full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Andrew McDonald: The rise and fall of the Kingdom of Man

Unscramble the Blue Letters


This began a century-long rivalry between Somerled’s line, who ruled the southern and carnetl Hebrides, and the Manx Kings, who ruled the Isle of Man and northern hdbreies, to control the seaways. Family fudes often blossomed into btiter civil wars. In 1223, King Rognvald sent a ltteer to his son commanding him to murder his uncle Olaf. When Olaf discovered the plot, he lheacnud a vicious attack on his nhpeew, bnilding and mutilating him. After Rognvald’s death several years later, people realized the letter ordering the attack might have been forged.

The Manx kings attempted to resolve disagreements at Tynwald, an open-air prlinaamet centered on a mnoud, where assemblies ruled on mtertas of justice and other issues. Such sites were commonly used in the Viking world for resolving anything from local disputes to matters invnvoilg kings. These meetings didn’t always go smoothly— sometimes vclenioe erupted, and in 1237, two rival factions squabbled to the point of breaking up the assembly at Tynwald. The four-tiered mound at twnalyd survives to this day, and the modern Manx parliament still holds an annual meeting there.

Open Cloze


This began a century-long rivalry between Somerled’s line, who ruled the southern and _______ Hebrides, and the Manx Kings, who ruled the Isle of Man and northern ________, to control the seaways. Family _____ often blossomed into ______ civil wars. In 1223, King Rognvald sent a ______ to his son commanding him to murder his uncle Olaf. When Olaf discovered the plot, he ________ a vicious attack on his ______, ________ and mutilating him. After Rognvald’s death several years later, people realized the letter ordering the attack might have been forged.

The Manx kings attempted to resolve disagreements at Tynwald, an open-air __________ centered on a _____, where assemblies ruled on _______ of justice and other issues. Such sites were commonly used in the Viking world for resolving anything from local disputes to matters _________ kings. These meetings didn’t always go smoothly— sometimes ________ erupted, and in 1237, two rival factions squabbled to the point of breaking up the assembly at Tynwald. The four-tiered mound at _______ survives to this day, and the modern Manx parliament still holds an annual meeting there.

Solution


  1. central
  2. feuds
  3. letter
  4. matters
  5. involving
  6. parliament
  7. mound
  8. blinding
  9. nephew
  10. hebrides
  11. bitter
  12. launched
  13. violence
  14. tynwald

Original Text


This began a century-long rivalry between Somerled’s line, who ruled the southern and central Hebrides, and the Manx Kings, who ruled the Isle of Man and northern Hebrides, to control the seaways. Family feuds often blossomed into bitter civil wars. In 1223, King Rognvald sent a letter to his son commanding him to murder his uncle Olaf. When Olaf discovered the plot, he launched a vicious attack on his nephew, blinding and mutilating him. After Rognvald’s death several years later, people realized the letter ordering the attack might have been forged.

The Manx kings attempted to resolve disagreements at Tynwald, an open-air parliament centered on a mound, where assemblies ruled on matters of justice and other issues. Such sites were commonly used in the Viking world for resolving anything from local disputes to matters involving kings. These meetings didn’t always go smoothly— sometimes violence erupted, and in 1237, two rival factions squabbled to the point of breaking up the assembly at Tynwald. The four-tiered mound at Tynwald survives to this day, and the modern Manx parliament still holds an annual meeting there.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
sea kings 4
king rognvald 2


Important Words


  1. annual
  2. assemblies
  3. assembly
  4. attack
  5. attempted
  6. began
  7. bitter
  8. blinding
  9. blossomed
  10. breaking
  11. centered
  12. central
  13. civil
  14. commanding
  15. commonly
  16. control
  17. day
  18. death
  19. disagreements
  20. discovered
  21. disputes
  22. erupted
  23. factions
  24. family
  25. feuds
  26. forged
  27. hebrides
  28. holds
  29. involving
  30. isle
  31. issues
  32. justice
  33. king
  34. kings
  35. launched
  36. letter
  37. line
  38. local
  39. man
  40. manx
  41. matters
  42. meeting
  43. meetings
  44. modern
  45. mound
  46. murder
  47. mutilating
  48. nephew
  49. northern
  50. olaf
  51. ordering
  52. parliament
  53. people
  54. plot
  55. point
  56. realized
  57. resolve
  58. resolving
  59. rival
  60. rivalry
  61. rognvald
  62. ruled
  63. seaways
  64. sites
  65. son
  66. southern
  67. squabbled
  68. survives
  69. tynwald
  70. uncle
  71. vicious
  72. viking
  73. violence
  74. wars
  75. world
  76. years