Talk:Britain in the Middle Ages

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"Mediæval Britain" is a term used to suggest that there is a unity to the history of Great Britain

• What does "unity to the history of Great Britain" mean? This seems kind of POV'ish. Don't people use the term simply as a neutral descriptor of convience marking a passage of time? "Crossbows were in common use in late Medieval Britain" --Stbalbach 20:57, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)

• "Ethelbert held the largely honorific title of among the kingdoms, and the re-Christianisation of England spread in the south from Canterbury." this sentence was just plopped in between two paragraphs. perhaps some elaboration.***

[edit] Making this page a disambiguation page

This articles existence is unfortunate as it repeats exactly what is already in other articles, in more and better detail. However the term "Medieval Britain" is certainly valid. Would anyone be opposed to basically deleting this articles content and making it a disambiguation page pointing to the other articles which cover this period? Or is this a valid article, and if so, why? Stbalbach 15:23, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

I agree, especially following the discussion on the Anglo-Saxons page. 'Britain in the Middle Ages' should point to the histories of England, Scotland and Wales (though not Ireland). I think History of Scotland is particularly good; History of England goes into far too much detail on things like 'migration', and would benefit from a trunk page on the Later Medieval Period (i.e. 1000-1500); all there is currently is a link to Anglo-Norman and Angevin. Harthacanute 20:30, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

Ok just did a big cut see how it goes. Please add/adjust as you think it could be improved. I think keeping this article focused on the historiography of the term "medieval britain" along with pointers to the complete treatments to avoid duplication is the way to go. Stbalbach 22:39, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Changing "Mediaeval" to "medieval"

I've changed all the references to "mediaeval" and "Mediaeval" to "medieval" (except obviously where ordinary capitalisation rules apply).

"Mediaeval" was obviously used as being more British than medieval. Whilst it is true that mediaeval is relatively more common in the UK than the US, it is still far less common than medieval in both countries. Furthermore, a great many formal British institutions - The Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds for example - use the simpler, more modern spelling of medieval.

In other words, medieval is:

• Significantly more common than mediaeval in the UK (factor of 10); and
• Fully acceptable in formal and scientific language.

(Incidentally, the use of mediæval - with the a/e ligature - really isn't acceptable in modern English.) El T 08:55, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

I think it should be midiæval, because that's how it has been and the only reason it was changed to midiaeval was because of typing problems and then later changed to midieval because of shortening. Midiæval is just as short as midieval and we don't have typing problems.Cameron Nedland 01:47, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

I agree that it should be Mediæval. That is the traditional, British spelling of the word. Just because the world has become Americanised, that's no reason to ignore the original spelling. EuroSong ^talk 14:21, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

I have always (at least inadvertently) spelt "medieval", mediaeval or mediæval (when the æ was available). In many books I have read the spelling was often mediaeval and sometimes mediæval. At the very least the article should show that there are a few widely accepted spellings and considering this article is not specific to the United States it should be 'mediaeval' or (as I would prefer) mediæval. Kyle sb 11:47, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] John Knox, Reformation and Land

I think it wrong to talk of John Knox's Reformation in Scotland. He was an important figure, certainly; but he would have got absolutely nowhere if it had not been for the hunger for church land, extending from great noblemen to minor barons.

It is also wrong to say that Orkney and Shetland were 'returned' to Scotland in 1471 for the simple reason that they had never been part of the Kingdom of Scotland in the first place. The earlier Pictish settlers were displaced, from the eighth century onwards, by a Norse influx. In the fifteenth century the islands belonged to the Kingdom of Denmark, and were pledged to Scotland in lieu of a dowry payment. Rcpaterson 02:15, 28 May 2006 (UTC)