Tea at Trianon: Medieval Mystery of Brunanburh Battle May Be Solved

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

Sunday, January 11, 2026

Medieval Mystery of Brunanburh Battle May Be Solved

From Medievalists:

A long-running debate over the location of one of the most important battles fought in medieval England may finally be nearing an answer. A new study argues that the Battle of Brunanburh, fought in 937, took place at Bromborough on the Wirral, bringing fresh clarity to a question that has occupied historians for more than a century.

The book, Finding the Battle of Brunanburh, published by the University of Chester Press, is written by Paul Cavill, Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham, and Steve Harding, Professor Emeritus in Applied Biochemistry at the University of Nottingham. The authors present what they describe as the most comprehensive analysis of the available evidence yet undertaken.

Brunanburh was a decisive clash between the West Saxon king Athelstan and a coalition force led by King Anlaf of Dublin, King Constantine of Alba, and King Owain of Strathclyde. After a day-long and exceptionally bloody battle, Athelstan’s army emerged victorious. The defeated Hiberno-Norse forces retreated by sea to Dublin, while the northern British armies returned home. For Athelstan, the victory was the crowning moment of his reign, supporting his claim to be the “ruler of all Britain”. (Read more.)