History With Hilbert @[email protected]
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Hello everyone, my name's Hilbert and I make videos about (m
Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
Do you think we should stop using the term "Anglo-Saxon" in history?
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Tonight's video on "What Happened to the Netherlands' Orange Flag" will be uploaded a bit later than usual because I'm watching the Toon wallop Burnley (football). Hope yous enjoy it when it comes out!
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Praat Mar Frysk - Just Speak Frisian is a campaign to encourage the use of the Frisian language.
The West Frisian language is spoken in the province of Fryslân in the north of the Netherlands by around half a million people. Today, on the International Day of Mother Languages, the Frisian band Sjoerd Ensa released a new single in support of their mother tongue and all those who speak Frisian and another minority language.
You may even recognise a certain someone in the clip...
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"Riddles of the Isle" tells the tale of the (former) island of Axholme in Lincolnshire weaving threads of historic peoples such as the Britons, Anglo-Saxons, Frisians, and Danes together with the academic disciplines of place-name-studies, numismatics and archaeology to weave a fascinating history of this often-overlooked corner of England. The Frisians feature heavily in this account, the author being intimately familiar with the Viking Age on both sides of the North Sea. I managed to sit down with that author, Alex Harvey, and ask him some more about our favourite sea-faring people from the Early Middle Ages. (Part 1/2)
jjmoffs.co.uk/product/riddles-of-the-isle/?fbclid=…
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Interview with "Riddles of the Isle" Author Alex Harvey
1. What was your motivation for writing this book? Throughout we hear about your own personal insights about certain locations given that you spent much of your childhood on the Isle. Have you been fostering this idea to explore the pre-Conquest history of Axholme for a while already or was there a certain moment that prompted you to do so?
I hate to say it, but for a long time I was quite disillusioned with the Isle of Axholme. Its modern form is not quite as interesting as how the place looked in the Early Medieval Period. Like I say in the book, at some points sarcastically, it can sometimes be quite the boring place, but I think that ultimately depends on one’s pace of life. When I lived in the Isle up till age 18, I wanted to leave to see the big wide world. Now that I’m a bit older, I appreciate the quiet life that the Isle represents, and when I revisit the place, it is always a pleasant experience. I’ve always been aware of the Isle’s history as there is a huge research scene across the many villages and several extremely talented researchers and authors have contributed over the years. It wasn’t until I became really interested and involved in history and archaeology myself that I began to contemplate looking at the Isle in that same way; nobody had ever written about the Isle prior to 1066. I wanted to change that!
As for the moment that prompted me to fully investigate my home, it was actually the result of my fiancée who, during a car ride in March 2023, said that I should ‘write a history book’ in order to do something useful in my spare time. Ten months later, here we are!
2. What were the stages involved in putting this book together? Did it take you a long time to research and write?
It is difficult to pin down when the ‘research phase’ for any writing project truly started. The odd newspaper article here and there, the odd book somewhere else; all of these streams of information coalesce to form a broad idea of ‘maybe I could write something to fill the gap’ but I’d say the actual production of Riddles took place between March and May 2023. In fact, in the Acknowledgements section, which I wrote right at the very end of finishing the first draft, I’ve dated it to the 17th of May this year.
Of course, I since revised the draft significantly, and after a hiatus of a few months without looking at the manuscript (I was writing another book) I returned to fully update Riddles and bring it up to standard in September this year, once I secured publication through JJ Moffs Ltd. Once the writing had finished, the next stage of the process (because we were operating on a shoestring budget due to the book’s niche appeal), was to secure funds to cover the type-setting cost. My publisher and I managed this via reaching out to benefactors and local businesses; I am very grateful to D&K Accounting especially, and all the other contributors are listed in the acknowledgements.
3. How did your perspective on Axholme change when you studied Archaeology at York?
Studying the past in any great detail, regardless of discipline, makes you start to view the world a little differently. I think what is most interesting about archaeology though is the physical angle; why is that soil coloured that way? Why is that field lumpy? Why do the lowest bricks at the base of that church tower look different? It’s not simply words on a page or linguistic extrapolation through place-names, its physical proof of our long and winding past. Getting to grips with archaeological theory and some practical experience made me start looking backwards through time a lot more, and it was only a matter of time before I applied that to my home. When you live in a historic city like York, where you can visibly see Roman, Viking Age, and Medieval layers, you start to take it for granted. Elsewhere, these layers might not be as visible, but they are still there.
4. You start the book by looking at the various etymologies of different settlements on the Isle, are people there generally aware of the history behind these place-names and what happened in the pre-Conquest Era or is this something you’re trying to address by writing this book?
Like I said earlier, the Isle has a big local history scene, but principally much if not all of this focus has been on the post-Conquest happenings in and around the area. This history, which includes the Mowbray royal lineage, Cornelius Vermuyden’s drainage, and the founding of Methodism, is largely well known across the Isle. I was taught about it all in school, and I think even at the most basic level most Islonians will have heard the above names mentioned in passing and have a vague understanding about the relevant history.
Obviously, there are a few places or features across the Isle that predate 1066, like St. Oswald’s Church’s Anglo-Saxon cross shaft, but these are viewed in isolation and, as I say in the book, often relegated to just an introductory footnote. It was my intention to really tease out (as best I could), the Early Medieval history of the Isle, because nobody had ever tried to do it before. Well, I tell a lie; in 1839 William Brocklehurst Stonehouse published a historical overview of the Isle, but the discipline has come a long way since his time, so a refresher was due.
5. What effect do you think Axholme’s, and indeed Lindsey’s liminal geography as a marshy border area has had on its historical development?
To coin a phrase from Max Adams, ‘liminality is where it’s at’ he said to me in a recent e-mail. To be on the periphery of major historic events and powerful kingdoms is to be central to their edges and transport links. Obviously, the Isle of Axholme isn’t the only liminal zone in the world. The Netherlands are another. These are places that might seem like they exist as obscure marginal zones, but when you reflect on what that means from the perspective of those who live in these ‘margins’, then really what you’re seeing is an ‘in-between space’ that exists close by all of the important neighbours.
The Early Medieval kingdom of Lindsey is a very obscure Anglo-Saxon territory that I wager nobody outside of those with an interest in the period will know much about. It gets few mentions in the documentary record, and yet the archaeological record reveals that it saw the highest degree of sceatta trade in the sixth and seventh centuries, so must have been a very rich territory indeed. Being on the borders of more powerful neighbours doesn’t make you a barrier but, instead, a bridge, and bridges are both metaphorically and literally areas of crossing. Criss-crossing trade, culture, language, people, objects, faiths; it’s all important, and you get the most ‘criss-crossing’ in a liminal zone. The Isle, in this regard, is no different.
jjmoffs.co.uk/product/riddles-of-the-isle/?fbclid=…
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Riddles of the Isle: History of the Isle of Axholme from the Romans to the Normans will be released on the 20th of November 2023. For more information and to pre-order(UK only) , please follow the link below. For those outside of the UK, an international link will be made available to order from on the 20th of November 2023. Any further questions, feel free to post a comment on the thread - Alex is in the group!
jjmoffs.co.uk/product/riddles-of-the-isle/?fbclid=…
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Alright so an update, thanks to the technological genius of my brother I am back in business and the editing software is up and running once again. But that begs the question - would you rather see the promised video from 2017, or a new video about the origins of the Israeli flag?
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Hellau. So I've had some technical difficulties with my editing software and am on the cusp of a stint of traveling meaning I don't have a new video ready for tonight. There are two things I can do. One is to upload a video I still have about coins from Dorestad which I made in 2017 (hilariously pronounced Old English and braces). Option two is a livestream where you can ask me any questions you have. I'll be joined by two of my Frisian friends, Jelle and Tseard, who come from one of the most famous places in Fryslân. Please let me know, and start posting any questions for the Q&A livestream down below. Cheers!
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In the Netherlands and interested in Old Germanic languages? There are still places available at the University of Leiden's Old Germanic languages event 2022, taking place tomorrow, the 3rd of December from 10:30-17:15 with some great talks on Old Frisian, Old English, Gothic and plenty more!
In Nederland en geinteresseerd in Oudgermaanse talen? Er zijn nogsteeds plaatsen vrij bij de Oudgermanistendag, een evenement met sprekers die het over onderwerpen zoals het Oudfries, Oudengels en het Gotische hebben en nog wel veel meer. Dat is morgen, 3 December op de Universiteit van Leiden van 10:30-17:15.
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Based on the last video on the Inter-Frisian Flag, a flag meant to represent the Frisians of West, East, North and other parts of Frisia, most commenters and people who sent in messages agreed the first flag with the yellow Scandinavian cross was the best fit. I now put forward 4 designs based on that flag by the Groep fan Auwerk incorporating the black colour representing the East Frisians that was felt to be lacking in the original. Which of these do you think is best? Or is the original still the best option even if some East Frisians aren't happy with it?
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Hi everyone! New video up tomorrow about how the Arabs viewed the Norse as part of Project Middle East, a collaboration between several of your favourite Youtube channels all making videos about various elements of Middle Eastern History airing at 18:00GMT tomorrow! Make sure to tune in!
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Very interesting video on why the Russian Invasion of Ukraine has really set a precedent and will be the start of a new geo-political era for Europe.
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Hello everyone, my name's Hilbert and I make videos about (mostly) history, hence the name.Which period of history and which aspect of location can vary greatly, from the Picts of 6th Century Scotland to the Peaky Blinders of 1920's Birmingham, although you can be sure that whichever time period I am talking about, it will include some (mostly useless) language and etymological trivia as well as the national anthem of the Netherlands. Do not question this; it is essential to being a good historian.
The best "About" section you can find on me and not written by me are my videos, so if you want to learn more about me why not watch them? If you still want to learn more then consider jumping into my private life on Vlogs in Clogs, or following my various social media accounts like Facebook or Twitter, and if you want to pay me to ramble about history and languages and sitting in my room fantasising about windmills; you now can thanks to popular demand by becoming a patron on Patreon. Ta!