Athelstone


Did anyone else notice they listed a character Athelstone? Strangley I don't remember him. I have not seen the mvie but I love the book.

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Athelstane was the guy, who Cedric wanted Rowena to get married to.

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Athelstone's the noble Saxon royal lineage

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Added to that, Athelstone (-stane) was actually a Saxon king in the early 10th century. This obviously hints that the food-loving, carefree man actually is of noble heritage, and this is not only the ramblings of Cedric.

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"Added to that, Athelstone (-stane) was actually a Saxon king in the early 10th century. This obviously hints that the food-loving, carefree man actually is of noble heritage, and this is not only the ramblings of Cedric." - Nick_Charles

He possibly is according to the book however being called Athelstane (O.E. Æthelstan) in Northern England in the 1100s doesn't mean one is noble as many still had Old English names (as we do a few now, Edward, Edwin, Alfred (O.E Ælfred), Oswald, Oswin, Wade (O.E. Wada), Audry (O.E. Æthelthryth), Cuthbert et cetera) at the time (though London already had most of the common names from today, mostly of Frankish and Hebrew origin). People forget that people didn't just suddenly forget everything from before the Norman conquest but things faded out of fashion (a great many names et cetera) as well as a gradual shift in language (which was happening anyway and is not as much connected to the Normans as "pop-history" would have you believe, most of the declensions were going during the late Old English era and the main "Norman" influence were a large number of high level words (AKA not important to the basic speech such as "I" , "me", "we" are in English)). Some things were immediate of course such as the general loss of liberty amongst the English (despite what 'Ivanhoe' and most Robin Hood films show there was no "English nobility" in England after Waltheof of Northumbria (the 1st Earl of the Honour of Huntingdon and Northampton) rebelled against the king, until very late in the High Middle Ages when some like the Lumleys, Ogles and others (mostly Northumbrian) gained noble titles. Many ex-nobles and others fled to Scotland, Ireland or fled to the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) where Englishmen became the predominant force in the Varangian Guards (which was previously Scandinavian almost exclusively).

"Nothings gonna change my world!"

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And wasn't there something about Cedric wanting Rowena to marry Athelstane (sp?) with the ambition of one day seeing a saxon king on the throne, by restoring the saxon royal house?

Or something of the sort.

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That's totally true, Mayanas!

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Yeah, he's more a prop than a role in this version, so it's not hard to forget him. He's a bit livelier in the 97 version.

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There was a '97 version?

Yes, it's true! IMDB has reached Sweden!

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He seemed to be more of a comedy character in the film.

Its that man again!!

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"Tomorrow .... I fight tomorrow!"

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