Tea at Trianon: The Story of the Historical and Fictional Uhtred of Bebbanburg

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

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

The Story of the Historical and Fictional Uhtred of Bebbanburg

Of course, I loved The Last Kingdom and all The Saxon Stories of Bernard Cornwell. From History Defined:

It was thus up to Uhtred to assemble the troops since Waltheof I was too old to lead or fight. Uhtred raised an army from Bernicia and Yorkshire to fight the Scots, who lost severely. Uhtred and his men decorated Durham with several Scot heads on spikes as a reminder of their decisive victory. A happy King Ethelred II appointed Uhtred the ealdorman of Bamburgh even when Waltheof I was still alive.

Symeon of Durham recorded most of the historical accounts that involved Uhtred. Symeon was a chronicler and monk at Durham Priory and had a special friendship with Uhtred. Because of their camaraderie, Uhtred helped transfer the remains of Northumbrian St. Cuthbert to Durham from Chester-le-Street.

Uhtred traveled with Durham and the other monks to clear the site for a new cathedral where St. Cuthbert’s remains were eventually laid to rest. It was here that Uhtred met and married his first wife, Ecgfrida. She was the daughter of Bishop Aldhun, the man who commissioned the new cathedral. They eventually had one son whom they named Ealdred. Read more.)