Columbanus – The Monk Who Saved Europe
You may never have heard of Columbanus, but this radical-thinking monk can be credited with helping to save Europe in crisis after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Saint Sampson – A Superstar of his Time
It is St Sampson who is credited with bringing the Christian Gospel, to not only Guernsey, but the whole of the Channel Islands. He wasn’t just a local phenomenon but would have been regarded as something of a celebrity, a “rock star of his time”. We look at the the life and times of this remarkable man in this article.
English Words that Used To Have Vastly Different Meanings To What We Understand Today
How would you rate your vocabulary ? Average; Better than Average ; Exceptional ?
It may not matter how good you think your command of English is because in this article we reveal some surprising revelations about some of the words, you may have thought you had a thorough understanding of, had, in point of fact, some VERY different meanings in the past.
English Words that Used To Have Vastly Different Meanings To What We Understand Today
How would you rate your vocabulary ? Average; Better than Average ; Exceptional ?
It may not matter how good you think your command of English is because in this article we reveal some surprising revelations about some of the words, you may have thought you had a thorough understanding of, had, in point of fact, some VERY different meanings in the past.
Modern Compensation Culture and the Ancient Practice of Wergeld
If there is one thing that is a blight on modern life it is the rise of ‘compensation culture’. The idea that someone else is always to blame and you are entitled to some compensation no matter what. But the origins of this are far older than you might think.
Charlemagne- The Greatest Emperor Since the Romans ?
We tend to think of the Dark Ages as a period of unending European misery. A period after the fall of the Roman Empire of cultural and technical stagnation. However there was at least one high point humanity in Europe raised it’s head out of the ‘darkness’ to witness something truly remarkable.
Has the Fabled Viking ‘Magic Crystal’ been discovered … in the Channel Islands ?
This is a true story of a mystery that’s puzzled archaeologists for a long time. Namely how to explain the nautical prowess of the Vikings in an age long before the invention of reliable magnetic compasses.. Up until now only strange and vague references to their use of a ‘Magic Sun Crystals’ has been offered up as part of the solution to this conundrum.
Ancient Celtic offshore Banking
It looks like Jersey may have been an offshore banking centre for far longer than anyone has suspected. In June 2012 two metal detectorists uncovered a hoard of a staggering 70,000 late Iron Age and Roman coins. Their incredible find has since turned out to be the largest hoard ever found in Jersey.
St Magloire – Patron Saint of Sark
October 24th is the feast day of a local Saint you may never have heard of, Saint Magloire. He’s credited with introducing Christianity to Sark and as such has been adopted as the patron saint of the island.
Did English used to have gendered nouns? … Yes!
In Romance languages (and many others), nouns have a gender. English today doesn’t but it wasn’t always so. In this article we look at how this situation came about.
What drove the great migrations of the first millennium AD?
A curious thing occurred between 400-800 AD. In Europe and the far east, particularly China, a serious of mass population movements and incursions occurred. What historians are debating today is what caused these massive migrations.
Speak Like a Saxon
Despite first appearances, the English we speak now is a direct descendant of Anglo-Saxon. So have you ever wondered what Anglo-Saxon might have sounded like ? In this article we look at how Anglo-Saxon was written and how it would have sounded.
Power to the People – The Clameur de Haro
The ordinary Guernseyman, and indeed all Channel Islanders, have an extra-ordinary legal power at their fingertips, available no whereelse in the world. The “Clameur de Haro”.
The Queen … “Our Duke”
“The Queen, Our Duke” – an odd thing to say, especially in a loyal toast to the English Sovereign. Nonetheless whenever Channel Islanders raise their glasses to her majesty that’s the toast that will be made.
Anno Domini – Origin of the Western Calendar
Anno Domini or “the year of our Lord” is the dating system we use in the West and is all but the de-facto world standard for chronology. But when and how was it calculated and what was in use prior to this dating system in western Europe ?
