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  SONS OF THE RAVEN

  By

  H A Culley

  Book Eight in the Kings of Northumbria Series

  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: © Stutterstock¦ Patalakha Sergii,(edited)

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  List of Principal Characters

  Place Names

  Glossary

  Chapter One – Internal Strife and External Threat

  Chapter Two – The Fall of Eoforwīc

  Chapter Three – Blood Eagle

  Chapter Four – The Rescue Mission

  Chapter Five – The Siege of Nottingham

  Chapter Six – Return to Bebbanburg

  Chapter Seven – Bernicia

  Chapter Eight – Karl’s Tale

  Chapter Nine – The Battle of Æscesdūn

  Chapter Ten – Return to Eoforwīc

  Chapter Eleven – The Raid on Whitby

  Chapter Twelve – In Ivar’s Footsteps

  Chapter Thirteen – Halfdan’s Campaign in the North

  Chapter Fourteen – The Last Raid on Lindisfarne

  Chapter Fifteen – The Meeting at the Tyne

  Chapter Sixteen – The Empty Throne

  Chapter Seventeen – The Perilous Path to Peace

  Epilogue

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  NOVELS IN THE KINGS OF NORTHUMBRIA SERIES

  List of Principal Characters

  VIKINGS

  Ivar the Boneless – Ragnar and Queen Áslaug’s eldest son; leader of the Great Heathen Army

  Bjorn Ironside – Their second son; King of Sweden

  Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye – Their third son. Later King of Denmark

  Halfdan Ragnarsson – The youngest son of Ragnar and Áslaug. Later King of Duibhlinn and the first Viking King of Jorvik (southern half of Northumbria)

  Ubba – A Danish jarl

  Guthrum – A Danish jarl; later King of East Anglia

  Karl – A young Norseman captured by Drefan

  NORTHUMBRIANS

  Kings of Northumbria

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

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

  Ecgberht – 867 to 872. Appointed by the Vikings as their vassal

  Ricsige – 872 to 876 (as King of the North Saxons)

  Halfdan Ragnarsson – 876 to 877 (as King of Jorvik)

  Ealdorman of Bebbanburg’s Household

  Edmund – Ealdorman 841 to 870

  Burwena – His wife, daughter of a former king of Northumbria

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

  Ricsige – Their elder son. b. 852. Ealdorman from 870

  Egbert – Their younger son, b. July 866

  Cynefrith – Commander of Edmund’s fleet of longships

  Uxfrea – Cynefrith’s deputy

  Brictric – Captain of Edmund’s warband and custos of the fortress of Bebbanburg

  Drefan – Ricsige’s closest companion and military tutor, later Ealdorman of Islandshire

  Eadgifu – Drefan’s wife

  Agnes – His daughter

  Edgar - His son

  Hrothwulf – Drefan’s elder brother and Ricsige’s chaplain

  Godhelm – Edmund’s second cousin and the Shire-Reeve of Islandshire

  Beornric – His son, later a member of Drefan’s warband

  Ædwulf – Son of King Ælle and Queen Osgern, Edmund’s grandson

  Walden – Senior warrior in Edmund’s warband

  Wigestan – Member of Edmund’s warband and friend of Drefan

  Leowine, Alcred and Hybald - Members of Ricsige’s warband

  Senior Clerics

  Wulfhere – Archbishop of Eoforwīc 854 to 900

  Eardulf – Bishop of Lindisfarne 854 to 899

  Other Northumbrians

  Ordric – Thegn of Bebbanburg

  Sigmund and Lambert – Ordric’s twin sons

  Wearnoth – Thegn of Hethpool

  Others

  Æthelred – King of Wessex. Died 871

  Burghred – King of Mercia until 874 when the Vikings forced him to abdicate

  Ceolwulf - The last king of Mercia, but as a vassal of the Vikings. Died in 879

  Edmund – King of East Anglia

  Alfred – Æthelred’s brother, later King of Wessex

  Edward the Elder – His son

  Ethelred – Lord of the Mercians, married to Alfred’s daughter

  Theobald – Former Ealdorman of Selby, later Ealdorman of Dùn Èideann

  Constantín mac Cináeda – King of the Picts

  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:

  Æscesdūn – Possibly Ashdown in Berkshire or alternatively somewhere on the Ridgeway between Aldworth and the Astons. The site of the Battle of Ashdown

  Alba – Scotland. At this time it usually meant the Kingdom of the Picts. The other kingdoms of Scotland being Dalriada and Strathclyde (also known as Alt Clut)

  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, bounded by the kingdom of Vestfold (q.v) and the Skagerrak (q.v.) to the east and the German Ocean (North Sea) to the west

  Arendal – Capital of Agder (q.v.)

  Arx Cynuit – The site of an important battle. Possible sites include Cannington Hill in Somerset and Countisbury Hill in Devon

  Beadoriceworth – Bury St. Edmund’s, Suffolk, East Anglia

  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

  Conganis - The old Roman fort at Chester-le-Street in County Durham

  Dalriada – Much of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides. By the ninth century most of the original Scots inhabitants had been forced out by Norse settlers

  Deira – Most of North Yorkshire and northern Humberside

  Dol Ar - Dollar, Clackmannanshire, Scotland

  Duibhlinn – Dublin, Ireland

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

&nb
sp; Dùn Dè – Dundee, Tayside, Scotland

  Dùn Èideann - Edinburgh

  Eoforwīc – York, called Jorvik by the Vikings

  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 is today part of the Netherlands

  German Ocean – North Sea

  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

  Kilrymont – St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland

  Lindocolina – Lincoln, Lincolnshire

  Loidis – Leeds, Yorkshire

  Lothian – Region which stretched from the Forth of Forth down to the River Tweed. It was part of Northumbria until the kingdom was split into two by the Vikings, after which it was ruled from Bebbanburg (Bamburgh). It remained under English rule until Edgar, King of the English, granted it to the King of Scots in 973, provided he did him homage for it. It remained a disputed territory until 1016 or 1018 when it became a part of Scotland following the Battle of Carham

  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 – Originally a confederation of several 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. By this period a single kingdom, but many of the outer islands had been lost to Norse colonisation

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

  Seletun – Selby, North Yorkshire

  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.)

  Strathclyde – South West Scotland, inhabited by Britons, racially the same as the people of Cumbria and Wales

  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

  Yeavering - A late-prehistoric hillfort above the River Glen in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland. Later the Angles added a royal hall, assembly building and huts to house the court of the kings of Bernicia. The hill on which it’s built is called Yeavering Bell

  Glossary

  ANGLO-SAXON

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

  Birlinn – A wooden ship similar to the later Scottish galleys but smaller than a Viking longship. 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

  Earl – A rank of noble who governed one of the great divisions of England, including East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex. Originally spelt eorl in Old English

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

  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 8th 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 later 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

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

  Hersir – A bondi 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

  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

  Mjolnir – Thor’s hammer, also the pendant worn around the neck by most pagan Vikings

  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 a thing was called a 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 and 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 Vik
ings, 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

  Chapter One – Internal Strife and External Threat

  865

  As the rain hammered down outside I sat playing nine men’s morris with Ricsige in his father’s hall. Often the place reeked of smoke from the two fire pits down the centre aisle, but today the raging wind created a strong enough updraft to draw practically all the smoke out through the hole in the roof.