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Hengist

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joint-founder with his brother Horsa (d. 455) of the English kingdom of Kent, belonged to a leading family of the Jutes, settled in the peninsula of Jutland, where they held land as far south as the river Sley, which runs into the sea near Schleswig. In early traditions their ancestry is traced back to the gods. Witta, who is described as their grandfather, and, according to Beowulf, ‘ruled Sueves,’ is supposed by Sir James Simpson to be the Vetta, son of Victi, whose burial is commemorated by the inscription on the Catstane at Kirkliston, between six and seven miles from Edinburgh. The suggestion is ingenious, and it is clear from Ammianus Marcellinus that Saxons, a name that might fairly be taken to include Jutes or Angles, were in Scotland, leagued with the Picts and Scots, about 364, a date at which it is quite possible for the grandfather of Hengist to have been alive. Kemble suggested, on the other hand, that not only their ancestors, who are traced back to Teutonic d
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VORTIGERN

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Photo via Pinterest  though the subject of many weird legends, may safely be regarded as an historical figure, the ruler of South-eastern Britain at the time of the first English settlement. According to Gildas, the piteous appeal to Ætius in 446 was followed by a British victory over the barbarians of the north; soon, however, it was rumoured that the latter were again about to attack the province, and the Britons were in despair. It was then decided by the ‘haughty tyrant’ and his ‘counsellors’ to invite the aid of the Saxons, who came in three keels and, ‘iubente infausto tyranno,’ settled in the eastern part of the island. The Picts and Scots defeated, the newcomers turned upon the Britons and devastated the whole country. In this account, the earliest extant, of the circumstances which led to the English settlement, the name of the British ‘tyrant’ is withheld (though two of the manuscripts repair the omission), after a fashion not uncommon in Gildas. Nevertheless ther
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Cuckoo

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The arrival of cuckoos is the signal that spring has come; various April dates are called 'Cuckoo Day' in different parts of the country: 14th in Sussex, 15th in Hampshire and Northamptonshire, 20th in Worcestershire, and so on. These are dates of local fairs, and there is often a tradition that an old woman goes to the fair and lets a cuckoo out of her bag or apron (Wright and Lones, 1936: ii. 177-8).    A good deal of light-hearted rivalry surrounds the question of when and where the first cuckoo is heard, and many letters on the topic have been published in The Times over the years. *Omens were drawn from the first call heard: lucky if to your right, unlucky if to your left or behind you, or if you have not yet eaten; if you have money in your pocket at the time, you will have plenty all year (especially if you turn it or jingle it), but if not, you will stay poor; if you are in bed, this forebodes an illness, unless you start running at once; if you are standing
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John Rous(Historian)

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Although the accuracy and value of his historical writings and judgments have been questioned, John Rous of Warwickshire, a chantry priest with antiquarian interests, is recognized as an important source for contemporary perceptions and attitudes during the WARS OF THE ROSES.    Born at Warwick and educated at Oxford, Rous was in 1445 appointed a chaplain of the chantry chapel at Guy’s Cliff in Warwickshire. His office, which he retained for the rest of his life, required him to celebrate daily Mass for the chantry’s late founder, Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick. His duties allowed him time to indulge his interest in antiquarian studies, that is, to collect manuscripts and artifacts relating to the history of his locality, to conduct historical research, and to write up his findings. He undertook periodic trips— once to WALES and once to LONDON—to study local historical records and to borrow or buy research materials. In 1459, he attended the COVENTRY PARLIAMENT, where t
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Langstrother, Sir John, Prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem

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War of the Roses The son of Thomas Langstrother of Crosthwaite, Sir John, like his elder brother William, joined the Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (also known as “the Hospitallers”), a military religious order established in the eleventh century to provide hospital care and military protection to pilgrims in Jerusalem during the Crusades. Ruled by a grand master, who by the fifteenth century was headquartered on the island of Rhodes, the order’s various national provinces were headed by grand commanders or priors. In 1467, after spending most of his early years in the eastern Mediterranean serving as castellan of Rhodes and grand commander of Cyprus, Langstrother won election as prior of the order in England, a position that had been held by Robert Botyll, a noted Yorkist. Because Langstrother’s Lancastrian sympathies were well known, EDWARD IV, in an unprecedented act, refused to sanction the Knights’ selection and suggested that they accept Richard Wood
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Buckingham Rebellion ,1483

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Buckingham finds the Severn impassable, 18 October 1483  © The Stapleton Collection / Bridgeman Images Buckingham’s Rebellion is the name given to a series of uprisings that occurred in England in the autumn of 1483 in reaction to RICHARD III’s seizure of his nephew’s throne, to the disappearance of that nephew and his brother, and to the growing belief that both boys were dead.    Buckingham’s Rebellion comprised two independently organized conspiracies against Richard III that, despite some incompatibilities of purpose, joined together to achieve their shared goal of overthrowing the king. The first conspiracy was planned and led by Henry STAFFORD, duke of Buckingham, heretofore Richard’s chief ally. The exact reasons for Buckingham’s desertion of the king he had helped to make are unclear. The traditional reason, used by William Shakespeare in his play RICHARD III, is the king’s refusal to keep a promise to restore to Buckingham certain lands to which he had a claim. Mos
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The Book of Kells

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Illuminated depiction of the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, chi and rho; from the Book of Kells,  c.  800 AD. Photos.com/Thinkstock The Book of Kells is one of the most famous and magnificent illuminated manuscripts in the world. It was produced around 800 somewhere in the British Isles. The vellum manuscript contains the four Gospels, with prefaces and the “Eusebian canons”—tables containing concordances to the Gospels. The manuscript comprises 340 vellum pages, each page containing 16 to 18 lines of text in a handwriting known as “insular majuscule.” But the chief interest in the book lies in its lavish illuminations. Three elaborate full-page miniatures of the symbols for the evangelists Matthew, Mark, and John appear before the openings of those Gospels. Directly facing the opening texts of each Gospel are portraits of the four evangelists themselves. There are, in addition, full-page illuminations illustrating Christ in majesty, the Virgin and Child,
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