Hello there, fellow Contra-Historians. I hope you're enjoying the rest of Semayne[1], as the weekend is starting to come to a close across the Atlantic(although here in New Avalon, it's still Saturday night and folks here are popping out the Zydeco and Shuffle records, and drinking a nice warm cup of hot M & C. 
If it was warmer, I might be out enjoying the view of the Pacific Coast)[2].
I was just sorting thru some old history books that my grandparents once owned, and I found a fascinating old tome from early in the 20th Century called "The History of Britain", by Taliesin Parry.
Although I'm sure most of us at least know who eventually won the struggle for the control of Britain(hint: it wasn't the former Germans!), Dr. Parry does note that, before the 9th century, the Britons had been on the losing side of the struggle for a while, particularly in the 6th and 7th centuries; Maes Cogwy(in the old Brythonic), was one such battle. But the 8th century saw a stalemate, and, in 797, a critical turning point happened: the current Anglo-Saxon king, Sigebert II[3], made the incredibly foolish mistake of trying to invade and destroy both Gwynedd and Powys; his Saxon and Mercian forces were totally destroyed by the combined forces of the Cymrian forces, and it's often been said that the Queen of Gwynedd, Gwendolen verch Caradoc[4], personally executed Prince Ceolwulf, a son-in-law of Sigibert's, for having spearheaded a violent campaign of mass slaughter of many of the families of several British towns in January 798.
After that, the Anglo-Saxons' hope of becoming the dominant power on the island slowly diminished for a time(the arrival of the Vikings only complicated things, as did that of the attempted takeover by the Gallo-Normans in a later era); but despite the efforts of rulers such of Albert of Mercia[5] and Ethelred of Northumbria[5] to keep the peace, clashes remained a problem, and the Thirty Years' War(technically 35 years: 1342-77) became the "Great Saxon Hope"(as Geoffrey of Canterbury[6] would put it).....only for the Anglo-Saxons to once again fail, and never rise back up again[7].
So, my question is, what if the Anglo-Saxons had had better luck in the later eras? What if Sigebert had not listened to his advisor, Osric, and refrained from trying to take over the north of Cymru? Would the Anglo-Saxons have been able to bide their time for a later battle?
Would a British language[8] ever develop, or, at least, if it did, ever be called that? In our reality, the development of the British language did come to rely surprisingly significantly upon assimilated Anglo-Saxons, Gallo-Normans and Vikings to build upon the tongue that developed into today's language[9], but it always remained largely Celtic at it's heart, despite modifications to word order over the years(fun fact-today's British really only dates back to the late 16th, early 17th century, right around the time that North and South Martinia were first being substantially colonized; funny thing is, Anglo-Saxons actually tended to outnumber the Celtic colonists in the eastern Martinian territories by about 3 to 5 by 1750! Despite only being maybe 30% of the population of Britain proper.)[10]; it would eventually become one of the linguas franca of the modern world, competing with Spanish, Swahili, French, Arabic and Hindi(Chinese is on it's way up but not there yet!)[11].
And what might become of culture? In our reality, Zydeco[12] is one of the most popular forms of music today and developed amongst the free peoples of Marianna(which had been a French possession, originally, then was passed to Spain, which then joined Nueva Espana, and then became part of Mexico[13] until 1827)[14], in the city of New Almeria[15], after the Martinian Civil War, and had its origins in Hispano, French, Italian, African, and even Native Martinian cultures. Speaking of the United States of Martinia(our eastern neighbor), they are the birthplace of cinema, and are one of the primary exporters of films across the world, particularly from Manhattan, Seattle, St. Charles, and the grand metropolis of Chicago City.[16] In a world where the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in early Britain, especially if they become a world power as the real Britain did, where might cinema first come into being(including in the case of no *U.S.M. equivalent)?
I'm really interested to know what you all may come up with!
With the best of regards,
-Jenevra (verch Harri) Blejan.
OOC: Yes, I actually did take on the role of a female character! I thought it would be an interesting change for once. (Also, apologies for the text-walling, but hopefully not too much of an info dump, considering that the POD was way back)
[1]A holiday named after Samhain, the first day of winter in Celtic tradition, but typically held on the 7th of November in modern times, especially in the *Americas(named after a fictional Italian explorer, as there was no Christopher Columbus).
[2]Yes, New Avalon is, in fact, our world's (U.S. state of) California, an interesting mix of Brythonic, Anglo, and Spanish cultures(with a not insignificant amount of Italian, Greek, and *Japanese + Chinese as well).
[3]A fictional relative of an actual English king.
[4]A totally fictional character.
[5]Both fictional, but both vaguely inspired by actual Anglo-Saxon kings.
[6]There was, believe it or not, a real Geoffrey of Canterbury, but I actually was inspired by Chaucer and G. of Monmouth, whom, ironically, was himself born in Wales.
[7]As hinted at later, they did eventually assimilate into the victorious society.
[8]This may surprise you, but it is very much similar to today's OTL English, but using an different early framework and significantly more modification.
[9]The Gallo-Normans here were a little less culturally Viking than OTL-there were Norse lords, but no Rollo.
[10]I'd be glad to try to flesh out a brief TTL history of the Martinias, if anyone's interested.
[11]The nations of East Africa were rather better off ITTL.
[12]Zydeco's name itself is borrowed from the OTL genre, but this is more of jazz mixed in with salsa, traditional Native American melodies, etc.
[13]Yes, Spain colonized Mexico in this universe, too.
[14]And then the *U.S. equivalent annexed it.
[15]This is a city roughly located around OTL New Orleans, but with a more Spanish flavor than French.
[16]I kept Manhattan and Seattle because both names were derived from Native American languages, so they could reasonably survive, as is Chicago's, but St. Charles is OTL's St. Louis.
(Also, Blejan is a real name! But it was used as a first name in the real world-a Cornish name meaning "flower" and seems to be unused now-a shame, because I think it's a pretty one!)
If it was warmer, I might be out enjoying the view of the Pacific Coast)[2].I was just sorting thru some old history books that my grandparents once owned, and I found a fascinating old tome from early in the 20th Century called "The History of Britain", by Taliesin Parry.
Although I'm sure most of us at least know who eventually won the struggle for the control of Britain(hint: it wasn't the former Germans!
), Dr. Parry does note that, before the 9th century, the Britons had been on the losing side of the struggle for a while, particularly in the 6th and 7th centuries; Maes Cogwy(in the old Brythonic), was one such battle. But the 8th century saw a stalemate, and, in 797, a critical turning point happened: the current Anglo-Saxon king, Sigebert II[3], made the incredibly foolish mistake of trying to invade and destroy both Gwynedd and Powys; his Saxon and Mercian forces were totally destroyed by the combined forces of the Cymrian forces, and it's often been said that the Queen of Gwynedd, Gwendolen verch Caradoc[4], personally executed Prince Ceolwulf, a son-in-law of Sigibert's, for having spearheaded a violent campaign of mass slaughter of many of the families of several British towns in January 798. After that, the Anglo-Saxons' hope of becoming the dominant power on the island slowly diminished for a time(the arrival of the Vikings only complicated things, as did that of the attempted takeover by the Gallo-Normans in a later era); but despite the efforts of rulers such of Albert of Mercia[5] and Ethelred of Northumbria[5] to keep the peace, clashes remained a problem, and the Thirty Years' War(technically 35 years: 1342-77) became the "Great Saxon Hope"(as Geoffrey of Canterbury[6] would put it).....only for the Anglo-Saxons to once again fail, and never rise back up again[7].
So, my question is, what if the Anglo-Saxons had had better luck in the later eras? What if Sigebert had not listened to his advisor, Osric, and refrained from trying to take over the north of Cymru? Would the Anglo-Saxons have been able to bide their time for a later battle?
Would a British language[8] ever develop, or, at least, if it did, ever be called that? In our reality, the development of the British language did come to rely surprisingly significantly upon assimilated Anglo-Saxons, Gallo-Normans and Vikings to build upon the tongue that developed into today's language[9], but it always remained largely Celtic at it's heart, despite modifications to word order over the years(fun fact-today's British really only dates back to the late 16th, early 17th century, right around the time that North and South Martinia were first being substantially colonized; funny thing is, Anglo-Saxons actually tended to outnumber the Celtic colonists in the eastern Martinian territories by about 3 to 5 by 1750! Despite only being maybe 30% of the population of Britain proper.)[10]; it would eventually become one of the linguas franca of the modern world, competing with Spanish, Swahili, French, Arabic and Hindi(Chinese is on it's way up but not there yet!)[11].
And what might become of culture? In our reality, Zydeco[12] is one of the most popular forms of music today and developed amongst the free peoples of Marianna(which had been a French possession, originally, then was passed to Spain, which then joined Nueva Espana, and then became part of Mexico[13] until 1827)[14], in the city of New Almeria[15], after the Martinian Civil War, and had its origins in Hispano, French, Italian, African, and even Native Martinian cultures. Speaking of the United States of Martinia(our eastern neighbor), they are the birthplace of cinema, and are one of the primary exporters of films across the world, particularly from Manhattan, Seattle, St. Charles, and the grand metropolis of Chicago City.[16] In a world where the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in early Britain, especially if they become a world power as the real Britain did, where might cinema first come into being(including in the case of no *U.S.M. equivalent)?
I'm really interested to know what you all may come up with!
With the best of regards,
-Jenevra (verch Harri) Blejan.
OOC: Yes, I actually did take on the role of a female character! I thought it would be an interesting change for once.
(Also, apologies for the text-walling, but hopefully not too much of an info dump, considering that the POD was way back)[1]A holiday named after Samhain, the first day of winter in Celtic tradition, but typically held on the 7th of November in modern times, especially in the *Americas(named after a fictional Italian explorer, as there was no Christopher Columbus).
[2]Yes, New Avalon is, in fact, our world's (U.S. state of) California, an interesting mix of Brythonic, Anglo, and Spanish cultures(with a not insignificant amount of Italian, Greek, and *Japanese + Chinese as well).
[3]A fictional relative of an actual English king.
[4]A totally fictional character.
[5]Both fictional, but both vaguely inspired by actual Anglo-Saxon kings.
[6]There was, believe it or not, a real Geoffrey of Canterbury, but I actually was inspired by Chaucer and G. of Monmouth, whom, ironically, was himself born in Wales.
[7]As hinted at later, they did eventually assimilate into the victorious society.
[8]This may surprise you, but it is very much similar to today's OTL English, but using an different early framework and significantly more modification.
[9]The Gallo-Normans here were a little less culturally Viking than OTL-there were Norse lords, but no Rollo.
[10]I'd be glad to try to flesh out a brief TTL history of the Martinias, if anyone's interested.
[11]The nations of East Africa were rather better off ITTL.
[12]Zydeco's name itself is borrowed from the OTL genre, but this is more of jazz mixed in with salsa, traditional Native American melodies, etc.
[13]Yes, Spain colonized Mexico in this universe, too.
[14]And then the *U.S. equivalent annexed it.
[15]This is a city roughly located around OTL New Orleans, but with a more Spanish flavor than French.
[16]I kept Manhattan and Seattle because both names were derived from Native American languages, so they could reasonably survive, as is Chicago's, but St. Charles is OTL's St. Louis.
(Also, Blejan is a real name! But it was used as a first name in the real world-a Cornish name meaning "flower" and seems to be unused now-a shame, because I think it's a pretty one!)