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This is interesting, but I don't believe it's all that surprising. Medieval Europe was very well connected. Alfred himself went to Rome when he was a child and

This is interesting, but I don't believe it's all that surprising. Medieval Europe was very well connected. Alfred himself went to Rome when he was a child and had an extensive cultural exchange with mainland Europe. It is also well known, as the article points out, that interactions with Asia was much more widespread than what is perhaps understood by most people today (who still sees it as a dark age). This can also be seen by the fact that Christian communities existed, not only in India, but also in China as early as the 7th Century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_China#Earliest_documented_period https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_China#Earliest...

paganel 7y ago
> Alfred himself went to Rome when he was a child and had an extensive cultural exchange with mainland Europe. There’s also a depiction of King Arthur (Rex Arturus) in a famous mosaic located inside the Otranto cathedral, located in Puglia, Italy [1]. Presumably the mosaic was put in place in the 1160s, give or take a few decades. A bit OT but not by that much, the same Italian city of Otranto was under direct Ottoman control for a year, sometimes in the early 1470s. Most of its Christian residents who had dare resisting were killed, and presumably the final step of the Ottomans’ journey was Rome (I have a quote about this made by Mehmed II somewhere in my books, I’m too lazy to search for it on my phone). Fortunately for Western Christianity Mehmed got caught up in some fierce fights in present day Albania and also in a region of present day Romania (Moldova, to be more exact) so that he had to recall his troups from the Italian peninsula. Which is to say that yes, the East and West have been a lot more involved with each other compared to what most of today’s people assume. [1] http://sites.duke.edu/danteslibrary/files/2016/02/otranto-mosaic-4-king-arthur-1024x796.jpg http://sites.duke.edu/danteslibrary/files/2016/02/otranto-mo...
heraclius 7y ago
Indeed, relatedly, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 853 Alfred was consecrated king by the Pope; I believe that it is theorised, quite plausibly, that this was an important influence in later life.

paganel 7y ago

> Alfred himself went to Rome when he was a child and had an extensive cultural exchange with mainland Europe. There’s also a depiction of King Arthur (Rex Arturus) in a famous mosaic located inside the Otranto cathedral, located in Puglia, Italy [1]. Presumably the mosaic was put in place in the 1160s, give or take a few decades. A bit OT but not by that much, the same Italian city of Otranto was under direct Ottoman control for a year, sometimes in the early 1470s. Most of its Christian residents who had dare resisting were killed, and presumably the final step of the Ottomans’ journey was Rome (I have a quote about this made by Mehmed II somewhere in my books, I’m too lazy to search for it on my phone). Fortunately for Western Christianity Mehmed got caught up in some fierce fights in present day Albania and also in a region of present day Romania (Moldova, to be more exact) so that he had to recall his troups from the Italian peninsula. Which is to say that yes, the East and West have been a lot more involved with each other compared to what most of today’s people assume. [1] http://sites.duke.edu/danteslibrary/files/2016/02/otranto-mosaic-4-king-arthur-1024x796.jpg http://sites.duke.edu/danteslibrary/files/2016/02/otranto-mo...

heraclius 7y ago

Indeed, relatedly, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 853 Alfred was consecrated king by the Pope; I believe that it is theorised, quite plausibly, that this was an important influence in later life.