Out of the blue
Having lived in Cumbria for years, I enjoyed the article on The Forgotten Kingdom (May). I was particularly interested in the comments about William Rufus’s army, because it relates to my favourite place on Earth.
As you approach Buttermere, at the head of a valley into the Lake District, the road runs right beside Crummock Water. A fell projects out near to the water, making the road take a sharpish bend out of sight. In front of the fell is Bluebell valley.
Legend has it that on hearing about the approach of William’s army in 1092, the local people hastened to destroy the existing road and build a side road in front of the jutting-out fell, in the hope that the army would be diverted into this wild and lonely valley. There they waited, hiding behind boulders and trees, until they could take William’s army by surprise. Many were slaughtered, but Buttermere village was saved.
In the spring, the valley is full of bluebells, covering the ground in swathes of blue. It’s said that the soil was enriched by dead bodies beneath the ground – and so, despite this rather gruesome tale, the valley is now a place of great beauty and peace.
Elizabeth Horder, Brighton
Ancient atrocities
The feature on slavery (The Invisible Romans, May) makes clear that the ancient Romans are today regarded in a far better light than they deserve. Although unquestionably skilled at civil engineering, for centuries they operated what was effectively a military dictatorship which attempted genocide in Carthage and Gaul, and which treated those who defied it with unimaginable cruelty, murdering, mutilating and enslaving them while enforcing domestic tyranny with vicious punishments such as crucifixion.
Despite describing Rome’s opponents as barbarians, they were themselves organised, disciplined savages. If they existed today, they would be regarded as more bestial than any other regime barring the Nazis.
Their only redeeming feature was that, thanks to the conversion of Constantine, the empire was instrumental in enabling Christianity to become a global religion, the values of which were the antithesis of those of Rome.
Colin Bullen, Kent
Beyond the scandal
Despite her involvement in the “mother of sex scandals” (Sex, Sadism and Sugared Death, May) and other love affairs, history rightly prefers to remember Caroline Sheridan (later Norton) as a social reformer who campaigned successfully to change the law regarding women’s rights and the custody of children afte
