Download or read book Bretons and Britons written by Barry Cunliffe and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-13 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is it about Brittany that makes it such a favourite destination for the British? To answer this question, Bretons and Britons explores the long history of the Bretons, from the time of the first farmers around 5400 BC to the present, and the very close relationship they have had with their British neighbours throughout this time. More than simply a history of a people, Bretons and Britons is also the author's homage to a country and a people he has come to admire over decades of engagement. Underlying the story throughout is the tale of the Bretons' fierce struggle to maintain their distinctive identity. As a peninsula people living on a westerly excrescence of Europe they were surrounded on three sides by the sea, which gave them some protection from outside interference, but their landward border was constantly threatened - not only by succeeding waves of Romans, Franks, and Vikings, but also by the growing power of the French state. It was the sea that gave the Bretons strength and helped them in their struggle for independence. They shared in the culture of Atlantic-facing Europe, and from the eighteenth century, when a fascination for the Celts was beginning to sweep Europe, they were able to present themselves as the direct successors of the ancient Celts along with the Cornish, Welsh, Scots, and Irish. This gave them a new strength and a new pride. It is this spirit that is still very much alive today.
Download or read book The British Settlement of Brittany written by Pierre-Roland Giot and published by Tempus Publishing, Limited. This book was released on 2003 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covering the period AD 350-950, this book by three distinguished French scholars examines why and how, in Late Antiquity and the early Dark Ages, Britons from the Roman province of Britannia went over to Armorica, part of ancient Gaul, and settled there.
Download or read book Brittany and the Atlantic Archipelago 450 1200 written by Caroline Brett and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-28 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did Brittany get its name and its British-Celtic language in the centuries after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire? Beginning in the ninth century, scholars have proposed a succession of theories about Breton origins, influenced by the changing relationships between Brittany, its Continental neighbours, and the 'Atlantic Archipelago' during and after the Viking age and the Norman Conquest. However, due to limited records, the history of medieval Brittany remains a relatively neglected area of research. In this new volume, the authors draw on specialised research in the history of language and literature, archaeology, and the cult of saints, to tease apart the layers of myth and historical record. Brittany retained a distinctive character within the typical 'medieval' forces of kingship, lordship, and ecclesiastical hierarchy. The early history of Brittany is richly fascinating, and this new investigation offers a fresh perspective on the region and early medieval Europe in general.
Download or read book The Gael and Cymbri written by Sir William Betham and published by Dublin [Dublin] : W. Curry. This book was released on 1834 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An attempt to prove that the early inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland were descended from the Phoenicians.
Download or read book Arthur Origins Identities and the Legendary History of Britain written by Jean Blacker and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2024-03-21 with total page 579 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Geoffrey of Monmouth’s immensely popular Latin prose Historia regum Britanniae (c. 1138), followed by French verse translations – Wace’s Roman de Brut (1155) and anonymous versions including the Royal Brut, the Munich, Harley, and Egerton Bruts (12th -14th c.), initiated Arthurian narratives of many genres throughout the ages, alongside Welsh, English, and other traditions. Arthur, Origins, Identities and the Legendary History of Britain addresses how Arthurian histories incorporating the British foundation myth responded to images of individual or collective identity and how those narratives contributed to those identities. What cultural, political or psychic needs did these Arthurian narratives meet and what might have been the origins of those needs? And how did each text contribute to a “larger picture” of Arthur, to the construction of a myth that still remains so compelling today?
Download or read book Brittany and the Atlantic Archipelago 450 1200 written by Caroline Brett and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-28 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Brittany is rich in arch ...
Download or read book Druids A Very Short Introduction written by Barry Cunliffe and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2010-05-27 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who were the Druids? What do we know about them? Do they still exist today? The Druids first came into focus in Western Europe - Gaul, Britain, and Ireland - in the second century BC. They are a popular subject; they have been known and discussed for over 2,000 years and few figures flit so elusively through history. They are enigmatic and puzzling, partly because of the lack of knowledge about them has resulted in a wide spectrum of interpretations. Barry Cunliffe takes the reader through the evidence relating to the Druids, trying to decide what can be said and what can't be said about them. He examines why the nature of the druid caste changed quite dramatically over time, and how successive generations have interpreted the phenomenon in very different ways. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book The Ancient Celts Second Edition written by Barry Cunliffe and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-04-14 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fierce warriors and skilled craftsmen, the Celts were famous throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World. They were the archetypal barbarians from the north and were feared by both Greeks and Romans. For two and a half thousand years they have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet their origins have remained a mystery and even today are the subject of heated debate among historians and archaeologists. Barry Cunliffe's classic study of the ancient Celtic world was first published in 1997. Since then huge advances have taken place in our knowledge: new finds, new ways of using DNA records to understand Celtic origins, new ideas about the proto-urban nature of early chieftains' strongholds, All these developments are part of this fully updated , and completely redesigned edition. Cunliffe explores the archaeological reality of these bold warriors and skilled craftsmen of barbarian Europe who inspired fear in both the Greeks and the Romans. He investigates the texts of the classical writers and contrasts their view of the Celts with current archaeological findings. Tracing the emergence of chiefdoms and the fifth- to third-century migrations as far as Bosnia and the Czech Republic, he assesses the disparity between the traditional story and the most recent historical and archaeological evidence on the Celts. Other aspects of Celtic identity such as the cultural diversity of the tribes, their social and religious systems, art, language and law, are also examined. From the picture that emerges, we are — crucially — able to distinguish between the original Celts, and those tribes which were 'Celtized', giving us an invaluable insight into the true identity of this ancient people.
Download or read book The Men of the North written by Tim Clarkson and published by Birlinn. This book was released on 2012-09-28 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The North Britons are the least-known among the inhabitants of early medieval Scotland. Like the Picts and Vikings they played an important role in the shaping of Scottish history during the first millennium AD but their part is often neglected or ignored. This book aims to redress the balance by tracing the history of this native Celtic people through the troubled centuries from the departure of the Romans to the arrival of the Normans. The fortunes of Strathclyde, the last-surviving kingdom of the North Britons, are studied from its emergence at Dumbarton in the fifth century to its eventual demise in the eleventh. Other kingdoms, such as the Edinburgh-based realm of Gododdin and the mysterious Rheged, are examined alongside fragments of heroic poetry celebrating the valour of their warriors. Behind the recurrent themes of warfare and political rivalry runs a parallel thread dealing with the growth of Christianity and the influence of the Church in the affairs of kings. Important ecclesiastical figures such as Ninian of Whithorn and Kentigern of Glasgow are discussed, partly in the hope of unearthing their true identities among a tangled web of sources. The closing chapters of the book look at how and why the North Britons lost their distinct identity to join their old enemies the Picts as one of Scotland's vanished nations.
Download or read book Warriors and Kings written by Martin Wall and published by . This book was released on 2024-06-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New paperback edition - Explore the 1,500-year history of Celtic resistance. Martin Wall explores the mythology and psychology of this unyielding and insular people.
Download or read book The Discovery of King Arthur written by Geoffrey Ashe and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 1987-01-15 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author offers convincing proof that King Arthur existed by tracing the legend of King Arthur to its roots in the 12th century chronicles of Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Download or read book Exploring Celtic Origins written by Barry Cunliffe and published by Oxbow Books Limited. This book was released on 2021-03-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important collection seeks ways forward at the moment in history when the genome-wide sequencing of ancient DNA has suddenly changed everything in the study of later European prehistory.
Download or read book Britain Begins written by Barry Cunliffe and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the origins of the British and the Irish peoples, from the end of the last Ice Age around 10,000BC to the eve of the Norman Conquest - who they were, where they came from, and how they related to one another.
Download or read book Book of Peoples of the World written by Wade Davis and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2007 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the foremost authority on history and civilization comes the definitive guide to world cultures--showcasing human diversity in all its vast and startling richness. 235 color photographs and 37 maps.
Download or read book The Scythians written by Barry Cunliffe and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-26 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brilliant horsemen and great fighters, the Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south - the Chinese, the Persians and the Greeks - and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe. Relations with the Greeks around the shores of the Black Sea were rather different - both communities benefiting from trading with each other. This led to the development of a brilliant art style, often depicting scenes from Scythian mythology and everyday life. It is from the writings of Greeks like the historian Herodotus that we learn of Scythian life: their beliefs, their burial practices, their love of fighting, and their ambivalent attitudes to gender. It is a world that is also brilliantly illuminated by the rich material culture recovered from Scythian burials, from the graves of kings on the Pontic steppe, with their elaborate gold work and vividly coloured fabrics, to the frozen tombs of the Altai mountains, where all the organic material - wooden carvings, carpets, saddles and even tattooed human bodies - is amazingly well preserved. Barry Cunliffe here marshals this vast array of evidence - both archaeological and textual - in a masterful reconstruction of the lost world of the Scythians, allowing them to emerge in all their considerable vigour and splendour for the first time in over two millennia.
Download or read book People Power and Identity in the Late Middle Ages written by Gwilym Dodd and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-12 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of ground-breaking essays celebrates Mark Ormrod’s wide-ranging influence over several generations of scholars. The seventeen chapters in this collection focus primarily on the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and are grouped thematically on governance and political resistance, culture, religion and identity.
Download or read book By Steppe Desert and Ocean written by Barry W. Cunliffe and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the peoples of Eurasia, from the birth of farming to the expansion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century. An immense historical panorama set on a huge continental stage, this is also the story of how humans first started building the global system we know today.
