Tame Weorth, 725 AD
The still melancholy of autumn wrapped summer in a shroud before shedding it to the iron earth of winter and so on – ever on – year after year. Futile the labourer"s lot to eke a dignified living from the grudging soil. Worse, the pain of childbirth and loss of infants for the half-starved womenfolk. To the poor and oppressed, the attractions offered by the monasteries appeared irresistible. But also the nobles, including kings and queens, induced by the numerous privileges of the monastic orders flocked to take the vows. The nuns wove and made clothes, worked the splendid vestments of the priests and bishops for mass and magnificent tapestries that adorned the churches. In the case of King Æthelbald, the passing seasons increased his boredom to intolerable levels. In
