" Uckenaid Gwyddno Garanhîr: Pan droes y don dros ei dîr "

1. In 31 BC Octavian's forces defeated Antony and Cleopatra at Actium. Octavian emerged supreme and is usually considered the first Roman emperor. He organized provincial government and the army, rebuilt Rome, and patronized the arts and letters. His rule began a long period (200 years) of peace called the Pax Romana in which the empire prospered. An extensive system of Roman Roads made transportation easier, and commerce and industry were developed. Literary and artistic interests were important, although they nearly always tended to imitate Greek and Eastern styles. It was so warm and dry in some places that by the end of the first century AD, the Romans forbid the production of wine north of the Alps, most likely to keep tighter tabs on the flow of wine and the money involved. At 300AD they stopped sending wine to Britain because they were producing enough of their own. They were also producing it in Germany by this time.

2. A system of highways linking Rome with its most distant provinces was built during these warm and dry times. The roads were constructed generally in four layers of materials; the uppermost layer was a pavement of flat, hard stones, concrete, or pebbles set in mortar. These roads were remarkably durable, and many, in part, are used today. Their primary purpose was military, but they also were of great commercial importance and brought the distant provinces in touch with the capital. In Italy roads led out of Rome in every direction. The Appian Way was the first of the great highways; the Flaminian Way was the most important northern route. The Romans also built and rebuilt a wide system of roads for military purposes in Britain, notably Ermine Street, Fosse Way, Watling Street, and the pre-Roman Icknield Street.

4. Under Trajan (r. 98-117AD) the empire's eastern boundaries were pushed past Armenia and Mesopotamia. The Romans built a stone pier bridge over the Danube between 101-106AD that lasted 170 years at a place that today would destroy a bridge with pack ice. This was located at the Iron Gate between Yugoslavia and the Transylvanian highlands of Romania. The bridge was destroyed by the Dacians after the Romans left. The famous astronomer Ptolemy kept a weather diary in northern Egypt that records rain every month but August in around 120AD. The hottest months were July and August as opposed to today in that these months are cooled by North and Northwest winds off the Mediterranean. Marcus Aurelius (r.161-180AD) ruled in what is commonly called the Golden Age of the empire, but the 3rd century was a time of turmoil.

5. In 284AD Diocletian was made emperor by the army. He reformed the government and divided the empire into four regions, two in the East and two in the West. Constantine I (r. 306-337AD) moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium, renamed Constantinople, and granted religious toleration to Christians. After the death (395AD) of Theodosius I, the empire was permanently divided into E and W sections, and Rome rapidly lost its political importance. The West sank into anarchy, and Italy was ravaged by invaders. Rome was taken by Alaric I (410AD) and by Gaiseric (455AD), and Pope Leo I is said to have kept Attila from sacking it.

6. In 476AD the last emperor of the West, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the Goths under Odoacer; this date is commonly accepted as the end of the W Roman Empire. The Eastern or Byzantine Empire continued until the 15th century. The so-called Dark Ages that followed in Western Europe could not eradicate the profound imprint left by Roman civilization. Italy itself, however, did not recover from the fall of Rome until the 19th century. The history of Rome in the Middle Ages is essentially that of two institutions, the Papacy and the commune of Rome. Rome was ruled by the Goths in the 5th century and fell under Byzantine rule from the 6th to the 8th century.

7. "Uckenaid Gwyddno Garanhîr: Pan droes y don dros ei dîr" The early history of Cardiganshire is obscure, but at the time of the Roman invasion it was tenanted (occupied) by the Dimetae, a Celtic tribe, within whose limits was comprised the greater portion of the south-west of Wales. After the departure of the Romans, the whole basin of the Teifi eventually fell into the power of Ceredig, and the district obtained the name of Ceredigion, later corrupted into Cardigan.

8. During the 5th and 6th centuries Ceredigion was largely civilized by Celtic missionaries, notably by St David. An important local tradition, based on fact, is associated with this remote era :—the inundation of the Cantref-y-Gwaelod. The Cantref-y-Gwaelod (the lowland Hundred), a large tract of flat pasture-land containing sixteen townships, and protected from the sea by sluices, was suddenly submerged at about the year 520. The legend of its destruction declares that Seithenyn, the drunken keeper of the sluices, carelessly let in the waters of the bay and flooded the land. Prince Gwyddno and all his subjects, were forced to migrate to the wild region of Snowdon. Some of the ancient roadways and part of the dam system are still visible out in the bay during the lowest tides of the year.

9. The wine press of the wrath of God -The origins of the modern world

10. Prior to the fifth century, Britain had been a predominately Celtic land. Then, in the 440's, substantial numbers of Germanic people crossed the North Sea and settled in parts of what is now eastern and southern England. Over subsequent decades, hundreds of tiny Anglo Saxon kingdoms were established. Some of them amalgamated it to become slightly larger units-Sussex, surrey, Kent, Essex, early Wessex, East Anglia,and early Mercia. By the early sixth century perhaps 510-520 Anglo Saxon expansion had virtually ceased in the face of Celtic resistance. This was commonly associated with the quasi-legendary figure of King Arthur, a successful pan-British war leader. The Germanic East and the Celtic West then began to develop independently.

11. Anglo-Saxon Lifeand Religion- It is difficult to generalize about an era as lengthy as the Dark Ages. The Anglo-Saxons were pagans when they came to England. They worshipped gods of nature such as springs, wells, rocks, and trees. Religion was not a source of spiritual revelation, it was a means of ensuring success in material things. For example, you might pray to a particular goddess for a successful harvest, or for victory in battle. A few of the main Anglo-Saxon gods were Tiw, Odin, Thor, and Friya, whose names are remembered in our days of the week Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

12. Administration-The land was divided into shires, mainly according to the territory of the first tribes. The shire was divided into hundreds, or in the Danelaw, wapentakes. These were the basic units of administration and the court system. Ealdormen and shire-reeves (sheriffs) were responsible for looking after the king's interests (i.e. make sure that all the taxes were collected) and administer justice. Within the shires were the towns, or burhs, which ranged in size from 5000 people at York to 500 at St. Albans. Initially only some of the towns were walled, and those often with earthworks reminiscent of the Bronze Age.

13. We know little about how most people lived, because little evidence remains. The richer lords lived on estates, with a main rectangular hall surrounded by outlying buildings for various living, working, and storage purposes. Inside the hall a lord might mark his prestige by expensive wall hangings or even paintings. Society was divided into several social classes, which might vary from place to place. At the top was the king, essentially a war leader, expected to provide opportunities for plunder and glory for his followers. The king who did not provide land, slaves, or plunder might be killed.

14. Below the king there were two levels of freemen, the upper class thanes and the lower class ceorls (churls). The division between the two was strictly in terms of land owned. A man could only be a thane if he owned at least five hides of land (a hide was defined as the amount of land necessary to provide a living for one family). Aside from the ownership of land, a ceorl could actually be a richer man than the thane. Below the thanes and ceorls were the slaves. Slavery was one of the biggest commercial enterprises of Dark Age life, and much depended on this involuntary labor force. St. Patrick is perhaps the most famous slave of this period.

15. How might someone become a slave? If you weren’t very lucky you would be born a slave. Or, you and your peeps could be captured in war. Celtic Britons would become slaves if they were captured or unable to pay a fine. In some cases a family would sell a child into slavery in time of famine for a quick shilling, or less likely to ensure the child's survival. Slavery was not necessarily a lifetime sentence. A slave could be ransomed by his or her relatives or granted freedom in an owner's will. If a person became a slave because they were unable to pay a debt, they might be freed when the value of their labor reached the value of the original debt.

16. Leisure-When they weren't busy fighting, the playstations of the Dark Ages were dice and board games such as chess. Elaborate riddles were popular, as was horse racing and hunting. At feasts the most common entertainment was the harp, also used in church music. In addition to the harp, scenes of juggling balls and knives have been found illustrating books of the period. Murton Park Village

17. Traveling- Travel was not uncommon, and the main trade routes, often along the old Roman roads, were used frequently. However, off the main routes travel could be a risky business. Travelers were advised to shout, blow horns, and make lots of noise. Otherwise any strangers were assumed to be outlaws, and could be killed out of hand. Or, I suppose the loud noises you were making would attract the bad guys to relieve you of your stuff.

18. Food- The crops most frequently grown were wheat, oats, rye, and barley (both as a cereal and as the base for beer). Peas, beans, and lentils were also common. Honey was the only sweetener in use, and it was used to make the alcoholic beverage mead. Farming- In the countryside the vast majority of the people lived by farming. At first most of the farms were owned outright. The ceorls worked co-operatively, sharing the expense of a team of oxen to plough the large common fields in narrow strips that were shared out alternately so that each farmer had an equal share of good and bad land. Pigs, cattle, goats, and sheep were major food animals. Horses and oxen were raised for heavy farm labor and transportation, though the stirrup had yet to make an appearance from the far east.

19. The king's power-A lot like gang warfare today, one of these customs was fighting everyone in sight because power was not hereditary; it depended solely on a king’s ability to win battles and gain land, treasure, and slaves to give to supporters. Succession from father to son was not guaranteed. Any relative of the old king who could gather enough support could try to capture the throne. This helps to explain why the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms came and went so quickly. Anglo-Saxon Architecture-Very little survives except in bogs because most Saxon buildings were constructed of wood with wattle and daub walls. Vikings left very few of these flammable buildings standing. The only buildings the Anglo-Saxons tended to build in more permanent stone were their monasteries and churches. Here, there are several good examples remaining today.

20. Saxon churches are generally small in scale, compared to the later Norman buildings. Doors and window openings are extremely simple, with very few decorative elements. Most windows were narrow slit openings with a simple rounded top. The Anglo-Saxon's put a lot of energy into tower building in their church architecture, and often Saxon towers are the earliest surviving part of English parish churches. The towers began as a defensive structure; they enabled inhabitants of a village to gain a high lookout point and an easily defensible position to ward off attacks. Saxon towers often had rooms high up for important church types that could only be reached by a ladder. The ladder could then be drawn up when danger threatened.

21. Irish and Scottish Celts adopted this tower strategy in the 6th century, but made them of stone. This is St. Canice in Kilkenny, Ireland

22. Iona, Scottish Hebrides

23. Domestic Architecture-Most domestic structures in the Saxon period were built in wood with a central fire and a hole in the roof to let the smoke escape. Even the largest buildings rarely had more than one floor and one room. Even the best archaeological remains of domestic buildings from the Anglo-Saxon period offer little more than post holes to view, which indicate the size of the hall. Roofing materials were usually thatch, turf and sometimes wooden shingles. Windows were rare, but when they were used they would have been covered with thin animal skins to allow light to penetrate.

24. Wergilds- The ties of kinship meant that the relatives of a murdered person were obliged to exact vengeance for his or her death. This led to bloody and extensive feuds. As a way out of this deadly and futile custom the system of wergilds was instituted. The wergild set a monetary value on each person's life according to their wealth and social status. A person's position was determined by his worth, murdered: the penalty for murder was either death, or payment of the wergild, or body-price, of the victim. This value could also be used to set the fine payable if a person was injured or offended against. Robbing a thane called for a higher penalty than robbing a ceorl. On the other hand, a thane who thieved could pay a higher fine than a ceorl who did likewise. A noble was worth 1200 shillings; a thane, 300; a churl, or free peasant, 200. Serfs were worth nothing, and a man of whatever rank was worth more than a woman of equal social standing.

25. This emphasis on social standing led to an interesting court system. The courts did not attempt to discover the facts in a case; instead, in any dispute it was up to each party to get as many people as possible to swear to the rightness of their case. The word of a thane counted for that of six ceorls. It was assumed that any person of good character would be able to find enough people to swear to his innocence that his case would prosper. Early Christianity in Britain-Christianity came at the pagan Anglo-Saxons from two directions. The Celtic Church, pushed back into Wales, Cornwall, and particularly Ireland, made inroads in the north from an early base on Lindisfarne Island. The Roman Catholic Church approached from the south, beginning with the mission of St. Augustine to Aethelbert, King of Kent, in 597.

26. Saxon life even in good times, was “nasty, brutish and short” for most peasants. Most of them worked dawn to dusk from the age of 6 until death, usually before the age of 40. For the churls, thanes and lords of the manor, life was a little better. Household utensils such as spoons, bowls, cups and plates were made of turned wood. Furniture consisted of rough-hewn tables, benches and stools. Only the leading members of the group would have a separate chair. Leather was in evidence everywhere, as slippers, shoes, gaiters, bottles, reins, trappings for the animals, halters, bags and purses. Clothes were predominantly made of a rather coarse wool, ranging in quality from a fine flannel-like material to something like Harris tweed.

27. Linen was used for underwear. A well-dressed member of the royal family would wear linen long johns underneath a pair of wool trousers, and a three-quarter length woolen cloak, belted at the waist and trimmed with silk. In winter he would wear a short fur cape as well, and over that, a long woolen mantle held at the shoulder with a brooch. Throughout the year a peasant would wear a rough wool tunic and trousers, and no underwear. Cloth was woven on the manor by women, whose other main occupation was baking. The diet was rough: coarse bread gruel, cheese, vegetables, eggs boiled mutton and bacon, an occasional chicken, a rabbit, all pounded down with ale or mead. To judge by their skeletons, people seldom grew above 5'6" in height. The women suffered from a type of arthritis, caused by spending a lot of their time squatting.

28. The church was a very important force in society; the only truly national entity tying together the different Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Most church buildings were built of stone, but this was not true of domestic buildings. Anglo-Saxon Place Names-The Anglo-Saxon and Danish settlers had an immense impact on what we now call the English language. Some of their most enduring remains are to be found in the place names that dot modern maps. Suffixes and prefixes often describe the history of a village. *-ing (place of the people of; e.g. Hastings = place of Haesta's folk) *-port (town with a market, not necessarily on the coast) *-ney (island) *-bury (from burh, later borough, a walled town with the right to hold a market and possibly to mint coins. Many were purpose-built regional defense centers)

29. The historical evidence shows that on the whole the British disliked the Anglo Saxons so vehemently that normally did not wish to mix or even trade with them and the archaeological evidence confirms that there was indeed virtually no trade and therefore little personal contact between at the Celtic West and the Germanic East. In physical terms, vast forests separated the two peoples along what had become a relatively stable frontier. By the early years of the following century, the Germanic Anglo-Saxon as had taken over vast areas of Celtic land, were engaged in further aggressive expansion, and had become the dominant geopolitical force.

30. The contemporary British monk and historian Gildas wrote that pilgrims weren't even able to visit sacred martyrial shrines in the east because of "the unhappy partition of Britain." For virtually the entire sixth century (until the 590s) not a single west British monk is recorded as having even attempted to preach to the pagan Anglo-Saxons in the east.

31. On the whole, the British (Celts) absolutely hated the Anglo-Saxons and refused to have contact with them. Even abroad, several continental writers were shocked at the stubborn refusal of the British (Celts) to dine with Anglo-Saxons or even to sleep under the same roof when they encountered each other abroad. Gildas did not even like uttering the word Saxon. Speaking of "impious easterners," "villains" with "dreadful claws," he described them as "ferocious Saxons (name not to be spoken), hated by man and God." Indeed, he, and no doubt most other Britons (Celts) in the west, would have liked to see them exterminated.

32. The Dark Ages Cynddylan's hall is dark tonight, There burns no fire, no bed is made. I weep awhile, and then am quiet. Cynddylan's hall is dark tonight, No fire is lit, no candle burns, God will keep me sane. Cynddylan's hall. It pierces me To see it roofless, fireless. Dead is my lord, and I am yet alive. Cynddylan's hall is desolate tonight Where once I sat in honour. Gone are the men who held it, gone the women. Cynddylan's hall. Dark is its roof Since the English destroyed Cynddylan, and Elvan of Powys.

33. The party is over… In 535 to 536 AD mankind was hit by one of the great natural disasters of all time. Much of the light and heat from the sun was cut off for 18 months in the climate of the entire planet was changed. The result, direct or indirect, was climatic chaos, famine, migration, war, and massive political change on virtually every continent. This climate change affected people and Afro-Eurasia (from Mongolia to Britain, from Scandinavia to southern Africa), the far East (China, Korea, Japan), Meso America (Mexico /Central America), and South America -- the disaster altered world history dramatically and permanently.

34. The hundred-year period after it occurred is the heart of the dark ages-- the interface between the ancient and modern world. That period witnessed the downfall of the super cities of the ancient world; the end of ancient Persia; the transmutation of the Roman Empire into the Byzantine Empire; the end of ancient South Arabian civilization; the end of Catholicism’s greatest rival, Arian Christianity; the collapse of the greatest ancient civilization in the world, the Metropolis state of Teotihuacan; the fall from power of the great Maya city of Tikal; and the fall of the enigmatic Nasca civilization of South America.

35. It was this hundred-year period that witnessed the birth or in some cases the conception of, Islam, France, Spain, England, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Cambodia, and the power of the Turks. It also produced a united China and the first Great South American empires, the forerunners of the Incas. This climate disaster destroyed the Roman Empire, unleashed hordes of Central Asian barbarians against Europe and caused a series of killer epidemics that drastically reduced the world's population. In Britain the period of 535-555 was the worst weather that century. And Mesopotamia there were “heavy falls of snow and distress among men". In Arabia there was famine and followed by flooding. In China and 536 there was a drought and famine, and “yellow dust rained down like snow". The following year, the crops were ruined again --this time by snow in the middle of August.

36. In Japan, the emperor it issued an unprecedented edict, saying that "yellow gold and 10,000 strings of cash cannot cure hunger" and that wealth was of no use the man was "starving of cold". In Korea, 535 and 536 were the worst years of that century in climatic terms, with massive storms and flooding followed by drought. In the Americas, the pattern was similar. Starting in the 530s, a 32-year long drought devastated parts of South America. In North America, tree ring evidence from what is now the western United States has shown that some trees virtually stopped growing in the years of 536 and 542 to 543, and that things did not return to normal until 559. Similar tree ring evidence from Scandinavia and Western Europe also revealed huge decrease in tree growth in the years of 536 to 542, not recovering fully until the 550s.

37. I don’t feel so good…

38. "With some people it began in the head, made the eyes bloody and the face swollen, descended to the throat and then removed them from mankind with others, there was a flowing of the bowels. Some came out in buboes (pus filled swellings) which gave rise to great fevers, and that would die two or three days later with their minds in the same state as those who had suffered nothing and with their bodies still robust. Others lost their senses before dying. Malignant pustules erupted and did away with them. Sometimes people were afflicted once or twice and then recovered, only to fall victim of third time and then succumb" 6th century church historian Evagrius. The plague first hit Egypt at the Mediterranean port of Pelusiumthan spreading to Alexandria, Constantinople and the empire as a whole. Up to one-third of the empire's population died in the first outbreak and in the capital more than 50 percent of the people are thought to have perished.

39. John of Ephesus wrote "God's wrath turned into a wine press and pitilessly trampled and squeezed the inhabitants like fine grapes. Homes large and small, beautiful and desirable, which suddenly became tombs for the inhabitants and in which servants and masters at the same time suddenly fell dead, mingling in their rotteness together in their bedrooms.” “Everywhere one looks were corpses which split open and rotted on the streets with nobody to bury them. There were those who perished falling in the streets to be, a terrible and shocking spectacle for those who saw them, as their bellies were swollen and their mouths wide open, throwing up pus like torrents, their eyes inflamed and their hands stretched out upward, and over the corpses people rotting and lying in quarters and streets and in the porches of courtyards and in churches” “There were ships in the midst of the sea whose sailors were suddenly attacked by God's wrath and the ships became tombs adrift on the waves"

40. “It happened that 5,000 and 7,000, or even 12,000 and as many as 16,000 of them departed in a single day. Since it thus far it was only the beginning, men were standing by the harbors, at the crossroads and at the city gates counting the dead” “Thus the people of Constantinople reached the point of disappearing, only a few remaining, whereas of those only who had died on the streets-- if anybody wants us to name their number, for a fact there were counted-- over 300,000 or taken off the streets those who counted having reached the number of 230,000 and seeing that the dead were innumerable, gave up reckoning and from then on that the corpses were brought out without being counted” The city stank with corpses as there were neither litters nor diggers, and the corpses were heaped up in the streets. Some victims would take days to die while others became ill and died within minutes.

41. “In some cases, as people were looking on each other and talking, they totter and fell either in the streets or at home. It might happen that a person was sitting at work on his craft, holding his tools and his hands and working and he would totter to the side and his soul would escape." The church historian Evagrius lived through four great plague epidemics and lost most of his family to them. In the year 593 he wrote down a personal lament. "I believe no part of the human race to have been unafflicted by the disease, for it occurred in some cities to such an extent that they were rendered empty of almost all of their inhabitants.” “During the course of the various visitations, I lost to the disease many of my children and my wife and much of the rest of my kin… for now, as I write this, I am 58 years old and it is not quite two years since the fourth outbreak of plague struck Antioch and I lost my daughter and the son born to her in addition to those I lost earlier.”

42. Origins of the plague Historically there been several major natural plague reservoirs in which the disease circulates among specific animals. These areas-- the Himalayas, Central/East Africa, and the Central Asian steppes-- have been the ultimate sources for the plague epidemics that have hit Europe and elsewhere over the centuries. Evidence that the sixth century plague originated in Africa rather than Asia is very clear. Firstly, the major population center of Asia, China, did not become infected until half a century after the Mediterranean region. China was infected from the Mediterranean region via the Middle east. Second, there is no evidence of plague being endemic to the Central Asian steppes prior to the leader medieval period. Third, the major contemporary source, the Syrian born historian Evagrius, actually recorded the epidemic came from Africa ("Aethiopea").

43. Why did the plague break out of its its animal reservoir in East Africa at this particular time? Modern research on surviving wild animal reservoirs of plague--Monitored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control-- has concluded that most plague outbreaks are caused by a sudden and severe climate change. Massively excessive rainfall is the most likely cause of plague spread, especially if it follows a drought, although a severe drought followed by normal weather could theoretically also start an outbreak. When there is excessive rainfall, vegetation growth increases providing more food for herbivorous animals and insects. Rodents-- including those that are carriers of the plague bacterium but are themselves immune to it-- therefore breed more. Their larger numbers enable a greater survival rate compared to the slower breeding predatory that eat them.

44. In order to find their own foraging territory, the range of the rodents has to increase, and they spread like a wave outward. Soon these animals, and to contact with other normally plague free of rodents that spread the disease to humans. In a slightly less likely drought scenario, lack of rainfall and food kills huge numbers of plague carrying wild rodents and the predators at that normally eat them. As soon as the drought is over, the fast breeding rodents recover their numbers quickly compared to the slow breeding predators. Thus the plague carrying rodents spread quickly.

45. However, the most dramatic of scenario of all is one in which a severe drought is followed by significantly increased rainfall. That scenario or something very much like it almost certainly took place in East Africa during the 530s. While it is weather that starts the spread of the plague, the key vector is the flea. Also the rodents were immune to plague, the fleas that live on them are not. Fleas die of plague -- and it's the process of dying itself that helps to spread the disease.

46. As of flea becomes ill, part of its gut becomes blocked by a mixture of multiplying plague bacteria and clotted blood. The flea begins to starve, and become so hungry that it would jump on virtually anything that moves, whether it is the normal host species or not. Because its gut is blocked it remains hungry rapidly moving from host to host, biting each one and spreading the plague.

48. The species in East Africa That are probably the reservoirs for the plague for gerbils and multimammate mice. Each gerbil can produce 10 offspring per year, while each multimammate mouse pair can produce a thousand descendants per year. These two species spread the disease to the ratlike Arvicanthus which would come into contact with the black rat Rattus rattus. The black rat likes to hang out with humans on farms, storehouses, houses, villages, towns, markets, ports, and ships.

49. Multimammate Mouse - Mastomys coucha: The Multimammate Mouse's name indicates that the female has many mammae or breasts - up to 12 pairs of them, which is far more than any other mammal can boast enough the average litter of 8 - 10 babies. They are nocturnal and their diet consists of grass and other seeds, wild fruit and insects. The female may have her young at any time of the year and if conditions are right, may do so regularly at intervals of 33 days. The number in litters varies widely, but under favorable conditions females can carry as many as 22 fetuses. This results in population explosions of the mouse in some areas causing destruction to farmlands and the possibility of disease--sometimes partially alleviated by cannibalism.

50. One pair of black rats can produce thousands of descendants each year -- the species is aggressive, highly adaptive, and able to eat virtually anything--insects, seeds, meat, bones, fruit, even each other. Black rats are transported by ships from port to port. Four of the main ports of Africa were completely wiped out-- several of them can't even be found today. Why were these ships traveling from East Africa to the Roman Empire?