Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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1303

Burning Daylight

George Stephenson argued that his steam engines were solar-powered.

Today’s enthusiasts for ‘renewable energy’ have brought Britain’s once-mighty coal industry to an end. Yet judging by George Stephenson’s exchange with William Buckland, the eccentric but brilliant Oxford geologist, there may have been a serious misunderstanding...

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Picture: © Stephen Daglish, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1304

The Spear of St Mercurius

Roman Emperor Julian was ready to destroy an entire Christian community over his wounded pride.

This story was told to his congregation by Elfric of Eynsham (955-1010) on the Feast of the Dormition of Mary. It is quite true that in 363, Julian the Apostate, pagan Emperor of Rome and cruel persecutor of Christians, was mortally wounded by an unknown assailant wielding a spear.

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Picture: Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source.

1305

With Hymns and Sweet Perfumes

Elfric imagines how the Virgin Mary went to her eternal home.

When Elfric, Abbot of Eynsham near Oxford during the reign of Ethelred the Unready (r. 978-1916), came to preach on August 15th, the Feast of the Repose of Mary, he was unusually tightlipped. Some of what was passed around he regarded as legend, but he was sure of one thing: that Mary did not go home to heaven all on her own.

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Picture: © Brian Robert Marshall, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1306

Flodden Edge

The Scots paid a heavy price for honouring their ‘Auld Alliance’ with France.

In September 1513, King James IV of Scotland found himself torn between ties of family and obligations of state. He chose the latter, and on a cold and lonely field in Northumberland, James and thousands of his loyal subjects paid dearly.

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Picture: © Stanley Howe, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1307

The Kings of Northumbria

Out of a restless alliance between two 6th century kingdoms came a civilisation that defined Englishness.

Northumbria was a kingdom in northeast England, from the seventh century to the ninth. More than any other of the seven kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, Northumbria shaped the political, social and religious identity of a united Kingdom of the English in the 10th century.

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Picture: © Alfie Tait, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.

1308

Vinland

Scandinavian warrior Leif Ericson was sent to bring Christianity to Greenland, but accidentally discovered North America instead.

A Viking settlement dated to around AD 1000 was uncovered in 1960 on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, with more sites in the region tentatively identified in 2012. Suddenly, a tale from the Norse sagas, routinely dismissed as myth, looked very different.

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Picture: © Tony Webster, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.