Wednesday - March 27, 2013

history in the news and (we hope) the remains of Alfred the Great could be found. ??

We are Soooooo close, an hour or so.  I think.  But under the present circumstances, so damn far away.  We’d both like to see this exhibit but alas,
well, thank goodness for the net. And newspapers.

Take a look at this.

The day the sky fell in on Sin City: Exhibition captures the moment entire families were burnt alive in Pompeii… but it also reveals how utterly depraved the Romans were

Relics from ancient Pompeii are going on display at the British Museum
The exhibition features 450 pieces, some never seen outside Italy
It will feature at the museum from Thursday until September 29

By David Leafe

The ‘parental guidance’ sign is small, discreet and in the unlikeliest of venues — not the foyer of a cinema, or a shop selling CDs by foul-mouthed rappers, but in the august splendour of the British Museum.

It’s next to a marble statue of a couple making love. Awkward enough to explain to young visitors, you might think.

But that’s only the half of it.

Closer inspection of this artwork reveals a human-like male in sexual congress with what is indisputably a nanny goat.

STORY AND PHOTOS HERE

Well .... a bit closer to home and only 15 minutes by bus at the end of our street on the number 7 bus (stagecoach) into town, a bit of serious history closer to home.  King Alfred’s possible remains. Some call him England’s first king although he was not. But he was a major figure in the history of this place.

THE LEGEND OF ALFRED THE GREAT

Alfred is the only English monarch to be known as ‘the Great’ and was the first to consider himself King of the Anglo-Saxons.

Although he is often portrayed as a great warrior in statues around Winchester and Wantage, he was not physically strong and is believed to have suffered poor health for most of his life.

One of the legends surrounding the king was that, while fleeing from Danish aggressors, he hid in the home of a woman who did not recognise him.

She asked him to look over her cakes that were baking in the oven but, troubled by his kingdom’s problems, he absent-mindedly allowed them to burn.

Alfred was born in 849 and died on October 26, 899. He had been King of Wessex from 871 until his death. It is not known how he died.

He was originally buried temporarily in the Old Minster in Winchester, then moved to the New Minster.

In 1110 Alfred’s body was transferred to Hyde Abbey. Soon after the dissolution of the abbey in 1539, during the reign of Henry VIII, the church was demolished, but the graves were left intact.

The royal graves and many others were rediscovered by chance in 1788 when a prison was being constructed on the site. No confirmed remains of Alfred have subsequently been found.

This statue of the great king stands at the bottom of our high street in Winchester.

Have we now found Alfred the Great? Archaeologists exhume unmarked grave in what could be one of the most significant finds ever

Removed from St Bartholomew’s Church in Winchester, on church orders
Archaeologists carried out the exhumation of the unmarked grave
Removal to undisclosed location came amid fears they would be stolen

By Tamara Cohen

t couldbe the year for discovering notorious monarchs.

Just weeks after remains found under a car park were confirmed as Richard III, archaeologists now believe they may just have stumbled on Alfred the Great.

Amid great secrecy, a team exhumed an unmarked grave at a more fitting location for a Royal burial - a churchyard in Winchester named in ancient documents as his burial place.

After a delicate 10-hour operation on Monday, human skeletal remains were unearthed in the churchyard of St Bartholomew’s in the Hyde area of the city, and taken for storage at an undisclosed location.

Unearthing Alfred the Great, the Anglo-Saxon king who fought off the Vikings and established the foundations of our law codes and justice system, would be one of the most significant finds ever.

Historians agree that the king, who died in the year 899 after a distinguished 28-year reign, had a great impact on Britain today, safeguarding the English language and Christian religion.

But archaelogists admit discovering him would be a very long shot, as unlike Richard III who remained under the same car park for five hundred years, Alfred’s bones were moved at least twice.

Earlier this year, Katie Tucker, an archaeologist from the University of Winchester leading the search admitted it would be difficult to prove any remains are his - but hoped her team could prove the age of the bones.

She said: ‘If the bones are from around the 10th century then that is proof they are Alfred and his family, because Hyde Abbey was not built until the 12th Century, and there is no reason for any other bones from the 10th Century to be there.’

It is not known how Alfred the Great died, but he was buried in the Old Minster, the Anglo-Saxon cathedral in Winchester.

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Posted by peiper     on 03/27/2013 at 12:15 PM   
Filed Under: • Archeology / Anthropology • History • UK •  
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