>>4853581
Part 3 of 5
YorkAnon:
I'm half joking with the "burn" comment. But there is an increasing almost nationalist sentiment, particularly in Northumbria and Yorkshire, that is every bit as strong as that shown by the Welsh and Scots.
To understand this context and the mindset of our people (as opposed to the majority of the English population), it's important to have a grasp of the history (I will go on about this for ages if given the chance, but I'll try to resist the urge smile )
Historically, Northumbria was an independent nation - the cradle of Western Christianity, home to a great many saints and a hugely important centre of learning and culture. This was during the so-called "Dark Ages" when the rest of Europe was supposedly festering away in ignorance. I prefer the term The Early Middle Ages. At its height, the kingdom covered all of the land that is today known as northern England, and it included a good slice of the Scottish Lowlands, all the way up to Edinburgh.
And then the Vikings came. The Vikings repeatedly invaded and eventually annexed the south eastern half of Northumbria, which became the Viking kingdom of Jorvik, which slowly evolved to be known as "Yorkshire". You can still hear a good number of viking words in the Yorkshire dialect, and many of its place names are very Norse/Danish.
The north west eventually became the Kingdoms of Strathclyde and Rheged, and diverged off on a different path.
The Picts invaded the north, which shrunk that frontier back to Berwick-onTweed. Northumbria then became the territory it covers today: the territory between the rivers Tees and Tweed. The vikings never conquered us, and the Normans couldn't either (which is why we don't appear in the Domesday book). The Romans likewise failed, which is why they built a massive wall to try to split us in two and stop our tribes joining up to attack them.
So, both Yorkshire and Northumbria diverged over all that time into two nations and then, when England swallowed us both up, into provinces that have maintained very strong senses of identity.
And then the Vikings came. The Vikings repeatedly invaded and eventually annexed the south eastern half of Northumbria, which became the Viking kingdom of Jorvik, which slowly evolved to be known as "Yorkshire". You can still hear a good number of viking words in the Yorkshire dialect, and many of its place names are very Norse/Danish.
The north west eventually became the Kingdoms of Strathclyde and Rheged, and diverged off on a different path.
The Picts invaded the north, which shrunk that frontier back to Berwick-onTweed. Northumbria then became the territory it covers today: the territory between the rivers Tees and Tweed. The vikings never conquered us, and the Normans couldn't either (which is why we don't appear in the Domesday book). The Romans likewise failed, which is why they built a massive wall to try to split us in two and stop our tribes joining up to attack them.
So, both Yorkshire and Northumbria diverged over all that time into two nations and then, when England swallowed us both up, into provinces that have maintained very strong senses of identity.
That sense of identity has not weakened one bit over that time.
Now, when a nation is doing well and its people prosperous, it's easy to govern. But when times turn harsh, that changes. That's where we are today: a significant population that has been neglected, deliberately starved of income (because that's how London functions - me, me, me, me, me) and left to rot.
From that historical context, you can see that there's very little we have in common with "The English" - or the people that everyone believes the English to be. It's a source of massive frustration to me that people from overseas think that we are the same as the arrogant, imperialist buffoons that go around being superior & haughty to everyone who isn't them or theirs. I utterly detest being lumped in with people like that.