CREDITON Area History and Museum Society (CAHMS) members and guests were treated to a very impressive talk about mediaeval history on Monday, September 9.

Professor Levi Roach revealed how Aethelred – “the Unready” – has been seen over the years. 

Aethelred was already getting a bad press in mediaeval times.  Prof. Roach explained how most surviving versions of what we generally refer to as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, published some years after Aethelred’s times, emphasise negative aspects of his reign : but modern research analysing those criticisms reveal a biased view, lacking substance.

Not quite a medieval version of “fake news”, but a noticeably slanted opinion piece rather than balanced reporting.

We heard how most of the recorded history of Aethelred’s reign relates to southern England, with several references to events in the South West.

A Viking raid on Watchet, a foiled attack on Lydford and a siege of Exeter all feature in the major challenges faced by the English King during those years. 

This was a fascinating talk, tackling a complicated subject with lots of references to original source material.

Crediton Area History and Museum Society has an impressive and varied programme of talks planned for the coming months. 

The next will be Devon-based author Liz Shakespeare talking about “The Song of the Skylark: the lives of Agricultural Labourers in 19th Century Devon”, on Monday, October 14.

There are more details of this and other talks in the series at: http://creditonhistory.org.uk/whats-on/2024/skylark.aspx .

Tony Gale