10-16-2015, 02:04 PM
(10-16-2015, 01:51 PM)michaelsean Wrote: I thought Northumbria went all the way to the Irish Sea. When I read historical novels in the Medieval Days, I often wonder just how wrong the picture in my head is. I still can't figure out how Vikings fit all of their gear, food, ale, and all the plunder on a ship. Even if they do pull up planks. Now Ragnar's hall in the show was a pretty good likeness of what I have in my mind. I can't ever make myself think of those ones that are like dug into the ground with sod roofs. They look like Hobbit houses.
And the pic on this site makes the castle look a little more formidable. The little one in the left column especially.
http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/KingdomofNorthumbria.html
At its largest, Northumbria stretched to the Irish Sea in the southern part, but up in Bernicia, where Bamburgh is, it is only the eastern half of the landmass. Cumbria took up the other side (though part of it was absorbed into Northumbria by the time frame of the books) and what little was left was kind of wild. Like a mini Wales in a sense.
And yeah, that picture does show more of why it was so formidable. The slope towards the beach that looks gradual must be the only approachable side, which is why it would be so hard to assault because that was the only way to it.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
