Isotope analysis of the girl’sbones and teeth suggests she had an Alpine upbringing until at least the age of seven, and enjoyed a healthy diet.
But towards the end of her life, experts noticed that her diet deteriorated, suggesting her lifestyle changed significantly after moving to England, although the cause of her death is unknown.
#…#
The burial, dated between 650 and 680 AD
So the reputation of British food was established pretty early on then….
Imagine, a diet worse than German….
“Imagine, a diet worse than German….”
Worse than Wurst, Worstall?
The derivation of the name is from a word meaning barn (or byre, perhaps). Not sausage….
Imagine having such an exceptional sausage that it inspired your surname.
The derivation of the name is from a word meaning barn (or byre, perhaps)
Ah, from the Geordie: “Wor Stall”
As in a bawdy house, MC?
Nice timely reminder that we do need to ship in all that foreign food, even if some of it is German, and the food miles whingers can fuck off.
Frankish child-bride sent in to cement alliances during the Mercia-Anglia wars, and the final pagan resistance of Penda of Mercia against the invasion of the White Christ/God upon the lands of his Ancestors.
Come on, you …Romantics…, Archeologists, Anthropologists, and *hurk* Journalists alike.
It’s not as if this stuff isn’t documented in some detail, and the confirmed time of her life and the burial is smack in the middle of that, and the aftermath.
The diet thing isn’t strange either.. She was Frankish nobility, born and raised in one of the wealthiest areas of Europe at the time. Then exported to Britain, which was, at the time, decidedly not.
And Malaria was still a Thing in Britain at the time whereas it wasn’t above the alpine line in Europe.
Pick your poison on what caused her malnutrition and eventual death.
Shame there aren’t enough extant Frankish sources facsimiled yet to do a literature search to figure out who she might have been.
Thank you Grikath. I know SFA about that period.
Boganboy,
The prologue (3 x 25 min episodes) of the History of the Germans podcast gives a rapid rundown of what was happening in the region prior to 918. Its quite easy listening.
It seems very likely xhe was black; and xher boyfriend most certainly was. They don’t need DNA to know xher hair was at least purple. Sadly, xher Pride banner was biodegradable but xher anal-thruster dildo survived and is on display at the local primary school.
PJF
Were you watching the Netflix adaptation?
Grikath has been reading Bede, who in chapter XXVII of Book 3 of the Ecclesiastical History tells us
IN the same year of our Lord 664, there happened an eclipse of the sun, on the third day of May,about the tenth hour of the day. In the same year, a sudden pestilence depopulated first the southern parts of Britain, and afterwards attacking the province of the Northumbrians, ravaged the country far and near, and destroyed a great multitude of men
Heh, Otto. Indeed I have, as well as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, and others of that ilk. And a growing collection of german Fechtbücher, their italian cousins, and so on. Even Voynich … 😉
Comes with the Hobby..
The modern wonders of the world allow me to have a “little” digital library in high res of manuscripts, with each their direct transliteration in modern fonts, literal translation in the modern source language, and modern english translation/comments sections in one easy format.
Each of which considered National Treasures, that up until 20-ish years ago were only viewable in musea or private collections, never to be touched on pain of Pain, and even then only by fully accredited Historians with major Clout who had the nasty habit of getting their …Opinions… inserted in their work.
But yeah.. Bede, who was a brilliant propagandist of the Byzantine school, and a religious fanatic pur sang.
Good thing that what he wrote can in part be crosschecked against Frankish records and some real modern archeology, so we know he wasn’t pulling everything out of his quite partisan arse.
He does make for interesting reading, and the man probably did make an honest effort to chronicle what he saw as the Truth.
But my opinion on her being one of the Brides in Christ ( not the mistranslation of… ) is based on the Frankish records, not on Bede.
Both East-Anglia and Kent had strong bonds with the Franks, and we know that Bertha of Kent ( or saint Bertha/saint Aldeberge ) regularly sent for female entourage for the monasteries she founded/supported.
Balthild(a) of Chelles, wife of Clovis II, herself being of Anglo-Saxon descent, did send clutches of Frankish noblewomen to Britain to Spread the Good Word.
And four known daughters of Anna of East-Anglia have all been canonised, and guess where they habitually got their Novices from?
The trick there was that the girls in question were not nuns.
They were daughters of Frankish noble houses with no decent marriage prospects ( or being a tad too Ambitious…) At Home.
So they were used as political chattel in foreign affairs, shipped over, locked up in a convent or court, and doled out to staunch supporters to the Christian Cause.
And do remember that at the time Abbots did do the vow of Celibacy ( and broke it as often as not..), but Bishops ( being actual ruling nobles..) most definitely did not… And that all those Kings had many sons that needed a Solid Christian Wife to keep them in line…
They needed a lot of them…
I guess for the girls themselves it was at least better career prospects than staying at home…
But guess where the window in time is when all that happened, and the estimated date of that grave in typical high-end Frankish style, with her birth/youth being confirmed as Frankish…
Given the atypical affluence of the grave and the location, I could hazard a guess at the probable identity, or at least lineage of the lady in question, but that’d be conjecture without further evidence.
Typical parental W family question:
Q “Do you live in a barn?”
Typical smart-arse W family offspring answer
A “I am a barn”
Thankyou PJF I was thinking how presumptuous it is of the Telegraph to ascribe pronouns without xit’s approval.
‘The prologue (3 x 25 min episodes) of the History of the Germans podcast gives a rapid rundown of what was happening in the region prior to 918. Its quite easy listening.’
Thanks BiND. I’m getting tempted to read further.
“Imagine, a diet worse than German….” Fuxache, they were Germans.