Irene Preston's Historical Writing
A Few Historical Items of Interest
In the early 9th century, when Charlemagne was
Holy Roman Emperor, the whole empire was divided into a number of small
local units called counties. They were units of local jurisdiction, and
were governed by royal officers called counts whose rights and duties
resembled those of the later English ealdorman and sheriff. Within the
county was a smaller unit, called a centena, a word very close to our
hundred but probably not connected.
When Charlemagne's empire broke up and the strong controlling hand was
relaxed, the counts became hereditary, independent nobles, and often
ceased to be royal officials in anything but name. The centena units
were absorbed into private enterprise, many counties survived but became
independent principalities.
Ethelred known as 'The Unready' inherited the great kingdom of
Engla-lond in 978. By 1016 he had lost it all, from Northumbria down to
Cornwall. The word unready or unred, means ill-advised in Old English.
The name Ethelred means 'of noble counsel.' In Anglo-Saxon 'ethe'
denoted someone well born or royal - hence the vast number of Ethel -
related names. All the offspring of a king, down to his great grand
children, were known as aethelings, 'throne - worthies.' And it was from
this gene pool that the aetheling who seemed most qualified for the job
was selected.
VIKINGS
The word Viking is a collective name for the Norwegians, Swedes and
Danes who would go, 'i viking' meaning to go about their favourite
business of trading and plundering. It was their way of life and looked
upon with favour.
The term is derived from the Icelandic word vik meaning a bay or inlet
and probably applied to traders from these bay areas.
The name was used by the Northmen themselves in the sense of 'one
who fares by the sea to his adventures, commerce and of war.'