Deposed Ninth-Century King May Have Called This Cave Dwelling Home
An early medieval cave structure in Derbyshire, England, may be the former home of a ninth-century king—and the United Kingdom’s oldest intact domestic interior.
As Mark Brown reports for the Guardian, new research conducted by experts from the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) and Wessex Archaeology suggests the 1,200-year-old dwelling once housed Eardwulf, an exiled ruler of the medieval English kingdom Northumbria. The team published its analysis in the Proceedings of the University of Bristol Speleological Society.
“Our findings demonstrate that this odd little rock-cut building in Derbyshire is more likely from the 9th century than from the 18th century as everyone had originally thought,” says lead author Edmund Simons, a research fellow at RAU, in a statement. “This makes it probably the oldest intact domestic interior in the U.K.—with doors, floor, roof, windows etc.—and, what’s more, it may well have been lived in by a king who became a saint!”
Per the Independent’s David Keys, Eardwulf ascended to the throne following the murders of his two immediate predecessors. He ruled Northumbria from 796 to 806, when he was deposed. Eardwulf spent his final years in exile in Mercia (another kingdom in the Midlands), ultimately dying in 830, reports Derbyshire Live’s Callum Parke. During the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries, England had at least seven major kingdoms and 200 kings, as the Independent points out. Most of these monarchs did not leave the throne of their own volition: Up to 16 percent were murdered. Another 16 percent were killed in battle. Thirty-three percent were peacefully removed from power; only a third ended their reigns through natural death.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/early-medieval-dwelling-may-be-united-kingdoms-oldest-home-180978185/
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