Vortigern Studies Index

What was ? in 1999
IN VORTIGERN STUDIES AND THE ARTHURIAN COLLECTION

December 31, 1999
At this last day of the year (no, not of the century or the Milennium - Vortigern Studies is a historically correct website!).
Vortigern Studies is now a proud member of a third webring: the Ring of the Red Dragon ! This Ring lists webcites that deal with Wales, Welsh history, culture, customs, beliefs, language, and anything else Welsh.
new is my first real scientific publication: Forty Years of Fear - Facts and fiction in chapter 66 of the Historia Brittonum (This article is published in The Heroic Age Issue 2, december 1999).
I've also added the new pedigrees of eastern, mid- and south Wales for reference purposes mostly. Parts of these two pages will be added into new material or updates. I've already updated the pages of Vortimer, Catigern, Pascent, Faustus, and Incest with this and other material.

December 10, 1999
Vortigern Studies has a new layout, consisting of a greyish watermark. I've been making some changes to the visibility of the mosaic border (due to a bug in HTML) and the color of the linked text. Also, I've added new search boxes and more Polls, one on my Family page and one in the Arthurian Booklist. A new Links page: contributions to Vortigern by others on the web.

November 29, 1999
Vortigern Studies is now a proud member of the Celtic Culture Webring! This Ring lists many websites with a general Celtic theme.
About half of the Links pages have been completed (my! this ain't half a job - more and more keeps cropping up as I go along..).
The Wansdyke section has finally been upgraded with some modest beginnings; my own experiences in visiting this monument from 1989 to 1996.
Also an update of the Dinas Emrys page (which has now separated into a page on the fort and a newone on the explanation) and an update for the Pillar of Elise (which is now separated into two pages, one about the monument and a new one about the text itself).
There are of course also new items in the Bibliography, but these remain as a rule unspecified because of space limitations. Beside that, I have added two new items to the Arthurian Collection;

• Mallory, J.: Merlin, The King's Wizard, (Voyager 1999), which is part 2 of the novelisation of the NBC miniseries.

• Crossley-Holland, Kevin and Peter Malone (ill.): Arthur, Koning van Alle Tijden (Christofoor 1999), a very good children's book which takes both history and legend seroius.

November 1, 1999
After about seven months, work has finally begun on the Wansdyke Homepage. I apologize for the delay. The articles will take some more time, but I'll try try to give you a general idea by adding lots of pictures.

October 17, 1999
This website is now about six months old! To celebrate that, I have changed the layout again and added lots of pictures. My new border, a Roman mosaic floor from Caerwent (Gwent), may not be seen by all those with a Mac, sorry about that. The articles are neatly divided into chapters, as could already be seen on the Sitemap. I have finally begun a Links-page, with links to all kinds of sites that may be of interest to the visitor. These pages will be updated in the next weeks.
Unfortunately, the linkup with Ordnance Survey has fallen through, due to added costs that were too high at this time. I will replace the maps in due course.
There are new articles on some sites Vortigern may have built a 'city', such as Dinas Emrys, Yr Wyddfa and Carn Fadrun, all in Gwynedd. I have also located the grave of Catigern and the best (?) candidate for the grave of Vortigern on the west coast of Dyfed. Lastly, a speculative article on the possible birthname of Vortimer.
Unfortunately, more delays in the history department, especially the article by Horst-Wolfgang Böhme I'm translating, and therefore also of the other articles about Vortigern, the Saxon federates and the End of Roman Britain. This means that this section will not appear before the summer of 2000. I'll compensate by finishing the sections on geographical and source-material first.

September 29, 1999
As I announced on May 6th, the Vortigern Studies Bibliography, which has grown too large for just one webpage, has been divided up into alphabetic chapters to make the use of it easier.

September 18, 1999
The all - but - finishing touch to the geographical part. I have added maps and pictures to several pages (and many more on the way - keep checking!) and, under license from the Ordnance Survey, the enlarged details of several maps as well. Now you will be able to visit all Caer Guorthigirns for yourself!

August 29, 1999
Some new items in the Arthurian Collection:

• Attanasio, A.A.: The Perilous Order: Warriors of the Round Table, (Hodder and Stoughton 1999). This is the third book in this series, following The Dragon and the Unicorn and Arthor. Don't be confused, this is the same book as The Wolf and the Crown, published in the USA in 1998 (Like The Eagle and the Sword was the same as Arthor).

• Treece, Henry : The Great Captains, (Bodley head 1956, repr. 1980). This is a great historical Dark Age novel by an all-too often forgotten writer. His style is dark and apocalyptic, but the story may very well come close to the real thing!

• Moffat, Alistair : Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999). This is the latest in a long line of pseudo-scientific attempts to reconstruct the real Arthur. Moffat opts for the Votadini, a tribe in the Scottish Lowlands. His attempt may fail from time to time, but the book is well worth reading.

• Simpson, Margaret : Arthurian Legends (Scholastic 1998). A droll comic version of the legend.

As well as two booklets: Knights of the Round Table, a Pitkin Guide, and Arthur, Land and Legend, from the Wessex Series. Also several new books in the Vortigern Studies Bibliography, which are indicated there.

July 16, 1999
Four new books in the Arthurian Collection, all Children's books by jane Yolen.

• Merlin and the Dragons is a fantastically illustrated (by Li Ming) book about the young boy Merlin and his confrontation of Vortigern. The story is being told to the young Arthur, a nice touch. This book is also made into an animated movie by the same title.

• The Young Merlin Trilogy is an mostly adaptation of two stories from Merlin's Booke (by the same author) into three lovely works for children.Passager, Hobby and Merlin are very useful for the starting young reader.

July 10, 1999
I've changed the Messageboard today. Instead of just the Vortigern & Wansdyke Messageboard, it's also open now to any ideas about Arthurian stuff in the broadest sense. You'll find that upon leaving you'll have the chance to return to both the Vortigern Homepage and the Arthurian Collection. The reason is that the visitors (there have been about 200 yet!) seem too timid for it to work properly. Reactions to my Arthurian Collection have inspired me to this change, so hopefully it'll work better now. Come on you lot! Share your views with all of us!
new To the Arthurian Collection: Stonehenge by Evans & Hanselmann. This is an old album, alas not available through Amazon.com.

June 30, 1999
You might have noticed a totally new layout today. I've changed the background to white and the fonts from Book Antiqua to Arial for a more compact look. Frames will be added later, if at all. I've also finished all links to Amazon.com in the Arthurian Collection and I've started with the Vortigern & Wansdyke Bibliography as well. Those of you you who want to find out more about some of the items in my collection can do so now. In time I will add a review on each of these items containing the cover, three pages from the book and a comment. So please, keep coming back! Five new items in the Arthurian Various list: an Excalibur paperknife, three calendars and a pendant in the form of the elusive cross that was reputedly found at Glastonbury in the 13th century.

June 20, 1999
I've been adding some more material in the sources-section of the Bibliography. Since I have a chance to lecture at the Second Conference for the Medieval Chronicle on July 20th, a slight overrepresentation of Geoffrey of Monmouth might be noticed. I can assure you that this will change in time, when I will finally deal with the rest of the sources, starting with Gildas and the Historia Brittonum. Also new in the Bibliography is a book I can recommend to everyone interested in this field:

• Wilson, Roger J.A.: A Guide to Roman Remains in Britain, (London 1975, repr. 1996). This is a must for those visiting Britain, I should say.
  

new In the Arthurian Collection: a completely new lay-out to distinguish it from the VortigernStudies site. The links to Amazon.com are now completed as well. Also a gigantic billboard (2,5 m x 1m across) from the movie The Magic Sword, quest for Camelot, (Warner Bros 1998), a nice surprise from my local videoshop. A picture of it will follow shortly. new Novels:

• Caidin, M.: Indiana Jones en de Witte Heks, (Bruna 1997), a translation in Dutch of Indiana Jones and the White Witch.

• Lampo, H. & Pieter Paul Koster: Arthur, (Atrium 1985), a photobook of the Arthurian legend, very good landscapes combined with (dutch) texts from various sources.

June 4, 1999
After a major revision of most pages (concerning file names and attachments) I added the first step in the Amazon.com Associates program. My Arthurian Collection will (step by step) be linked to this mega-bookstore! Most items are for sale, so the interested collector will be able to complete his or her collection..
Anew article I had been working on a long time, the genealogical connections of Vortigern and his Family, has also been added. The quality still is not what I'd like it to be, but I thought it better than nothing. My next-to-perfect family tree disintegrated in HTML, of course. Any ideas?
Last but not least, to console those anxious for any article of the Wansdyke homepage (they will appear! but not before october, I'm afraid), I added a link to a very nice site (from Watford to Camelot) with the only real webpage (as far as I know) with anything about the Wansdyke at all!

May 21, 1999
Today I have finally added a counter! But more important, new articles on Vortigern and his family; 'Who was Vortigern' is an article particulairy for those not yet familiar with the subject. The FAQS are even more important for the novice! Also articles about Vortigern's Deaths and the refutation of the stories about Vortigern and the supposed incestuous relation with his own daughter.
Most important at this stage though is the acceptance by Arthur's Ring, a select group (25 members to date) of webpage-owners, devoted to the post-Roman period in general and the Arthurian cycle in particular. I feel that by enlightening the intersted visitor about the difficulties around Vortigern I might clear up the period that came before Arthur. Or try to at least.

May 16, 1999
I have added new articles on Catigern and Faustus, both of whom were sons of Vortigern. 'Who was Britu?' receives an answer here.. An article that I personally like is 'Saints on the move', which looks at the similarities of names and stories about Vortigern in both Wales, Ireland and Brittany. The sources are stocked with an article about the Bonedd y Saint.

May 12, 1999
new Articles on the Name of Vortigern, St Gurthiern, Vortimer and The Pillar of Elise. We're getting there... Other articles are close to publication, so please be patient if you've already found this site!

May 6, 1999
I have added new graphics and a changed lay-out, so that visitors are more at home, knowing where they are and what other pages there are. Some additions to the family-page as well, but that will have to wait until later, as must the Wansdyke section, presumably until this fall. The Bibliography is growing a bit too much, I'll probably have to change that, too. Though there are a few articles in the Vortigern section, I'm still waiting with going public until I have at least five large and up to ten smaller articles placed there.

April 13, 1999
I have a new email adress! My personal email adress is now VortigernStudies@Hotmail.com.

There are more new items on the Vortigern & Wansdyke Booklist, but these are a bit too numerous to show here. One I would recommend however, especially to wargamers and those of you interested in the militairy side of this period, is Germanic Warrior, 236-568 AD, by Simon MacDowall and illustrated beautifully by Angus McBride. This volume (19, 1996) of the Osprey Warrior series is a real asset to the visualization of the times, even more so when completed with Late Roman Infantryman, 236-565 AD, (Warrior Series 9, 1994) and Late Roman Cavalryman, 236-565 AD, (Warrior Series 15,1995).

April 8, 1999
Today, I opened a new Messageboard at Insidetheweb! Though there might be not so much to discuss (no-one knows this homepage is online yet, maybe some of you have already found your way there), some of you might have their own opinions about this subject!

April 6, 1999
This evening, I finally managed to put these pages on the Internet! It is not much; only the opening pages: Robert's Homepage, the Vortigern Homepage, the Wansdyke Homepage and the structure below that. The only works of interest for you, the visitor, are my two Bibliographies about my Arthurian Collection and all the scientific books and articles that are the basis for all articles that will appear here during the following months. Apart from that, I have placed only one guest-article on the site, because I felt that there could only be more of these once I have placed my own views there first. It would not be fair to review the opinions of others before I have shown my own, would it?. The very important article of Horst-Wolfgang Böhme, which I am authorized to translate from German, will not appear before october I'm afraid, but I'll see what I can do.
Apart from the plain text part, there is not much in the lay-out as well; this will come later, I promise! Frames, buttons, etc., I need to learn a bit more about, or else ask other people to do me some favors. I can only ask you, the visitor, to be patient and keep coming back!

Robert Vermaat,
april 6, 1999

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