Ærend-gewrit: Wicu 4-10 April 2011 on Twittere

Last week was a slow week at the Twitter feed, which is fine by me. And so here we go…

Anglo-Saxons:

As the summer approaches, we’ll continue to hear more and more about the Staffordshire Hoard. This week saw the release of a video about the Staffordshire Hoard conservation team and a vlog (i.e., video blog) about the conservation work; check out part 1 and part 2. If you prefer photos over video, then here are some photos of the conservation work. Staffordshire falls within territory that belonged to the Mercian kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons. If you are interested in the Anglo-Saxon past of Mercia, check out photos of Saxon Mercia and visit the developing Mercian Trail, and read up on Mercian Anglo-Saxon saints.

A surprisingly interesting piece of news last week was the announcement of the discover of a 7th century Anglo-Saxon plough. Read the article to understand why that’s actually news. Something else that caught my eye is a newly fashioned map of Anglo-Saxon London; it’s especially useful for learning more about the origins of the topographical names that continue to be used to this day. And what better way to round off the Anglo-Saxon section than with a paper on female characters in Beowulf?

Norse:

I came across surprisingly little about the Norse last week. The few items I found were a blog post on the Temple of Uppsala and Dísablót, a short biography of Erik the Red, and a new – and rather expensive – book for sale on female skalds.

Celts:

The words ‘skald’ and ‘saga’ usually bring to mind Vikings and Iceland, but let us not forget about heroic saga in medieval Ireland. Imagine listening to Old Irish sagas accompanied by a trinity harp, how enjoyable!

Of course, the Welsh are renowned for their medieval poetry (among other things). Learn about medieval Welsh poetry associated with Owain Glyndwr, and discover some sites such as Merlin’s Hill and Conwy Castle, and St. Bride’s Bay which is currently seeing an important anthropological dig.

The Senchus blog on early medieval Scottish history published an interesting post on the possible (probable?) origin and etymology of the place-name Atholl. If you are interested in the indigenous languages of Scotland, then surely you’ll enjoy watching a video about growing up with Scots language, as well as news about a new walking group in Scots.