Hilbert Vinkenoog (History with)

How Many Kingdoms were there in Early Medieval Britain? YouTube video by History With Hilbert

m.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ0o...

Me and @history-w-hilbert.bsky.social talking about LITTLE KINGDOMS

For #FindsFriday Scandinavian imitations of Frankish deniers, found at Castricum in Noord-Holland, for a chapter in a book ed. by @ccooijmans.bsky.social. One copies a coin of Louis the Pious, one Lothar I: we know #vikings were settled in this area. Find report at
www.academia.edu/43960277/2020

THE AGE OF THE FRISIANS HAS COME

We binne wer yn it Heitelân, hear.

Letters from Denmark, floating down the Rhine and keelmen on the Tyne North Sea Dispatches #05

The latest North Sea dispatches from me

One of a series of Fris- place-names in England. Some are compounded with Old Norse elements rather than Old English so several might be in connection with the Great Army and the Danelaw as well as early traders or settlers among the Anglo-Saxons.

St Wilfrid’s Church, Monk Fryston.

Monk Fryston, North Yorkshire. Fristun c.1030, Munechesfryston 1166. ‘Farmstead of the Frisians’. Old English Frīsa + tūn. Affix from Old English munuc ‘monk’ referring to possession by Selby Abbey in the 11thC. Source: Oxford Dictionary of British #PlaceNames. 📸Mel Towler #medievalsky

Was Frisia Conquered in 785? One of the big questions around the history of early medieval Frisia is when the region was conquered by the Franks.[1] Or at least, that’s one of the big questions for me. It’s not a question anyo…

Starting off a new year on the blog by tackling a big question
longhairedkingsblog.wordpress.com/2026/01/23/w...

That’s fair enough though! Being a continental who grew up in the UK I think I’m more prone to emphasise one side of this than the other.

Quite - but I think the same holds true for ethnic and linguistic minorities on the Continent. Catalans most have heard of, but Frisians, Basques, Sorbians? These are (inter)nationally recognised minorities but could the average Briton point to their homelands on the map?

Holland? The Netherlands? Dutch? Deutsch? Danish? I think this goes both ways with Brits and the Continent!

Although in this case many Dutch people shorthand to saying Holland because it’s the more accepted term in many languages. But the same is true for England (Anglia) and UK.

Last week @celticist.bsky.social gave an absolute tour de force on Northumbrian stone sculpture at the lovely Church of St Hilda in Hartlepool. Great to see some faces from Lindisfarne there as well. The old Bernician connections are yet strong!

Is that the flag of the Kalmar Union?

Bet the Mrs was thrilled 😂

What is it on?

Óðinn grasping the runes hanging on Yggdrasil. Njórðr and Skaði feeling homesick for their respective biomes. Rígr as a cheeky-looking postman leaving three houses with a big grin on his face.

I liked your Hail in St Mary’s a lot. Some lovely kenning imagery there.

Always a pleasure to catch up with Alex Harvey, especially to deviously plan out the next steps in bringing you a potted sweep across the world of the North Sea Age!

It was baltic!

The toon the day.

Never mind chat gpt, I use Mûske to do my writing for me.

Honoured to be featured as the up-to-date tech-savvy researcher dragging Luddite boomer @alexharvv.bsky.social into the twenty first century.

So I don't know if you've ever looked at a map of Burghead before... Interesting promontory. Picturesque.

The world is healing!

"The Old English language was initially joined by other Germanic languages including Old Norse and Frisian."

Interesting to question whether Old English and (pre-) Old Frisian of this period were considered different languages by their speakers or different variations of the same.

A screenshot showcasing two books; Little Kingdoms: An A-Z of Early Medieval Britain (with a front cover design), and Dawn of the Vikings (with no front cover design)

Looking forward to 2026 (and 2027 and 2028) with several projects on the go

my next big non-fiction is mine and @history-w-hilbert.bsky.social's Dawn of the Vikings: A History of the North Sea Age, looming distantly on the horizon, published by @penandswordbooks.bsky.social

Absolutely about time.

I hear it’s not as bad as the less well-known German Bark…