2010 marks the 1600th anniversary of the end of Roman Britain in AD 410, one of the greatest turning points in British history. To celebrate (or commemorate) a large number of organisations and museums work together to offer you a year filled with Roman-Britain events.
The programme of 410-2010 events centres around a comprehensive range of conferences across England and Wales. In addition there will be re-enactment festivals and a series of other events and projects all designed to spread public understanding of 410 and push the debate on the period forward: What was life on the island like at this critical moment? Was it fire and sword, with barbarian raids, peasant risings, tribal warfare? How much survived, and how much changed? What did the conquerors leave behind? Did the new Britain forged in the period after the departure of Rome bear the hallmarks of Roman civilisation, or was it a revolutionary new order of Britons and Germans?
Alfred the Great, the youngest son of King Ethelwulf, became King of Wessex from 871 to 899 AD. He was the only king to be given the epithet 'The Great' as he was famous for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings. Wessex was under constant attack from the Vikings, who were lead by Dane Guthorm. Alfred was able to defeat the Danes at the famous Battle of Eddington. He was also the first King of the West Saxons to call himself, King of the Anglo-Saxons.
Edward the Confessor, son of King Æthelred the Unready, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England. He ruled from 1042 - 1066 AD and is often regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex ruling from 1042 to 1066 AD. Much of his reign was prosperous, and prudent management gave England more than twenty years of peace and prosperity, with freedom from foreign domination. However, some argue that he was weak and indecisive and his reign foreshadowed the country's domination by the Normans.
Northumbrian Bede, was a well known writer, author and a monk at the monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, modern day Sunderland, England and at its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, modern day Jarrow. These monasteries both fell into the kingdom of Northumbria. His most famous work gave him the title of the 'Father of English History', called Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum meaning The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. It gives a history of Britain up to 729, detailing the growth of Christianity and missionaries during this time. He also translated the Gospel of John into Old English and wrote commentaries on the Pentateuch and other parts of Holy Scripture.
The Tutankhamun Exhibition is a small museum in the town of Dorchester in Dorset, England, dedicated to the famous Egyptian pharaoh King Tut. It's housed in an old converted Roman Catholic church, and features a single permanent exhibition comprising various replicas of items from the tomb of Tutankhamun, laid-out in a scale recreation of the tomb itself.
The brainchild of Dr Michael Ridley, the museum was founded in the wake of the massive success of the Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition at the British Museum in London in 1972. It reveals the history of King Tut through the eyes of British Egyptologist Howard Carter, as he explored the tomb in 1922.
While none of the exhibits in the museum are originals, some original techniques and materials - even gold - have been employed in the creation of facsimilies of such famous objects as the Golden Death Mask, the Canopic Shrines and the Golden Throne. A life-sized replica of King Tut is also displayed. It's said to have taken two years to create, using X-rays of the real mummy, and to be the only anamatonically exact recreation of Tutankhamun anywhere in the world.
The Hands on History Museum is dedicated to the story of the city of Hull, in the north east of England, and its people. It's housed in a grade-A listed old red-brick grammar school. It's also well-known for its collection of early replicas from the tomb of King Tut, which in their early days attracted the ire of the discoverer of Tutankhamun's tomb, Howard Carter.
The ground floor of the Hands on History houses Victorian Britain - a Victorian themed hands-on interactive exhibition which includes a mock-up of a Victorian school room. The first floor is home to The Story of Hull and its People. The Ancient Egypt display features the mummy of a real ancient Egyptian priest, plus a number of replicas of items found in the tomb of the famous pharaoh Tutunkhamun in 1922.
Actor and Director Mel Gibson is working on a Viking-themed film that is going to star Leonardo DiCaprio, who will have to brush up on his Old Norse. The script is in the hands of Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan, and will chronicle the Viking raids on England and Scotland in the ninth century.
When asked about the Viking project at a recent press event, Mel Gibson told Collider.com: “I think it’s going to be English - the English that would have been spoken back then - and Old Norse. Whatever the 9th century had to offer. I’m going to give you real.”
