The mysterious dark ages, after the fall of the Roman Empire. The documentary. Highlights of Anglo-Saxon History.

Bishop Aidan established in Lindisfarne, in Northumbria (in northern England) ca. 7th Century AD; Irish missionaries establish Christianity in northern England

The mysterious dark ages, after the fall of the Roman Empire. The documentary. Highlights of Anglo-Saxon History.

Highlights of Anglo-Saxon History:

449             According to legend,Vortigern, king of the Britons, invites Angles, Saxons, and Jutes to England; led byHengest andHorsa

597             St. Augustine of Canterbury arrives in Kent (in southern England) to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity; sent from Rome by Pope Gregory I, “the Great”

635             Bishop Aidan established in Lindisfarne, in Northumbria (in northern England); Irish missionaries establish Christianity in northern England

669             Archbishop Theodore and Abbot Hadrian arrive in Canterbury

c.700           Lindisfarne Gospels written and decorated (glossed in 970 by Aldred)

709             Death of Aldhelm

731             The Venerable Bede completes hisEcclesiastical History

735             Death of Bede

781             Alcuin of York “hired” by Charlemagne

793             Vikings attack Lindisfarne

869             Vikings defeat and kill Edmund, king of East Anglia

871–899      Alfred the Great king of Wessex

878             Alfred defeats Viking army; Vikings settle in East Anglia (“theDanelaw”)

924–939      Athelstan king ofWessex and first king of all England

978–1016    Æthelred the Unready king of England

c.1000         Beowulf manuscript manuscript is written

c.1010         Death of Ælfric, abbot of Eynsham

1013           English submit toSwein, king of Denmark

1016–1035  Cnut king of England

1023           Death of Wulfstan, archbishop of York

1066           The English army led by Harold is defeated at Hastings by the Norman army led by William (the Bastard/the Conqueror)

The end of “Anglo-Saxon England;” the beginning of “Norman England”

Source: www.ipfw.edu

Indiana University Perdue University Fort Wayne

http://users.ipfw.edu/flemingd/Highlights_of_ASE.htm

The Celts - BBC Full documentary - Celts history documentary.

Celts in III century BC, map

The Celts (/ˈkɛlts/, occasionally /ˈsɛlts/, see pronunciation of Celtic) are an Indo-European ethnolinguistic group who speak the Celtic languages and share a similar culture, although the relationship between the ethnic, linguistic and cultural elements remains uncertain and controversial.The exact geographic spread of the ancient Celts is also disputed; in particular, whether the Iron Age inhabitants of Britain and Ireland should be regarded as Celts has become a subject of controversy. Source: Wikipedia

In the debut episode of the series, the program looks at how the Celts were the first European people north of the Alps to rise from anonymity. This program looks at who the Celts were, where they came from and what made their culture so distinctive.

For 800 years, a proud, vibrant, richly imaginative warrior people swept ruthlessly across Europe. The ancient Greeks called them "Keltoi" and honored them as one of the great barbarian races. Follow their fascinating story from their earliest roots 2,500 years ago through the flowering of their unique culture and their enduring heritage today, enhanced with stunning reconstructions of iron-age villages, dramatizations of major historical events and visits to modern Celtic lands.

The Lombards or Langobards (Latin: Langobardī, Italian Longobardi) - Full documentary. The Longobards. The Longobard Kingdom, Italy (568 to 774)

The Lombards or Langobards (Latin: Langobardī, Italian Longobardi), Germanic tribe rulers of the Kingdom of Italy (568 to 774). The Lombards or Langobards (Latin: Langobardī, Italian Longobardi) - Full documentary. The Longobards. The Longobard Kingdom, Italy (568 to 774)

Paul the Deacon, historian of the Lombards, circa 720-799

The fullest account of Lombard origins, history, and practices is the Historia Langobardorum (History of the Lombards) of Paul the Deacon, written in the 8th century. Paul's chief source for Lombard origins, however, is the 7th-century Origo Gentis Langobardorum (Origin of the Lombard People).

The Origo Gentis Langobardorum tells the story of a small tribe called the Winnili dwelling in southern Scandinavia (Scadanan) (the Codex Gothanus writes that the Winnili first dwelt near a river called Vindilicus on the extreme boundary of Gaul). The Winnili were split into three groups and one part left their native land to seek foreign fields. The reason for the exodus was probably overpopulation. The departing people were led by the brothers Ybor and Aio and their mother Gambara and arrived in the lands of Scoringa, perhaps the Baltic coast or the Bardengau on the banks of the Elbe. Scoringa was ruled by the Vandals and their chieftains, the brothers Ambri and Assi, who granted the Winnili a choice between tribute or war.

The Winnili were young and brave and refused to pay tribute, saying "It is better to maintain liberty by arms than to stain it by the payment of tribute."The Vandals prepared for war and consulted Godan (the god Odin), who answered that he would give the victory to those whom he would see first at sunrise. The Winnili were fewer in number and Gambara sought help from Frea (the goddess Frigg), who advised that all Winnili women should tie their hair in front of their faces like beards and march in line with their husbands. So Godan spotted the Winnili first and asked, "Who are these long-beards?," and Frea replied, "My lord, thou hast given them the name, now give them also the victory."From that moment onwards, the Winnili were known as the Longbeards (Latinised as Langobardi, Italianised as Lombardi, and Anglicized as Lombards).

When Paul the Deacon wrote the Historia between 787 and 796 he was a Catholic monk and devoted Christian. He thought the pagan stories of his people "silly" and "laughable". Paul explained that the name "Langobard" came from the length of their beards. A modern theory suggests that the name "Langobard" comes from Langbarðr, a name of Odin. Priester states that when the Winnili changed their name to "Lombards", they also changed their old agricultural fertility cult to a cult of Odin, thus creating a conscious tribal tradition. Fröhlich inverts the order of events in Priester and states that with the Odin cult, the Lombards grew their beards in resemblance of the Odin of tradition and their new name reflected this. Bruckner remarks that the name of the Lombards stands in close relation to the worship of Odin, whose many names include "the Long-bearded" or "the Grey-bearded", and that the Lombard given name Ansegranus ("he with the beard of the gods") shows that the Lombards had this idea of their chief deity.

Credits: Wikipedia

The Inca Empire (Quechua: Tawantinsuyu) - The Incas, full documentary: Inca, Secrets of the Ancestors

The Inca Empire at its greatest extent

The Inca Empire (Quechua: Tawantinsuyu, literally "The Four Regions"), also known as the Inka Empire or Incan Empire, was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century, and the last Inca stronghold was conquered by the Spanish in 1572.

From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges, including, besides Peru, large parts of modern Ecuador, western and south central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, north and central Chile, and a small part of southern Colombia into a state comparable to the historical empires of Eurasia. The official language of the empire was Quechua, although hundreds of local languages and dialects of Quechua were spoken. Many local forms of worship persisted in the empire, most of them concerning local sacred Huacas, but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of Inti—their sun god—and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of Pachamama. The Incas considered their king, the Sapa Inca, to be the "son of the sun."

Capital: Cusco

(1438–1533)

Languages:      Quechua (official), Aymara, Puquina, Jaqi family, Muchik and scores of smaller languages.

Religion:          Inca religion

Government:   Monarchy

Sapa Inca      

 -          1438–1471   Pachacuti

 -          1471–1493   Túpac Inca Yupanqui

 -          1493–1525   Huayna Capac

 -          1525–1532   Huáscar

 -          1532–1533   Atahualpa

Historical era Pre-Columbian:

 -          Pachacuti created the Tawantinsuyu         1438

 -          Civil war between Huáscar and Atahualpa            1529–1532

 -          Spanish conquest led by Francisco Pizarro            1533

 -          End of the last Inca resistance        1572

Credits: Wikipedia

The Incas, full documentary:  Inca, Secrets of the Ancestors