Thursday 21 October 2021

The Milky Way, Watling Street and a Yorkshire Monk

 

Following the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066 there was a period during the next 200 years of a series of building not only building castles but also Abbeys and Monasteries. In Yorkshire alone there were over a dozen built, and these were built of stone and replaced the wooden Anglo Saxon structures. They did have one thing in common though; they had extensive libraries, which allowed them to become great places of learning, and as we all know knowledge is power.

One chronicler who we do know off and came from Yorkshire was Roger of Hoveden or Howden in the East Riding of |Yorkshire, we believe he dies around the year 1201, among the many things he did was around the year 1192 was to write a general history of England from the year 732.

He does make an interesting reference to the Milky Way, Roger says that the Anglo Saxon name was Waetlinga Straet or the paths of the Waetlings, these were giant sons of King Waetla who were the legendary founders of the path. It is possible that Waetla was one of the Saxon mythical heroes. However remember that if we are going back even further in time than the Saxons it would have been based on Celtic mythology.

 We all know that the Romans constructed Watling Street which ran from Kent to Shropshire for over two hundred and fifty miles. The Milky Way in the sky looks slightly curved, Watling Street is slightly curved, and could the Romans be using the Celtic/Saxon mythology and placing the Milky Way on the ground in England?

 It’s what a Yorkshire monk is suggesting!




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