The Troublesome Time of England’s Dual King Henrys ~ Alli Templeton

Reblogged from Medieval Wanderings:

Last year I wrote about the tempestuous marriage of Henry II, the first Plantagenet king of England, and his headstrong queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Although they spent much of their relationship at loggerheads or estranged, the discordant duo were at least united in one goal: to found a dynasty to rule over their vast Angevin lands that now stretched from the Scottish borders all the way down to the Pyranees. In their four surviving sons they doubtless felt the future of the mighty Plantagenet empire was assured, but the ambitious king would not rest on his laurels. Instead, his obsession with the succession meant that in 1170, England was to bow to not one, but two kings, as Henry crowned his fifteen-year-old son, also called Henry, alongside him. But the throne wasn’t big enough for both of them, and as conflict erupted between father and son, spreading across the whole realm, the stage was set for the first spectacular Plantagenet family implosion.

Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: this is where the
Plantagenet dynasty starts

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Like Breathing

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Field of Sheaves: Finding…

*

…But first to the finding, which was not easy and which though I am utterly loathe to admit it, was down to Wen.

I should have known then.

Turning up on my patch and finding things! Still I suppose Wen would say she is just getting her own back and in truth I am glad she found it because I was beginning to despair…

*

…It does not help when you are following poor directions, although we were also given precise co-ordinates and I do have a compass, it is just that, when I considered going down that particular route it seemed, to my mind at least, something of a ‘cop out’ especially as Wen had also brought me some dowsing rods.

The spare set which had finally turned up at hers.

They were just like Wen’s too with their own black velvet pouch and all.

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Interlude ~ Horse Whispers

Avebury SE weekend 035

White Horse of Uffington

It seems such a long time ago that I wrote about our not being able to leave for the Scottish weekend, right at the last minute. Stuart hopped on a train and came down here instead. While the Pictish weekend went ahead without us in the far north, we marked time and twiddled our thumbs, waiting for scans and answers. Now, the problem was that this was not only supposed to be a workshop weekend, it was also supposed to be our second and, as it turned out, wholly unsuccessful attempt to get a holiday of some sort this year… albeit just a few days on the road. So when even that was denied us, I was determined that we should do something with what time we had to make our ‘holiday’ memorable.

We had already driven out to Rollright a couple of days earlier. It had taken a lot out of me, but as I had managed, I reckoned I could manage a bit further too. We had missed the June workshop thanks to Covid, during which we were supposed to be exploring some of the lesser-known features of the great megalithic circle and sites around Avebury. It is a place we love and, really, is not too far away from my home.

Marlborough White Horse

Marlborough

So, off we set… heading past the White Horse at Uffington, the enigmatic figure cut thousands of years earlier into a strangely shaped ‘horse’ of debatably draconine ancestry. It is the eldest of all the White Horses… first cut, three feet deep and back-filled with chalk, at least three thousand years ago. And yet, like so many other ‘earth-mystery sites’ worldwide, it is only clearly visible from the air…

Continue reading at The Silent Eye

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Watched #midnighthaiku

Nature watched us play

Children of the eath and sky

Kinship recognised

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My Horizon

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AfghanAdventures#56 – caught in a bombing raid ~ Mary Smith

Reblogged from MarySmith’sPlace:

To de-stress after completing Arif’s accounts we went shopping in Tezak bazaar, where I’d spent the first night on the road, when travelling north with Khudadad almost six months ago.

The teahouse gossip concerned a recent bombing raid on the bazaar. The Kabul Government suspected mujahideen base camps were close to Tezak. I was puzzled there was so little evidence of bombing raids and was told since the mujahideen had acquired anti-aircraft guns, bombers could no longer fly in so low. The pilots were forced to drop the bombs from a much higher height, sacrificing accuracy for safety.

I wondered how I’d feel if I were ever caught in a bombing raid. Apart from here in Tezak, where the men assured us there would be no bombing for some weeks yet (how could they be sure?), our travels never took us near places of any significance in the war. However, on my second time in Afghanistan the following spring, I found out.

We weren’t supposed to be in Sia Huq the day it was bombed. A broken leaf spring, which refused to be held together any longer with bits of wire and string, forced us to make the detour. Sia Haq, once a tiny village barely two hours from Kabul, had become a major transport depot held by the mujahideen.

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Circles Beyond Time~ Sleeping Stones

circles-time-barbrook-dawn-001

It is difficult to describe the feeling when we arrived at ‘our’ stone circle. The last time we had been there, we had spent hours in the landscape, just sitting and absorbing the feel and the vibrant serenity of the place. Looking at the devastation we found when we arrived to check the site prior to the workshop, it was as if that previous visit had been in a different time-frame altogether. As if centuries, rather than months, had slowly eroded the memory of joy and left the site bereft of presence. Or as if the hours we had spent had been passed in some ‘otherwhere’ that took no account of the passing of time in our world.

It is even more difficult to describe why it should be so. The stones, small and typical of Derbyshire’s circles, are always half-buried in the grass. The reeds that have begun to invade the site have been there all along, though not as prominent as at this time of year. The small offerings of coins, feathers and flowers were still present… yet there was something indefinably ‘missing’. As if the stones, that had so recently seemed awake and aware, had been put to sleep. It was profoundly shocking.

circles-time-barbrook-dawn-044-1

Our plan was to work in the little circle the following day, demonstrating how we thought it might have been used by the seer who kept the stones. As we walked around the overgrown lawn, we both came to the same conclusion… we would have to do something else too; try to help somehow…. though quite how we could do that, we didn’t know.

Our carefully laid plans were altered; we had no idea what we would end up doing there. All we could do would be wait and see, trusting, as always, that what was needed would come with the moment.

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Field of Sheaves…

*

…I have a bad feeling about this place.

But Wen insists, and when Wen insists… not even graphic descriptions of the steepness of the hill itself could deflect her… so here we are… half way up the climb… resting on a convenient wall and even from this point the view is impressive…

I have been up here before and while that is useful because I can sort of remember where to go it is also a part of what is worrying me so much. I have completely blanked the previous trip from my memory, although thin shards of it are now beginning to filter back into my mind, none of it is particularly encouraging, but then it was a long time ago and maybe things have improved since then… Unfortunately I am not terribly good at convincing myself…

When Wen insists…

Thankfully the common ground opens up sooner than I was expecting and although I know this was not the way I previously entered the site, we will doubtless be able to find our way from here.

‘This will do…’

Continue reading at France and Vincent

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Paper wings

In sleepless silence
night mourns the dreaming
lost to a fallen star.
Shadows chase the ghosts of morning,
ever seeking to consume them,
jealous of their light.
Paper wings flutter
unheeded to the floor
in flightless death.
The wakeful poet dips his pen
in cold coffee
beside the empty bed
and yearns for dawn.

fantasy_quill_by_kippcantdance-d48o7ur

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