The Heroic Age, Issue 2, Autumn/Winter 1999

Welcome to the second issue of The Heroic Age!

Our second issue focuses on the interface between Late Antiquity and the early medieval period in Britain, covering topics ranging from the chronology and figures of post-Roman Britain to the formative period of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Remarkably and unintentionally, a common thread that runs through all three of our articles and the biography is the ninth-century Historia Brittonum's account of the Brittonic Age. We start off this issue with an analysis of the Historia Brittonum's chronology for the first independent Romano-British ruler Vortigern by Robert M. Vermaat. Here, Vermaat discusses previous explanations for Vortigern's chronology and offers support for cautiously accepting the Historia Brittonum's dates. My article in this issue discusses the politics that surrounded the exile of Anglo-Saxon princes (æthelings) from Bernicia and Deira in the late sixth and seventh centuries. An analysis of the flight and fates of these exiles yields tantalizing insights into the politics of Bernicia and Deira before their union into the kingdom of Northumbria was accomplished in the late seventh century. Linda A. Malcor then looks at the parallels between the biography of Lucius Artorius Castus that she painstakingly researched in our first issue with the military career of King Arthur in Britain. Malcor offers a possible explanation for Arthur's battle list in the Historia Brittonum as a reflection of military exploits of Lucus Artorius Castus in the second century. Victor H. Mair then gives a critique of the novel reassessment of the Arthurian legend in the paperback edition of Littleton and Malcor's From Scythia to Camelot in our "Forum" section, an area for the analysis of current theories or the introduction of new hypotheses. In our "History by Biography" section, Tim Clarkson takes a look at Rhydderch Hael, King of Strathclyde, who reigned at the turn of the seventh century. Clarkson looks beneath the medieval legends of Merlin and the battle of Arthuret to find the likely historical king at their core.

Our regular sections have been modified. Starting with this issue our "Medievalia on the Web" section has been renamed "Electronic Medievalia" and will feature a column on web sites and electronic sources that will be of interest to medievalists. In this issue, L.J. Swain takes a look at the "Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture" project and reviews some recommendations for other sites on Old English and the Anglo-Saxons. Our "Archaeology News Briefs" section has been renamed "Archaeology Updates" to give us a wider range of information to cover. This section is designed as a quick update on Roman and early medieval archaeology news, project results, and reassessments summarized from popular archaeology publications, news reports, press releases, and online project reports. A new addition for this issue includes the first appearance of fiction and film reviews. If you would like to be a reviewer for The Heroic Age please contact Brad Eden at beden@nevada.edu for further information.

Other changes in the operation of The Heroic Age have also taken place. I would like to thank Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, for donating server space for our current issues and archive. The URL for our archive is http://www.mun.ca/mst/heroicage. We have also set up an announcements list to keep our readers informed on the release of new issues, calls for papers, and other announcements. If you would like to join this list, please go to http://HA.Announcements.listbot.com to register. This is an announcement list only, so please do not try to respond to this list. We welcome all comments in an effort to improve. If you have a comment or question please e-mail me at MichelleZi@aol.com.

Enjoy!

Michelle Ziegler,
Editor-In-Chief, The Heroic Age