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Dennis the Short

BC/AD The BC/AD system of numbering years was invented in 532 AD by Dennis the Short. Also known as Dionysius Exiguus, he is best known as the inventor of the Anno Domini era. He didn’t know it was 532 AD. If anything it was 287 After Diocletian. He reckoned that 532 years had passed since the incarnation, and so began the years of the Christian calendar. 

532 years in the Julian calendar had a certain significance which was discovered by a friend of his, Victorious of Aquitaine. A period of 532 years covers a complete cycle of New Moons (19 years, known as the Metonic cycle, is a period between phases of the moon on the same date because calendars based on the moon and those based on the sun do not match. They only line up once every 19 years) and correspondence between days of the week and of the month, which recur every 28 years. The product of 19 and 28 is the interval in years (532) between recurrences of a given phase of the Moon on the same day of the week and month. So 532 years is sometimes called a Victorian period after the astronomer Victorius of Aquitaine, its first calculator; and sometimes Dionysian after Dionysius Exiguus, who applied this number when he calculated the year of Christ’s birth. Dionysius Dennis the Short was born about the year 470 in Scythia Minor, now the area Dobruja that is shared by Romania and Bulgaria. He became a monk at a community of Scythian monks in Tomis, now Constanta. About 500, he moved to Rome where he led a monastery as abbot and was a member of the Roman Curia. EASTER Dionysius Dennis the Short also developed tables for future dates of Pascha that returned the Christian West to the use of the principles used by the Church of Alexandria for observing the feast of Pascha. Pascha is a transliteration of the Greek word, which is itself a transliteration of the Aramaic pascha, from the Hebrew pesach meaning Passover. Pascha normally falls either one or five weeks later than the feast as observed by Christians who follow the Gregorian calendar. However, occasionally the two observances coincide, and on occasion they can be four weeks apart. The reason for the difference is that, though the two calendars use the same underlying formula to determine the festival, they compute from different starting points. The older Julian calendar's solar calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian's and its lunar calendar is four to five days behind the Gregorian's.

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Martin Luther, Atheism, Secularism and Individualism.

Martin Luther, without realising it, gave us 3 -isms. Atheism, Secularism and Individualism. He was the first to give us the idea of thinking for yourself- not being told- a profound scepticism against the religious tradition. Luther’s great argument is sola scriptura, if it's not in the Bible, get rid of it. The logical implication of that is why only scripture? Why not get rid of scripture as well? And essentially that is the kind of the end point that Protestant countries arrived at. The process of the reformation logically ends with atheism, which is why so many prominent atheists and humanists sound so Protestant. They are evangelical, eg Richard Dawkins.

Luther would be scandalised to see what has happened. He was very angry when 2 of his faithful followers Karlstadt and Müntzer took things much further than he wished, even though they remained within what we would recognise as Protestantism. Karlstadt, an early supporter of Luther, went on to press for more extensive reforms in theology and church life. Müntzer believed that the Bible states that all people are equal- an inspiring message to those who lived as peasants. After the Battle of Frankhausen Luther published a tract entitled “Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants”

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Mara bar Serapion

He is noted for a letter he wrote in Aramaic to his son, who was named Serapion. The letter may be an early non-Christian reference to the crucifixion of Jesus. Mara bar Serapion was a Stoic philosopher from the Roman province of Syria. The letter was composed sometime after 73 AD but before the 3rd century, and most scholars date it to shortly after 73 AD during the first century. The letter is now in the possession of the British Museum.

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Dairthech, Clonmacnoise, Co.Offaly

In Gaelic Ireland, between the 5th and 9th centuries AD, a dairthech (literally "oak-house") was a type of oratory or church built of oak-wood. This is a reconstruction of a dairthech, a typical small oak church, such as the ones that may have stood at Clonmacnoise prior to their reconstruction in stone.

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The Red Dragon- where does it come from?

Vortigern and the Dragons

The illustration is from a fifteenth century manuscript which contains Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ‘Historia Regum Brittonum’, written in the early 12th century. This part tells the story of the two dragons whose fighting toppled Vortigern’s castle. Merlin interprets the Red Dragon as representing the Britons and the White Dragon represented the Saxons. It’s a version of the 9th century tale included in the ‘Historia Brittonum’, though in this earlier version, the prophet is Ambrosius. This Red Dragon was adopted by Owen Tudor as his badge and used by Henry Tudor on his banner at Bosworth. Henceforward, it was designated one of the King’s Beasts, eventually officially recognised as the flag of Wales in the 1950s.

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Houelt Cross

This has been identified with Hywel ap Rhys who was a king of Glywysing (either in part or in its entirety) in South Wales (ruled c. 840–886). The Houelt Cross has a Latin inscription written in half-uncial Latin which has consistently been interpreted as a memorial cross raised by Hywel for his father.

R. A. Stewart Macalister read the inscription as:

"NINOMINEDIPATRISE/TS | PERETUSSANTDIANC | --]UCEMHOUELTPROPE | --]BITPROANIMARESPA | --]ESEUS"

In 1950 Victor Erle Nash-Williams translated it as "In the Name of God the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This cross Houelt (PN) prepared for the soul of Res (PN) his father" while in 1976 the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales translated it as "In the name of God, the Father and the Holy Spirit, Houelt (PN) prepared this cross for the soul of Res (PN) his father".

The Cross itself is a striking example of a Celtic wheel cross and features interlacing carvings, and the work is a lasting reminder of Hywel's wealth and influence.

The Houelt Cross can be seen in Llantwit Major - Llanilltud Fawr. The Llanilltud collection of Celtic Christian stones, housed in the Galilee Chapel, includes the Houelt Cross, the Samson or Illtud Cross and the Samson Pillar, all dating from the 9th to 11th century.

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Tara of the Kings

The Hill of Tara is Ireland's most revered ancient landscape, a place where monuments, myths and memories combine to create an icon of national identity. Tara was the chief pagan sanctuary of early Ireland, an arena for ceremony, burial and ritual. Twenty-five monuments are visible as earthworks on the Hill of Tara today; archaeologists have detected a further 50 buried beneath the soil. The five principal roads of ancient Ireland converged on this place and Tara's influence radiated into the surrounding countryside, where many related monuments are to be found. Eventually the prestige of Tara's past was harnessed as a symbol of a national kingship; to be crowned king of Tara was to be accepted as king of Ireland. Among the 25 monuments of Tara we have; the Mound of the Hostages, Raith of the synods, banquet hall, Raith na Ríg (this in circles, the crown of the hill of Tara to form a huge, ceremonial sanctuary. Excavations have revealed that it was built in the iron age.), Forrad, Tech Cormaic, Raith Loegaire, the sloping trenches (Clenfherta), Raith Grainne and Rath Maeve henge (2500-2000 BC).

The story of Tara starts in the late fourth millennium before the birth of Christ, when a communal burial place (passage tomb), Duma na ngiall, was constructed on the hill. So began Tara's role as a place of burial, a role that was to endure for over three millennia. Generation after generation added their imprint, each reflecting and referencing the monuments that had gone before. In so doing, communities engaged with the sacred world by erecting some of the most spectacular ceremonial monuments of prehistoric Ireland. It is likely that the great processional avenue (cursus) known as the Tech Midchüarta and the large ceremonial enclosure (henge) Rath Maeve were constructed towards the end of the Stone Age. The Irish names given to each monument are derived from the eleventh-century AD Dindanai Temrach, 'The remarkable places of Tara'. This forms part of a series of medieval texts entitled Dindshenchas Érenn. Funerary barrows like the Clenfherta are Bronze Age and Iron Age burial places. Perhaps they hold the remains of those who constructed the vast ceremonial sanctuary of Raith na Rig, which crowns the Hill of Tara, and prestigious dwellings such as Raith na Senad.

A visit to Tara around the time of the birth of Christ may have begun by journeying up Tech Midchuarta towards the sacred summit sanctuary at Raith na Rig. We can still follow this route today and immerse ourselves in this hallowed landscape. Tara is one of the 'royal sites' of Ireland, which served as the seats of the Gaelic kings. Historical sources associate these sites with various medieval Irish kingdoms, and archaeological investigations have shown that many of them were culturally significant. Each Irish kingdom is thought to have had its own royal site but six such sites are considered to be the most important. Four of these are associated with the four major provinces of Ireland - Cashel for Munster, Emain Macha (Navan Fort) for Ulster, Dún Ailinne for Leinster and Rathcroghan for Connacht. The Hill of Tara served as the seat of the kings of Meath and as the seat of the high king of Ireland.

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Kells Market Cross

The Cross of the Scriptures, Clonmacnoise

Muiredach's Cross, Monasterboice

Above are three of the very best Celtic high crosses, all still standing in Ireland where they were carved, all dating from around the 9th century.

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Sonnet 116: love

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me prov'd,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

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Pwdin: teisen gaws lemwn a sinsir. Arbennig. Cinio yn Rhosneigr efo’r fechan.

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How your personality type affects your politics. There are 5 main personality types.

All people score on these. However there are also the so-called dark triad.

Conflict arises because peoples goals differ and peoples goals differ because they have different ways of seeing the world. And those ways may be dependent upon our biology and how are genetic inheritance shapes our brains and personality traits. This in turn determines whether we decide to be politicians or not and which political parties we support.

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One Hot Year after Another

Globally, 2020 was the hottest year on record, effectively tying 2016, the previous record. Overall, Earth’s average temperature has risen more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1880s.

Temperatures are increasing due to human activities, specifically emissions of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide and methane. 

Heat and the energy it carries are what drive our planet: winds, weather, droughts, floods, and more are expressions of heat. The right amount of heat is even one of the things that makes life on Earth possible. But too much heat is changing the way our planet’s systems act.

My World’s on Fire

Higher temperatures drive longer, more intense fire seasons. As rain and snowfall patterns change, some regions are getting drier and more vulnerable to damage, setting the stage for more fires.

2020 saw several record-breaking fires, both in Australia in the beginning of the year, and in the western U.S. through northern summer and fall. Smoke from fires in both regions reached so high into the atmosphere that it formed clouds and continues to travel around the globe today.

In the Siberian Arctic, unusually high temperatures helped drive at least 19 fires in the region. More than half of them were burning peat soil – decomposed organic materials – that stores a lot of carbon. Peat fires release vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, potentially leading to even more warming.

The Water’s Getting Warm

It wasn’t just fire seasons setting records. 2020 had more named tropical storms in the Atlantic and more storms making landfall in the U.S. than any hurricane season on record.

Hurricanes rely on warm ocean water as fuel, and this year, the Atlantic provided. 30 named storms weren’t the only things that made this year’s hurricane season notable.

Storms like Eta, Delta, and Iota quickly changed from smaller, weaker tropical storms into more destructive hurricanes. This rapid intensification is complicated, but it’s likely that warmer, more humid weather – a result of climate change – helps drive it.

The Ice Is Getting Thin

Add enough heat, and even the biggest chunk of ice will melt. That’s true whether we’re talking about the ice cubes in your glass or the vast sheets of ice at our planet’s poles. Right now, the Arctic region is warming about three times faster than the rest of our planet, which has some major effects both locally and globally.

This year, Arctic sea ice hit a near-record low. Sea ice is actually made of frozen ocean water, and it grows and thaws with the seasons, typically reaching an annual minimum extent in September.

Warmer ocean water led to more ice melting this year, and 2020’s annual minimum extent continued a long trend of shrinking Arctic sea ice extent.

A Long Trend

We study Earth and how it’s changing from the ground, the sky, and space. Using data from sensors all around the planet, we calculate the global average temperature, working with our partners at NOAA.

Many other organizations also track global temperature using their own instruments and methods, and they all match remarkably well. The last seven years were the hottest seven years on record. Earth is getting warmer.

We also study the effects of increasing temperatures, like the melting sea ice and longer fire seasons mentioned above. Additionally, we can study the cause of climate change from space, with a bird’s eye view of increasing carbon in the atmosphere.

The planet is changing because of human activities. We’re working together with other agencies to monitor changes and understand what this means for people in the future.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

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Welsh / Anglo-Saxon

Most of the borrowings from Anglo-Saxon into Welsh belong to the worlds of domestic, village, and farming life, suggesting the nature of the interactions between Welsh speakers and their English neighbours. Similarly, the attestations of Welsh words borrowed into Old English belong to the same rural domestic context, including W. cwm, coombe and W. gwlanen, ‘flannel’. It is possible that the Old English word for hostage, gisel, was borrowed from the Welsh gwystl, which would throw an interesting light on the kinds of political interactions which went on between the two groups. One of the most significant borrowings from Old English into Welsh is the term aetheling, ‘heir apparent’, borrowed into Welsh as edling with precisely the same meaning. The older Welsh term was gwrthrychyat, ‘one who anticipates’, and it was replaced by the English borrowing edling in the early Welsh law texts. The exact date of borrowing and usage is hard to pin down, but it was almost certainly a pre-conquest borrowing which shows the influence of Anglo-Saxon legal practices on Welsh customs.

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King Arthur

In many ways, Arthur is one of the most important cultural figures of Wales, making him most valuable to Wales and certain Welsh princes. Indeed the earliest known portrayals of Arthur as leader portray him as a Welsh, even though later perceptions of Arthur move the Arthurian legend to other parts of Europe.

​Looking at the development of the Arthurian legend in “historical” documents, the founding triumvirate would be Gildas in the sixth century, Nennius in the ninth century and Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century.

Nennius and Geoffrey both built off of Gildas’ De Excidio Conquestu Britanniae, amongst other literary sources, but the historical antecedents of Arthur, the hero of Wales, begins with the monk Gildas. Although Gildas never mentions Arthur in his writings, his account of the Saxon wars is the foundation on which the pseudo-historical Arthurian legend is built. De Excidio Conquestu Britanniae was written sometime in the early to mid sixth century, which was a time of conflict between the Brythonic people and the Saxon invaders. Gildas believed that the success of the Saxons was “the vengeance of God upon the Britons for their sins.” He begins with the Battle of Mons Badonicus (Mynydd Baddon in Welsh). Gildas says the Battle of Baddon took place in the year of his birth, which is around 500 CE, about 44 years before Gildas began writing De Exicidio Britanniae. The Battle of Mynydd Baddon was one of the major battles between the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons, and is one of the few major battles in which the Britons are victorious, but little else is known about the battle, including exactly when and where it was fought. Gildas says that the leader of the Brythonic people was a man named Ambrosius. In later sources, Ambrosius is replaced by Arthur as the commander of the Britons, a fact that is clearly stated in the tenth-century text the Annales Cambriae and mirrored by other medieval historians including Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Thus Gildas laid the foundation which inspired Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Owain Glyndŵr in their struggles against the Anglo-Norman.

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Wales- the Holy Land?

Modern visitors to Wales sometimes remark on the unusual biblical place-names one encounters there. The old county of Caernarvonshire has places called Bethel, Nasareth, and Bethania; Meirionethshire also has a Bethania, as does Cardiganshire. One might find oneself in Bethesda either in Caernarvonshire or Pembrokeshire. In Carmarthenshire there is both a Bethlehem and a Salem. Saron occurs no fewer than five times: twice each in Carmarthenshire and Caernarvonshire, and once in Denbighshire. The Saron in Denbighshire, near Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch, is close to Peniel; and across the vale, a few miles to the northeast, one unfortunate district is known as Sodom (a name more familiar from Genesis 19 as one of the wicked cities of the plain). The name is said to have been given because of the quarrelsome nature of the inhabitants. There is also a Peniel in Carmarthenshire; other place-names include Carmel (Carmarthenshire, Flintshire, Anglesey, Radnor), and Nebo (Cardiganshire, Caernarvonshire, Anglesey). All the places just mentioned took on their biblical identities from the names of dissenting chapels founded there during the nineteenth century.

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Aberffraw

The village of Aberffraw occupies an important place in the history of Wales. It was from this village that the Princes ruled the kingdom of Gwynedd for 750 years. The site of their palace was probably the village square unusually large for a Welsh village. The Norman arch in the the village church is said to have come from the palace.

The Mabinogion tells of a great drama that happened there during the wedding feast of Branwen, historically the daughter of King Lear. Matholwch the king of Ireland, sought Branwen from her brother Bendigeidfran whose court was at Harlech. The marriage was celebrated with a great feast at Aberffraw, but things went badly wrong. Efnisien, half-brother of Branwen, was angry that his permission was not also sought in regards to the marriage. He arrived in Aberffraw and found Irish horses tethered there. The celebrations were cut short when Efnisien brutally mutilated Matholwch's horses. Naturally this offended the Irish and it was only by diplomacy and costly gifts that Bendigeidfran was able to placate them. After the feast Matholwch and his bride set sail for Ireland. It was not a happy marriage. Efnisien's insult continued to rankle and Branwen was mistreated badly. It was commonly thought that Branwen was eventually buried in Aberffraw.

So much for the legend. Now for the facts In Victorian times a farmer needing stones took them from a cairn on the bank of the Alaw. Under the stones he found a cist of close flags in a square, covered over. Moving the lid he found an urn of roughly baked earth about a foot high placed with its mouth downwards full of ashes and half calcined fragments of human bones. The spot where the bones were found had for as long as anyone could remember been known as Ynys Branwen. The urn is now on show in the admirable museum at Bangor which is well worth a visit.

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King Arthur by Geoffrey of Monmouth

“Favourable winds brought the Trojan Brutus to the promised isle, which at that time was called Albion. It had no inhabitants save for a few giants. This pleasant land led Brutus and his companions to settle there and, after driving off to mountain caves any giants they encountered, they divided it up and portioned it out. Brutus named the island Britain after himself and called his followers Britons” – So the 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth described how Britain first came to be discovered, named and settled. Compiled in around 1136, Geoffrey’s Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain- Brut y Brenhinoedd in Welsh) is an epic, which chronicles the rulers of Britain from earliest times until the seventh century AD. Containing characters such as Cole (the merry old soul), Lear and Cymbeline (both later immortalised by Shakespeare), as well as King Arthur, Merlin and Mordred. The Historia was a medieval bestseller, and its influence upon European culture cannot be overstated. In Geoffrey’s work we find the earliest written reference to King Arthur. It features all of Arthur’s key battles, taken from the History of the Britons, but also adds detail such as his conception at Tintagel in Cornwall; his parentage (the son of Uther Pendragon and Ygerna); his sword (Caliburn); and his struggles against enemies across Europe. Along the way Geoffrey also outlines Arthur’s love for Ganhumara (Guinevere); the epic bravery of his band of brothers; and the final treachery of Mordred, who deals Arthur a mortal blow at Camblam (Camlann), after which his body is conveyed to Avalon.