Anglo Slavery

Mikki points out that the fair-skinned Angles of Britain, along with the Irish and Scots, were once slaves of dark-skinned Roman masters (most of whom were ethnically Greek, Lebanese or North African) and they were considered an oddity, an agricultural thing with a voice. As late as the sixth century even Pope Gregory remarked on the oddness of the fair skinned boys on sale in a Roman slave market (note how later depictions show him as white-skinned as the boys, when he clearly was not).

“When told that the boys were Angles from Briton, Pope Gregory punned that they looked more like angels (and probably bought them for himself),” says Mikki, “and the popularity of the British Isles as a destination for Roman priests with predilections for blond boys was assured from then onwards.”

“At the time of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 approximately 10% of England's population remained enslaved,” says Mikki. “Although trading serfs and slaves like brute animals was supposedly abolished in 1102 by the Council of Westminster, it was not until the final years of Elizabeth I's reign, about 1600, that the last form of enforced servitude (villeinage) finally disappeared, along with Roman Catholic rule, making Protestant England a beacon of freedom for the whole world.”

“It didn’t last long.”

“With the union of Scotland and England under the new Stuart king, the Scottish James I, and the founding of the colony of Jamestown in Virginia,” says Mikki, “the enslavement of the Anglo-Saxon race resumed as if Elizabeth had never ruled.”

“Poor men, women and children, especially orphans, were kidnapped and enslaved in the New World – along with felons convicted for petty social as well as political dissent.”

"It was widely held that social felons made better slaves than political felons (who, quite rightly, rebelled against unjust slavery) and in 1611, Governor Dale of Virginia actually begged the king to send such people to his colony," relates Mikki, "but by the 1670s Virginia and other colonies began to rely more on Negro slaves, desired respectability and wanted convict transportation stopped in order to attract free settlers (but any act they made in this regard was overruled and nullified by orders from the king)."

“Although all of the nine colonies outside of New England were penal settlements, Virginia was the main convict destination and gained a reputation for being hell upon earth, causing many convicted felons at the Old Bailey in London to beg for death rather than be sent there. It was that bad."

"Transports to Virginia continued until declared illegal in 1788 long after they had ceased in other colonies,” says Mikki, "but people trafficking -- kidnapping of innocent people on the streets of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales – continued well into the late 19th century.”

“Anglo children were especially prized as slaves,” says Mikki, “and most of the English orphanages that sent children to far-away lands up until the 1960s were little more than religious fronts for child trafficking.”

Read more by Mikki on this issue:

a nation built on white slavery

globalized slavery

whitewashing slavery

Britons never will be slaves?

so you think you’re a slave?

Tobacco and America's Convict Past

out of sight, out of mind

digging up your ancestors

is slavery the human condition?

the ghosts of slavery

kidnapped children

black v white slavery

slave migrations

lies, felons, slave-drivers and profiteers

a nation built on white slavery

Negro slavery is an indelible blot in the early history of the USA, but a far worse blot -- one that Mikki believes successive governments in Britain and America have swept under the carpet with the 'indentured servant' lie -- is that from the early 1600s hundreds of thousands of innocent poor people from the Old Country were kidnapped, shipped in chains to the New World colonies and sold as slaves in perpetuity.

"The term ‘indentured servant’ was creatively and retrospectively used to describe all white settlers in the colonies from the 1600s onwards," says Mikki, "but this was a deliberate lie in order to protect the reputation of those who had profited from the white slave trade in the past whose descendents are the elites of American society today."

“The earlier whites sent to the colonies from the 1600s were slaves to be kept in perpetual bondage for the enrichment of their masters,” says Mikki. “They were kidnapped off the streets of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and shipped like cattle to the Americas.”

“Later on, the system of convict transportation was implemented to rid the Old Country of its undesirable citizens – most of whom were political dissidents,” says Mikki, “but this system ended around the time of the American Revolution in 1776 and white people who did not voluntarily emigrate to America became known as ‘indentured servants’.”

"The prospect of cheap or free land and slaves to do their bidding caused many humble families to leave the Old Country, brave the waves and settle in the new country of America, “ says Mikki. “Shipping manifests show that just about every settler family came with at least two indentured servants, and those that didn't come with servants were able to purchase them for a pittance on arrival. They were shrewd opportunists willing to risk all for the unparalleled benefits of being first cab off the rank."

"While we may be critical of them today, we must bear in mind that brutal people like that were probably necessary for what they had to do," explains Mikki. "Today, their experience would be like settling on Mars. No matter what I was offered, I wouldn't go, and neither would most people, but there are certain people who would jump at the chance of easy fortune and absolute control over others on another planet."

"So, like it or not, America was built upon convict transportation and slavery, both black and white, and our ancestors before 1776 were either felons, slaves, opportunists, slave-drivers or profiteers -- mostly involved in the tobacco industry -- and, like everything else that's nasty, it went on out of the sight and mind of those who were not directly involved, but merely enjoyed the fruits that came their way because of it."

"Two hundred years down the track, my descendants -- if the line continues -- may not have to experience being lied to or kept in the dark about their roots," says Mikki, "but with the likely prospect of their every movement and every single thing they -- and their elected governments -- do and say, being open for all to criticize in an Uber Big Brother world of the future they will undoubtedly have to face global evils in a way that we choose not to do now -- and never had to think about in the past -- and take responsibility for their personal and civic lives in a manner that we have the luxury of choosing not to do today."

"You see, there won't be a choice for them," explains Mikki. "Unless they figure out how to colonize Mars, and do so with felons, there won't be sufficient land to build jails big enough to hold the growing number of anti-social felons, slave-drivers and profiteers that continue to breed among us. Lack of land and excess of population must necessarily lead to greater social cohesion -- sharing and caring about the common good -- or total Mad Max chaos will prevail."


Read more by Mikki on this issue:

globalized slavery

whitewashing slavery

Britons never will be slaves?

so you think you’re a slave?

Tobacco and America's Convict Past

out of sight, out of mind

digging up your ancestors

is slavery the human condition?

the ghosts of slavery

kidnapped children

black v white slavery

slave migrations

Anglo Slavery

lies, felons, slave-drivers and profiteers

mirrors into men's souls

When the protestant Elizabeth I attempted to resolve religious disagreement in her kingdom she promised the catholics that she will not make mirrors into men's souls, meaning that as long as they went through the motions of attending the Church of England to assure their allegiance to her, and lived quietly, she would turn a blind eye to what they did in private and leave them alone.

Bearing in mind the preceding bloody rule of his sister, Mary I, her resolution was intelligent and benign.

Most catholics did what was reasonably required and prospered -- some being bribed with knighthoods -- but a few leading catholic families rebelled against her rule and her situation was made more threatening by the Pope publicly dispensing English catholics from allegiance to her, thereby sanctioning her assassination and causing her to take a less benign alternative.

Read the full story Let's Thank Henry VIII and Elizabeth I

Was Ireland England’s First Colony?

In many respects Ireland to Elizabeth I’s Protestant Christian England is very much like Iraq to Ahmadinejad’s Shia Muslim Iran, and -- disregarding the oilfields -- if Ahmadinejad were to extend Iranian rule into Iraq it would be largely for the same reason that Elizabeth extended English rule into Ireland. It would be a purely strategic political decision, to prevent being sandwiched between nations ruled by the same dominant religious-political power – in Ahmadinejad’s case the Sunni Muslims of Saudi Arabia, and in Elizabeth’s case the Pope in Rome.

Ireland was a problem for Elizabeth because it was run by the catholic priests and had the potential to harbor subversives and act as a launching pad for a foreign-backed western invasion – which, along with an eastern invasion from France or Spain would have destroyed England.

By extending English crown control over Ireland – and suppressing rebellions – Ireland could be seen as England's first colony but it was not colonized or plundered in the same sense that later colonies were; and real oppression of the Irish came under Oliver Cromwell, not Elizabeth I.

Read the full story Let's Thank Henry VIII and Elizabeth I

Let's Thank Henry VIII and Elizabeth I

Coming to power in 1558 after the death of her sister, Mary I -- better known as Bloody Mary for the burning at the stake of about 300 protestant dissidents in her 5 year reign, desperately trying to restore England to the Papal rule that their father, Henry VIII, had dismissed -- Elizabeth I was the last of the Tudor monarchs and even though Irish catholics still curse her today for imposing English rule over their country and setting the stage for centuries of bitter wars and ultimate partition she earned well the title of Good Queen Bess.

Elizabeth reigned for 45 years and had she been anything like her sister she would have executed 9 times as many religious dissidents. Instead, she executed about the same number of dissidents as Mary and most of these executions occurred in her last 20 years which were marked by an aggressive Counter Reformation movement from the Continent and Ireland infiltrating as many as 800 foreign trained catholic priests into her country, most of whom came from Douai in France.

Imagine 800 Sunni mullahs being infiltrated into renegade Shia based Iran to force allegiance to the Sunni power base in Saudi Arabia -- accepted as the leading power base by all Muslim nations -- and you get the picture. Same religion, different power base! England under Elizabeth was a bit like current Iran under Ahmadinejad -- hated by the other nations for continuing to buck the larger and better funded religious system but defiant against them and determined to shore up Iran’s independence by extending his power over his nearest neighbor, Iraq. Ireland was Elizabeth’s Iraq!

Ireland was a particular problem for Elizabeth because it was run along feudal lines by the catholic priests and thus had the potential to harbor subversives and act as a launching pad for a foreign-backed invasion. By extending English crown control over Ireland – and suppressing rebellions against this measure – Ireland could be said to be England's first colony but it was not colonized in the same sense that later colonies in the New World were and neither was it plundered in the same sense that India was because it offered scant prospects for migrants wanting a better life and because it had nothing worth plundering it didn’t attract the plunderers either. It was purely a strategic political decision.

The financial cost of pacifying Ireland was particularly draining but Elizabeth saw it as being vitally necessary for the security of England. The notion of modernizing the Irish – breaking the slave-based feudal system and initiating modern farming methods of diversification and crop rotation - came later.

In that the Brits, the Scots and the Irish have as much been shaped by each other as they have by foreign invaders – the Romans, the Germanic tribes, the Vikings, the Roman Catholic missionaries and the Normans - and traders moved freely between the two islands, the extension of English crown control was not so much an invasion of racially distinguishable aliens but a drawing together of people who had common ancestors. Indeed, the English who did settle in Ireland easily assimilated and over the generations, like the New World emigrants, assumed a different identity and wanted independence from England in much the same that Henry VIII wanted independence from Rome.

Basically, the subversives plotting against Elizabeth were not simple folk but members of prominent families closely tied to French, Spanish and Roman ruling families. Ordinary people in England, Ireland and Scotland had far more important things to think about, such as filling their bellies, protecting their kids and keeping the wolf from the door – and most of them still clung to their ancient pagan traditions in any case. Roman Christianity itself was imposed on these people, the biblical stories were not those of their ancestors, and most simple folk endured the changes that Elizabeth brought with as much resignation as their ancestors endured the changes that the Roman priests brought.

It must never be forgotten that religion in Elizabethan times was a matter of political allegiance not one of ritual or personal conscience. Catholics owed allegiance to the Pope, a foreign power in Rome -- and gave money to support that foreign power – and faced with ruling a kingdom under threat from forces within and without there was no way Elizabeth wanted her country to be sandwiched between Papist Ireland and Papist Europe. England did not have the wherewithal to take on wealthy Europe, so impoverished Ireland was the logical mark.

The Church of England was established by her father to remove Papal influence – to pronounce England as a separate and independent nation, not a vassal of a Pope who carried on the tradition of the ancient Roman Empire without giving benefit for moneys paid to him - and to this end he ordered the recording of births, deaths and marriages of every person in the kingdom for the very first time. The fact that so many of us can trace our ancestry back to the 1500s - and no earlier - is due entirely to the fact that before disestablishment from Papal rule ordinary English men and women were treated like animals, unworthy of mention. For this we should thank him; and, for bravely maintaining English independence and extending English administrative rule to Ireland, his daughter, Elizabeth, deserves the gratitude of the Irish, too.

Elizabeth's famous quote - "I will not make mirrors into men's souls" - was aimed at the catholics to assure them that if they lived quietly and showed her their allegiance by ‘going through the motions’ she would let them be.

The Act of Uniformity made attendance at a Church of England compulsory. Catholics who refused to 'go through the motions' -- the recusants -- were fined. Most catholics did what was required to show allegiance and prospered, but for the few leading catholic families who rebelled against her she attempted reconciliation with bribes of knighthoods. Failing that, the penalty for those who targeted her for assassination was death.

Some members of the catholic community were indeed serious subversives, and that she survived numerous risings and plots -- especially those instigated by the French-raised Mary Queen of Scots -- is remarkable.

Also, the international threat was compounded by the Pope publicly dispensing English catholics from allegiance to her, essentially sanctioning her assassination.

Under these circumstances, there was no way Elizabeth could have avoided repressive measures and by a combination of pragmatically turning a blind eye, sporadically making an example of subversives and initiating a spy network she managed to keep things under control.

In view of the horrific Spanish Inquisition in Europe, her persecution of the catholics was relatively benign. Had the Spanish Armada succeeded in its religiously justified foreign invasion – essentially a crusade - the persecution of protestants would certainly have been far worse – it would have been a wholesale slaughter - so those who wish to view her reign in terms of persecution should bear this in mind as well as the fact that arresting and torturing people from another religion because they might be involved in foreign terrorist plots is something we still do today.

By creating the idea of the broad church, Elizabeth astutely managed to avoid the internal religious strife that was brutalizing and tearing apart the rest of Europe -- in which Bohemia was the only state with official religious toleration (but not for long.)

The Religious Settlement was without doubt her greatest achievement, allowing the modern independent nation state to manifest under her rule. By stopping the catholics and protestants from fighting each other and encouraging them instead to cooperate in the interests of England was a stroke of genius.

Elizabeth's reign was marked by a great flowering of the English language as well as a time in which the arts and sciences flourished. She was, by all accounts, an intellectual. She was fluent in three or four languages and as a little girl she was translating French hymns into sonnet form and later distinguished herself by translating Boethius De Consolatione.

She endeared herself to her subjects with two quotes:

"I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I hae the heart and stomach of a king. Ay, and of a King of England too."

"Though you have had, and may have, many mightier and wiser princes sitting in this seat, yet you never had, nor shall have, any that will love you better."

Her power and greatness were no doubt based on religious persecution, piracy, looting and pillage but all nations at that time were so employed, as some are today. Elizabeth’s navy, like others, consisted of privateers with an eye on the spoils of war, and the infamous Drake nearly ruined the attack on the Spanish Armada by veering off to capture a prize. It was a time when pirates ruled the seas and even Ireland had a pirate queen, Grace O'Malley, who saved her landholdings by arguing her case before Elizabeth under English rather than Irish common law and her son, Tibbot of the Ships, actually became 1st Viscount Mayo – so, some Irish did very well out of English rule, and used it to their advantage!

It should be remembered, too, that England at the time was in constant financial difficulties and was virtually a backwater, nowhere near as important as France, Germany, Portugal and, of course, Spain -- the super-power of the day -- with the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church preeminent over all. That she took on Spain and the Pope, and won, speaks volumes about just how great she was and her success no doubt influenced women everywhere.

Elizabeth died in 1603 unmarried and childless and the Tudor dynasty died with her. She was succeeded by James I, a Scot, who started the Stuart dynasty and with the union of England and Scotland steered the nation towards being a global colonial power with the foundation of the Jamestown colony in the New World.

the rise of england and france

At the start of the 8th century, the whole of western Europe was literally in the Dark Ages. Its leaders were totally immersed in theology, personal enrichment, murder and self-aggrandizement and were oblivious not only of the rising Arab threat but also of the deep misery of the people they ruled.

Emperor Justinian II and the Roman Pope Constantine -- a Syrian, as was the former pope -- met for mutually enhancing discussions at Nicomedia in 711. Emperor Justinian dutifully kissed Pope Constantine's feet and took communion -- only to be murdered soon after, as was his successor.

The new Emperor Leo III (717-741) and the new Pope Gregory II (715-731) were not so cosy, but were equally neglectful of the people they ruled. Leo III imposed enormous taxes on Italy and ordered Pope Gregory II to break all images of worship. Pope Gregory II was having trouble at home with the Lombards and Emperor Leo III's impositions acted to draw the Lombards and the pope into an alliance against imperial rule.

In Britain, at the same time as the Lindisfarne Gospels were being written the Venerable Bede wrote 'The Ecclesiastical History of the English People' in 731 from a monastery in Jarrow of the River Tyne which, while religiously based, does take note of the ordinary English people -- the Angles and the Saxons -- as well as their conversion to Christianity.

Bede was put in a monastery at Wearmouth when he was seven, became a deacon at 19 and a priest at 30. Being a soldier or a priest -- or both -- was the only occupation open to most young men without a farm to inherit, and he was perfectly aware of the comfort of his life compared to that of others.

Previoulsly, in 725, he had written 'On the Reckoning of Time' arguing that the Church should not rely on the pagan system of dating according to the accession dates of the Roman Emperors. Instead, he suggested a new way of dating by the birth of Christ -- AD anno domini. So, we have an Englishman to thank or curse for our current dating system -- and that it came about shows how much lack of prestige the Roman Empire held at that time, and how influential England had become.

It was Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People of 731 that gained him the honor of becoming the 'the Father of English History' as it was the very first account of Anglo-Saxon England ever written.

Starting with Julius Caesar's invasion in the 1st century BC, it goes on to tell of the kings, bishops, monks and nuns who helped to develop government and convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.

But, far more importantly, he also describes the landscape, the customs and the terrors facing ordinary people -- such as famines where starving South Saxon families, hold hands and jump off white cliffs in tragic suicide pacts. He also includes a famous analogy comparing life in Anglo-Saxon Britain to a sparrow's experience of flying out of the darkness into a great hall. "After a few moments of comfort the bird vanishes from sight into the wintry world that he came from."

Early western civilization, though, was about to suffer worse problems. By 750 the Ummayad caliphs were finally overthrown by the Abbasids who moved their capital to Baghdad, shifting attention to the east and splitting the Islamic empire. At that time, Persia had reasserted itself and North Africa came under the rule of the Aghlabids, Egypt was taken over by the Tulunids and Spain had been invaded and conquered by the Ummayad exiles.

During the Arab invasion, the Christian nobles of Spain rapidly converted to Islam but many Spanish scholars fled to other parts of Christian Europe, enriching their new countries with the texts they brought with them.

The Arabs were eventually checked from expanding into France in 752 by Charles Martel, a Frank, who was at the time the Mayor of the palace at Poitiers. Were it not for the actions of this man, Islam would have spread throughout western Europe in much the same way that Christianity had -- by forced conversion -- and in view of the fact that Spain flourished under Islam while the rest of Europe languished under Christianity for centuries after, one must ask whether early Islam provided a better way of life than early Christianity.

Because both the Roman Popes and the Roman Emperors were totally incompetent during this period, the resultant power vacuum was quickly filled by two rising nations -- France and Engand -- and these two countries formed the backbone of western civilization (in its Christian form) from then on.