Practical Uses for Obsolete Fortresses

I’m tired of looking at ten-thousand-year old rocks.  So I learned about the early inhabitants, but now I can’t keep track of all their names.  I’ve been perusing museums of the United Kingdom to learn more about its history.  Tracing an ancient land’s stories back to its origin is exhausting work.  After visiting nine museums and two castles in the past two weeks, I’ve certainly learned a great deal, but by no means am I an expert.  

The advantages of growing up in America are becoming clearer to me.  At least in our schools, our American history textbooks were not very thick.  Most of us carry the important bullet points in our wallets.  We remember Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, and we vaguely recollect the guy on the twenty dollar bill. 

In England I am having difficulty correctly arranging royal names on a timeline, but then sometimes I think, “Why bother?” So the Romans came over for a visit then the Normans or Anglo-Saxons arrived.  Or was it the Vikings?  History certainly does repeat itself:  over and over again, various groups invaded and conquered foreign lands.  Sometimes it’s nice to know who came knocking, but how can one effectively use this knowledge? 

When I visit museums, I believe I’m merely collecting data, which I will briefly ponder and then stow away for a long time.  I can imagine using historical tidbits at a social gathering, but I wonder if this strategy would benefit me.  Who eagerly flocks around the pedantic know-it-all regurgitating historical facts at a party?  Not many, I would surmise.  So if retelling the history of Wales won’t likely win me any friends, what is the purpose of knowing these tales?

Of course, I could use these facts to inspire fiction like George R. R. Martin drew upon Scottish history to create A Game of Thrones.  Should I find a history buff, I could at least ask him or her moderately informed questions.  Mind you, this isn’t the kind of history that teaches you not to repeat the same mistakes.  Assuredly, I need not be reminded that it is impolite to enslave a foreign population. Nor is it good manners to drop a bomb on innocent civilians.

Instead, the kind of history I explored in the United Kingdom is somewhat mythical.  I say the word mythical because many people weren’t very enlightened back then.  These people thought blood-letting was a smart medical procedure rather than a means for an expedited death.  These people lived in castles and frequently chopped off their opponent’s heads.  The world of fortresses and motes may prove useful for survivors of a zombie apocalypse.  (Cardiff Castle would be an exciting location swap for The Walking Dead... if only they were in Wales instead of Georgia.) 

I don’t want to suggest this medieval history is useless, but I don’t see too many practical applications to the real world.  After all, one of the main reasons tourists flock to old castles and churches is because they are so unlike our steel monoliths we build today.  When the ancient edifices become surrounded by chain restaurants and parking lots, you can easily see that we don’t live in the auld times anymore.  Our modern architects combined with global capitalism has severed our ties with the glorious past wherein knights fought in clunky armor and a dragon sighting was a possibility in remote territories.

Visiting these museums and parading around the castle’s grounds is really the only feasible mode of time travel.  Even though knowing these ancient stories might not win me a girlfriend, it’s nice to periodically escape the 21^st century.