Название: A Mighty Fleet and the King's Power: The Isle of Man, AD 400 to 1265
Автор: Tim Clarkson
Издательство: John Donald
Год: 2023
Страниц: 240
Язык: английский
Формат: epub
Размер: 11.5 MB
Situated in the middle of the Irish Sea, the Isle of Man is like a stepping-stone between the lands that surround it. In medieval times, it played an important role in the histories of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. This book explores the first part of that turbulent era, tracing the story of the Isle of Man from the fifth to the thirteenth centuries. It looks at the ways in which various peoples – Britons, Scots, Irish, English and Scandinavians – influenced events in Man over a period of more than 800 years. A large portion of the book is concerned with the Vikings, a group whose legacy – in place names, old burial mounds and finely carved stones – is such a vivid element in the Manx landscape today. In broad chronological terms, the book’s main focus is the early medieval period or Early Middle Ages – an era commonly seen as encompassing the period 400 to 1100 – together with a further 160 years to accommodate the Manx royal dynasty founded by Godred Crovan. The narrative therefore includes much of the period known as the Central Middle Ages, spanning four centuries from 900 to 1300. A substantial portion of the book inevitably deals with the Viking Age, the chronological limits of which – in Britain, at least – are usually defined by two significant events: the Norse raid on Lindisfarne in 793 and the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. Historians nevertheless recognise that many of the characteristics of ‘Viking-type’ activity continued well beyond the eleventh century in the Irish Sea region and in the maritime zones lying off the northern and western coasts of Scotland.
