint Old Customs
The majority of the following information is also from the book-
'British Goblins & Welsh Mythology', by Sikes
https://archive.org/stream/britishgoblinswe00sikeuo
Unusual Customs & Traditions which are mostly 'Non-existent' now, giving us insight into what it was like to live in the last few centuries, a vast contrast from how we live today.
'British Goblins & Welsh Mythology', by Sikes
https://archive.org/stream/britishgoblinswe00sikeuo
Unusual Customs & Traditions which are mostly 'Non-existent' now, giving us insight into what it was like to live in the last few centuries, a vast contrast from how we live today.
Lifting, an old Welsh custom at Easter time
|
Most of this information, has been extracted straight from the book, written as 'Sikes' wrote it, so the language used is quite different from today's. Keep in mind that Sikes is quoting from 'his' day, when he wrote the book, probably circa late 1870's, before being pub. in 1880. These are Welsh customs, but Sikes mentions customs from elsewhere as well. Some of these, or similar customs, may have been practised in other parts of the U.K., or the world Included here, are general Customs & Superstitions, as well as Customs surrounding various celebrations & festivals, like- Christmas, Easter, the New Year, Halloween & also, Funeral, Weddings & Courting. I hope you find them as fascinating as I did |
Customs surrounding Easter
Birth of a child
To be born on Good Friday is very unlucky, or a birth on any Friday of the whole year, is to be deprecated as a most unfortunate circumstance. Friday is the fairies' day, when they have special command over the weather & it is their whim to make the weather on Friday differ from that of the other days of the week.
Good Friday
In Pembrokeshire, it was customary up to the close of the last century(19th), to walk barefoot to church on Good Friday, as had been done since times prior to the Reformation. The old people and the young joined in this custom, which they said was done so as not to ' disturb the earth.' All business was suspended, and no horse nor cart was to be seen in the town.
Hot-cross buns
They were eaten in Tenby after the return from church. After having tied up a certain number in a bag, the folk hung them in the kitchen, where they remained till the next Good Friday, for use as medicine. It was believed that persons labouring under any disease had only to eat a portion of a bun to be cured. The buns so preserved were used also as a panacea (remedy) for all the diseases of domestic animals. They were further believed to be serviceable in frightening away goblins of an evil sort.
Lent
Wearing mourning throughout Lent was formerly common in Wales. In Monmouthshire, Mothering Sunday the visiting of parents on Mid-Lent Sunday was observed in the last century, but is nowhere popular in Wales at present.
Lifting
A ceremony called ' lifting ' is peculiar to North Wales on Easter Monday and Tuesday. On the Monday bands of men go about with a chair, and meeting a woman in the street, asking her to sit on it, and be lifted three times in the air amidst their cheers. On Easter Tuesday the women take their turn, and go about in like manner lifting the men.
Birth of a child
To be born on Good Friday is very unlucky, or a birth on any Friday of the whole year, is to be deprecated as a most unfortunate circumstance. Friday is the fairies' day, when they have special command over the weather & it is their whim to make the weather on Friday differ from that of the other days of the week.
Good Friday
In Pembrokeshire, it was customary up to the close of the last century(19th), to walk barefoot to church on Good Friday, as had been done since times prior to the Reformation. The old people and the young joined in this custom, which they said was done so as not to ' disturb the earth.' All business was suspended, and no horse nor cart was to be seen in the town.
Hot-cross buns
They were eaten in Tenby after the return from church. After having tied up a certain number in a bag, the folk hung them in the kitchen, where they remained till the next Good Friday, for use as medicine. It was believed that persons labouring under any disease had only to eat a portion of a bun to be cured. The buns so preserved were used also as a panacea (remedy) for all the diseases of domestic animals. They were further believed to be serviceable in frightening away goblins of an evil sort.
Lent
Wearing mourning throughout Lent was formerly common in Wales. In Monmouthshire, Mothering Sunday the visiting of parents on Mid-Lent Sunday was observed in the last century, but is nowhere popular in Wales at present.
Lifting
A ceremony called ' lifting ' is peculiar to North Wales on Easter Monday and Tuesday. On the Monday bands of men go about with a chair, and meeting a woman in the street, asking her to sit on it, and be lifted three times in the air amidst their cheers. On Easter Tuesday the women take their turn, and go about in like manner lifting the men.
Customs surrounding Christmas
Animals
The Welsh believed that It was also animals paid their tribute of respect on Christmas Eve as well.
Colliers
A Christmas-eve custom among Welsh colliers is to carry from house to house a board stuck over with lighted candles, or to wheel a handbarrow containing a bed of clay in which the candles are stuck. This is called 'the Star,' sometimes 'the Star of Bethlehem,' and when stopping before a house the men kneel about it and sing a carol. The purpose is to solicit a 'Rhodd Nadolig', or Christmas gift.
Feast of Alban Arthur
The British Druids' feast of Alban Arthur, celebrating the new birth of the sun, occurred at our Christmas time, and is still celebrated at Pontypridd, Glamorganshire, every year. It begins on the 22nd of December, and lasts three days, during which period the sun is supposed to fight with Avagddu, the spirit of darkness, the great luminary having descended into hell for that purpose. On the third day he rose, and the bards struck their harps, rejoicing that the sun had again been found.
Plygain, or watching for the dawn
This consists in proceeding to the church at three o'clock on Christmas morning, and uniting in a service which is held by the light of small green candles made for that purpose.
Twelfth Night custom
Mary Lwyd (blessed Mary). The skeleton of a horse's head is pro-cured by the young men or boys of a village, and adorned with flowers & ribbons, borrowed from the girls. These are generally borrowed from the girls. The bottoms of two black bottles are inserted in the sockets of the skeleton head to serve as eyes, and a substitute for ears is also contrived. On Twelfth Night they carry this object about from house to house, with shouts and songs. At last the door is opened, when in bounces the merry crowd, among them the Mary Lwyd, borne by one impersonating a horse, who is led by another impersonating the groom. The horse chases the girls around the room and a good time is had.
Animals
The Welsh believed that It was also animals paid their tribute of respect on Christmas Eve as well.
Colliers
A Christmas-eve custom among Welsh colliers is to carry from house to house a board stuck over with lighted candles, or to wheel a handbarrow containing a bed of clay in which the candles are stuck. This is called 'the Star,' sometimes 'the Star of Bethlehem,' and when stopping before a house the men kneel about it and sing a carol. The purpose is to solicit a 'Rhodd Nadolig', or Christmas gift.
Feast of Alban Arthur
The British Druids' feast of Alban Arthur, celebrating the new birth of the sun, occurred at our Christmas time, and is still celebrated at Pontypridd, Glamorganshire, every year. It begins on the 22nd of December, and lasts three days, during which period the sun is supposed to fight with Avagddu, the spirit of darkness, the great luminary having descended into hell for that purpose. On the third day he rose, and the bards struck their harps, rejoicing that the sun had again been found.
Plygain, or watching for the dawn
This consists in proceeding to the church at three o'clock on Christmas morning, and uniting in a service which is held by the light of small green candles made for that purpose.
Twelfth Night custom
Mary Lwyd (blessed Mary). The skeleton of a horse's head is pro-cured by the young men or boys of a village, and adorned with flowers & ribbons, borrowed from the girls. These are generally borrowed from the girls. The bottoms of two black bottles are inserted in the sockets of the skeleton head to serve as eyes, and a substitute for ears is also contrived. On Twelfth Night they carry this object about from house to house, with shouts and songs. At last the door is opened, when in bounces the merry crowd, among them the Mary Lwyd, borne by one impersonating a horse, who is led by another impersonating the groom. The horse chases the girls around the room and a good time is had.
New Year's Apple gift
|
The three spirit nights-
'All Hallow's Eve' (first night of winter) 'May-Day Eve' and 'Midsummer Eve' which were three great festivals of the ancient Druids when they commemorated the powers of Nature & love Some say that Christmas-night is the third spirit-night. In Pembrokeshire, to rise early on New Year's morning is considered good luck
The Scotch put salt in a cow's first milk after calving. Even the Chinese throw salt into water from which a person has been rescued from drowning. |
Customs surrounding New Year's Day
Apple Gift
In Glamorganshire there is a New Year's Day custom called the apple gift, children, on and about New Year's Day, going from door to door of shops and houses, bearing an apple or an orange curiously tricked out. Three sticks in the form of a tripod are thrust into it to serve as a rest; its sides are smeared with flour or meal, and stuck over with oats or wheat, or bits of broken ..matches. Its top is covered with thyme or other sweet evergreen, and a skewer is inserted in one side as a handle to hold it by. The Christian symbolism of this custom is supposed to relate to the offering, by the Wise Men…to the infant Jesus. Thousands of children in Wales seek to win from their elders a New Year's copper by exhibiting the apple gift, or by singing in chorus their good wishes.
Male Visitors
No female visitor should cross the threshold first on New Year's morning; that a male visitor shall be the first to do so is a lucky thing. (Also adding to this, in other places, the male should have dark hair)
New Year's Morning
In Pembrokeshire on New Year's Morning, as soon as it is light, children of the peasantry hasten to provide a small cup of pure spring water, just from the well, and go about sprinkling the faces of those they meet, with the aid of a sprig of evergreen. At the same time they sing the following verses:
Here we bring new water from the well so clear,
For to worship God with, this happy new year
…...Open you the east door and let the new year in !
Rising Early
In Pembrokeshire, to rise early on New Year's morning is considered good luck. On that morning also it is deemed wise to bring a fresh loaf into the house, that the succession of loaves throughout the year will be influenced by that incident.
Apple Gift
In Glamorganshire there is a New Year's Day custom called the apple gift, children, on and about New Year's Day, going from door to door of shops and houses, bearing an apple or an orange curiously tricked out. Three sticks in the form of a tripod are thrust into it to serve as a rest; its sides are smeared with flour or meal, and stuck over with oats or wheat, or bits of broken ..matches. Its top is covered with thyme or other sweet evergreen, and a skewer is inserted in one side as a handle to hold it by. The Christian symbolism of this custom is supposed to relate to the offering, by the Wise Men…to the infant Jesus. Thousands of children in Wales seek to win from their elders a New Year's copper by exhibiting the apple gift, or by singing in chorus their good wishes.
Male Visitors
No female visitor should cross the threshold first on New Year's morning; that a male visitor shall be the first to do so is a lucky thing. (Also adding to this, in other places, the male should have dark hair)
New Year's Morning
In Pembrokeshire on New Year's Morning, as soon as it is light, children of the peasantry hasten to provide a small cup of pure spring water, just from the well, and go about sprinkling the faces of those they meet, with the aid of a sprig of evergreen. At the same time they sing the following verses:
Here we bring new water from the well so clear,
For to worship God with, this happy new year
…...Open you the east door and let the new year in !
Rising Early
In Pembrokeshire, to rise early on New Year's morning is considered good luck. On that morning also it is deemed wise to bring a fresh loaf into the house, that the succession of loaves throughout the year will be influenced by that incident.
Funeral & Death Customs
Beer Drinking On the day of the funeral, the customs are not always in keeping with modern notions of the praiseworthy. Indulgence in beer-drinking at funerals is still a Welsh practice Burying the dead in the garment of a monk In the middle ages there was a Welsh custom of burying the dead in the garment of a monk, as a protection against evil spirits. This was popular among the wealthy, and was a goodly source of priestly revenue. Distributing bread and cheese After taking the coffin out of the house and placing it on a bier (frame) near the door, it was formerly customary for one of the relatives of the deceased to distribute bread and cheese to the poor, taking care to hand it to each one over the coffin. No Coffin Until a recent date, burials without a coffin were common in some parts of Wales. Old people in Montgomeryshire not many years ago, could remember such burials, in what was called the 'cadach deupen', or cloth with two heads. Old Richard Griffith, of Trefeglwys, who died many years ago, recollected a burial in this fashion there, when the cloth gave way and was rent; whereupon the clergyman prohibited any further burials in that churchyard without a coffin. That was the last burial of the kind which took place in Montgomeryshire. Shoe Donation In the parish of Defynog, Breconshire, there was a custom (up to 1843) of giving to the parish clerk the best pair of shoes and stockings left behind by the defunct. |
A Montgomeryshire tale of a man falsely accused of a crime, then put to death, where before hand he said- ' I have offered a prayer to Heaven, and believe it has been heard and accepted. And in meek dependence on a merciful God, whom I have offended, but who, through the atonement of His blessed Son, has, I trust, pardoned my offence, I venture to assert that as I am innocent of the crime for which I suffer, the grass, for one generation at least, will not cover my grave" For thirty years thereafter, the grave was grassless
|
A 'Bier', is a frame to lay a coffin or body on.
|
After placing the coffin on the bier, bread & cheese were given to the poor, taking care to hand it to each one
over the coffin The Rituals associated with finding a husband or wife, is called 'Rhamanta' in Welsh, which means,
'Romance or Romanticising' |
The Gwahoddwr or Bidder
Girls would keep their Maiden name after marriage
Wedding cake would be passed through the ring for good luck. Either the brides had very fat fingers? or the pieces were only a toothful?
The oldest lovespoon housed at St Fagans National History Museum is dated 1667
https://museum.wales/articles/2012-09-16 I'm guessing that the future husband would want his 'bride to be', to put in as much effort with her cooking, as he has with carving the Love Spoon?
|
Welsh Courting & Marriage Traditions
Age The Ancient laws of Howell the Good (died 948) expressly provided that a woman should be considered marriageable from fourteen upwards, and should be entitled to maintenance from that age until the end of her fortieth year; that is to say, from fourteen to forty she ought to be considered in her youth. Bidding Is an invitation sent by a couple who are about to be married, soliciting the presence and donations of the neighbours on their behalf (more on next page) Bundling The Welsh custom of Bundling, or courting abed. The Welsh words sopen and sypio mean a bundle and to bundle, and they mean a squeezed-up mass, and to squeeze together. Virtually, intimacy without going 'all the way'. Love spoons Ornately carved spoons were traditionally made from a single piece of wood by young men as a love token for their sweethearts. to show his affection and intentions for his loved one. Maidens before Marriage By every sort of moral suasion it is deemed right in Wales to encourage matrimony, and no where are old bachelors viewed with less forbearance. If a maiden forgot her duty to herself, her parents, and her training, when the evil result became known she was to be thrown over a precipice ; the young man who had abused the parents' confidence was also to be destroyed. Murder itself was punished less severely. Retaining the Maiden Name After marriage, Welshwomen still in some cases retain their maiden names, a custom formerly universal among them. The wife of John Thomas, though the mother of a houseful of children, may be habitually known among her neighbours as Betty Williams. But in other cases, she not only assumes her husband's name, but the name of his calling as well; if he is Dick Shon the tailor, she becomes Mrs. Dick Shon the tailor. Sleeping on a piece of wedding cake If you place a piece of wedding cake under your pillow, you will dream of who you would marry. The bride would give her guests tiny pieces of cake and for good luck, would pass the piece through her wedding ring. |
Pontypridd & its circle of stones where the 'Druids and bard' held the usual feast of the summer solstice in the face of the sun.
|
Traditional Celebrations & Superstitions All Hallows eve Is by the Welsh called 'Nos Calan Gauaf', meaning 'the first night of winter;' sometimes, 'Nos Cyn Gauaf', the night before winter. It is one of the 'Teir Nos Ysprydnos', or ' three nights for spirits', upon which ghosts walk, fairies are abroad, mysterious influences are in the air, strange sights are seen, and in short goblins of every sort are to be with special freedom encountered. They may be conjured to appear, by certain enchantments, and to give their visitors glimpses of the future, especially as regards the subject of marrying. |
First of April
Is in Welsh called Calan Ebrill, and an April Fool a Ffwl Ebrill ; the similarity of English and Welsh words may be said to typify the similarity of observance. The universality of this observance among Aryan peoples would certainly indicate an origin in a time preceding the dispersion of the human family over the world. The Druids, tradition says, celebrated the revival of Nature's powers in a festival which culminated on the first of April in the most hilarious foolery. The Roman Saturnalia or feast of fools perpetuated the rite, though the purpose of the Christian revelry may quite possibly have been to ridicule the Druidic ceremonies.
Give to or receive from a knife as a gift
or a pair of scissors cuts friendship. (Added to this, if you must give knives as a gift, you should put a Silver coin in with them, which breaks the bad luck)
May Day Festivals
Are in like manner associated with the powers of Nature, whose vigour and productiveness were symbolized by the Maypole round which village lads and lasses danced. The rites of love were variously celebrated at this time and some of these customs locally have long survived the Maypole itself. Ordinance for the destruction of Maypoles in England and Wales, printed in 1644, declared them ' a heathenish vanity', generally abused to superstition and wickedness wherefore it was ordained that they should be destroyed, and that no Maypole should thereafter be set up, erected, or suffered to be within this kingdom of England or dominion of Wales.
Midsummer Eve, or St. John's Eve (June 23rd)
Is celebrated in Wales. Midsummer Eve, in 1878, fell on a Sunday. Upon that day the 'Druids and bard' at Pontypridd held the usual feast of the summer solstice in the face of the sun. There is a breezy common on the top of a high hill overlooking the town, where stand a logan stone and a circle of upright stones constituting the 'temple of the Druids' (more on next page)
Salt was the ancient symbol of friendship
Salt was deemed incorruptible. In the Isle of Man no important business was ventured on without salt in the pocket; marrying, moving, even the receiving of alms, must be sanctified by an exchange of salt between the parties.
St. Valentine's Day
There is no Welsh custom which demands notice here; but it is perhaps worthy of mention that nowhere in the world is the day more abundantly productive of its love-letters. The post-offices in the Principality are simply deluged with these missives on the eve and morning of St. Valentine's. In Cardiff the postmaster thinks himself lucky if he gets off with only fifteen thousand letters in excess of the ordinary mail. Nineteen extra sorters and carriers were employed for this work on February 14th, 1878, and the regular force also was heavily worked beyond its usual hours. The custom is more Norman than Cambrian, The word Valentine comes from the Norman word for a lover, and the saint is a mere accident in this connection.
St. Patrick's Day
The Welsh believe that St. Patrick was a Welshman. Born at Llandeilo Talybont, in Glamorganshire, and educated at the famous college of Llantwit Major, he held St. David's place till the coming of Dewi was announced to him ; then he went into Ireland, to do missionary work.
Is in Welsh called Calan Ebrill, and an April Fool a Ffwl Ebrill ; the similarity of English and Welsh words may be said to typify the similarity of observance. The universality of this observance among Aryan peoples would certainly indicate an origin in a time preceding the dispersion of the human family over the world. The Druids, tradition says, celebrated the revival of Nature's powers in a festival which culminated on the first of April in the most hilarious foolery. The Roman Saturnalia or feast of fools perpetuated the rite, though the purpose of the Christian revelry may quite possibly have been to ridicule the Druidic ceremonies.
Give to or receive from a knife as a gift
or a pair of scissors cuts friendship. (Added to this, if you must give knives as a gift, you should put a Silver coin in with them, which breaks the bad luck)
May Day Festivals
Are in like manner associated with the powers of Nature, whose vigour and productiveness were symbolized by the Maypole round which village lads and lasses danced. The rites of love were variously celebrated at this time and some of these customs locally have long survived the Maypole itself. Ordinance for the destruction of Maypoles in England and Wales, printed in 1644, declared them ' a heathenish vanity', generally abused to superstition and wickedness wherefore it was ordained that they should be destroyed, and that no Maypole should thereafter be set up, erected, or suffered to be within this kingdom of England or dominion of Wales.
Midsummer Eve, or St. John's Eve (June 23rd)
Is celebrated in Wales. Midsummer Eve, in 1878, fell on a Sunday. Upon that day the 'Druids and bard' at Pontypridd held the usual feast of the summer solstice in the face of the sun. There is a breezy common on the top of a high hill overlooking the town, where stand a logan stone and a circle of upright stones constituting the 'temple of the Druids' (more on next page)
Salt was the ancient symbol of friendship
Salt was deemed incorruptible. In the Isle of Man no important business was ventured on without salt in the pocket; marrying, moving, even the receiving of alms, must be sanctified by an exchange of salt between the parties.
St. Valentine's Day
There is no Welsh custom which demands notice here; but it is perhaps worthy of mention that nowhere in the world is the day more abundantly productive of its love-letters. The post-offices in the Principality are simply deluged with these missives on the eve and morning of St. Valentine's. In Cardiff the postmaster thinks himself lucky if he gets off with only fifteen thousand letters in excess of the ordinary mail. Nineteen extra sorters and carriers were employed for this work on February 14th, 1878, and the regular force also was heavily worked beyond its usual hours. The custom is more Norman than Cambrian, The word Valentine comes from the Norman word for a lover, and the saint is a mere accident in this connection.
St. Patrick's Day
The Welsh believe that St. Patrick was a Welshman. Born at Llandeilo Talybont, in Glamorganshire, and educated at the famous college of Llantwit Major, he held St. David's place till the coming of Dewi was announced to him ; then he went into Ireland, to do missionary work.
Westminster School
John Dyer was educated at the Westminster School. Boys have been educated there since 1179. If the Croyland Chronicle is to be believed since before the Norman Conquest, parts of the buildings now used by the school date back to the 11th cent. Anglo-Saxon Abbey at Westminster. Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
The composer Henry Purcell was born in St Ann's Lane, Old Pye Street the area of London later known as Devil's Acre, also attended the Westminster School. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Purcell Westminster’s origins can be traced to a charity school established by the Benedictine monks of Westminster Abbey. Its continuous existence is certain from the early fourteenth century. After the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540, by Henry VIII, he personally ensured the School’s survival by statute. Elizabeth I, confirmed royal patronage in 1560 and is celebrated as the School’s Foundress. For several hundred years the School continued to be joined with Westminster Abbey, forming one collegiate foundation, until the 1868 Public Schools Act established the school independent.
http://www.westminster.org.uk/westminster/about/history/ Dormitory Westminster School, 1845
The Royal College of St. Peter had 40 'King's Scholars' financed from the royal purse. Westminster School became a public school, which meant that it was available to the public, as long as they could pay their own costs, rather than private tuition provided to the nobility. During Mary I's brief reign the Abbey was reinstated as a Roman Catholic
monastery, but the school continued. When Elizabeth I re-founded the school in 1560, there were new statutes to select 40 Queen's Scholars from boys who had already attended the school for a year. 1560 is now generally taken as the date that the school was "founded". (wiki) |
Alan Alexander Milne (A.A.Milne)1882-1956
English author, born in London & best known for his Winnie-the-Pooh books, attended the Westminster School. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Milne The Westminster boys were uncontrolled outside of school hours & notoriously unruly about town, but the proximity of the school to Westminster Palace meant that politicians were well aware of the boys' exploits In 1967, the first female pupil was admitted to the school, with girls becoming full members of the school from 1973 onward
The List of the Queen's Scholars of St. Peter's College, Westminster
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=hA William Camden a layman, was the first appointed headmaster by Elizabeth I. Dr Richard Busby(1606-95), who served as headmaster for over 50 years, established the reputation of the school. Busby prayed publicly Up School, for the safety of the Crown, on the day of Charles I's execution, then locked the boys inside to prevent them going to watch the spectacle a few hundred yards away. He thrashed Royalist and Puritan boys alike without fear or favour. In 1679, a group of scholars killed a bailiff, ostensibly in defence of the Abbey's traditional right of sanctuary, but possibly because the man was trying to arrest a consort of the boys. Dr Busby obtained a royal pardon for his scholars from Charles II adding the cost to the school bills.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster |
The following information is taken from the book-
Westminster School Past & Present By Frederic H. Forshall 1884
Includes names of Headmasters & Selected Scholars- Prize winners, Captains etc. from 1629-1884
https://archive.org/stream/westminstersch
Includes names of Headmasters & Selected Scholars- Prize winners, Captains etc. from 1629-1884
https://archive.org/stream/westminstersch
Westminster College Hall built around 1380
An ode, by Stephen Duck, from the Gentleman's Magazine 1737, alludes to the education under Dr. Freind's charge.
"Ye sons of Westminster, who still retain Your ancient dread of Busby's awful reign, Forget at length your fears;your panic end The monarch of this place is now a Freind" 1st Form or Year 7 timetable Westminster Schl 1845
The Children then had 'Sabbath School'
on the Sunday The following are the Teacher objectives, of the Westminster Sabbath School in Philadelphia-
The Westminster (Philadelphia) normal class outlines : or, the Christian teacher in the Sabbath-school : junior course by Worden, James Avery 1881
https://archive.org/stream/westminsterno00word# Memoir of Richard Busby, (1606-1695) With Some Account of Westminster School by George Fisher Russell Barker Published 1895
https://archive.org/stream/memoirrichardbu00bark |
School room 1845
Wainscoting or panelling, was used as early as the 1300's, to protect the bottom half of the wall
After Busby, came Thomas Knipe, then Robert Freind as Headmaster
Dr. Robert Freind was most likely always having people spell his name incorrectly?
Robert Freind was Headmaster when John Dyer attended the school
Robert FREIND, under-master of Westminster School, 1699; Head-master, 1711; Canon of Windsor 1727; Prebendary (honorary canon) of Westminster May 8 1731; and Canon of Christ Church 1737. Dr. Freind appears to have been eminently qualified for the important post of head master; he kept up the character of the school, and sent forth a very large proportion of the statesmen, and other persons, who distinguished themselves under the first sovereigns of the House of Hanover. His house was the resort of Swift and Atterbury, and of all the wits, and even the statesmen, of his time; and Bentley himself spoke in honorable terms of his scholarship. Robert Freind died Aug. 9, 1754, aged 84. He is buried in a vault given to his family in Witney church, Oxfordshire School hours were between 8am & 5pm, seven days a week. An hour for breakfast between 9-10, but no lunch Sixth Form or Year 12 t/table, Westminster Schl 1845
Appendix to the Second Report of the Statistical Society of London on the State of Education in Westminster, being a Detailed Account of each Endowed or Charity School, and of Each Infant and Sunday School, in the Parishes of St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster
https://archive.org/stream/jstor-2337987/2337987# One of the poems that were read in the College hall, by the boys at the Westminster School, London,
in the 1800's Great Public Schools 1893 https://archive.org/stream/greatpublicschoo00londuo Westminster Sabbath-school hymns 1883 https://archive.org/stream/westminstersabba00dull Recollections of a town boy Westminster, 1849-1855 https://archive.org/stream/recollectionsat01markgoo |
Very 'prickly' but popular, 1960's Westminster carpet
Englishman Jack Dewes established Westminster Carpets at Dandenong, Victoria in 1948-49. The company initially produced low priced rubber bonded carpet for motor cars, but quickly adopted it for use in homes & offices. The manufacturing process produced carpet directly from carded wool, eliminating the spinning and weaving processes. Its 'Westminster' brand was a haircord floor covering initially made from 80% goat hair and 20% highland wool on a rubberised hessian backing, produced in a large range of single colours. By 1965, West-minster carpets were being produced in 26 different single colours, being made from a combination of goats hair & man-made fibres like nylon & Evlan. The Dandenong plant closed in 1998, but production continued at the company’s Tottenham factory in under the ownership of US giant, Shaw Industries.
http://museum.collection.hht.net.au/search.do;jsess |
Very Floral, Very Tough, Axminster Carpet, 1940's
Pacific Carpets is of regional historical significance for its important role in developing the carpet textile industry in Melbourne. Felt & Textiles pioneered the Carpet industry in Australia by manufacturing plain & stippled Wilton Body Carpet in 1937 at Footscray. After the interruption of WW2 the company manu-factured Spool Axminster carpets in Australia. To accommodate this major undertaking a new modern
factory was built in Tottenham. http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/28602/ Axminster carpet has pile & backing yarn woven together for strength and stability. More coloured ends of yarn can be selected from the yarn carrier, raised or lowered by means of a jacquard system. Many colours can be used in this weaving method. http://www.brintons.com.au/axminster-construction/ |
Aberglasney
Bishop Rudd’s Tomb (Llangathen Church)
|
There is mention of ‘nine green gardens’ on this site in a poem dating from medieval times, but it is not until the days of Sir William Thomas, knighted by Henry VIII, that the history of Aberglasney is better documented. Thomas was the first High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1541-2 and added the Aberglasney chapel to Llangathen Church. Although we know little about the way the house looked during his day it was grand enough to catch the eye of a powerful bishop, Anthony Rudd, Bishop of St David’s, fifty years later. |
Anthony Rudd was bishop of St David's from 1594 to 1615. Known for an unfortunate sermon that he preached before Elizabeth I when she was 63. She took exception to his references to her extreme old age, and from that time onwards, his hopes of being made Archbishop of Canterbury were dashed. Around 1600 he acquired the Aberglasney estate, and when he died his wife built this impressive bedstead tomb in the local church at Llangathen. The Church is usually closed but the grave yard commands a great view overlooking the Towy valley. It contains curiously carved monuments. Most impressive of all are the ring of ancient Yew trees which might even predate this ancient Christian site.
Yew Tree Tunnel, Church at Llangathen
Medieval Poem about Aberglasney
He has a proud hall A fortress made bright with whitewash And encompassing it all around Nine green gardens Orchard trees and crooked vines Young oaks reaching up to the sky (Translation, Dafydd Johnston)
A history dating back to the 13th century the Aberglasney estate in the parish of Llangathen in Carmarthenshire, South-West Wales was long established when it was purchased at the turn of the 19th century by an East India Company man, Thomas Philipps (c.1749-1824). Aberglasney had been in decline under its previous inhabitants, the Dyers, who were finally forced to sell due to heavy debts. The estate was sold for 10,000 guineas to Thomas Philipps in 1803. During Thomas Philipps’s era a portico and circular drive were instated at the side of the mansion. Extensive work was carried out inside and outside the mansion. Philipps installed new doors & grates within,mended the windows, leading & roof. He also instigated tiling and painting and had servant bells installed throughout the house. http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/eicah/aberglasney The British Herald; Or, Cabinet of Armorial Bearings of the Nobility 1830 By Thomas Robson https://archive.org/stream/britishheraldorc0 |
Cloister Gardens, Aberglasney, Wales
Bishop Rudd's son, Sir Rice Rudd, rebuilt Aberglasney and created the now famous Cloister Garden. In 1670 the house was assessed for ‘Hearth Tax’ and with 30 hearths it was one of the biggest in the county. Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales, Volume 1 By Thomas Nicholas
Includes a list of old county families of Anglesey, Breconshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Carnarvonshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire & more https://books.google.com.au/books?id=yONSAAAAcAAJ Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales, Volume 2 By Thomas Nicholas Includes a list of old county families of Glamorganshire, Merionethshire, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire, Pembrokeshire, Radnorshire & more https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Y1IBAAAAQAAJ |
How do these things happen?, it's tragic!
Today, the centre of the house now is covered by a glass roof and is home to the ‘Ninfarium’, Aberglasney’s award winning sub-tropical indoor garden, where plants grow amongst the ruinous remains. The rest of the ground floor has been fully restored & is used for art & craft exhibitions, weddings & as a meeting venue.
Aberglasney House & Gardens Timeline
http://aberglasney.org/about-aberglasney/history Aberglasney Gardens
1:35 |
Uninhabited, neglected & vandalised, Aberglasney was on the brink of collapse when it was rescued from oblivion in 1995. The house & gardens were bought by the Aberglasney Restoration Trust, the money donated by an American benefactor – Frank Cabot. Thanks then to the generosity of individual donors, trust funds, charitable donations & grant money from many statutory bodies a tremendous amount of work was done in a very short time. Aberglasney finally opened to the public on the 4th of July 1999, restoration work has however been on-going since this date, with the completion of the ground floor of the mansion in Spring 2013.
|
A Tax for This & That
An old man putting dry rice on the hearth
(Van Gogh 1881) |
In 1670 Aberglasney house was assessed for ‘Hearth Tax’ and with 30 hearths it was one of the biggest in the county The hearth tax was levied between 1662 and 1689 on each householder according to the number of hearths in his or her dwelling. A tax on hearths known as kapnikon was first explicitly mentioned for the reign of Nikephorus I (802–811) although its context implies that it was already then old and established and perhaps it should be taken back to the 7th century AD. Kapnikon was a tax raised on households without exceptions for the poor. (wiki)
|
In England, a tax on hearths was introduced on 19 May 1662. Householders were required to pay a charge of two shillings per annum for each hearth, with half the payment due at Michaelmas (Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels, September 29th) and half at Lady Day (Feast of the Annunciation, 25th March). Exemptions to the tax were granted.
The returns were lodged with the Clerk of the Peace 1662 - 1688. A revision of the Act in 1664 made the tax payable by all who had more than two chimneys. The tax was abolished by William III in 1689 and the last collection was for Lady Day of that year. It was abolished in Scotland in 1690.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearth Hearth Tax 1662-1689 was assessed on occupiers, not landlords, and was based on the number of hearths (including fires and stoves) in the dwelling and thus gives the researcher an idea of the size of each household, and by inference the relative affluence of the occupant. In towns, especially, a house might contain more than one family. Smaller dwellings which were exempt included:
https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Hearth_Tax Window Tax was another one
Aberglasney has quite a few of those as well Hearth Tax Online Search
Hearth Tax Online is a web site dedicated to providing data and analysis of the records of the hearth tax which was introduced in England and Wales by the government of Charles II in 1662. Whether you are looking to locate a family member as part of personal research into your family tree, have a specific interest in surnames or a more general interest in a particular county, it is likely that the data and analysis provided by Hearth Tax Online will be of some considerable use or interest to you. http://www.hearthtax.org.uk/ SEARCH HEARTH TAX OF SCOTLAND, 1694
http://www.knapdalepeople.com/hearthtax.htm Hearth Tax listing by Surname http://www.knapdalepeople.com/hearthtaxsurname Northamptonshire Hearth Tax, 1674 (find my past) http://search.findmypast.com.au/search-world There have been many other unusual taxes over time-
Starting with the Roman emperor Vaspasian, in the 1st century AD and his urine tax
The bearded King Henry VIII of England, exempt from his own beard tax There were also taxes at one time or another, on- Soap, Hats, Printed Wallpaper, Bricks, Candles, Wig powder, Playing cards What about breast tax? once levied by rulers in India's Kerala state. Women had to pay if they wanted to cover themselves in public. We can laugh at all of these, what seem to be 'Silly Taxes', but some countries like Australia with G.S.T. (goods & services tax), there is a tax on everyone of those things mentioned, plus more!
(except for urine, breasts & beards, for now anyway) England has their 'V.A.T.' (Value Added Tax)
on goods & services (where's the value in that?) https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-shopping/vat-duties The U.S., Sales tax varies by state, but the average is around 7.25%. Some counties add additional taxes to the state tax.
http://www.vidaamericana.com/english/salestax.html New Zealand also has G.S.T., but instead of 10%, they have 15%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goods_and_Services Even Germany & Russia have V.A.T.
Can we ever escape? Your things are even taxed after you die! The goods & services tax (GST) in Australia for instance, is a value added tax of 10% on most goods and services. GST is levied on most transactions in the production process, but is refunded to all parties in the chain of production other than the 'final consumer'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goods_and_services And the final consumer, no matter how you look at it, is everybody! Things haven't changed much since the 'Hearth Tax' days, but back then, they did have exemptions for the poor The Poor Laws and the Waltham "Black Act"
http://www.americanmorrisnews.org/pastissues/april Database "King's Remembrancer", particulars of account & other records relating to lay & clerical tax
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/e179/ Tithe Records
https://www.thegenealogist.com/tithe/ UK, Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' Indentures, 1710-1811
http://search.ancestry.com.au/search/db.aspx |
Hearthstone Castle (originally Sandford castle) in Danbury, Connecticut was built between 1895-99.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearthstone_Castle A Hearthstone, is a stone that makes up part of, or used to form a hearth, or fireplace
Historically a hearth was a brick or stone-lined fireplace, with or without an oven, used for heating & originally also used for cooking food. For centuries, the hearth was an integral part of a home. In a medieval hall, the hearth commonly stood in the middle of the hall, with the smoke rising to a smoke hole in the roof. (wiki)
Hearthstone Historic House, Appleton, Wisconsin
http://wisconsinhistoricalmarkers.blogspot.com.au/ Hearthstone Historic House Museum is a historic home in Appleton, Wisconsin. In 1882, it became the first residence in the world powered by a centrally located hydroelectric station using the Edison
system. At that time, the house was the residence of Henry James Rogers, a paper company executive and entrepreneur. The house which contains nine fireplaces, is open for tours and there is a Christmas holiday display from November - January. The house still uses its original Thomas Edison light fixtures and period electroliers and features the "Hydro Adventure Center", a hands-on operating model of the earliest central hydroelectric station. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearthstone_Histori Window Tax was a tax on windows or similar openings, levied from 1696 until 1851.
http://www.ukgdl.org.uk/county/northamptonshire/ When letting in sunshine could cost you money. http://www.historyhouse.co.uk/articles/window_tax Toward the end of the Revolutionary War, Virginia passed an emergency tax on homeowners based on the number of windows in their houses. It was to last three years and it only counted windows with glass https://historymyths.wordpress.com/tag/window-tax/ 'Pecunia non olet' (money does not stink) is a Latin saying & is said to have come from the Roman emperor
Vespasian and his 'Urine Tax' A Russian beard token from 1705, carried to indicate that the owner had paid the beard tax, introduced by Russian reformer 'Peter the Great' in 1698
Soap History
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts Various Taxes during the Georgian Era https://georgianera.wordpress.com/tag/soap-tax/ Feeling Overtaxed? http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160414 Tithe maps for East Sussex and Brighton & Hove
https://apps.eastsussex.gov.uk/leisureandtourism/ Cynefin (Wales) Tithe Map Project
http://cynefin.archiveswales.org.uk/en/ The Leeds Tithe Map Project
http://tithemaps.leeds.gov.uk/ The Tithe Applotment Books Ireland
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/ Some Land Tax assessments records Wiltshire parishes Quarter Sessions.
http://calmview.wiltshire.gov.uk/CalmView/Default |
If Walls Could Talk - The History of the Home - Ep 1
58:59 If Walls Could Talk - The History of the Home - Ep 3
59:01 |
If Walls Could Talk - The History of the Home - Ep 2
58:55 If Walls Could Talk - The History of the Home - Ep 4
58:47 |
The Rhyme and Reason
(The Rhymes in Time)
(The Rhymes in Time)
John Dyer, married 26-year-old widow, Sarah Ensor Hawkins, of Warwickshire."Her grandmother, was a Shakspeare" descended from a brother of (the) Shakspeare. John Dyer had a talent for poetry & art, his wife Sarah being a descendant of Shakespeare, may have loved or dabbled into poetry herself? Who knows? There are a few site out there, with some very questionable photos of Shakespeare's family, so how Sarah is related, is not really something that I want to get into. |
Most of us have written a poem or two, at some point in our lives, even if it's only
"Roses are red, Violets are blue,
The cactus is prickly and so are you"
"Roses are red, Violets are blue,
The cactus is prickly and so are you"
1866 Gammer Gurton's Garland includes a very unusual version of 'See Saw Majory Daw' on page 27
https://archive.org/stream/gammergurtonsgar00ritsia Rhyming 2 lines is called a 'couplet' Shakespeare often used a couplet to mark the end of a scene in his plays
Limerick - a five-line witty poem with a distinctive rhythm
Couplet - two lines of verse which rhyme and form a unit alone or as part of a poem Sonnet - a short rhyming poem with 14 lines. The original sonnet form was invented in the 13/14th century by Dante and an Italian philosopher named Francisco Petrarch. The form remained largely unknown until it was found and developed by writers such as Shakespeare. Sonnets use iambic meter in each line and use line-ending rhymes. https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/article-po Example of a Couplet-
"The flag of Wales is red white & green The nicest flag I've ever seen" Oberon, Titania & Puck, with Fairies Dancing c1786 by William Blake
Helena's Monologue 'couplet' from Shakespeare's
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' And therefore is Love said to be a child, Because in choice he is so oft beguiled. The Fairies in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' speak in a different style than the humans. Here's an example where Puck addresses Oberon: CAPtain OF our FAIry BAND, HELeNA is HERE at HAND; http://www.shmoop.com/midsummer-nights-dream Shakespeare Sonnets
http://poetry.eserver.org/sonnets/ The Welsh say that Shakespeare based his 'Puck' on their 'Pwcr'
A 'Puck', is a domestic and nature sprite, or fairy, who is a changeling (can shape shift) and is the English version of the Welsh Pwcr & Irish Pooka
Puck, (referred to as Robin Goodfellow and Hobgoblin), appears as a vassal of the Fairy King Oberon in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, and is responsible for the mischief that occurs. No. 18 (Shakespeare Sonnet)
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee Shakespeare Family History & Genealogy Site
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ |
The origins of the poem may be traced at least as far back as to the following lines written in 1590
by Sir Edmund Spenser from his epic The Faerie Queene (Book Three, Canto 6, Stanza 6) She bath'd with roses red, and violets blew, And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew. A nursery rhyme significantly closer to the modern cliché Valentine's Day poem can be found in 'Gammer Gurton's Garland' a 1784 collection of English nursery rhymes: The rose is red, the violet's blue, The honey's sweet, and so are you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roses_Are_Red Poetry is often closely related to musical traditions, and the earliest poetry exists in the form of hymns
There are many different styles of poetry,
Rhyming 2 lines, as in John Dyer's 'Grongar Hill'- Silent Nymph, with curious Eye! Who, the purple Ev'ning, lye On the Mountain's lonely Van, Beyond the Noise of busy Man, Painting fair the form of Things, While the yellow Linnet sings; Or the tuneful Nightingale Charms the Forest with her Tale; Or every second line- Aberglasney is a house That once was quite run down; But now it has been well restored The glory of the town Or rhyming the 1st & 3rd & the 2nd & 4th lines- Westminster is a great old school so study all the time; Or you'll grow up to be a fool And won't know how to rhyme! Or in the rhythm & style of a Limerick- There once was a man named John Dyer, Who liked to sit close to the fire; One day he got burnt, His lesson was learnt And now he is known as John Frier Or any way you want to express yourself! Rhyming is a great way of
remembering things- Some Butter & Cheese, then don't forget Bread These things I will buy, with the rhyme in my head! Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', with 'Puck' & the 'Fairies', is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for stage & is widely performed across the world. It shows how 'Mythology' was a very big part of the culture at that time A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595/96. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. (wiki)
Puck by Carl Andersson (sculptor) Midsommarkransen, Stockholm, Sweden
No. 43 (Browning Sonnet)
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints,--I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life!--and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. |
No Rhyme nor Reason
(Evolution of the Word)
(Evolution of the Word)
Shakespeare Quizzes
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/quiz/ Shakespearian Words http://www.shakespeareswords.com/Play-Definitions |
Shakespeare's writings greatly influenced the entire English language. Prior to and during Shakespeare's time, the grammar and rules of English were not standardized. But once Shakespeare's plays became popular in the late 17th and 18th century, they helped to contribute to the standardization of English, with many Shakespearean words and phrases becoming embedded in the English language. Through projects such as Samuel Johnson's 'A Dictionary of the English Language' , the book quoted Shakespeare more than any other writer, which also helped to further embed Shakespeare's words into the English language of today. Shakespeare expanded the scope of English literature by introducing new words & phrases, experimenting and also introducing new poetic and grammatical structures, also inspiring modern terms used todayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s Shakespeare's contributions, would have influenced all the famous poets after him-
Wordsworth Kipling Longfellow Stevenson & more |
Charles Dickens also added to the English Language
Here are a few that he coined- The creeps On the rampage Devil-may-care Round the clock Words Invented by Famous Authors http://fluentfocus.com/words-that-william-shakespear Here are just a few of Shakespeare's concoctions- amazement, belongings critical employment foul mouthed gust impartial laughable moonbeam priceless reclusive stillborn tranquil useful watchdog zany http://dogwonder.co.uk/2006/03/list-of-english-words- He also coined quite a few phrases like- "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse" "All that glitters is not gold" and "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" But the question is not- "To be or not to be?" but, would "A word by any other spelling still be a word?" It's "A sorry sight", to see that English is "As dead as a doornail" & a "foregone conclusion" that it's recovery is "doubtful" But "All's well that ends well", and "As good luck would have it", there is assistance on the internet, to help us keep up with change
We know the rhymes, but what is the reason? Well, "Neither rhyme nor reason can express how much" of a mess English is now? But one of the reasons is, that we're all too busy, some are too lazy? and for these reasons, words are getting cut shorter & shorter, also, with the cost of calls and text messages, the shorter the message, the less you have to pay, now that is a good reason! |
Wordsworth, on poet John Dyer
In Shakespeare's 'As You Like It', from the year 1599, Rosalind said to Orlando-
"But are you so much in love as your rhymes speak?" Orland's reply was- "Neither rhyme nor reason can express how much" HOW NEW WORDS ARE CREATED
http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/issues_new.html Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language 1766
https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofengl02johnu Every year, hundreds of new English words and expressions emerge, which Oxford University Press monitors. More than 500 new words, phrases, and senses have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary this quarter (March 2017)
http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/recent-updates Difference between Abbreviations and Acronyms?
http://www.smart-words.org/abbreviations/text.html 116 Teen Text Terms Decoded for Confused Parents http://time.com/4373616/text-abbreviations-acronyms/ Text Message Abbreviations http://www.txtdrop.com/abbreviations.php Text Messaging and Online Chat Abbreviations http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageab |
And so, English keeps evolving from 'Thee' & 'Thou', to This-
Try Rhyming this?
The following are apparently commonly used text abbreviations. Would Shakespeare or Dickens approve?
See if you can decipher my text? (even after I wrote it, I had to reference back as to what it all meant?)
DYJHIW, E1, TLKS2U, in B3, AKA, ENGLISH, & IMO, it's FUBAR, TI2, HNL & LNT,
If U, KIA, GR8, BT, NOOBS, LK, Me DGI, IYKWIM,
BM&Y, & FYI, I'm SITD2,
WIBNI, it WZ, F2F, TLK,
BION, BME, & CMIIW, SRSLY, SUM, PPL, DEGT, NE, MR, NJ,
CWOT, 4, EM,
So, JTLUK, FWIW, YKWYCD, TMA, YOLO, so LOL, IRL, TK a SELFIE, SND an EMOJI,
DYKWITA?, or MABS, it DNC?,
DWBH, & HAND,
So, UNT, IRMC. (SD&M)
The following are apparently commonly used text abbreviations. Would Shakespeare or Dickens approve?
See if you can decipher my text? (even after I wrote it, I had to reference back as to what it all meant?)
DYJHIW, E1, TLKS2U, in B3, AKA, ENGLISH, & IMO, it's FUBAR, TI2, HNL & LNT,
If U, KIA, GR8, BT, NOOBS, LK, Me DGI, IYKWIM,
BM&Y, & FYI, I'm SITD2,
WIBNI, it WZ, F2F, TLK,
BION, BME, & CMIIW, SRSLY, SUM, PPL, DEGT, NE, MR, NJ,
CWOT, 4, EM,
So, JTLUK, FWIW, YKWYCD, TMA, YOLO, so LOL, IRL, TK a SELFIE, SND an EMOJI,
DYKWITA?, or MABS, it DNC?,
DWBH, & HAND,
So, UNT, IRMC. (SD&M)
2
4 AKA B3 BION BM&Y BME BT CMIIW CWOT D&M DEGT DGI DNC DWBH DYJHIW DYKWITA E1 EM EMOJI F2F FUBAR FWIW FYI GR8 HAND HNL IMO IRL |
To, Too
For Also Known As Blah, blah, blah Believe it or not Between me & you Based on my experience But Correct me if I'm wrong Complete waste of time Deep & Meaningful Don't even go there Don't Get It Does not compute Don't Worry, Be Happy Don't You Just Hate It When Do you know what I'm talking about Everyone Them Emotion image Face To Face Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition For what it's worth For your information Great Have A Nice Day Whole Nother Level In My Opinion In real life |
IRMC
IYKWIM JTLUK KIA LK LNT LOL MABS MR NE NJ NOOBS PPL SELFIE SD&M SITD2 SND SRSLY TI2 TK TLK TLKS2U TMA U UNT WIBNI WZ YKWYCD YOLO |
I rest my case
If You Know What I Mean Just to let you know Know It All Like Lost in Translation Laugh out loud Maybe More Any No Joke New to the situation People Photo of yourself So Deep & Meaningful Still in the dark too Send Seriously Taking It To Take Talk Talks To You Take my advice You Until next time Wouldn't it be nice if Was You know what you can do You only live once |
Don't get caught out with your Emoji & Smiley face meanings either
Answer to text message above- Don't You Just Hate It When Everyone Talks To You in Blah, blah, blah, Also Known As ENGLISH & In My Opinion it's Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition Taking It To a Whole Nother Level & Lost in Translation & if you Know It All, Great, But New to the situation Like me Don't Get It If You Know What I Mean? Between me & you & For your information I'm Still in the dark too, Wouldn't it be nice if it was Face To Face Talk? Believe it or not Based on my experience & Correct me if I'm wrong, Seriously Some People Don't even go there Any More, No Joke, Complete waste of time For Them. So Just to let you know For what it's worth, You know what you can do, Take my advice. You only live once, so Laugh out loud In real life, Take a Photo of Yourself, Send an Emotion image, Do you know what I'm talking about? or Maybe it Does not compute? Don't Worry, Be Happy & Have A Nice Day, so Until next time, I rest my case. (So Deep & Meaningful)
This whole 'Text' thing, reminds me of a great scene from the 1983 movie 'A Christmas Story' starring Darren McGavin. It's rated 'PG' (I'll warn you that the last word in the scene is the female dog word unfortunately)
But it's a very funny movie if you haven't already seen it? and there is no other bad language in the movie.
But it's a very funny movie if you haven't already seen it? and there is no other bad language in the movie.
(Little Orphan) Annie's Secret Message (decoder pin)
2:05 |
Shakespeare's Mother-Secret Life of a Tudor Woman
59:05 |
10 Emoji Meanings That Don't Mean What You Think
https://www.lifewire.com/less-obvious-emoji Smileys & People http://emojipedia.org/people/ Top 50 Most Popular Text Terms http://www.netlingo.com/top50/popular-text |
Shakespeare Jest-books: A hundred merry talys, only known copy edited by Wm Carew Hazlitt
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=QqMsAQ Are you related to Shakespeare?
http://tracingancestors-uk.com/surnames/do-you |
Travel & Associates
A View of the Roman Campagna a Villa and Aqueduct in the Distance by Edward Lear 1841
In 1741, John Dyer was made a deacon and then a priest of Catthorpe, Leicestershire
Catthorpe Manor is a 19th century Manor on 22 acres between the villages of Catthorpe and Lilbourne, used now as a function centre
Catthorpe is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. It is located beside the River Avon. The parish church, dedicated to St Thomas, dates from the 14th century. Catthorpe Local History (Domesday reloaded)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB Catthorpe, Genuki
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LEI/Catthorpe Phillimore's Marriages - Catthorpe 1573 to 1837 http://leicestershireparishrecords.blogspot.com.au/ Catthorpe Birth & Baptism Records http://forebears.io/england/leicestershire/catthorpe Catthorpe, Leicestershire Genealogy https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Catthorpe,_Leicester Universal Magazine, Vol 92 Catthorpe Leicestershire
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=2Sc2AAAA History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Leicestershire, and the Small County of Rutland 1846 By Wm White https://books.google.com.au/books?id=c2MRAQAA Worcester Cathedral, before the Reformation known as Worcester Priory
Dyer visited Worcester to paint a portrait of Bishop John Hough and while he was there, was persuaded to seek ordination in the Church of England. Worcester is a city in Worcestershire England, southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester. The city centre, is overlooked by the 12th-century Worcester Cathedral. The Battle of Worcester was the final battle of the English Civil War, where Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army defeated King Charles I's Cavaliers. Worcestershire Family History
http://www.worcesterbmsgh.co.uk/ Genuki Worcestershire http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WOR Worcestershire, Family Search https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Worcestershire,_Eng Towards the end of Dyer's life, Coningsby Rectory
was his home. Coningsby famous one handed clock
http://parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Coningsby/ Coningsby, Lincolnshire is overlooked by the tower of its 15th cent. parish church, St Michael's, with its one-handed clock face, one of the few in the country. The face is painted directly onto the wall of the tower & was probably installed in the 17th cent. Lincolnshire Family History Society
http://www.lincolnshirefhs.org.uk/ Parish Records http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/county/lincolnshire/parish Lincolnshire Links http://www.genealogy-links.co.uk/html/lincs.html New England Colonists The Pilgrims and Puritans
19:42 The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print. It has also been cited as the first novel written in English. The entire book is presented as a dream sequence narrated by an omniscient narrator. The allegory's protagonist, Christian, is an everyman character, and the plot centres on his journey from his hometown, the "City of Destruction" ("this world"), to the "Celestial City" ("that which is to come": Heaven).
Bunyan began his work while in the Bedfordshire county prison from 1660 to 1672, for violations of the Conventicle Act, which prohibited holding of religious services outside the auspices of the established Church of England. (wiki) The Pilgrim's Progress By Bunyan https://archive.org/stream/pilgrimsprogress04buny#p |
Written about Dyer's poetry- As a product of 1727, it must be allowed that it adds to the strength of a necessary link in the chain of English literature that deals poetically with Nature. It is necessary to add, since it has been wrongly located, that Grongar is in Caermarthenshire, and in sight of Aberglasney. His poems are more or less clearly impressed by reminiscences of such writers as Spenser, Drayton, Milton, Gray, Appollonius Rhodius, Theocritus, Lucretius and Virgil. https://archive.org/stream/poemsofjohndyer00dyerial The manner of Dyer's work, was more like Wordsworth than his rival Thomson
John Dyer was associated with a whole host of other poets & artists-
Thomas Edwards Thomas Edwards (1699–1757) was an English critic and poet, best known for a controversy with William Warburton, over the latter's editing of Shakespeare. George Knapton George Knapton (1698–1778) was an English portrait painter and the first portraitist for the Society of Dilettanti in the 1740's. He became Surveyor and Keeper of the King's Pictures from 1765–78 Richard Savage Richard Savage (c1697 – 1743) was an English poet. Best known as the subject of Samuel Johnson's Life of Savage, originally published anonymously in 1744, on which is based one of the most elaborate of Johnson's Lives of the English Poets. Aaron Hill Aaron Hill (1685 – 1750) was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer. Dr James Grainger GRAINGER, JAMES, M.D. (c1721–1766), physician & poet, was born probably at Dunse in Berwickshire. James Thomson
James Thompson (1700-1748) was a Scottish poet and playwright, known for his poems The Seasons 'Winter' and The Castle of Indolence, and for the lyrics of "Rule, Britannia!" Daniel Wray
Daniel Wray (1701 – 1783) was an English antiquary & Fellow of the Royal Society. Historical and Literary Chronology 1701-1746
https://instruct.uwo.ca/english/234e/site/bckgrnds/ Lots of DYER & other names in New England-
New England Marriages Prior to 1700 By Clarence Almon Torrey (partial view) https://books.google.com.au/books?id=mOgK8dM9 Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/early
The Boston Tea Party, (December 16, 1773), wasn't a party, but a protest against the 'Tea Act' 10 May 1773, where 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company were thrown from ships into the Boston Harbor by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians. New England comprises of six states Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Bordered by the state of New York to the west and south, and by the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north, respectively. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east and southeast, and Long Island Sound is to the south. New England has a Worcester, in Massachusetts and a Manchester in New Hampshire. In 1620, Puritan Separatist Pilgrims from England first settled in the region, forming the Plymouth Colony, the second successful English settlement in the Americas, following the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia founded in 1607. The famous Boston Tea Party was in Massachusetts which is part of New England 'The Ruins of Rome', by John Dyer
https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/ruins-rome If you'd like to buy a copy of
'The Ruins of Rome' by John Dyer, 1740 - London - Lawton Gilliver, the going Price is £550.00 https://www.rookebooks.com/product?prod Topographical and Panoramic Survey of the Campagna Di Roma
By Sickler (Friedrich Carl Ludwig) 1818 https://books.google.com.au/books?id=b6Pd1O |
Campania, Italy
Castle Scylla at the top of the rock in 1796, before the attack during the battle of Maida in 1806
Dyer loved the Colosseum (1796)
and the Baths of Caracalla (further down) Being between 'Scylla and Charybdis' is an idiom deriving from Greek mythology, meaning "having to choose between two evils", as in 'A rock & a hard place' or 'Between the devil & the deep blue sea'
Britannia between Scylla and Charybdis (1793)
by James Gillray Scylla & Charybdis were mythical sea monsters
noted by Homer in Greek mythology, on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and the Italian mainland. Scylla was rationalized as a rock shoal (six-headed sea monster) on the Italian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily. A huge sea hazard located close enough to each other that they posed an inescapable threat to passing sailors; avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa. Scilla is now a town in Calabria, Italy. It is the traditional site of the sea monster Scylla of Greek mythology. The Ruffo Castle (Scylla), once a fortress, overlooks the beach. On a seaward-facing terrace is Scilla Lighthouse, an important aid to ships entering the Strait of Messina from the north. The village suffered greatly from the 1783 Calabria earthquakes, the Maidra battle of 1806 and the 1908 Messina earthquake. (wiki)
Around 6,000 tradesmen were engaged every day in the actual construction, which required no fewer than 21 million bricks. To make the orna-mentation, 600 workers required 6300 m³ of marble.
http://www.livius.org/articles/place/rome/rome Hundreds of stokers burned ten tons of wood every day to keep the water in the Baths at the right temperature.
Select views of Italy: 1816, by John Smith
Volume 1 & 2 of John Smith's books were printed in the mid 1790's. Vol 1 doesn't appear to be online. The two volumes seem to have been reprinted in 1816, with the same information & engravings, the later version having better quality images. Unfortunately, some are unavailable in the 1816 edition, but are able to be viewed in the 1796 edition. 1816 edition https://books.google.com.au/books?id=TjEBAAA Earlier edition
Select views in Italy: Vol 2, 1796 by John Smith https://books.google.com.au/books?id=TjdAAAAAY Vale of the river of Arno 1796
Campania is famous for its gulfs as well as for three islands
(Capri, Ischia and Procida) Isle of Capri 1796
Ischia Island, with 60,000 residents
https://www.dantealighieri.com/ischia.php Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the city of Naples. Roughly trapezoidal, it has a a surface area of 46.3 square kilometres (17.9 sq mi). & is almost entirely mountainous. In 6 AD, Augustus restored the island to Naples in exchange for Capri. Today, the island is very densely populated, with 60,000 residents (more than 1,300 inhabitants per square km)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ischia A Day in Pompeii-Full-length animation (Aug 24 79AD) 8:39
|
Around 1724, Dyer travelled to Italy, like many other artists & poets of his time, spending two years sketching the most picturesque & beautiful views in Rome, Florence and other cities. Italy had made such a huge impression on him, that he later wrote 'The Ruins of Rome', published in 1740 The Italy of the early 1700's would have looked quite different from the Italy of today. For instance, Bova, in Calabria, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1783, after Dyer, then was rebuilt later on.
This is a decription from 1796. Scylla, Is a small village now called Il Sciglio, with a stong fort adjoining it, on the summit of a high perpendicular rock. It is situated on the Italian side of the Straits of Messina, at the southern extremity of the province of Calabria. The current is here remarkably impetuous, which renders navigation difficult to vessels oflight burthen, but certainly not so dangerous as both Latin and Greek poets have described it ; for though the skillful mariner, having escaped the dangerous rocks of Scylla, should be drawn into the vortex or whirlpool of-Charybdis, yet he may, by exerting two or three pairs of good oars, easily extricate his bark, and arrive in safety in the adjoining harbour of Messina.
In June 1806, it was decided British Garrison in Sicily, would provide a force to drive the French out of Calabria. The command of the force was given to Major General John Stuart. The force sailed from Sicily on the 28th June 1806 and amde a landing on July 1st. The Battle of Maida on 4 July 1806 was a battle between the British expeditionary force and a First French Empire division outside the town of Maida in Calabria, Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. John Stuart led 5,200 British troops to victory over about 6,000 French soldiers under Jean Reynier
"After being invested by General Regnier's army, during seven weeks, and battered for six days by fourteen pieces of heavy ordnance, the little castle
of Scylla has fallen into his hands: but I have the heartfelt satisfaction to add, that not one of the gallant garrison placed under my orders has become his prisoner" At this time the garrison of the castle consisted of about two hundred British "I have the satisfaction of reflecting, that the support I have received from all ranks has enabled me to sell Scylla dear; and that General Regnier has obtained possession of this little heap of ruins with the loss of several hundreds of his best troops" G. D. Robertson, Lieut.-Col. Commandant Scylla Castle. 1808 The Edinburgh annual register 1810
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=IG4EAAAA The Edinburgh annual register 1810
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=IG4EAA Campania is in a way like New England,
as it is made up of a number of different areas. John Dyer spent quite a bit of time in Campania. The capital city of Campania is Naples. 'Campania' is derived from Latin, as the Romans knew the region as 'Campania felix', (fertile countryside) In September 1943, Salerno was the scene of the Operation Avalanche and suffered a great deal of damage. From February 12 to July 17, 1944, it hosted the Government of Marshal Pietro Badoglio. In those months Salerno was the temporary "Capital of the Kingdom of Italy", and the King Victor Emmanuel III lived in a mansion in its outskirts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campania Within Campania are the Amalfi Coast, Isle of Capri, Mount Vesuvius, Naples Ruins of Pompeii
Approach to the cascade of Terni 1796
Assisi, 1796
Campania comes from the Latin, 'Campania felix', which translates into English as "fertile countryside".
Florence 1796
Procida, the smallest of the three
http://travelgossip.thing2gether.com/2016/04/18/ Very Pretty! No lawn to mow! With everything so close together, they might paint their houses a bright colour, so that they can easily find which one it is Procida is an island in the Bay of Naples located between Capo Miseno and the island of Ischia. It is the smallest of the islands, with very jagged coastlines, less than 4.1 square kilometres (1.6 sq mi) but despite this, it has a population of 10,000 residents. The island suffered continual devastation first by Vandals & Goths, and later by Saracens, Pirate raids & devastation from the Napolionic wars, but today, it looks very cheerful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procida |
Italy Online Genealogy Records
https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Ital Italian Genealogy https://www.italiangenealogy.com/ Italian Genealogical Group http://www.italiangen.org/ Italian Genealogy Online http://geocities.ws/paulanigro/italia SOUTHERN ITALY 12th-15th century Genealogy http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ My Italian Family Roots https://www.myitalianfamily.com/ Italian Newspaper Archives (1942-1978) https://newspaperarchive.com/it/ Our Italian fellow citizens in their old homes and their new 1919
by Clark, Francis E. https://archive.org/stream/ouritalianfello0 Famous Castles and Palaces of Italy 1912, by Edmund D'Auvergne
https://archive.org/stream/cu3192401 |
Travels Through the Low Countries: Germany, Italy and France... Vol 1, 1738 By John Ray https://books.google.com.au/books?id=f0kHAAAA The Voyage Of Italy, Or A Compleat Journey Through Italy: 1670 Volume 2 By Richard Lassels
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=8ZFCAAAcAAJ&printsec Voyage d'Italie: contenant les moeurs des peuples, la description des villes 1682 (in Italian) By Richard Lassels https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Ey7 Civil registration records are the vital records made by the government. Records of births, marriages, and deaths are commonly referred to as vital records because they refer to vital events in a person’s life.In southern Italy, civil authorities began registering births, marriages, and deaths in 1809 (1820 in Sicily). In central and northern Italy, civil registration began in 1866 (1871 in Veneto). After this date, virtually all individuals who lived in Italy were recorded. (Scroll Down for links to records) https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Italy_Civil_Registration-_Vital |
Malaria
Salerno, 1796
WW2 poster against Malaria
Malaria and emigration are two terms deeply embedded in Veneto history
Veneto is a northeastern Italian region stretching from the Dolomite Mountains to the Adriatic Sea. Venice, is its regional capital Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite; it is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. Every year, 300 to 700 million people get infected. Malaria kills 1 - 2 million people every year. 90% of the deaths occur in Africa. Malaria was attributed to a 'bad air', hence the term malaria. In 1717, Epidemiologist Giovanni Maria Lancisi published 'De noxiis paludum e zuviis, eorumque remediis' where he suggested the possible role of mosquitoes in the transmission of malaria. Lancisi relates the prevalence of malaria in swampy areas to the presence of flies & recommended swamp drainage to prevent it. (wiki)
Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, a French army surgeon stationed in Constantine, Algeria, was the first to notice parasites in the blood of a patient suffering from malaria. This occurred on the 6th of November 1880. For his discovery, Laveran was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1907.
The History of Malaria, an Ancient Disease https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about |
While in Italy, Dyer contracted a malarial fever caught in Campagna, (a small town of the province of Salerno) The Mosquitoes that carry Malaria, love the low coastal areas,
like Italy has In 1601, the principal diseases of people admitted to hospitals, were malaria, pneumonia, respiratory tract infections, gastro-enteritis and colitis, skin diseases and tuberculosis.
With 20,000 Italians dying every year from Malaria, the motivation for a way to prevent the disease was particularly strong in Italy
Italian research on the prevention of malaria.
From a map published in 1882, and a nationwide census in 1887 they showed that malaria was present in almost a third of the Italian peninsula. It was estimated that two million Italians (out of a population of 30 million) suffered from the disease & that it was killing over 20,000 of them every year. Malaria affected various provinces of Italy differently: in the north (except for the Venetian coast), a mild form of the disease prevailed; in the south (including the Tuscany and Latium coasts), the disease was more severe. About 10% of the population in the south lived in permanently endemic areas & the case fatality rate in parts of Calabria, Basilicata, Sicily & Sardinia was sometimes as high as 20-30%. Malaria affected the cultivation of around two million hectares of land, the economy of the south suffered badly, the disease exacting a heavy burden from the agricultural workforce. This meant that the motivation for developing & applying policies to prevent malaria were particularly strong in Italy. http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/angelo-celli-and-research Carrying a gene for the blood disorder, sickle-cell anemia, gives partial resistance to the Malaria bug
Parasitic Infections of the Circulatory and Lymphatic Systems
http://cnx.org/contents/lzxT35lb@3/Parasitic-Infections-of-the-Ci The Man who beat Malaria
It was an image, from one of Ernst Haeckel’s books, that sparked Arnoldo Gabaldón Carrillo's interest in biology https://www.caracaschronicles.co Kunstformen der Natur by Haeckel, Ernst H. P. A, 1904 In German, but has lots of illustrations https://archive.org/stream/kunstfor Mosquitoes carry a parasite for Malaria picked up from infected people, then bite someone else & infect them, so it keeps going around & around. No-one really knows where the first parasite came from? it was once thought that the disease came from 'Bad Air' Is there a parasite that develops in the right conditions of raw sewerage, rotting food & bodies? which in turn would cause the 'Bad Air' (smell), the mosquito picks it up, then everyone became sick. Who knows? All that we do know, is that it keeps going around & around and it's just like-
"What came first? The chicken or the Egg? Here is something serious &
something fun to consider- |
Manson & Ross: Death by mosquito
9:46 |
Horrible Histories:You're a gong farmer my son
0:29 |