Research Results For 'Midlands'

BOROUGHS

British Boroughs originated as Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman towns from the ninth century. The Anglo-Saxon invaders who arrived in Britain in the fifth to seventh centuries were farmers, not interested in repairing the roads or maintaining the Roman towns which fell into partial disuse. The Angle-Saxons at first regarded towns as 'the defences of slavery and the graves of freedom... the work of giants seen from afar'. However, when the Vikings from Scandinavia overran the east and north of the country in the ninth century, they turned to town life in the area which they conquered, the Danelaw. The commercial life of York, their headquarters from 876, was revived by Viking enterprise, the Roman walls of Chester were rebuilt by a Viking chief, and the East Midlands came under the jurisdiction of the five newly-created Scandinavian boroughs of Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Stamford and Lincoln.

The Angle-Saxons, under their kings Alfred the Great and Edward the Elder, not to be outdone, also created boroughs similar to those of the Scandinavian invaders, at places such as Northampton, Huntingdon, Bedford and Tamworth, and despite many setbacks, re-conquered all the territory which the Scandinavians had acquired. In 1066, the Normans in their turn came to Britain as conquering invaders, and also built new boroughs and enlarged old ones.

The Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and Norman borough had varied functions. It was foremost a defended place or strong point surrounded by an earthen bank of oval or square shape, or by the patched-up wall of an older Roman town. In each new borough, the King settled a permanent garrison with ample reserves, sustained by landowners on whom was laid the obligation of defending the borough in time of need. In return for this, the borough and its burgesses were protected by the King's special peace. The borough was also a trading centre, with a market place and often a mint for coins. When King Edward the Elder ordained that all buying and selling should take place in a market town in the presence of a town-reeve, he ensured the concentration of trading in the growing boroughs. The borough was also an administrative centre. Indeed, many British modern counties came into being as the territories allocated by the King to the support of the defences and trading facilities of a borough, e.g. Nottinghamshire was the support for the county town of Nottingham, as its name shows.
Research Boroughs

LUDDITE RIOTS

The Luddite riots were a series of outbreaks in which popular discontent expressed itself in the Midlands between 1811 and 1818. General distress being caused by the progress of the industrial revolution, the anger of the rioters was directed against the new machinery, much of which was destroyed. The name Luddite derives from Ned Lud, a man (supposedly an imbecile though some say he was insane) from Leicestershire who in a fit of passion demolished two stocking-frames around 1779.
Research Luddite Riots
More information about Luddite Riots

TOM PUTT

Tom Putt is a very old mid-season species of apple. The fruit is used for cooking and cider making. Very popular in the Midlands and the West Country, where cider was traditionally made. The species was raised in the late eighteenth century by the Reverend Tom Putt, Rector of Trent in Somerset, who was a keen fruit grower. The fruit is crisp and quite sharp when raw, but sweeter when cooked.
Research Tom Putt

ATHELSTAN

Picture of Athelstan

Athelstan was an English king. He was born in 895 and died in 940. He succeeded his father, Edward the Elder, in 925 and extended his kingdom by defeats over the Welsh of Devon, Cornwall and Wales and defeating the Northumbrian Danes and their northern and Irish allies at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937.

Athelstan's law codes strengthened royal control over his large kingdom; currency was regulated to control silver's weight and to penalise fraudsters. Buying and selling was mostly confined to the burhs, encouraging town life; areas of settlement in the midlands and Danish towns were consolidated into shires. Overseas, Athelstan built alliances by marrying four of his half-sisters to various rulers in western Europe. He also had extensive cultural and religious contacts; as an enthusiastic and discriminating collector of works of art and religious relics, he gave away much of his collection to his followers and to churches and bishops in order to retain their support. Athelstan died at the height of his power and was buried at Malmesbury; a church charter of 934 described him as 'King of the English, elevated by the right hand of the Almighty ... to the Throne of the whole Kingdom of Britain'.
Research Athelstan

HWICCE

The Hwicce were a farming tribe of Anglo-Saxons living in the English Midlands around Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. They were part of Mercias kingdom, but were ruled by their own sub-kings. They disappeared with the dissolution of Mercias kingdom during the later part of the 9th century.
Research Hwicce

MERCIA

The Mercia were a large and powerful tribe of Anglo-Saxon Britons ruling the English Midlands from Wales in the west, East Anglia in the east, the River Humber in the north and the River Thames in the south, and the less powerful tribes that lived in those parts. Suffering from Viking attacks during the 9th century, the kingdom was divided between Britons and Danes until during the 10th century Edward the Elder conquered the Danish lands and the area was ruled by earldormen on behalf of the Wessex Kings, who ruled all England.
Research Mercia