Shedding light on dark times

I've been binge-watching "The Last Kingdom" on Netflix. I missed the series when it aired last year. The series is based upon the Bernard Cornwell books and is set in the time of the Norse invasions of Britain in the late 9th Century. The series is pretty good, the books are better, but that is often the case. One has to skip a few details and characters in a TV series to accommodate for time.

Until recently, the Middle Ages held no interest to me. As far as I am concerned my studies skipped right from the Romans to the Enlightenment. These Cornwell books piqued my interest, and the British History podcast * has confirmed it.

The preceding paragraph is not exactly true. I did take a course in medieval history back in college. The instructor was a retired professor. He was a good teacher, but my interest in the subject matter was low. The situation was not helped by the difficulty in learning the material. The textbook was remarkably expensive, even by today's standards. Some asshole stole my text from under my seat in the first week of class. I know who it was but could not prove it. So I had no text, and no money to buy a replacement. When it came to buying beer or books I often took the wrong choice. But I had a lot of fun. I am indebteded to a fraternity brother who was in he class that let me use his text to do the readings.

Anyway, it does not matter how great the instructor is, it is impossible to adequately cover a thousand years in a semester. All one can get is an overview. I like details when it comes to history.

Here I am blogging when I could be watching Uhtred fight in the shield wall. That situation is about to be corrected.

Enjoy your Sunday.

* I highly recommend this podcast if you have any interest in history at all. It is free and entertaining and informative. Each episode is about 20-30 minutes long,  Perfect for your commute. The Cornwell books are a good read too. Any Bernard Cornwell book is a good read.