Tea at Trianon: Tintagel – Castle of the Dumnonians

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, August 1, 2020

Tintagel – Castle of the Dumnonians

From Heritage Daily:

The earliest traces of settlement dates from the Roman period, where a proposed Roman outpost has been suggested to occupy the site. Archaeological evidence is scarce, with only small traces of Roman activity such as coins, pottery, and small finds with no identification of contemporary Roman structures. With the collapse of Roman government in Britannia during the 5th century AD, the former province split into various Kingdoms and Cornwall (formerly civitas Dumnoniorum during Roman times) likely emerged as the Kingdom of Dumnonia, named after the Dumnonii which inhabited the region.

Tintagel developed into a prosperous stronghold and centre of trade, which archaeologists propose was an elite settlement inhabited by a powerful local warlord or even Dumnonian royalty. Excavations have revealed that the headland was covered with small rectangular buildings and was defended on the landward side by large earthworks and a ditch. Archaeologists also discovered high-status items imported from Africa and the Mediterranean, suggesting that Tintagel was connected to a wide interconnected trade network despite the period being considered the Dark Ages.

In 1138, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain gave rise to the mythical figure of King Arthur, which Geoffrey associates Tintagel as the site where Uther Pendragon, King of Britain seduced Queen Igerna (wife of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall). (Read more.)