Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms – Book Review

A wonderful book about the author’s interactions with seven lesser-known religions.

These religions are: the Christian Copts in Egypt, the Kalasha in the remote northern valleys of Pakistan, the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Druze in Lebanon, the Samaritans in Israel, the Mandaeans of Iraq and the Yazidis of Iraq, Syria, Armenia, and Georgia.

Gerard Russell learns their histories, participates in some of their festivals, and comes to understand the threats to their survival as more of the younger generation leave their native countries to live in various parts of the English-speaking world.

These religions represent some of the last vestiges of great empires and civilisations from ancient times such as Babylon, Egypt, and Persia. The questions are whether these religions survive and if they do, what form they’ll take given the various diaspora that have taken place especially when, as is the case with the Druze, their traditions are not written down.

This book is full of fascinating insights into each of these religions and it made me want to find out more about each of them.

The epilogue is excellent too. In this Gerard Russell visits people from some of the featured religions who’ve made a new life for themselves in the USA.

The Baltics and Poland

I have written seven books about the history of places I have travelled to.

I travel because my own father always said he would travel after he’d retired, but he never got the chance because he died from cancer when he was 49. I travel for him when I go to places as well as for myself.

If you are interested in history and / or travel then you should check out these books. Please bear in mind the books are travelogues rather than travel guides and so cover only the places I visited.

Here is the one about Poland and The Baltic countries. 

Poland and the Baltics

This is a short travelogue for independent travellers to Poland and the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. 

In particular, this travelogue covers the Polish cities of Gdansk, Wroclaw, Poznan, and Torun and describes the history and the sights that can be seen there.

When visiting Gdansk, Poznan, and Wroclaw it’s difficult to believe that these cities were largely destroyed during WWII by both sides in turn. 

I describe the sights that can be seen in Lithuania including the unique places called the Grutas Park with its collection of Communist statues and the Hill of Crosses with its millions of religious symbols. 

I also visited Tallinn in Estonia as well as Riga and the Rundale Palace in Latvia.

Travels through History – Armenia

I have written seven books about the history of places I have travelled to. If you are interested in history and / or travel then you should check out these books. Please bear in mind the books are travelogues rather than travel guides and so cover only the places I visited.

Here is the one about Armenia and the UK.

Armenia and the UK

Armenia is full of monasteries, fortresses, and people who are passionate about their past. The traveller is always aware of the importance of religion and history in this little-visited country, whose only open borders are with Georgia and Iran. In the UK, I describe visits to Leicester, Derby, Manchester, Bristol, and Cardiff.

Travels through History – The Balkans

I have written seven books about the history of places I have travelled to. If you are interested in history and / or travel then you should check out these books. Please bear in mind the books are travelogues rather than travel guides and so cover only the places I visited.

Here is the one about The Balkans:

The Balkans

The North Macedonians build a fountain and upset the Greeks. Villages on the road to Lake Ohrid fly Albanian flags instead of North Macedonian ones. Kosovan taxi drivers believe fundamentalists are being sponsored in their country by former foes. Dubrovnik is so popular a one-way system is now in operation on the city walls. In Sarajevo, the place the First World War started is not easy to find, but evidence of more recent atrocities is. Memories are long in The Balkans, contrasts and contradictions are all around. History is always in your face, reminding you nothing stays the same for long in this most fascinating corner of Europe.

Travels through History – Avignon

Extract from the book ‘Travels through History : France” available here

Sur le Pont d’Avignon

On y danse, On y danse

Sur le Pont d’Avignon

On y danse tous en rond

On the bridge of Avignon

We all dance there, we all dance there

On the bridge of Avignon

We all dance there in a ring

“Sur le Pont d’Avignon” is a song about the Pont d’Avignon that dates back to the 15th century. The bridge is the Pont St. Bénézet, but is better known as the Pont d’Avignon. The dance took place under the bridge and not on the bridge (“Sous le Pont d’Avignon”, not “Sur”) but the lyrics were obviously misheard at some point and from then the meaning was changed.

 

The original Pont St. Bénézet spanning the Rhône from Villeneuve-lès-Avignon to Avignon was built between 1177 and 1185. For some reason, this early bridge was destroyed during the Albigensian Crusade, even though Avignon was the place where Raymond VI of Toulouse was excommunicated (again!) this time for refusing to support the campaign of the Roman Catholic Church and the French King against the Cathar heresy in the Languedoc. After the crusade the bridge was rebuilt with 22 stone arches across both channels of the Rhone. These arches were continually damaged when the river flooded and in the mid-1600s the bridge was abandoned. The four arches seen today date from around 1345 and were built by Pope Clement VI during the Avignon Papacy. The western end of the original bridge, now called the Tour Philippe-le-Bel, is also preserved.

 

Other than the bridge, the most famous building in Avignon is The Palace of the Popes. During the period 1309-1377 the Popes lived in and ran the Roman Catholic Church from Avignon instead of Rome.

 

Philip IV of France was instrumental in securing the election of Clement V, a Frenchman, to the papacy in 1305. This was an unpopular decision in Rome and in the next few years Clement’s life as Pope became more stressful. To escape the oppressive atmosphere, Clement chose to move the papal capital to Avignon, then in the Kingdom of Arles and part of the Holy Roman Empire.

 

The majority of the men that Clement V appointed as cardinals were French; and since the cardinals elected the Pope, this meant that future popes were likely to be French too. All seven of the Avignonese Popes and 111 of the 134 cardinals elected during the Avignon papacy were French. Although these Popes were able to maintain a measure of independence, the French kings did exert influence.

Both Catherine of Siena and St. Bridget of Sweden are credited with persuading Pope Gregory XI to return the Holy See to Rome on Jan. 17, 1377. Gregory’s stay in Rome was plagued with hostilities, and he seriously considered returning to Avignon. Before he could make any move, he died in March, 1378. The Avignon Papacy had officially ended. However, cardinals of the Sacred College selected a second Pope, who assumed the vacant Avignon seat. This marked the onset of the Great Schism. A succession of such “antipopes” were selected and the Great Schism was not healed until 1417.

 

Avignon remained part of the Papal States until the French Revolution, at which time the city became part of France.

 

Newcastle – Segudunum and The Metro.

An excerpt from the book: Travels through History – North-East England

The Newcastle Metro is a wonderful system that connects most of Newcastle to the airport and the coastal towns of Whitley Bay, Tynemouth, North Shields, and South Shields – collectively known as The Coast – plus Sunderland, Hebburn, and Jarrow. It’s also rather cheap – an all day pass for the entire network costs £5.10, although most of the credit card readers didn’t work when I tried them. The famous sporting stadia of St James’ Park, Kingston Park, Gateshead Stadium, and The Stadium of Light all have Metro stops nearby. I stayed in Jesmond which was 8 stops from the airport and three stops from the city centre. The trains run underground in central Newcastle but elsewhere they are on the surface like suburban trains.

I caught the Metro to Wallsend where I hoped to find Segedunum, the Roman fort built at the place where Hadrian’s Wall went down to the banks of the River Tyne, hence the name of the town. The Romans felt that the barbarian hordes wouldn’t be able to bridge the Tyne between Wallsend and the North Sea and gain access to The Roman Empire.

If you’re coming on the Metro from central Newcastle as you approach Wallsend you’ll see a white tower on the right-hand side. That’s what you should aim for as it’s part of the visitor centre. Before you enter, make sure not to miss Sentius Tectonicus, an eight-and-a-half-feet high sculpture of a Roman centurion soldier marking the eastern end of Hadrian’s Wall. Artist John O’Rourke was commissioned by North Tyneside Council to create the Centurion which is constructed from weathering steel. The sculpture contains 575 components and more than three tonnes of Corten steel – the same material used to construct the Angel of the North and links the site’s Roman heritage with the more recent industrial shipbuilding past in Wallsend.

The centurion’s name comes from an inscription recovered close to Segedunum which reveals that a centurion named Sentius supervised the building of a section of Hadrian’s Wall in the vicinity. Tectonicus refers to the sculpture’s design as an architectural man, with the centurion’s torso emerging from a Roman four-storey building.

The information inside the museum is fascinating and I didn’t expect to learn so much about the fate of various large passenger ships, built locally in Wallsend, when visiting a Roman fort. The connection is that all of the ships had the names of ancient Roman provinces. Many met a brutal end. First I will describe one ship that didn’t.

RMS Mauretania launched on the afternoon of 20 September 1906. She was the world’s largest ship until the completion of RMS Olympic in 1911, as well as the fastest until Bremen’s maiden voyage in 1929. After capturing the Eastbound Blue Riband on her maiden return voyage in December 1907 in 4 days, 22 hours and 29 minutes (New York to Cobh), she claimed the Westbound Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing during her 1909 season. Mauretania held both speed records for twenty years, but was eventually scrapped in 1935. The ship’s name was taken from Mauretania, an ancient Roman province on the northwest African coast, not the modern Mauritania which is now to the south.

Travels through History – 9 Greek Islands

I have written seven books about the history of places I have travelled to. If you are interested in history and / or travel then you should check out these books. Please bear in mind the books are travelogues rather than travel guides and so cover only the places I visited.

Here is the one about 9 Greek Islands:

Greek Islands

This book keeps it simple and covers nine Greek Islands: Symi, Patmos, Samos, Syros, Paros, Tinos, Delos, Mykonos and Rhodes.

Travels through History – Northern Ireland and Scotland.

I have written seven books about the history of places I have travelled to. If you are interested in history and / or travel then you should check out these books. Please bear in mind the books are travelogues rather than travel guides and so cover only the places I visited.

Here is the about Northern Ireland and Scotland:

Northern Ireland and Scotland

A series of essays about visits to the murals of West Belfast, the award-winning Titanic Centre, The World Heritage Site of the Giant’s Causeway, the seven little-visited stone circles at Beaghmore, and the dramatically situated Dunluce Castle perched high on the cliffs in Antrim in Northern Ireland. There are further stories about the island of Lewis and Harris, Edinburgh, Dryburgh Abbey, and Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland.

The Night of Wencelas by Lionel Davidson

There are some fascinating details about Prague in this book, hence this book review is in my travel blog.

Nicolas Whistler is a young man who lives in digs in London and spends most of his spare cash on his car. He has a girlfriend that he rather likes and a job he doesn’t like. He regularly goes down to Bournemouth to see his mum and her friend who both live in the same hotel.

His father had an interest in a Bohemian glassworks in Czechoslovakia. Nicolas receives some disturbing news from a solicitor that his uncle has died and left him an inheritance. Before he can acquire this money, he receives an offer from the solicitor to go to Prague and bring back a formula for some glass that will make the maker of it a fortune as it will be almost unbreakable. All Nicolas has to do is leave a guidebook on a desk in a glassworks he will visit near Prague and the formula will be placed in the flyleaf of the book. Nicolas meets a statuesque girl and this complicates things slightly but he returns to London clutching his guidebook and hands it over thinking his mission is over.

It isn’t.

The news about his uncle was a lie and unfortunately the formula he brought back is incomplete. He must go back to Prague and obtain the rest of the formula. This time his suspicions are aroused when he inspects the guidebook he’s been given before he visits the glassworks. It turns out Nicolas is being used by the authorities and he’s a spy, an unintentional spy. The Czechoslovak secret police interrogate and beat him, but he escapes and is on the run. He realises he can’t trust anyone, no one is actually who they seem, not even the girl he fell for in his previous visit.

What happens…well that would be telling. It’s a lovely book and I will read more by this author.

Travels through History – Northern Ireland and Scotland.

I have written seven books about the history of places I have travelled to. If you are interested in history and / or travel then you should check out these books. Please bear in mind the books are travelogues rather than travel guides and so cover only the places I visited.

Here is the about Northern Ireland and Scotland:

Northern Ireland and Scotland

A series of essays about visits to the murals of West Belfast, the award-winning Titanic Centre, The World Heritage Site of the Giant’s Causeway, the seven little-visited stone circles at Beaghmore, and the dramatically situated Dunluce Castle perched high on the cliffs in Antrim in Northern Ireland. There are further stories about the island of Lewis and Harris, Edinburgh, Dryburgh Abbey, and Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland.

 

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