Viking Place Names in Britain
Term 1. Articles
Article 1
Who was Alexander Hamilton?
Alexander who? Until very recently, it was a question that even citizens of the United States might have asked. Yes, Alexander Hamilton was one of the founding fathers of the nation, but he was – let's be frank – a bit of a B-lister, at least compared to the headlining names of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. In fact, just a few years ago, the US government was all set to boot Hamilton from his place on the $10 bill. Who, after all, cared?
But now, everyone cares. Hamilton is the name on people's lips around the world. The B-lister has become the breakout star of America's origin story. His sudden tsunami of popularity has even made the Treasury reverse their decision and keep him on the bank note.
It's all down to the monster success of Broadway musical Hamilton, which is about to hit these shores. It's a show which, on the face of it, makes no sense. A musical featuring a cast largely made up of people of colour, set to a soundtrack of hip-hop and R 'n' B, which tells the story of a group of white men forging a nation in the time of slavery?
But when you delve into the life of Hamilton – the real man, rather than the generically lordly figure of oil paintings and history books – it starts making sense. Hamilton was an immigrant and an underdog. He was a fighter, both literally and metaphorically. He was an orphan with little privilege to fall back on, who had nothing going for him except fierce intellect and a will to survive.
Born out of wedlock on an island in the Caribbean, the product of an illicit fling by a Scottish businessman who later abandoned him and his mother, Hamilton was later dubbed "the bastard brat of a Scottish peddler" by none other than John Adams, the second President of the United States.
After his mother died, Hamilton could have fallen into poverty and obscurity. Instead, he excelled as a worker, and his ambitions led him to leave the Caribbean behind to study in New York. His first steps to national significance came during the American War of Independence, when Hamilton – filled with revolutionary zeal against the British – proved himself a brilliant soldier. So brilliant, in fact, that he was promoted to become the senior aide to George Washington himself. Hamilton's fearless devotion to military glory meant that he would later give up his relatively cushy job to return to the frontlines.
But Hamilton's true importance in history rests not on his exploits in the war, but on his role as midwife to the birth of the United States. This was a time of fierce squabbling between the various founders. The key question was about how the United States should be governed, and how much power the central government should have over the individual states.
Hamilton was a passionate advocate of a strong, federal government, at a time when many feared such an idea could lead to a new monarchy, or even a tyranny. These "anti-federalists" believed the very rights of ordinary people were at stake, and – shockingly unpatriotic as it may sound now – they vigorously opposed the ideas of the new US Constitution. Hamilton wrote a series of articles, known as the Federalist Papers, passionately defending the Constitution. Not only did these help sway the argument in favour of the Constitution, and the very idea of a strong, united country, but they remain a landmark work of political philosophy.
Hamilton came in for criticism, though. His fiercely federalist beliefs caused some to regard him as a covert monarchist, or even a budding Julius Caesar. But Hamilton wasn't done yet. When President George Washington appointed him the very first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton put into place the nationwide banking system that's still in place today. In fact, he was the architect of the whole economic programme for the young nation he'd helped create. Hamilton was a pioneer in less fortunate ways too, being the focus of America's first ever political sex scandal, thanks to his affair with a married woman whose husband had blackmailed Hamilton to keep things quiet.
Alexander Hamilton's career was turbulent, unexpected and changed the course of the world. And it came to a fittingly dramatic end. Challenged to a duel by his long-time political nemesis Aaron Burr, who just happened to be the Vice-President of the United States, Hamilton wanted no part of it, but went along anyway. He was shot by the Vice-President, and died the very next day. It remains one of the most bizarre episodes in American political history, but one which was almost forgotten until now. Thanks to a hit musical, Hamilton's remarkable existence on the world stage is finally getting the attention it deserves.
Article 2
George Washington's hair found tucked in old book in New ork library
Strands of the first US president’s hair thought to have been gift to book’s owner from James Alexander Hamilton, son of the famous Treasury secretary
A researcher at the Schaffer Library in New York has discovered what is believed to be a lock of George Washington’s hair inside an 18th-century almanac. The strands are thought to have been given to the book’s owner by the son of Alexander Hamilton, the first US secretary of the Treasury immortalised in the hit musical that bears his name.
Archivist Daniel Michelson found the copy of Gaines Universal Register or American and British Kalendar for the year 1793 while digging through the oldest books held in the Schaffer Library, part of Union College in Schenectady, New York. Within the covers of the book, which is believed to have belonged to Philip Schuyler, son of one of Union College’s founders, General Philip Schuyler, he discovered a series of Philip Schuyler’s handwritten notes on topics including how to “preserve beef for summer’s use”.
But when librarian John Myers examined the almanac further, he discovered what the college described as a “slender yellowed envelope”, containing “several strands of grey or whitening hair, neatly tied together by a single thread”. Written on the envelope were the lines: “Washington’s hair, L.S.S. & (scratched out) GBS from James A. Hamilton given him by his mother, Aug. 10, 1871.”
James Alexander Hamilton was the third son of Alexander and Eliza Schuyler Hamilton – the general’s daughter – who themselves were close to George and Martha Washington. Washington died in 1799.
“In an era when people frequently exchanged hair as a keepsake, it’s quite probable that Martha had given Eliza some of George’s hair, which in turn was given to their son, James, who later distributed it, strand by strand, as a precious memento to close friends and family members,” said the scholar Susan Holloway Scott, author of the historical novel I, Eliza Hamilton.
Although the hair has not been DNA tested, the manuscripts dealer John Reznikoff, who has a Guinness world record for the “largest collection of hair from historical figures”, told the college: “Without DNA, you’re never positive, but I believe it’s 100% authentic.” He speculated that the strands might be worth “maybe $2,000 to $3,000” (£1,400-£2,100).
The library’s head of special collections and archives, India Spartz, called the find “a very significant treasure” and “a tremendous testament to history”. “As an archivist, we come across interesting material all of the time,” she said. “But this is such a treasure for the campus.”’
Article 3
Where the Vikings Left their Mark
Vikings. Giant, bloodthirsty, bushy-bearded men adorned with horned helmets and colossal axes. Hell-bent on a systematic programme of rape, pillage, randomly sacking towns and a penchant for wrecking up monasteries, right?
Wrong.
Like the common-garden playground bully, the truth is the Vikings weren’t all that bad. Just misunderstood. Maybe they just wanted to be loved?
So who exactly were the Vikings? A clue is in the name. The word ‘viking’ comes from the Old Norse meaning ‘pirate raid’. Yet not all those who came to the British Isles arrived with extreme violence in mind. Indeed it has become a matter of scholarly debate as to whether it was just the raiders who were referred to as Vikings, rather than the more peaceful Norse settlers.
Clear? No? Let’s muddy the waters a little more.
The first recorded Viking incursion was in 793 AD. A grotesque orgy of violence ensued and ended with the destruction of the monastery on the holy island of Lindisfarne, off England’s north-eastern coast. From then until their presence dwindled after the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, the Viking Age represented a fascinating – albeit relatively fleeting – period of British history.
Many suggest their invasions were in retaliation to what they saw as trespassing on their tribal lands by Christian missionaries. Some say it was because they wanted access to the lucrative southern European trade routes; some say that Scandinavia was simply too cold and they couldn’t grow anything. Even romantic wanderlust has been mooted, although it’s unlikely they came for a holiday.
One thing is clear, the Vikings left an indelible mark on Britain’s culture, language and geography that endures to this day… In fact, if you look for the Vikings today, you may be surprised by what you find.
Viking Place Names in Britain
There were Viking sites and settlements all across Europe. If you live in Derby, Grimsby, Rugby or Whitby – in fact any town that ends in -by (from the Old Norse meaning a ‘farmstead’ or ‘village’) – you live in a town settled by the Vikings, exactly like Brondby and Lyngby in Denmark.
The same goes for towns ending in -thorpe (‘outlying farm’) such as Scunthorpe and Grimethorpe. In Yorkshire alone there are 210 -by places and 155 -thorpes!
Viking Surnames in Britain
As well as place names, many of our commonest surnames are Norse. Are you a Benson, Jackson, Stevenson or Davidson? If your surname ends in -son and you live anywhere north of Nottingham, it’s likely you have direct lineage to a Viking. Hopefully one of the nice hardworking farmers, not one of the marauding berserkers, although it’s a thought that’s going to fester, isn’t it?
Viking Hoards
Despite being such a dominant force, in the three centuries they were here the Vikings left surprisingly little physical evidence. What they did leave were stashes of coins, jewellery, small armaments and religious iconography. Sporadically since the late eighteenth century, Viking hoards have been discovered, mainly in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Scotland.
The UK’s biggest hoard of Viking treasure – made up of silver bracelets, ingots and brooches, gold rings, an enamelled Christian cross and a decorative bird-shaped pin – was found in a field near Kirkcudbright in south-west Scotland 2014. An amateur detectorist found what was described as ‘the richest collection of rare and unique Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland’.
Viking English
Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the Viking occupation is the language. Our visitors spoke a northern Germanic language known as Old Norse, similar in grammar, lexicography and word structure to modern English. Many scholars have supposed that the English we speak today doesn’t merely borrow from Norse, it’s wholly based on it. The Old English spoken before the Vikings arrived died out and a derivative of Old Norse survived to this day, however bastardised a version.
A thousand or more Old Norse words became part of what is known as Standard English. Most of which are objects and actions we use every day including skirt, cake, fog, freckles, neck, moss, sister, window, knife, smile, seat, gift, egg, cross, leg, steak and Thursday - named after Thor, the mythical Norse god of thunder.