Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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577

Gifts of the Spirit

Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf reminds us that God’s gifts to men are many and varied, and nobody ever gets them all.

578

Stale and Hearty

Archdeacon and diplomat Peter of Blois was a frequent guest at the laden tables of King Henry II, but he had little appetite for the fare on offer.

579

The Voyage of Sigurd

Back in the eleventh century English refugees founded New York, but it wasn’t in North America.

580

Home from Home

In Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire, a man from Kent founded a glittering church for English refugees.

581

England’s Lost Civilisation

Orderic Vitalis regrets the passing of a society far more refined and advanced than that which supplanted it.

582

Forgotten Melodies

When the Normans came in 1066 they deliberately destroyed English chant, the last survivor in Western Europe of a tradition five centuries old.