Culture

The Count of the Saxon Shore welcomes the Duchess of the South Saxons, and the arrival of her heir, with that ancient Mercian salutation: "‘Ay up me duck."

As I stare out at that grey whale-road the English Channel it no longer seems absurd to make that boldest of historical parallels for Brexit: the end of the Roman Empire in Britain. Well, at least gives me an opportunity to properly talk about English identity. Yes, I want my country back. I want us to be honest about what it was in the first place.

The Viennese take coffee very seriously – nigh on a religion. If you go, you’ll undoubtedly hear about how coffee was introduced to the city in the late 17th Century... The story is, of course, complete rubbish.

We live in strange times. Familiarity is draining from our lives; old political alignments are dissolving; the weather is unpredictable and violent. But perhaps we should try harder to embrace the strangeness: after all, we are made from the most unlikely thing in the universe.

As archaeologists are increasingly discovering, humanity has always been interconnected, relying on the exchange of ideas to function.

While it’s sometimes fairly lazy to find a contemporary angle to finish on, Rudolf’s story does bring to mind several political leaders as of late, unable to take the reins and engage with a fracturing, divided populace.