1.
Clun
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Clun /ˈklʌn/ Welsh, Colunwy is a small town in south Shropshire, England, and the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The 2011 census recorded 680 people living in the town, research by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England suggests that Clun is one of the most tranquil locations in England. Clun takes its name from the river upon which it stands, deriving from an earlier Colunwy, it shares its very early British root with the two rivers Colne, in Lancashire and Essex, each of which has a town of the same name on its banks. Clun grew up around the site of the later Saxon church towards the end of the 7th century AD, however, in the surrounding area there was a scattered population at least as early as the Neolithic period, about 5000 years ago. Clun was on the drove road where flocks and herds were driven from Wales to the markets in the Midlands. Roger in turn granted 27 manors, of which Clun was the largest and these lands constituted a single Marcher Lordship which became known as the Barony of Clun. The Normans established a borough near the castle, the grid pattern is still quite clear in High Street, Newport Street, Kidd Lane, Powells Lane, Ford Street. The 14th-century pack horse bridge that crosses the river connecting Saxon Clun to Norman Clun has given rise to a local saying, whoever crosses Clun Bridge comes back sharper than he went. Clun Mill located to the north of the town is nicknamed the malevolent mill on account of numerous deaths having been recorded there, last used around 1920, it opened as a youth hostel in 1932. In 1974 the freehold was purchased by the Youth Hostel Association, the towns name is taken from that of the River Clun, which flows from west to east through the settlement. The Clun Valley is dominated by agriculture, though areas of woodland remain. The River Unk joins the Clun just to the west of the town, the A488 and B4368 roads cross in the town of Clun. Craven Arms, Bishops Castle and Ludlow are the neighbouring Shropshire towns, and Knighton, nearby is Offas Dyke and the Offas Dyke Path. Clun Forest is to the west of the town, further upstream of the Rivers Unk, the Jack Mytton Way passes through the town as does the Shropshire Way and further significant historic routes pass through the area. The town centre on the bank of the River Clun lies 185 m above sea level while the oldest part of the settlement, by St Georges Church on the south bank, is a little more elevated. Between the two, Clun Bridge carries the A488 and B4368 routes across the river, the population of the civil parish of Clun and Chapel Lawn was 1,184 as measured by the 2011 census. It is said that the population of the town is now smaller than it was during the days of the wool trade in England centuries ago. The town is the smallest in Shropshire and is smaller than many villages in the county and it is also the only town in Shropshire never to have had a railway line or station
2.
Shropshire
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Shropshire Council was created in 2009, a unitary authority taking over from the previous county council and five district councils. The borough of Telford and Wrekin has been a unitary authority since 1998. The county has many towns, including Whitchurch in the north, Newport north-east of Telford. The Ironbridge Gorge area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, covering Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, there are other historic industrial sites in the county, such as at Shrewsbury, Broseley, Snailbeach and Highley, as well as the Shropshire Union Canal. The Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers about a quarter of the county, Shropshire is one of Englands most rural and sparsely populated counties, with a population density of 136/km2. The Wrekin is one of the most famous landmarks in the county, though the highest hills are the Clee Hills, Stiperstones. Wenlock Edge is another significant geographical and geological landmark, the River Severn, Great Britains longest river, runs through the county, exiting into Worcestershire via the Severn Valley. Shropshire is landlocked and with an area of 3,487 square kilometres is Englands largest inland county, the county flower is the round-leaved sundew. The area was part of the lands of the Cornovii. This was a tribal Celtic iron age kingdom and their capital in pre-Roman times was probably a hill fort on the Wrekin. Ptolemys 2nd century Geography names one of their towns as being Viroconium Cornoviorum, after the Roman occupation of Britain ended in the 5th century, the Shropshire area was in the eastern part of the Welsh Kingdom of Powys, known in Welsh poetry as the Paradise of Powys. It was annexed to the Angle kingdom of Mercia by King Offa in the 8th century, in subsequent centuries, the area suffered repeated Danish invasion, and fortresses were built at Bridgnorth and Chirbury. Many defensive castles were built at this time across the county to defend against the Welsh and enable effective control of the region, including Ludlow Castle, the western frontier with Wales was not finally determined until the 14th century. Also in this period, a number of foundations were formed, the county largely falling at this time under the Diocese of Hereford. The county contains a number of historically significant towns, including Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, additionally, the area around Coalbrookdale in the county is seen as highly significant, as it is regarded as one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. The village of Edgmond, near Newport, is the location of the lowest recorded temperature in England, the origin of the name Shropshire is the Old English Scrobbesbyrigscīr, which means Shrewsburyshire. The name may, therefore, be derived indirectly from a name such as Scrope. Salop is an old name for Shropshire, historically used as a form for post or telegrams
3.
Offa of Mercia
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Offa was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death in July 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of war following the assassination of Æthelbald. Offa defeated the other claimant, Beornred, in the early years of Offas reign, it is likely that he consolidated his control of Midland peoples such as the Hwicce and the Magonsæte. Taking advantage of instability in the kingdom of Kent to establish himself as overlord, Offa also controlled Sussex by 771, though his authority did not remain unchallenged in either territory. In the 780s he extended Mercian supremacy over most of southern England, allying with Beorhtric of Wessex, who married Offas daughter Eadburh and he also became the overlord of East Anglia and had King Æthelberht II of East Anglia beheaded in 794, perhaps for rebelling against him. Offa was a Christian king who came into conflict with the Church, particularly with Jaenberht, Offa persuaded Pope Adrian I to divide the archdiocese of Canterbury in two, creating a new archdiocese of Lichfield. Offa had a dispute with the Bishop of Worcester, which was settled at the Council of Brentford in 781, many surviving coins from Offas reign carry elegant depictions of him, and the artistic quality of these images exceeds that of the contemporary Frankish coinage. Some of his coins carry images of his wife, Cynethryth – the only Anglo-Saxon queen ever depicted on a coin. Only three gold coins of Offas have survived, one is a copy of an Abbasid dinar of 774 and carries Arabic text on one side, the gold coins are of uncertain use but may have been struck to be used as alms or for gifts to Rome. Many historians regard Offa as the most powerful Anglo-Saxon king before Alfred the Great and his dominance never extended to Northumbria, though he gave his daughter Ælfflæd in marriage to the Northumbrian king Æthelred I in 792. Historians once saw his reign as part of a process leading to a unified England, in the words of a recent historian, Offa was driven by a lust for power, not a vision of English unity, and what he left was a reputation, not a legacy. Offa died in 796, his son, Ecgfrith, succeeded him, in the first half of the 8th century, the dominant Anglo-Saxon ruler was King Æthelbald of Mercia, who by 731 had become the overlord of all the provinces south of the River Humber. The power and prestige that Offa attained made him one of the most significant rulers in Early Medieval Britain, a key source for the period is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals in Old English narrating the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The Chronicle was a West Saxon production, however, and is thought to be biased in favour of Wessex, hence it may not accurately convey the extent of power achieved by Offa. That power can be seen at work in dating from Offas reign. Charters were documents which granted land to followers or to churchmen and were witnessed by the kings who had the authority to grant the land, a charter might record the names of both a subject king and his overlord on the witness list appended to the grant. Such a witness list can be seen on the Ismere Diploma, for example, Offas Dyke, most of which was probably built in his reign, is a testimony to the extensive resources Offa had at his command and his ability to organise them. Other surviving sources include a document known as the Tribal Hidage
4.
Earthworks (archaeology)
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In archaeology, earthworks are artificial changes in land level, typically made from piles of artificially placed or sculpted rocks and soil. Earthworks are often known as barrows in England, and mounds in North America, Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features, or they can show features beneath the surface. They are believed to have used as monuments for spiritual ritual ceremonies. Long barrows are oblong-shaped mounds that are used for burials, tumuli are mounds of earth created over a tomb, it has the same meaning as barrow. A cross dyke or cross-ridge dyke is a bank and ditch, found in Europe and often belonging to the later Bronze Age or Iron Age. Often marked on Ordnance Survey maps in the UK. Ridge and furrows are sets of parallel depressions, mottes are mound structures made of earth and stone that once held castles. A round barrow is a mound that is in a shape that was used during Neolithic times as a burial mound. Geoglyph, a design or motif Earthworks can vary in height from a few centimetres to the size of Silbury Hill at 40 metres. They can date from the Neolithic to the present, the structures can also stretch for many tens of kilometres. In area, they can cover many hectares, for example, Maiden Castle, shallow earthworks are often more visible as cropmarks or in aerial photographs if taken when the sun is low in the sky and shadows are more pronounced. Similarly, earthworks may be visible after a frost or a light dusting of snow. Earthworks can be detected and plotted using Light Detection and Ranging and this technique is particularly useful for mapping small variations in land height that would be difficult to detect by eye. It can be used to map features beneath forest canopy and for features hidden by other vegetation, LIDAR results can be input into a geographic information system to produce three-dimensional representations of the earthworks. An accurate survey of the earthworks can enable them to be interpreted without the need for excavation, for example, earthworks from deserted medieval villages can be used to determine the location, size, and layout of lost settlements. Often these earthworks can point to the purpose of such a settlement, Earthworks in North America include mounds built by Native Americans known as the Mound Builders. Ancient people who lived in the American Midwest commonly built effigy mounds, possibly the most famous of these effigy mounds is Serpent Mound. Located in the Ohio, this 411-meterlong earthen work is thought to memorialize alignments of the planets, cone-shaped or conical mounds are also numerous, with thousands of them scattered across the American Midwest, some over 80 feet tall. These conical mounds appear to be marking the graves of one person or even dozens of people
5.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
6.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
7.
Kingdom of Powys
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The Kingdom of Powys was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the top two thirds of the county of Powys and part of the east midlands. The fertile river valleys of the Severn and Tern are found here, the name Powys is thought to derive from Latin pagus the countryside and pagenses dwellers in the countryside, also the origins of French pays and English peasant. During the Roman Empire, this region was organised into a Roman province, with the capital at Viroconium Cornoviorum, an entry in the Annales Cambriae concerning the death of King Cadell ap Brochfael says that the land later called Powys was originally known as Ternyllwg. Throughout the Early Middle Ages, Powys was ruled by the Gwerthrynion dynasty, a family claiming descent jointly from the marriage of Vortigern and Princess Sevira, the daughter of Magnus Maximus. Archaeological evidence has shown that, unusually for the period, Viroconium Cornoviorum survived as an urban centre well into the 6th century. The Historia Brittonum, written around AD828, records the town as Caer Guricon, in the following centuries, the Powys eastern border was encroached upon by English settlers from the emerging Anglian territory of Mercia. This was a process, and English control in the West Midlands was uncertain until the late 8th century. In 549 the Plague of Justinian - an outbreak of a strain of bubonic plague - arrived in Britain, however, the English were less affected by this plague as they had far fewer trading contacts with the continent at this time. In 616, the armies of Æthelfrith of Northumbria clashed with Powys, seeing an opportunity to further drive a wedge between the North Welsh and those of Rheged, Æthelfrith invaded Powys northern lands. Æthelfrith forced a battle near Chester and defeated Selyf and his allies, if King Cynddylan of Pengwern hailed from the royal Powys dynasty, then forces from Powys may also have been present at the Battle of Maes Cogwy in 642. However, this account is now thought to represent ninth-century imaginings of what must have been going on in the seventh. Powys enjoyed a resurgence with successful campaigns against the English in 655, 705-707 and 722, the court was moved to Mathrafal Castle in the valley of the river Vyrnwy by 717, possibly by king Elisedd ap Gwylog. Elisedds successes led King Æthelbald of Mercia to build Wats Dyke and this endeavour may have been with Elisedds own agreement, however, for this boundary, extending north from the Severn valley to the Dee estuary, gave Oswestry to Powys. King Offa of Mercia seems to have continued this consultive initiative when he created an earth work. Davies wrote of Cyril Foxs study of Offas Dyke, In the planning of it, there was a degree of consultation with the kings of Powys and Gwent. And for Gwent Offa had the dyke built on the eastern crest of the gorge, clearly with the intention of recognizing that the river Wye and its traffic belonged to the kingdom of Gwent. This new border moved Oswestry back to the English side of the new frontier, and Offa attacked Powys in 760 at Hereford, and again on 778,784 and 796
8.
Scheduled monument
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In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation used for protecting heritage assets from damage. The protection given to scheduled monuments is given under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, a heritage asset is a part of the historic environment that is valued because of its historic, archaeological, architectural or artistic interest. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have legal protection through designation. There are about 20,000 scheduled monuments in England representing about 37,000 heritage assets, of the tens of thousands of scheduled monuments in the UK, most are inconspicuous archaeological sites, but some are large ruins. According to the 1979 Act, a monument cannot be a structure which is occupied as a dwelling, as a rule of thumb, a protected historic asset that is occupied would be designated as a listed building. Scheduled Monuments are defined in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, in England, Wales and Scotland they are often referred to as a scheduled ancient monument, although the Act defines only ancient monument and scheduled monument. A monument can be, A building or structure, cave or excavation which is above or below the surface of the land, a site comprising any vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other moveable structure. In Northern Ireland they are designated under separate legislation and are referred to as a historic monument or a monument in state care. The first Act to enshrine legal protection for ancient monuments was the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 and this identified an initial list of 68 prehistoric sites, which were given a degree of legal protection. This was the result of strenuous representation by William Morris and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, which had been founded in 1877. Following various previous attempts, the 1882 legislation was guided through parliament by John Lubbock, the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments, as set up by the act, was Augustus Pitt Rivers. At this point, only the inspector, answering directly to the First Commissioner of Works, was involved in surveying the scheduled sites and persuading landowners to offer sites to the state. The act also established the concept of guardianship, in which a site might remain in private ownership, however the legislation could not compel landowners, as that level of state interference with private property was not politically possible. The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1900 extended the scope of the legislation to include medieval monuments, in a speech in 1907, Robert Hunter, chairman of the National Trust, observed that only a further 18 sites had been added to the original list of 68. Charles Peers, an architect, was appointed as Inspector in 1910 in the Office of Works becoming Chief Inspector in 1913. The job title Inspector is still in use, scheduling offers protection because it makes it illegal to undertake a great range of works within a designated area, without first obtaining scheduled monument consent. However, it does not affect the owner’s freehold title or other interests in the land
9.
Long-distance trail
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Long-distance trails are the longer recreational trails mainly through rural areas, used for non-motorized recreational travelling. Typically, a trail, way or path will be at least 50 km long, but some in Britain are several hundred miles long. In some countries, official trails will have the specially prepared to make the going easier. In the UK long-distance paths are usually existing rights of way joined together to make a named route, generally the surface is not especially prepared except in special places such as converted rail tracks, or some busy hilly areas where stone slabs are laid to prevent erosion. These have been constructed mainly for bicycle touring, some are restricted to use by only non-motorized bikes while others are multi-use recreational. Long-distance cycling routes often range in length from hundreds of such as Australias Munda Biddi Trail, or thousands of miles. There are trails that follow the towpaths of canal systems, a good example is the 525-mile New York State Canal System in New York. There also numerous routes that can be followed in Europe, which are suitable for walkers, cyclists, a shorter example is the Gold Coast Oceanway in Australia. The Wales Coast Path is an 870 miles long-distance walking route around the whole coast of Wales from Chepstow to Queensferry, the England Coast Path, currently in development by Natural England and expected to be complete in 2020, will be around 4,500 kilometres long. It will become Britains longest National Trail and these may be cross-country paths, or may follow roads, or other ways, and often intersect with many other trails in the process. The American Discovery Trail crosses the continental United States from east to west, the Iditarod Trail, at over 1,000 miles, spans Alaska and connects the coastal cities of Seward and Nome. The 220-mile Michigan Shore-to-Shore Trail crosses the state from one Great Lakes shore to another, many long-distance trails have sections suitable for horse riding, and a few are suitable for horse riding throughout their length, or have been developed primarily for horse riding. This non-motorised trail runs the length of the rugged Great Dividing Range through national parks, private property, the Bicentennial National Trail is suitable for self-reliant horse riders, fit walkers and mountain bike riders. In the United Kingdom the British Horse Society is developing a network of trails known as the National Bridleroute Network. A number of long-distance multi-use trails have created in England, including three National Trails, the Pennine Bridleway,192 km, The Ridgeway,139 km. Rail trails/paths are shared-use paths that make use of abandoned railway corridors, there are also rails with trails in the USA that follow working rail tracks. Most rail trails have a gravel or dirt surface and can be used for walking, cycling, the following description comes from Australia, but is applicable equally to other rail trails that exist throughout the world. Following the route of the railways, they cut through hills, under roads, over embankments and across gullies, apart from being great places to walk, cycle or horse ride, rail trails are linear conservation corridors protecting native plants and animals
10.
Early Middle Ages
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The Early Middle Ages marked the start of the Middle Ages of European history, lasting from the 6th to the 10th century CE. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire, the Early Middle Ages largely overlap with Late Antiquity. The term Late Antiquity is used to emphasize elements of continuity with the Roman Empire, the period saw a continuation of trends begun during late classical antiquity, including population decline, especially in urban centres, a decline of trade, and increased immigration. The period has been labelled the Dark Ages, a characterization highlighting the relative scarcity of literary and cultural output from this time, especially in Northwestern Europe. However, the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, continued to survive, many of these trends were reversed later in the period. In 800 the title of emperor was revived in Western Europe by Charlemagne, whose Carolingian Empire greatly affected later European social structure, Europe experienced a return to systematic agriculture in the form of the feudal system, which introduced such innovations as three-field planting and the heavy plow. Barbarian migration stabilized in much of Europe, although Northern Europe was greatly affected by the Viking expansion, starting in the 2nd century, various indicators of Roman civilization began to decline, including urbanization, seaborne commerce, and population. Archaeologists have identified only 40 percent as many Mediterranean shipwrecks from the 3rd century as from the first, estimates of the population of the Roman Empire during the period from 150 to 400 suggest a fall from 65 million to 50 million, a decline of more than 20 percent. Some scholars have connected this de-population to the Dark Ages Cold Period, Early in the 3rd century Germanic peoples migrated south from Scandinavia and reached the Black Sea, creating formidable confederations which opposed the local Sarmatians. In Dacia and on the north of the Black Sea the Goths. The arrival of the Huns in 372–375 ended the history of these kingdoms, the Huns, a confederation of central Asian tribes, founded an empire with a Turkic-speaking aristocracy. They had mastered the art of shooting composite recurve bows from horseback. The Goths sought refuge in Roman territory, agreeing to enter the Empire as unarmed settlers, however many bribed the Danube border-guards into allowing them to bring their weapons. The discipline and organization of a Roman legion made it a fighting unit. The Romans preferred infantry to cavalry because infantry could be trained to retain the formation in combat, while cavalry tended to scatter when faced with opposition. While a barbarian army could be raised and inspired by the promise of plunder, the legions required a government and taxation to pay for salaries, constant training, equipment. The decline in agricultural and economic activity reduced the empires taxable income, in the Gothic War, the Goths revolted and confronted the main Roman army in the Battle of Adrianople. The general decline in discipline also led to the use of smaller shields, not wanting to share the glory, Eastern Emperor Valens ordered an attack on the Therving infantry under Fritigern without waiting for Western Emperor Gratian, who was on the way with reinforcements
11.
Historiography
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Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians have studied that topic using particular sources, techniques, beginning in the nineteenth century, with the ascent of academic history, there developed a body of historiographic literature. The extent to which historians are influenced by their own groups, in 2007, of 5,723 faculty in the departments of history at British universities,1,644 identified themselves with social history and 1,425 identified themselves with political history. In the early period, the term historiography meant the writing of history. In that sense certain official historians were given the title Historiographer Royal in Sweden, England, the Scottish post is still in existence. Understanding the past appears to be a human need. What constitutes history is a philosophical question, the earliest chronologies date back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name. For the purposes of article, history is taken to mean written history recorded in a narrative format for the purpose of informing future generations about events. Before writing, there was only oral history or oral tradition, in China, the earliest history was recorded in oracle bone script which was deciphered and may date back to around late 2nd millennium BCE. The Zuo Zhuan, attributed to Zuo Qiuming in the 5th century BCE, is the earliest written of narrative history in the world, the Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and one of the earliest narratives of China. It is traditionally attributed to Confucius, zhan Guo Ce was a renowned ancient Chinese historical compilation of sporadic materials on the Warring States period compiled between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. His work influenced every subsequent author of history in China, including the prestigious Ban family of the Eastern Han Dynasty era, traditional Chinese historiography describes history in terms of dynastic cycles. In this view, each new dynasty is founded by a morally righteous founder, over time, the dynasty becomes morally corrupt and dissolute. Eventually, the dynasty becomes so weak as to allow its replacement by a new dynasty, the tradition of Korean historiography was established with the Samguk Sagi, a history of Korea from its allegedly earliest times. It was compiled by Goryeo court historian Kim Busik after its commission by King Injong of Goryeo. It was completed in 1145 and relied not only on earlier Chinese histories for source material, the latter work is now lost. The earliest works of history produced in Japan were the Rikkokushi, the first of these works were the Nihon Shoki, compiled by Prince Toneri in 720
12.
Levee
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A levee, dike, dyke, embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastlines, the word levee, from the French word levée, is used in American English. It originated in New Orleans a few years after the founding in 1718 and was later adopted by English speakers. The name derives from the trait of the ridges being raised higher than both the channel and the surrounding floodplains. The modern word dike or dyke most likely derives from the Dutch word dijk, the 126 kilometres long Westfriese Omringdijk was completed by 1250, and was formed by connecting existing older dikes. The Roman chronicler Tacitus even mentions that the rebellious Batavi pierced dikes to flood their land, the word dijk originally indicated both the trench and the bank. It is closely related to the English verb to dig, in Anglo-Saxon, the word dic already existed and was pronounced as dick in northern England and as ditch in the south. Similar to Dutch, the English origins of the lie in digging a trench. This practice has meant that the name may be given to either the excavation or the bank, thus Offas Dyke is a combined structure and Car Dyke is a trench though it once had raised banks as well. In the midlands and north of England, and in the United States, a dike is what a ditch is in the south, a property boundary marker or small drainage channel. Where it carries a stream, it may be called a dike as in Rippingale Running Dike. The Weir Dike is a dike in Bourne North Fen, near Twenty and alongside the River Glen. In the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, a dyke may be a ditch or a narrow artificial channel off a river or broad for access or mooring, some longer dykes being named. In parts of Britain, particularly Scotland, a dyke may be a field wall, Levees can be mainly found along the sea, where dunes are not strong enough, along rivers for protection against high-floods, along lakes or along polders. Furthermore, levees have been built for the purpose of empoldering, the latter can be a controlled inundation by the military or a measure to prevent inundation of a larger area surrounded by levees. Levees have also built as field boundaries and as military defences. More on this type of levee can be found in the article on dry-stone walls, Levees can be permanent earthworks or emergency constructions built hastily in a flood emergency. When such a bank is added on top of an existing levee it is known as a cradge
