Political Geography

[poliphilo]

A footnote to yesterday's post:

In last night's episode of Walking Through History Tony Robinson was following the St Cuthbert Way from Melrose to Lindisfarne.  He came to a stile in the middle of a featureless moor and drew our attention to a fingerpost which reads, "Welcome to Scotland" on one arm and "Welcome to England" on the other.

At which point he reminded us that in Cuthbert's day- roughly 1300 years ago- all the land from York in the South to Edinburgh in the North belonged to  "the mighty kingdom of Northumbria" and England and Scotland had yet to be invented.

Comments

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

That is a fascinating fact that i had not known before, thanks

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I hadn't known it either. I'd sort of assumed that the Kingdom of Northumbria was roughly the same thing as the County of Northumberland.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

"From the Humber to the Forth" wasn't it? St Cuthbert's body was traipsed around the north of England and Scotland for years - there are lots of St Cuthbert's Wells etc. wherever it stayed for a while. Then, finally, the monks who were carrying his coffin declared it was too heavy, went on strike, and put him down, refusing to go further, which is how he ended up in Durham.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Probably. Two big rivers; two natural boundaries.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I sometimes wonder whether there'll be an Elgin Marbles-style row as the Scots try to get the Book of Kells back from Dublin.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

If they do I wish them joy of it.