Monday, March 12, 2007

A Bit Late Again.........

......But continuing the theme.

Im sorry about missing my normal Friday, had some business and family committments that ate up the whole weekend.

Last week, I saw a ray of (mostly) hope from the normally superficial History Channel. The network was doing a week special on barbarian leaders, and I caught their feature on King Alfred the Great, of Ballad of the White Horse fame.

There was a slight bit of acrimony towards Alfred's Christianity, but tame by HC standards. They provided a fairly deep study of the character of Alfred -- The only British monarch to hold the title 'The Great.' Alfred was actually a somewhat slight, scholarly individual who had to make himself into a warrior in order to be a leader of his people. After Ethandune, he spread learning amongst the nobility, often giving gifts of books he personally translated. Alfred also built up a great deal of infrastructure which would not be equalled until the Norman conquest.

Just wanted to keep the theme of manly men going, plus give credit where due when the History Channel does something well.

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