Offa's Dyke - The History of King Offa's Dyke
Рет қаралды 5,061
3 жыл бұрынOffa's Dyke is a famous landmark that many tend to think of as the border between England and Wales.
When I was just a little Scoff, we were taught that Offa's Dyke was a great wall built by King Offa of Mercia that ran the length of the Wales-England border to keep us noble Welsh from sallying forth and reclaiming our lands from those dastardly English (my memory may have embellished that somewhat). But how much of that is true?
Well, it turns out, little to none of it.
In this video I try to answer such important questions as
Did King Offa really build the Dyke?
When was it built?
Was it used to stop the Welsh invading Mercia?
Who were the Angles and Saxons?
Was Offa's Dyke built as an over compensation by King Offa?
Why do we measure it in bald eagles?
Against all probability, those last 2 questions do come up!
The history of Welsh / Mercian relations is a contentious one - and one we skim over in preference for talking about the history of a mound of mud, and why it was built.
If it was important enough for early medieval kings of Britain to fight over, then it is good enough for us to be sarcastic about in the present day!
The link to the Guthlac video I mentioned on how the Anglo-Saxons may have been mostly made up of Britons who managed to forget that they weren't actually conquered.
• The Anglo-Saxon Arriva...
Bibliography
For those that like videos, the channel Archaeodeath is run by Professor Howard Williams, one of the foremost authorities on the Dyke - / @archaeodeath
For those that prefer the written word I highly reccomend the book "Offa's Dyke" by Ian Bapty and Keith Ray. It's both well written and informative, though if you don't know the area you may find some of the bits where they go indepth on the geography of different sections a bit hard to parse (but the rest of it is great for all)
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07S7FC228
Other work used
Building Anglo-Saxon England, John Blair (2018, Princeton University Press)
Offa and the Mercian Wars, Chris Peers (2012 Pen & Sword Books)
Offa's Dyke Journals (volumes 1&2) Howard Williams and Liam Delaney - www.archaeopress.com/Archaeop...
#offasdyke #KingOffa #welshhistory #britishhistory
@jneedle92 2 жыл бұрын
Lovely video! Came for the history, stayed for the "your mum" jokes. Glad the algorithm recommended you!
@ScoffatHistory 2 жыл бұрын
All hail the mighty algorithm! 🙌 Thank you for your kind words. The algorithm has been a bit kinder than usual to me over the last few days.
@jeeweewee 7 ай бұрын
LOVE this video! Great work! Very witty and funny when you least expect it, keeps history fun which is brilliant for learning! Keep up the great work!! ❤ *side note, my only criticism would be that you speak a little too fast at times. As someone who grew up in Hampshire but Mother's side are from Wales/Cornwall I understood you perfectly but I can imagine some Americans (or other similar countries who also don't speak Ænglish as their first language...) might struggle a bit?*
@Dronesman 2 жыл бұрын
I loved this video! The wit just keeps on coming! Had me laugh out loud at one point 😂 I really enjoyed all the thoughts on the whole subject, and the various narratives! I found this video this morning because I’ve been thinking recently about the all the big historic walls, and why people choose to build them. I was trying to convince my wife last night (who is American and wasn’t all that interested in the conversation) that one of the effects of building a Great Wall would have been an implicit statement left in the air, that the builders had no intention of encroaching any further into the lands beyond. That the resources invested in the building of such an immovable delimiter surely meant that the people living in the “baddy” side of the wall were safe from invasion by the “goodies”. If that doesn’t sound like barely readable drivel, I’d love to hear your thoughts on that. Anyways, loved the video, and I’ve subscribed!
@ScoffatHistory 2 жыл бұрын
Firstly, thanks for the kind words! For your question, I'm not so sure. We see in Offas dyke that he still campaigned into Wales even as it was being constructed, and the border was rarely at the dyke itself. Now I'm not so up on Chinese history, but in general defensive barriers such as walls usually enabled the people to have a defensive line, but would have multiple entrances to Sally forth from...they acting almost as an outsized Fort in that regard. From memory the achonese built the walls primarily for defence, though I strongly suspect that a lot of the thinking will be along the same lines I laid out here (should I find the time to research it). However one thing in favour of your comment on the great wall is how insular China often was. I don't just mean shutting the outside world off ala prior to the opium wars, but how it was constantly in a state of flux and unrest, so focused far more on its own problems than, for example, a European country. In that regard a wall that worked defensively and drew a line in the sand of "this is ours, this is yours...keep it that way" might make a good deal of sense. I'm going to have to dig more into it!
@Dronesman 2 жыл бұрын
Of course! Keep up the good work👊. Ah yeah if the mercians sallied forth from the dyke all the time launching raids, that totally kills the whole “calm down, we won’t invade anymore” vibe! Appreciate the response!
@sirrathersplendid4825 2 жыл бұрын
Bewildering.
@tomlaughton6805 2 жыл бұрын
Great video 🤣
@gwynedd4023 Жыл бұрын
nice i found this
@donfitzgerald3525 2 жыл бұрын
Offa was in fact the helm of mercias GA
@jack1428 2 жыл бұрын
The historic flag of Wessex was a dragon too I believe.
@TheMrSvenni Жыл бұрын
A Wyvern
@imdelsa5485 Жыл бұрын
Great video, loved the dialogues tho they distracted me a little ngl
@ScoffatHistory Жыл бұрын
I do worry I use them a bit too much co sidering how quickly I talk!
@Nick-tn3ms 2 жыл бұрын
Nice vid. Hopefully the algorithm blesses u
@ScoffatHistory 2 жыл бұрын
Thank you. The algorithm does what the algorithm does, I'm just happy that I enjoy making these videos and people seem to enjoy watching them!
@mathew.1864 Ай бұрын
Your point of view mostly.
@smiteme3987 3 жыл бұрын
I am your average American and I only understood like 1/3 of this video. I'm not sure if that's what you were going for but if it was good job it worked. Also we measure things in big macs over here the bald eagle system is only an Alaska thing.. But that's not really a state so who cares..
@ScoffatHistory 3 жыл бұрын
Yeah, to be fair this was a bit of an indulgence. Offa's Dyke is famous in Wales, but we rarely do much about learning its history. I decided that I wanted to, and wanted to share it. I recognise it's not for everyone. To be fair, my experience of Americans is that they know of England, Scotland and Ireland, but no bugger knows about Wales, my country and the oft forgotten other member of the United Kingdom. We're the country of Christian Bale, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta Jones and Tom Jones if that helps at all!
@aston452 2 жыл бұрын
too much sarcasm in 1 video 😂
@ScoffatHistory 2 жыл бұрын
Impossible! There's no such thing as too much sarcasm.
@terrencebowry744 11 ай бұрын
King offa black Saxon king
@YeahYeahb-tch 5 ай бұрын
Nothing but a big overpriced DITCH. Even after the Roman withdrawal no one had anywhere near that level of engineering. They could not replicate it. I’m guessing the Roman’s chose not to teach fortress building to its enemies. They used Roman palaces for future future kinds for a long time. All Roman
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