The Wolf and the Raven Read online

  THE WOLF AND THE RAVEN

  By

  H A Culley

  Book seven about the Anglo-Saxon Kings of Northumbria

  Published by

  Orchard House Publishing

  First Kindle Edition 2018

  Text copyright © 2018 H A Culley

  The author asserts the moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  This novel is a work of fiction. The names, characters and events portrayed in it, which sticking as closely to the recorded history of the time and featuring a number of historical figures, are largely the product of the author’s imagination.

  It is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the author or the publisher’s prior consent, electronically or in any form of binding or cover other than the form in which it is published and without this condition being imposed on any subsequent purchaser or owner.

  Replication or distribution of any part is strictly prohibited without the written permission of the copyright holder.

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover Image: (c) 123rf.com¦ Michael Rosskothen

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  List of Principal Characters

  Place Names

  Glossary

  Prologue

  PART ONE - RAGNAR LODBROK

  Chapter One – The Raid

  Chapter Two – Northumbria

  Chapter Three – The Return Home

  Chapter Four – Toppenafdanmark

  Chapter Five – The Rise of Ragnar

  Chapter Six – The Raid on Neustria

  Chapter Seven – Ragnar’s Revenge

  PART TWO – EDMUND OF BEBBANBURG

  Chapter Eight – The Humbling of Eanred

  Chapter Nine – The Cumbrian Campaign

  Chapter Ten – Death at Whitby

  PART THREE – RAGNAR THE KING

  Chapter Eleven – The Shield Maiden

  Chapter Twelve – Aslaug

  Chapter Thirteen – The Sons of Ragnar

  Chapter Fourteen – Invasion of Frankia

  Chapter Fifteen – The Capture of Paris

  Chapter Sixteen – From Disaster to Victory

  PART FOUR – THE RAVEN VERSUS THE WOLF

  Chapter Seventeen – The Return Home

  Chapter Eighteen – The Land of Ice and Fire

  Chapter Nineteen – The Struggle for Supremacy

  Chapter Twenty – The Fall of Eoforwīc

  Chapter Twenty One – The Fate of Kings

  Chapter Twenty Two – The Final Battle

  Epilogue

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  About the Author

  List of Principal Characters

  VIKINGS

  Ragnar’s Family

  Ragnar Sigvardson – Nicknamed Lodbrok (shaggy breeches). Son of King Sigvard of Agder (Southern Norway)

  Thora Borganhjort – Daughter of Jarl Gutfred and Ragnar’s first wife

  Agnar Ragnarson – Their elder son

  Eirik Ragnarson – Their younger son

  Lagertha the Shieldmaiden – Ragnar’s second wife

  Fridlief Ragnarson – their son

  Ragnhild Ragnarsdóttir – their daughter

  Aslaug – A Norse princess and Ragnar’s third wife

  Ivar the Boneless – Their eldest son

  Bjorn Ironside – Their second son

  Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye – Their third son

  Halfdan Ragnarson – Their youngest son, also called Hvitserk (white shirt)

  Åløf – Aslaug’s daughter

  Other Vikings

  Agði – Olaf’s eldest son and Ragnar’s closest companion in his declining years. The name meant man from Agder

  Eystein Beli – King of Uppsala in Sweden and father of Aslaug

  Finnulf – Jarl of Gotland in Sweden

  Froh - King of the minor Swedish kingdom of Alfheim

  Gedda – Lagertha’s brother

  Gutfred – Jarl of Lindholm and the lands bordering the Limfjord in northern Jutland

  Grimulf – A Danish hersir; later Jarl of Lindholm

  Guthrum – His son and successor, later King of East Anglia

  Harald Klak – King of Denmark

  Hákon- Eystein Beli’s nephew

  Horik – King of Denmark after Harald Klak; also the name of one of his sons

  Ingólfr Arnarson – The man credited with settling Iceland

  Kjarten – Froh’s brother

  Olaf – Ragnar’s closest companion

  Osten – Eystein’s brother

  Sitric – A helmsman

  Thorkel – A hersir

  Torstein – Ragnar’s godi

  Yingvi - One of Ragnar’s hirdmen

  NORTHUMBRIANS

  Kings

  Eardwulf – 796 to 806 and again from 808 to 830

  Ælfwald – Usurper. 806 to 808

  Eanred – Son of Eardwulf. 830 to 854

  Æthelred II – Son of Earnred. 854 to 858 then deposed. Restored 858 to 862. Murdered

  Rædwulf – Usurper. 858. Died in battle

  Osberht – 862. Deposed but still recognised as king by many

  Ælle – 862 – 867. Ruled in competition to his brother Osberht

  Ealdorman of Bebbanburg’s Household

  Eafa – 796 to 840. Son of Octa (d. 793) and Cynwise (d. 800)

  Breguswid – His wife from 820 to 840

  Ilfrid – Their eldest son. b. 821. Ealdorman 840 to 841

  Edmund – Their younger son. b. 825. Ealdorman 841 to 880

  Burwena – Edmund’s wife and Rædwulf’s sister

  Osgern – Their daughter. b. 849. Married King Ælle in 862

  Ricsige – Their son. b. 852, later the last Anglo-Saxon King of Northumbria

  Garr – Captain of Eafa’s warband

  Cynefrith – Captain of Edmund’s warband after Garr

  Erik – Eafa’s body servant

  Laughlin – Ilfrid’s body servant, later Edmund’s

  Drefan – A boy serving as a scout with Edmund’s warband

  Hrothwulf – Drefan’s elder brother, also a scout

  Other Northumbrians

  Bishops of Lindisfarne

  Heathwred – 821 to 830

  Ecgred – 830 to 845

  Eanbert –845 to 854

  Eardulf –854 to 899

  Archbishops of Eoforwīc

  Wulfsige – 808 to 837

  Wigmund – 837 to 854

  Wulfhere – 854 to 900

  Other Ealdormen

  Anson – Islandshire during Edmund’s banishment

  Iuwine - Luncæstershire

  Kendric - Dùn Barra and Dùn Èideann

  Rædwulf – Cumbria from 836 to 858, when he seized the throne

  Siferth – Jarrow and Tynedale

  Franks

  Bastiaan – Viscount of the coastal region of the County of Arras

  Louis – His father, Count of Arras

  Joscelin – Louis’ daughter

  Charles the Bald – King of West Frankia, later Holy Roman Emperor

  Place Names

  (In alphabetical order)

  Many place names used in this novel may be unfamiliar to the reader. Where the Old English name is known I have used it and these are listed below, together with places in Scandinavia and on the Continent that readers may not be familiar with:

  Alfheim – The coastal region of south western Sweden on the Kattegat, bounded to the north by Vestfold and to the south by Halland. It corresponds roughly to the modern Swedish province of Bohuslän

  Agder – Modern Sørlandet. The southernmost region of Norway, bou
nded by the kingdom of Vestfold (q.v) and the Skagerrak (q.v.) to the east and the North Sea (German Ocean) to the west

  Arendal – Capital of Agder (q.v.)

  Bebbanburg – Bamburgh, Northumberland, North East England

  Bernicia – The modern counties of Northumberland, Durham, Tyne & Wear and Cleveland in the North East of England and Lothian, now part of Scotland

  Berwic – Berwick upon Tweed, Northumberland

  Bohus – Capital of Alfheim in Sweden

  Caer Luel – Carlisle, Cumbria

  Caracotinum – Harfleur in France

  Châlons sur Marne – Châlons-en-Champagne, France

  Conganis – Chester-le-Street, County Durham

  Dalriada – Much of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides

  Deira – Most of North Yorkshire and northern Humberside

  Duibhlinn – Dublin, Ireland

  Dùn Breatainn - Literally Fortress of the Britons. Dumbarton, Scotland

  Dùn Èideann - Edinburgh

  Eoforwīc - York

  Frankia – The territories inhabited and ruled by the Franks, a confederation of West Germanic tribes, approximating to present day France and a large part of Germany

  Frisia - A coastal region in what today part of the Netherlands

  German Ocean – North Sea

  Gotland – Large island off the east coast of Sweden

  Kattegat – The sea area bounded by Jutland in the west, the Skagerrak (q.v) in the north and Sweden in the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Danish Straits

  Loidis – Leeds, Yorkshire

  Luncæster – Lancaster, Lancashire

  Lundenwic – London

  Mercia – Roughly the present day Midlands of England

  Neustria – Part of Frankia, lying between Aquitaine and Burgundy to the south and the English Channel. Roughly north-eastern France, excluding Brittany

  Northumbria – The north of England and south-eastern Scotland

  Orkneyjar – The Norse name for the Orkney Isles

  Pictland – The confederation of kingdoms including Shetland, the Orkneys, the Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Scottish Highlands north of a line running roughly from Skye to the Firth of Forth

  River Derventio – River Derwent in Northumberland; Derventio means valley of the oaks in the Brythonic tongue

  River Twaid – The river Tweed, which flows west from Berwick through northern Northumberland and the Scottish Borders

  Skagen – Now Denmark's northernmost town, it is situated on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Jutland

  Skagerrak – The strait running between the southeast coast of Norway, the southwest coast of Sweden, and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat (q.v.)

  Snæland - Iceland

  Strathclyde – South west Scotland

  Uppsala - The main pagan centre of Sweden and the capital of the kingdom of the same name, lying on the east coast between Geatland in the south and Kvenland in the north.

  Vestfold – The coastal kingdom on the Kattegat lying between Agder and Alfheim

  Glossary

  ANGLO-SAXON

  Ætheling – Literally ‘throne-worthy. An Anglo-Saxon prince

  Birlinn – A wooden ship similar to the later Scottish galleys. Usually with a single mast and square rigged sail, they could also be propelled by oars with one man to each oar

  Byrnie - A long (usually sleeveless) tunic of chain mail

  Ceorl - Freemen who worked the land or else provided a service or trade such as metal working, carpentry, weaving etc. They ranked between thegns and slaves and provided the fyrd in time of war

  Cyning – Old English for king and the term by which they were normally addressed

  Gesith – The companions of a king, prince or noble, usually acting as his bodyguard

  Geats - A Germanic tribe inhabiting what is now called Götaland (Land of the Geats) in the southern tip of Sweden

  Hereræswa – Military commander or general. The man who commanded the army of a nation under the king

  Knarr - A merchant ship where the hull was wider, deeper and shorter than that of a birlinn

  Seax – A bladed weapon somewhere in size between a dagger and a sword. Mainly used for close-quarter fighting where a sword would be too long and unwieldy

  Thegn – The lowest rank of noble. A man who held a certain amount of land direct from the king or from a senior nobleman, ranking between an ordinary freeman and an ealdorman

  Settlement – Any grouping of residential buildings, usually around the king’s or lord’s hall. In 9th century England the term town or village had not yet come into use

  Witan – The council of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Its composition varied, depending on the matters to be debated. Usually it consisted of the ealdormen, the bishops and the abbots

  Villein - A peasant who ranked above a bondsman or slave but who was legally tied to his vill

  Vill - A thegn’s holding or similar area of land in Anglo-Saxon England which might otherwise be described as a parish or manor

  VIKING

  Bóndi - Farmers and craftsmen who were free men and enjoyed rights such as the ownership of weapons and membership of the Thing. They could be tenants or landowners

  Byrnie - a long (usually sleeveless) tunic of chain mail

  Godi – A pagan priest

  Havnesjef – Harbour master (modern) or port reeve (medieval)

  Hirdman – A member of a king’s or a jarl’s personal bodyguard, collectively known as the hird

  Hersir – A bóndi who was chosen to a leader of warriors under a king or a jarl. Typically they were wealthy landowners who could recruit enough other bóndi to serve under their command

  Jarl – A Norse or Danish chieftain; in Sweden they were regional governors appointed by the king

  Konungr - King in old Norse; similar words were used in the rest of Scandinavia

  Lagman (pl. lagmän) – Literally a lawspeaker. In Scandinavia where there were few written records, if any, a lagman was a respected individual who could recite the law from memory

  Nailed God – Pagan name for Christ, also called the White Christ

  Norns – The three goddesses who control the fate of all beings, including humans and gods

  Thing – The governing assembly made up of the free people of the community presided over by a lagman (q.v.). The meeting-place of the Thing was called the Thingstead

  Thrall – A slave. A man, woman or child in bondage to his or her owner. Thralls had no rights and could be beaten or killed with impunity

  Völva – A female shaman (meaning spirit medium, magician and healer) and a prophetess

  NORSE GODS AND MYTHOLOGY

  Asgard - Home to the Æsir tribe of gods, ruled over by Odin and Frigg

  Frey – Son of Njǫrd. God of fertility

  Freyja – Daughter of Njǫrd. Goddess of love, sex and sorcery

  Frigg – Odin’s wife

  Hel – Goddess of the underworld (Helheim q.v.)

  Helheim - One of the nine worlds where all who die from disease, old age or other causes without having accomplished something worthy go in the afterlife. Unlike the Christian Hell, it is place of icy coldness

  Loki – The mischief maker, father of Hel

  Midgard – The place where men live; one of the nine worlds

  The Nine Worlds – Asgard (q.v.), Midgard (q.v.), Helheim(q.v.), Niflheim, Muspelheim, Jotunheim, Vanaheim, Ljosalfheim and Svartalfheim. The nine worlds are inhabited by different types of being (gods, mankind, giants, the dead etc)

  Njǫrd – God of the sea and of wind, fire and prosperity

  Norns – The three female beings who control the fates of men

  Odin – The All-Father. Chief of the gods. Associated with war, wisdom and poetry

  Ragnarök – A great battle sometime in the future when the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr and Loki will die. This will lead to various natural disasters an
d the subsequent submersion of the world by water. Afterwards, the world will be reborn

  Rán – Goddess of the sea

  Thor – Odin’s son, god of thunder, armed with Mjolnir, a magic hammer. An emblem depicting the Mjolnir was worn around the neck by most Vikings, which they touched for luck

  Tyr – Lord of battle

  Valhalla – An enormous hall located in Asgard (q.v.), ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those who die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries (q.v). Those not chosen go to the goddess Freyja's meadow, Fólkvangr

  Valkyries – The choosers of the slain. They decide who dies in battle and who lives and then choose whether the dead go to Valhalla or Fólkvangr

  LONGSHIPS

  In order of size:

  Knarr – Also called karve or karvi. The smallest type of longship. It had 6 to 16 benches and, like their English equivalents, they were mainly used for fishing and trading, but they were occasionally commissioned for military use. They were broader in the beam and had a deeper draught than other longships.

  Snekkja – (Plural snekkjur). Typically the smallest longship used in warfare and was classified as a ship with at least 20 rowing benches. A typical snekkja might have a length of 17 m, a width of 2.5 m and a draught of only 0.5 m. Norse snekkjas, designed for deep fjords and Atlantic weather, typically had more draught than the Danish type, which were intended for shallow water

  Drekar - (Dragon ship). Larger warships consisting of more than 30 rowing benches. Typically they could carry a crew of some 70–80 men and measured around 30 m in length. These ships were more properly called skeids; the term drekar referred to the carvings of menacing beasts, such as dragons and snakes, mounted on the prow of the ship during a sea battle or when raiding. Strictly speaking Drekar is the plural form, the singular being dreki or dreka, but these words don’t appear to be accepted usage in English