Day 5 - 21 August 2011 - My lack of history shows!

Well, now I know why St. Morwenna couldn't have possibly been 120 when she died. I didn't know how centuries worked....(This did make me laugh!) So as she was born in AD.480 this was the 5th Century and the 6th Century would have started in AD.500 (apologies to those who know this!!) So this would mean that if she died in the early 6th Century is more than likely that she was in her twenties and possibly early thirties when she died - I don't have an exact year at the moment, so I'm just making assumptions here. I also don't know what she died of - but it appears one of the most common ways to go back then was Plague. Or maybe it was natural causes as I think it might have mentioned somewhere if she had died of The Bubonic Plague. Nasty.


I also had a random thought this morning about the Canterbury tales and envisaged a merry troupe of us  (Momins?) on donkey's travelling St. Morwenna's path with at least one person playing a musical instrument as we traveled - like having our own 'theme tune' as we traveled along!!


After talking to Richard about this, it appears this would be 'Very Monty Python' and rather like their film The Holy Grail (which I must admit to never watching all the way through...so I feel a need to watch it for research purposes!!


Thoughts also today about the type of bread they would have eaten - so am off to find an authentic recipe to recreate. Will let you know how I get on....


You might notice that there is no particular order to my thoughts  - I will try and group things together but I often find things just pop into my head.


Also heard back from Morwenna the physic on the Isle of Wight - next step is to arrange a skype call with her to have my reading. How exciting. She has a different understanding of the translation again and said our name means 'white maiden.'


Another random thought - What language would St. Morwenna have spoken?
A quick google reveals she would properly have spoken a Celtic language. So something like Welsh and Cornish. (http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm) as English as we know it today didn't start to eveolve until the 5th Century when the Germanic invasions took place - The Saxons, Anglos and Jutes. 


Back to the route details - assuming at the moment that I would walk from Minehead after being dropped of there by my sailing boat...(!)  with or without my donkey, to Morwenstow is approx 115 miles.  So at the moment it's looking like the journey could be about 170 miles (this is just approx at the moment). I'm going to need good shoes ;-)

• And where would St. Morwenna have stayed on her journey? 
• Were there 'rest houses' at this time? 

This was during the Middle Ages and the time of the Saxons. The Romans had left Britain by this point. 

• Would she have camped? (don't think it would have been Glamping..). If so what kind of tent would she have had and what would she have slept on? 
• Did she travel on her own or with a group? (like my idea of a troupe of us plus music to journey by..;-).  Oh and of course - 
• When did she travel?
• Is the feast day actually the date she arrived in Morwenstow? Or her birthday? 

More investigating is required.


OK feeling peckish now. Time for a spot of lunch.