The year is 1019. Northumbria, now accepting its final role as an earldom, cedes its northernmost territory to Scotland and assumes its eternal and rightful place as part of England. The ancient Northumbrian flag is in the right sidebar and under it, the ancient Northumbrian Tartan.
From Lindisfarne to the Humber, from the sea to the West Riding - all are welcome guests to our fair earldom. Now there is a proposal for a new Northumbrian flag and yet an ancient one, taking into account its final historical status. That flag can be seen lower right here.
G-d save Northumbria and England. This blog now bends its knee and pays tribute to the honour of being considered a Northumbrian [please don't utter the term Northumberland] and thereby, an Anglian.
On behalf of the Native Britons I'd like to say: "Get off my land, Saxon vagrant"
ReplyDeleteNo claim on Wales, Ordo and note I didn't say Saxon, I said Anglian. Wales is welcome to itself.
ReplyDeleteAh, but Northumbria and indeed all of England was stolen from us Native Britons. And we make no distinction between Angles and Saxons. You can keep Hull though.
ReplyDeleteDoes that make me a Northumbrian? I was born North of the Tyne.
ReplyDeleteI thought bretwalda was somebody "real" for a moment! Nice to see you think so much of Wales, James. Pretty flag.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there are the traditional Northumbrian smallpipes, dialectical differences and so on... Northumbria had a long history as an indepenent kingdom. Some slightly problems with the Danes at one point, as I recall...
ReplyDeleteSo when are Northumbrians going to annex Yorkshire?
ReplyDeleteYou're Bernician, Shades. I don't understand the rivalry between Bernicians and Deiraens.
ReplyDeleteOrdo - the Welsh, as I recall, joined Mercia against us - so you colluded with Penda.
Welshcakes - we have no beef with Wales and recognize the six Celtic kingdoms. Ordo can't have it all. :) By the way, you know what Bretwalda is, of course.
Dave - yes indeed and Kathryn Tickell is carrying on the tradition. But these are more strictly Bernician and I'm more Deiraen. Still, Bede and the pipes belong to all of us.
I thnk what Ordo is referring to is the Saxon habit of ethnic cleansing [e.g. the Hampshire Jutes]. So of course he'll have a jaundiced view. :)
All jokes aside, there is a sort of tie between the north and Yorkshire - I certainly travelled freely and was welcome even on Tyneside. Tynemouth is another matter.
ReplyDeleteYes, we sided with Mercia against Northumbria, but only when we weren't siding with Northumbria against Mercia. It's a fickle old world.
ReplyDeleteHave you read Bloodfeud by Richard Fletcher James- its very interesting on the Northumbrian background to the Norman conquest and what society up there was like in the ninth and tenth centuries. There is also a really good In our Time about Hilda abbess of Whitby that's really worth listening to.
ReplyDeleteGood old Norðhymberlond as you would say in Englisc. I do love it up there, my family are from Northumberland and Newcastle.
ReplyDeleteI don't see why the can not incorporate the old banner into the CoSG though, that would be better in my opinion.
The "Norðhymberlond Rice" (Kingdom of Northumberland) is a fascinating part of England's History (and Scotland's in some respects). It's power stretched literally North of the Humber and engulfed the Kingdom of Lindsey which contained Eforwic (Anglian name for York), right across to the Britons of Cumbria.
An article on the Northumbria Kingdom would make good reading don't you think :)?
Sounds like a poor man's Kingdom of Elmet...
ReplyDeleteNice to see other Northumbrians here! Whilst I do not entirelly agree with the view that Northumberland is a ''rightful'' part of England (though it is culturally part of England like south-east Scotland), I am glad to see so much love for the history of our area and the most important years of our history (the founding of it by the Engla, or Angles, and the golden age which followed).
ReplyDeleteAnd for the Britons who don't differentiate between Angles or Saxons, pull your head out of your pseudo-intolerant bottom. You probably wouldn't like it when people call you Cornish, Breton or Cumbrian. But you can keep your intolerant views, I personally, have nothing against the Wels or our Merican cousins.
And yes, I don't agree with a Bernician and Deiran rivalry either, Bretwalda.
Lovely to see someone else from the area
ReplyDeleteThis is an old post now and it was interesting reading the comments again.
Yes, these were Angles. Saxons came form another part.
The majority of our blood lines, our heritage, stems back to the first few thousands hunter gatherers who, as the first humans, set foot on Britain more than 10,000 years ago. The successive kingdoms and cultures were no more brought about by massive migration than we today have been invaded by Americans or Japanese or others, even though we wear their clothes, speak their slang, eat their food and dance to their music. In fact, looking at migration figures today compared to the proportion of invader versus native Briton during the Germanic migrations, as suggested by historical experts, then this is the first time in history that Britain really is being invaded to the point where the indigenous population is being overwhelmed, and this time, not by culturally and ethnically similar people across the channel, rather folk from all over the world.
ReplyDeleteEngland stolen from the Celts? C'mon! Surely nobody believes that fairytale anymore.