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Magnus had just reasserted Norway’s authority over The Isles and Man, when he stumbled into a party of Normans harassing the King of Gwynedd.
In 1098, Magnus III ‘Barelegs’, King of Norway, boldly reasserted Norway’s authority over the Isles and Man, a realm of islands around Scotland’s coastline which the Vikings had dominated for over two centuries. Pleased with his progress, Magnus sailed on south to Anglesey, where he stumbled upon a party of Normans celebrating victory over Gruffudd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd.
Posted July 8 2021
374
Barely a generation after Harald Hardrada narrowly missed out on taking the English crown, his grandson Magnus re-asserted Norway’s authority over The Isles and Man.
Vikings increasingly dominated the northern coasts of the British Isles after King Harald Fairhair united Norway’s petty kingdoms in 872, at the Battle of Hafrsfjord. After Godred Crovan, lord of The Isles and Man, died in 1095 his successor Ingimundr was assassinated, and King Magnus III ‘Barelegs’, who had chosen him, was not pleased. In 1098, Magnus set out from Trondheim with a large fleet.
Posted July 6 2021
375
Walter Map was so tired of being on the road in the entourage of King Henry II, that he began to wonder if the whole court was under a spell.
King Henry II (r. 1154-1189) spent much of his reign on the road, in England and his estates in France. This gruelling schedule of marches took its toll on his retinue, among whom was Walter Map, a churchman and lawyer. It was as if Henry, he complained, had been laden with the burden of King Herla. What follows here is a summary of the tale that Walter then told.
Posted July 4 2021
376
A bee asks a blessing of the king of the gods, but what she gets from him is not quite what she had in mind.
This Fable is a reprimand to those who go beyond protecting themselves from attack, which is very reasonable, and take to visiting harm on everyone whom their fears inflate into a threat. It is not only unjust, but self-defeating: after all, where would bees be without beekeepers, and beekeepers without bees?
Posted July 3 2021
377
In 1756, the Nawab of Bengal allowed his frustration with British merchants in Calcutta to get the better of him.
With the Seven Years’ War brewing in Europe, no one was more pleased than Louis XV of France when in June 1756 the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, grew frustrated with the British in Calcutta and seized Fort William and all its wealth. The horrific sequel has been told in many ways: what mattered then was how it was told the following December to Admiral Watson, the man whose job it was to respond.
Posted June 28 2021
378
Before Siraj ud-Daulah became Nawab of Bengal in 1756, his grandfather begged him to keep the English sweet, and put no trust in Jafar Ali Khan. If he had only listened...
Robert Clive’s victory on June 23rd, 1757, over the Nawab of Bengal at Plassey near Murshidabad was vital to Britain’s successful defence of her colonies in the Seven Years’ War (1756-63) against Louis XV of France, and fixed the British East India Company as the Mughal Emperors’ chief European trade partner. For Hari Charan Das, it was also a judgment on the Nawab’s refusal to listen to his grandfather.
Posted June 26 2021