Tuesday 30 October 2012

Dux Britanniarum Background Book


We went to Tintagel again today as the weather was decent and we have English Heritage membership, which makes it a cheap day out. I'm not a fan of Tintagel due to the excessive numbers of tourists and the proliferation of plastic pixies, pasty shops and knick knack emporia, but it's an impressive site nonetheless.

To minimise the culture shock, I bought a copy of this book in the gift shop as background research material for Dux Britanniarum. I know next to nothing about the period so it should fill in some gaps, although the rules do have a very good overview of the whole sub-Roman period. I'm not sure if it's any good but it looks quite interesting and has lots of maps, which is usually a good thing.

7 comments:

  1. Interesting. I am looking forward to your review of it.

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  2. I'm also interested in getting into Dux B and will look forward to your thoughts on this one!

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  3. I could certainly be tempted by this, sounds good.

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  4. Looking forward too to read your review on the book. I've been very attracted by the Arthur figure as a legend since I was a child and now it is an opportunity to get acquinted with the historical person

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  5. Gents, I really recommend Stuart Laycock's two books on Post-Roman Britain; 'Britannia - The Failed State' and 'Warlords - The Struggle for Power in Post-Roman Britain'.

    They both put what he thinks went on into layman's terms and draws comparisons with the former Yugoslavia to put his points home.

    Be wary of 'Histories' about the time though, there isn't much that we really know, so a lot of authors go for pure guesswork.

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  6. Haven't been to Tintagel in years. Rarely get to N. Cornwall these days despite my historical roots.

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  7. sorry, but the corinthian type helmet on the cover does NOT inspire confidence in the content of this book. Second Jim Hale on Laycock. Very interesting, but probably not the first book you should read on the period.Start with Robin Flemings very PC and unspeculative Britain after Rome. Much more solid. And for speculation by a decent historian, wait for Guy Halsalls World of Arthur. Out feb 2013.

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