I feel really stupid

[gwynhefar]

How did I not know the Tudors were originally Welsh?

I'm tracing back the Tudor line on my dad's side and I start getting all these Welsh names and Tudor begins to be spelled Tewdwr. Well, duh! So now I've got my biological father's line going back to (mythologically speaking) Odin, and my dad's line going back to Beli and Dôn. I've promised my mother I'll give her a call as soon as I find a royal and/or divine ancestor in her tree *g*

I am realising, as I go through all this stuff, just how very lacking my knowledge of British history is, however. I blame a strong American bias in my secondary history education, but I suppose I have no excuse for not learning more on my own. Must start doing that.

Comments

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

Oh I would have loved to have done Celtic studies. They didn't even have any classes in Celtic studies when I was in school. Closest they had was British history, literature, etc., which usually touched on some Irish, Scottish, and/or Welsh sources.

None of the Celtic languages were options either. Every now and then I decide I'm going to learn Irish and take a few lessons out of do-it-yourself books or websites, but it's really hard to keep up without hearing the language spoken or having any kind of feedback, so I rarely get past the first couple of lessons.

[straif.livejournal.com]

If you ever decided to try Welsh instead, I know of a number of really good resources and communities. Oh, and I happen to know of a week-long annual course for Welsh learners in North America.

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

I've actually considered it. Ireland and Wales are the two Celtic lands I feel the strongest pull toward, and while my last name is Irish, my first name is Welsh :) I'd be happy for any resources you could provide.

[straif.livejournal.com]

The single best place to start is http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/learnwelsh/ There are a number of great resources on the site, I particularly recommend the Catchphrase series.

The annual course is http://www.madog.org -- I've done this for three years now. It is incredible.

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[piratejenny.livejournal.com]

Don't I know it! I do have learning Irish on CD also, for the computer, but it's still hard outside of a class. Part of it is that there are so many dialects. I do plan on going back to the Irish classes (there's a local community college that offers night classes), but it's such a rush getting back from work then rushing off to class that I need to cut some other stress out of my life first. If I can figure out how to do that.