The Wolf's Lair

1011 AD was no cakewalk for England. The English had their hands full once again with a rampaging Viking army, as this entry in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle details.

This year sent the king and his council to the army, and desired peace; promising them both tribute and provisions, on condition that they ceased from plunder. They had now overrun East-Anglia, and Essex, and Middlesex, and Oxfordshire, and Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire, and Bedfordshire, and half of Huntingdonshire, and much of Northamptonshire; and, to the south of the Thames, all Kent, and Sussex, and Hastings, and Surrey, and Berkshire, and Hampshire, and much of Wiltshire. All these disasters befel us through bad counsels; that they would not offer tribute in time, or fight with them; but, when they had done most mischief, then entered they into peace and amity with them. And not the less for all this peace, and amity, and tribute, they went everywhere in troops; plundering, and spoiling, and slaying our miserable people. In this year, between the Nativity of St. Mary and Michaelmas, they beset Canterbury, and entered therein through treachery; for Elfmar delivered the city to them, whose life Archbishop Elfeah formerly saved. And there they seized Archbishop Elfeah, and Elfward the king’s steward, and Abbess Leofruna, and Bishop Godwin; and Abbot Elfmar they suffered to go away. And they took therein all the men, and husbands, and wives; and it was impossible for any man to say how many they were; and in the city they continued afterwards as long as they would. And, when they had surveyed all the city, they then returned to their ships, and led the archbishop with them.

Land of Ire is the second chronicle of my Viking/Anglo Saxon Age drama/action/suspense series. Set two years after the end of Blood Oath, Land of Ire follows Wulfric Orvarsson on his ill-starred journey through England and across the sea to forbidding lands where he must wage both an internal and external struggle in order to salvage the lives of his kinfolk. Fast-paced, heart-stopping and emotional, Land of Ire is a dark, thrilling excursion into the perilous world of the 10th century. Click below to be taken to the publisher’s website where you can order the book directly. The novel is also (or will be) available on most popular online book shops.

Apart from the wealth of factual medieval literary accounts of Viking depredations across the face of Northern Europe, the Icelandic Sagas feature numerous accounts of barbaric raiding by Norse pirates during the Viking Age. What many readers of such tales are not aware of is that there was an actual term that related to these raids. The strandhögg was not merely a haphazard and disorderly storming of a seaside village, it was often the calculated and deceptive practice of gaining the confidence of the local villagers, only to return later to systematically pillage those whose trust had just been earned. From this, so say the writers of the northern tales, was how a Viking “won great honor”!

I am in the final stretch of the second book, a sequel to The Raven & the Wolf: Blood Oath. Details on title and expected publication forthcoming.

On the 23rd of April, 1014, Brian Boru led an army of Munster and Connacht Irishmen, Manx Viking mercenaries and Dal Caissan warriors to the fields of Clontarf, Ireland. Arrayed against him were nearly 7,000 warriors led by Máel Mórda and Sigtrygg Silkbeard. Brian’s enemies were a hodge-podge force of Norsemen from the Orkney Islands and the Isle of Man as well as local militias from Leinster. The battle that followed has become legendary and considered among the more important conflicts in Irish history.

A rather stirring description of the battle, which purports to be a first person account, comes from a medieval manuscript penned in the 11th century. The full text is lengthy but one passage stands out as it gives the reader a sense of the desperate nature of the fight between the two foes.

“Thus said Maelseachlainn, “Never did I see a battle like it, nor have I heard of its equal: and even if an angel of God from heaven attempted its description, it seems doubtful to me that he could give it. But there was one thing that attracted my notice there; when the battalions first met in conflict, each began to pierce the other, and there was a red ploughed field between us and them, and the sharp wind of the spring from them towards us; and we were not longer there than it would take to milk a cow or two cows, when no man in either host could recognize another, even though it were his son or his brother who was next to him, unless he heard his voice or knew the place where he was, so covered were all, both faces, heads, and garments, with drops of gory blood, borne of the clear cold wind that came from them to us. And even if we wished to perform any valorous deed, we could not do it, for the spears over our heads had became clogged and bound with the human hair, which the wind blew and forced against us, being cut away by well-aimed swords and gleaming axes, so that if was half occupation to ourselves to be disentangling and extricating our spear shafts from another.”

The full text can be found in the book War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill (The War of the Irish with the Foreigners).

As winter’s shadow darkens its time to reflect on the olden ceremony of Yule. The Venerable Bede wrote of the Anglo-Saxon Yule celebration in 730 AD, commenting:

“They began the year with December 25, the day some now celebrate as Christmas; and the very night to which we attach special sanctity they designated by the heathen term Mōdraniht, that is, the mothers’ night — a name bestowed, I suspect, on account of the ceremonies they performed while watching this night through.”

Yule has traditionally been celebrated by both Pagan and Christian faiths, particular customs varying of course. 

Whichever Yule celebration you choose to partake in, enjoy the festivities! And prepare for the next installment of The Raven & the Wolf early in 2011!

More about Yule and the Anglo-Saxon year here

Beginning on the 25th of November, 885 and lasting until October of 886, a Danish/Norse army under Sigfred and Hrolf sailed up France’s Seine river in a bid to take the city of Paris. A few chronicles detailing the attack survive and paint a vivid picture of the events of this momentous struggle. Among the most striking accounts comes from the hand of Abbo Cernuus, a Benedictine monk who bore personal witness to the siege. No other account written during this period is remotely as riveting.

Abbo describes the arrival of hundreds of ships (his claim of 700 seems rather infeasible) that are so numerous the waters of the Seine are hardly visible for miles owing the congestion of the Viking longboats. The Danes (and/or Norsemen) are committed to destroying the towers situated on either side of the river, which are hindering the fleet’s passage. What ensues is a classic Dark Age siege employing catapults, battering rams and involving thousands of men who doggedly assail the Parisian defenses day and night. Abbo’s narrative is truly an enthralling work that no enthusiast of medieval warfare should overlook. 

Abbo’s work, Bella Parisiacae Urbis, is written largely in poetic verse and is unapologetic in its depiction of the Viking attackers, who are described as the ‘progeny of Satan’. The account is both visceral and evocative, often so detailed at times to be hard to dismiss as mere theatrical, exaggerative prose.

A fascinating study is investigating the presence of American Indian genes in the Icelandic population. Its generally agreed that Norse settlers, probably lead by Leif Ericsson, arrived in North America around 1000 AD, setting up a small colony of some 50 individuals. Norse Sagas relate trade, tension and eventual conflict with Native American tribes so it seems reasonable the Norse settlers might well have brought back with them one or more captive Amerindians.