2 Pounds - Charles III Quirky British Traditions - Morris Dancing

Morris dancing's origins remain genuinely contested — the leading theory traces it to the English Midlands in the fifteenth century, with the earliest recorded payment for a performance appearing in the Thame churchwardens' accounts of 1509. The name itself may derive from "Moorish," though no credible link to North African dance has ever been established. The tradition nearly died out entirely in the late nineteenth century before Cecil Sharp documented and revived it, essentially reconstructing the practice from fragmentary village memories.