Codex Celtica: "History Matters" Day

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

"History Matters" Day

In Britain, today is "Make Your Mark On History Day" whereby as many people as possible contribute a blog entry about what they did today. Personally, I worked on my various blogs and websites, which scarcely seems of much public interest in itself, though much of the content relates to the event's underlying theme of "History Matters" -- one I subscribe to. This is supposed to be the biggest mass blog event in history. Background info is here [BBC site]. To contribute, go here [History Matters website input page].
Update: As this was a significant event in terms of the notion of involving people in writing (or blogging) about matters with a sense of history, I’ve written a follow-up to the above brief notice, but as it’s not really within the remit of this blog, I’ve posted it on another of my blogs. If you want to read about it, click here.

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Recent Posts

Sunday, October 09, 2011
Was Hamlet Celtic?
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2011/10/was-hamlet-celtic.html

Sunday, July 24, 2011
How To Use A Codex
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-use-codex.html

Eating Up The Past
- Can codex sources cast any light on the recent Ancient-Britons-were-blood-drinking-cannibals shock-horror press stories?
April 04, 2011
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2011/04/eating-up-past.html

Hollywood Goes For The Glastonbury Legend
January 16, 2011
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2011/01/hollywood-goes-for-glastonbury-legend.html

Casting A Long Shadow
October 27, 2010
--Hallowe’en is a suitable time to consider the survival of a tradition of hand-written codex books in the post-Gutenberg age: the Wiccan “Book Of Shadows.”
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2010/10/casting-long-shadow.html

Those Forking Normans
-- Or, The Normans’ Long Reinvention For Posterity
October 06, 2010
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2010/10/those-forking-normans.html

Would You Believe The Plato Code?
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2010/07/would-you-believe-plato-code.html

Arthur Rides Again
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2010/05/arthur-rides-again.html

Some Talk Of Robin, And Some Talk Of Hood
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2010/04/some-talk-of-robin-and-some-talk-of.html

2009 In Review
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2010/03/2009-in-review.html

The Legend Of Christ’s Church Revisited
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/12/legend-of-christs-church-revisited.html

And Did These Sandals Walk Upon England’s Mountains Green?
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/11/and-did-these-sandals-walk-upon.html

The 'Phoenician' Question
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/11/phoenician-question.html

Homer's North Atlantic Odyssey?
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/10/homers-north-atlantic-odyssey.html

2010 - A Screen Odyssey?
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/10/2010-screen-odyssey.html

What Price The Favour Of The Gods?
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-price-favour-of-gods.html

Those Pictish Blues Again
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/08/those-pictish-blues-again.html

MacCamelot Revisited
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/07/maccamelot-revisited.html

North To MacCamelot
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/06/north-to-maccamelot.html

Jesus Christ, Stonehenge Star?
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/04/jesus-christ-stonehenge-star.html

See The Film - Read The Codex?
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/03/see-film-read-codex.html

2008, Year Of The Codex Digitalex
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2009/01/2008-year-of-codex-digitalex.html

The Thorny Matter Of Glastonbury
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2008/11/thorny-matter-of-glastonbury.html

A 2,000 Year Old Paper Trail
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2008/09/2000-year-old-paper-trail.html

This Old Book
http://codexceltica.blogspot.com/2008/07/this-old-book.html

Stonehenge – Temple Of The Sun-God?
A new theory about Stonehenge may throw light on a key episode of early British history.
Another Busy Post-Modern Easter Season
The period from Easter to St George's Day in late April is a sort of "silly season" for press stories covering our subject area.
When Music Won The Cause
A look at a different type of manuscript, the kind with musical notation, whose inspiration goes back to the Celtic Church Of Britain, which the Church Of England supplanted.
Tintagel's "Arthurian Graffiti" Controversy, 10 Years On
Mysteries remain surrounding English Heritage's "find of a lifetime" a decade ago, of some 6th-century quasi-Arthurian graffiti at their prime Arthurian-tourism location, Tintagel.
From Merlin’s Cave To Hercules’s Headland
Follow up on our earlier blog item on the North Cornwall and Devon heritage coast - legend has it this coast was on the sea-route by which Christianity arrived in Britain via Joseph of Arimatheia and his fellow disciples.
A Dark Ages 'Rough Guide' Travel Codex
English classicist author Simon Young has used surviving early travel accounts of visiting Britain to simulate what such a contemporary traveller's account might have been like.
2007 In Review
It was another year of controversy over mysteries relating to historical manuscripts.
The Beowulf Codex Mystery
As millions will be seeing the new Beowulf ‘virtual-reality’ film over the holidays, I thought it would be appropriate here to consider the source manuscript itself, whose survival is itself both a wonder and a mystery.

Earlier Posts
Here Lies England’s Last Templar?
Was the ghost of Christchurch Priory haunting a local historian England's last Templar?
The Da Vinci Code Sequel, Or Prequel
It's been confirmed that there is to be a DVC followup film, but it won't be a sequel.
The Not So Christian Year?
Traditional Christian Easter gets complicated in a multicultural society which has read The Da Vinci Code.
DVC Plagiarism V Copyright Verdict, The Problem Continues
The Holy Blood Holy Grail authors fall victim to confusion between plagiarism and copyright infringement.
Blake At 250 – The Unsolved Mystery
For Blake's 250th anniversary, it would be nice to know what he meant when he alluded to England's 'Holy Legend' in his most famous work.
The Judas Codex
Another lost-n-found gospel gives an alternative view of the New Testament.
Some Not So New Bones Of Contention
A new holy-relics controversy, summed up by headline "I've Found The Coffin Of Jesus, Says Film Director".
Will The Real Mona Lisa Please Stand Up?
The DaVinci Code icon has an identity crisis.
The Grail Mystery Takes A New Turn
The Rennes-le-Chateau mystery, centrepiece of the 'Holy Blood Holy Grail,' takes a sudden left turn.
Revisiting Cornwall’s Legendary World Heritage Coast
England's 'Holy Legend' - the Cornish tin-trade connection.
Why Early Books Wear So Well
A new academic thesis that early books were printed on recycled ... underwear.
The Man In The Cloth Mask
Could a surviving single codex of an English legend prove history wrong on a key point?
Pytheas And The Lost City Of Apollo
A new theory about Stonehenge reinforces an argument for Christianity arriving in England via the classical ‘tin-trade’ route.
Knights Templar Redux?
Are an English group using the Templar 700th anniversary to pave the way for a comeback?
Death Of A Genteel Bohemian
The book closes on 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail' co-author Richard Leigh.
The Beowulf Codex Mystery
The new Beowulf film is only possible due to the amazing and mysterious survival of a single copy of the original codex.

Main Posts & Linked Feature Pages

100 Study Resources
Links to page listing 100 resources of interest for those who have stumbled into this area via Dan Brown's book - 50 nonfiction books and 50 TV/DVD documentaries.
The Da Vinci Formula
Essay suggesting how Dan Brown followed in the footsteps of nonfiction writers, and adapted his work to a more 'film-friendly' format.
The DaVinci Book Boom
A run-down of other recent books on the DVC-HBHG controversy.
TDVC Film v Book - A Case Of TMI?
On where the film adaptation may have gone wrong.
The Books Behind The Da Vinci Code
On some of Dan Brown's admitted sources.
DVC Plagiarism Trial Not So Over After All
HBHG authors get permission to to their lost case to the UK Appeals Court.
DVC Plagiarism Trial Latest - The Bottom Line
The DVC judge who invented his own code makes another weighty pronouncement.
DVC On DVD
A review.
Caveat 'Set Jetters' - Onscreen, Things May Not Be What They Seem
What you see on screen in DVC is often not what it appears.
Read The Book, See The Movie … Now Visit The Locations
On DVC-related tours, with links to a guide to sites connected with film and novel, illustrated with film stills and my own photos.
Exploring Beyond Rosslyn: The Celtic Kingdom Of Gododdin
Background history - long before Rosslyn Chapel was built, this was a key area in British history.
England's Little Green Book
On the 'English Hymnal' at 100.
'Jerusalem' - An Anthem For England?
On the hymn as a popular alternative national anthem.
The Xmas Nobility Play
On Sir Gawain And The Green Knight as a Xmas play.
The Glastonbury Legend
An introduction to the various legends connected to the site.
Glastonbury Pilgrimages [2006]
The Glastonbury Festival was cancelled, but nothing stops the two rival churches from holding their annual pilgrimages.
Back On The Trail Of The 'Holy Legend'
Now the wall-to-wall media coverage of The Da Vinci Code is ending, we can return to a more enduring area of interest.
The Ptolemy Map Codex
Ptolemy's map of Roman Britain shows the importance of the southwest England, as part of the old tin traders route connected to the legend of Joseph of Arimatheia.
Legendary Lost Celtic Port Found?
A satellite photo showing underwater ruins along the coast of Cornwall may be related to the old tin trade route.
Lost Book Found Describing JC-Mary Relationship
An old book found in a Welsh school library seems to draw on now-lost sources about the family trees of New Testament figures.
Was What Sauniere Found A Codex?
A century before Rennes le Chateau became a tourist trap, did England's "Father of the Ghost Story" visit to hear rumours a local priest had found a troubling old manuscript?
Les Dossiers Secrets, Revisited
The sceptics too may be ignoring the political reality of the Priory Of Sion.
The DaVinci Trail, Armchair-Travel Style
The cycle of DVC documentaries reviewed as travelogues.
Quest For The Grail In Top Gear
The BBC sends Britain's favourite test driver to find the grail.
C4's "The Real Da Vinci Code"
Review of Channel 4's feature-length investigative documentary.
The Real Da Vinci Conspiracy
On evidence Hollywood encouraged controversy to promote DVC ticket sales.
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About Codex Celtica

A codex is a vintage manuscript that is more than a single scroll - a collated set of pages, usually sewn together. The codex format predated the printing press, the text being originated using calligraphy, and manuscripts were sometimes ornately illustrated (so-called illuminated manuscripts). The format was used in the later Roman Empire and became a specialty of the Celtic Church Of Britain which established Christianity across the British Isles. Celtic monasteries usually had a ‘scriptorium’ where manuscripts were copied by scribes, and they became a leading artefact of the surviving Celtic realms in the West.
The hand-stitched parchment codex was a more substantial, and at the same time more portable and durable, format than the fragile papyrus scroll familiar from Biblical times, and was the forerunner of the modern printed book, complete with cover. I’ve used the term codex here loosely, as a convenient shorthand for early manuscripts, even if the work is not notably ‘Celtic’ or only survives in later printed form. For the focus here is not on the materials or provenance, but on the content, in particular unresolved historical issues such early works raise.
The word codex appears in Dan Brown’s 'Da Vinci Code', but just as he confuses it with a papyrus scroll, he either ignored or missed most of these genuine mysteries. Nevertheless I’ve used The Da Vinci Code here as a point of reference in the blog subtitle, since TDVC has been the point of entry for millions into this subject area, and we also cover related topics put by the press under the ‘Da Vinci Code’ label. I try to add blog posts monthly.
There is more blog-background info here:
About This Blog
-How this blog came to be, and the meaning of "codex".
What's That - A 'Codex', You Say?
-On the widening use of the term, post-TDVC.