Viking Shadow

by Griff Hosker

  The ship, ‘The Heart of the Dragon’ is based on the Gokstad ship which was found in 1880 in Norway. It is 23.24 metres long and 5.25 metres wide at its widest point. It was made entirely of oak except for the pine decking. There are 16 strakes on each side and from the base to the gunwale is 2.02 metres giving it a high freeboard. The keel is cut from a piece of oak 17.6 metres long. There are 19 ribs. The pine mast was 13 metres high. The ship could carry 70 men although there were just sixteen oars on each side. This meant that half the crew could rest while the other half rowed. Sea battles could be brutal. The drekar was the most efficient warship of its day. The world would have to wait until the frigates of the eighteenth century to see such a dominant ship again. When the Saxons before Alfred the Great tried to meet Vikings at sea it ended in disaster. It was Alfred who created a warship which stood a chance against the Vikings but they never really competed. The same ships as Dragonheart used carried King William to England in 1066.

  The Vikings raided far and wide. They raided and subsequently conquered much of Western France and made serious inroads into Spain. They even travelled up the Rhone River as well as raiding North Africa. The sailors and warriors we call Vikings were very adaptable and could, indeed, carry their long ships over hills to travel from one river to the next. The Viking ships are quite remarkable. Replicas of the smaller ones have managed speeds of 8-10 knots. The sea going ferries, which ply the Bay of Biscay, travel at 14-16 knots. The journey the ‘Heart of the Dragon’ makes from Santander to the Isles of Scilly in a day and a half would have been possible with the oars and a favourable wind and, of course, the cooperation of the Goddess of the sea, Ran! The journey from the Rhine to Istanbul is 1188 nautical miles. If the ‘Heart of the Dragon’ had had favourable winds and travelled nonstop she might have made the journey in 6 days! Sailing during the day only and with some adverse winds means that 18 or 20 days would be more realistic.

  I have recently used the British Museum book and research about the Vikings. Apparently, rather like punks and Goths, the men did wear eye makeup. It would make them appear more frightening. There is also evidence that they filed their teeth. The leaders of warriors built up a large retinue by paying them and giving them gifts such as the wolf pendant. This was seen as a sort of bond between leader and warrior. It also marked them out in battle as oathsworn. There was no national identity. They operated in small bands of free booters loyal to their clan leader. The idea of sword killing was to render a weapon unusable by anyone else. On a simplistic level, this could just be a bend but I have seen examples which are tightly curled like a spring. Viking kings were rare it was not until the end of the ninth century that national identity began to emerge.

  The length of the swords in this period was different from those used in the later medieval period. By the year 850 they were only 76 cm long and in the eighth century they were shorter still. The first sword Dragonheart used, Ragnar’s, was a new design, and was 75 cm long. This would only have been slightly longer than a Roman gladius. At this time the sword, not the axe, was the main weapon. The best swords came from Frankia and were probably German in origin. A sword was considered a special weapon and a good one would be handed from father to son. A warrior with a famous blade would be sought out on the battlefield. There was little mail around at the time and warriors learned to be agile to avoid being struck. A skeggox was an axe with a shorter edge on one side. The use of an aventail (a chain mail extension of a helmet) began at about this time. The highly-decorated scabbard also began at this time.

  A wedge was formed by having a warrior at the front and then two and so on. Sometimes it would have a double point, boar's snout. A wedge with twenty men at the rear might have over a hundred and fifty men. It would be hard to stop. The blood eagle was performed by cutting the skin of the victim by the spine, breaking the ribs so they resembled blood-stained wings, and pulling the lungs out through the wounds in the victim's back.

  I have used the word saga, even though it is generally only used for Icelandic stories. It is just to make it easier for my readers. If you are an Icelandic expert, then I apologise. I use plenty of foreign words which, I know, taxes some of my readers. As I keep saying it is about the characters and the stories.

  It was more dangerous to drink the water in those times and so most people, including children drank beer or ale. The process killed the bacteria which could hurt them. It might sound as though they were on a permanent pub crawl but in reality, they were drinking the healthiest drink that was available to them. Honey was used as an antiseptic in both ancient and modern times. It was also the most commonly available sweetener. Yarrow was a widely-used herb. It had a variety of applications in ancient times. It was frequently mixed with other herbs as well as being used with honey to treat wounds. Its Latin name is Achillea millefolium. Achilles was reported to have carried the herb with him in battle to treat wounds. Its traditional names include arrowroot, bad man's plaything, bloodwort, carpenter's weed, death flower, devil's nettle, eerie, field hops, gearwe, hundred leaved grass, knight's milefoil, knyghten, milefolium, milfoil, millefoil, noble yarrow, nosebleed, old man's mustard, old man's pepper, sanguinary, seven year's love, snake's grass, soldier, soldier's woundwort, stanchweed, thousand seal, woundwort, yarroway, yew. I suspect Tolkien used it in The Lord of the Rings books as Kingsfoil, another ubiquitous and often overlooked herb in Middle Earth.

  The Vikings were not sentimental about their children. A son would expect nothing from his father once he became a man. He had more chance of reward from his jarl than his father. Leaders gave gifts to their followers. It was expected. Therefore, the more successful you were as a leader the more loyal followers you might have. A warrior might be given battle rings by his jarl. Sometimes these were taken from the dead they had slain. Everything would be recycled!

  The word lake is a French/Norman word. The Norse called lakes either waters or meres. They sometimes used the old English term, tarn. The Irish and the Scots call them Lough/lochs. There is only one actual lake in the Lake District. All the rest are waters, meres, or tarns. When they talk of the Water they mean Coniston Water in Cumbria.

  When writing about the raids I have tried to recreate those early days of the Viking raider. The Saxons had driven the native inhabitants to the extremes of Wales, Cornwall, and Scotland. The Irish were always too busy fighting amongst themselves. It must have come as a real shock to be attacked in their own settlements. By the time of King Alfred almost sixty years later they were better prepared. This was also about the time that Saxon England converted completely to Christianity. The last place to do so was the Isle of Wight. There is no reason to believe that the Vikings would have had any sympathy for their religion and would, in fact, have taken advantage of their ceremonies and rituals not to mention their riches.

  Slavery was far more common in the ancient world. When the Normans finally made England their own they showed that they understood the power of words and propaganda by making the slaves into serfs. This was a brilliant strategy as it forced their former slaves to provide their own food whilst still working for their lords and masters for nothing. Manumission was possible as Garth showed in the first book in this series. Scanlan’s training is also a sign that not all of the slaves suffered. It was a hard and cruel time- it was ruled by the strong. The word 'testify' comes from Anglo-Saxon. A man would clutch his testicles and swear that the evidence he was giving was the truth. If it was not, then he would lose his testicles. There was more truth in the Anglo-Saxon courts than there in modern ones! The Vikings did use trickery when besieging their enemies and would use any means possible. They did not have siege weapons and had to rely on guile and courage to prevail. The siege of Paris in 845 A.D. was one such example.

  The blue stone they treasure is aquamarine or beryl. It is found in granite. The rocks around the Mawddach are largely granite and although I have no evidence of beryl being found there, I have used the idea of a small deposit being found to tie the story toge
ther.

  There was a famous witch who lived on one of the islands of Scilly. According to Norse legend Olaf Tryggvasson, who became King Olaf 1 of Norway, visited her. She told him that if he converted to Christianity then he would become king of Norway.

  The early ninth century saw Britain converted to Christianity and there were many monasteries which flourished. These were often mixed. These were not the huge stone edifices such as Whitby and Fountain’s Abbey; these were wooden structures. As such their remains have disappeared, along with the bones of those early Christian priests. Hexham was a major monastery in the early Saxon period. I do not know it they had warriors to protect the priests but having given them a treasure to watch over I thought that some warriors might be useful too.

  I use Roman forts in all of my books. Although we now see ruins when they were abandoned the only things which would have been damaged would have been the gates. Anything of value would have been buried in case they wished to return. By ‘of value’ I do not mean coins but things such as nails and weapons. Many of these objects have been discovered. A large number of the forts were abandoned in a hurry. Hardknott fort, for example, was built in the 120s but abandoned twenty or so years later. When the Antonine Wall was abandoned in the 180s Hardknott was reoccupied until Roman soldiers finally withdrew from northern Britain. I think that, until the late Saxon period and early Norman period, there would have been many forts which would have looked habitable. The Vikings and the Saxons did not build in stone. It was only when the castle builders, the Normans, arrived that stone would be robbed from Roman forts and those defences destroyed by an invader who was in the minority. The Vikings also liked to move their homes every few years; this was, perhaps, only a few miles, but it explains how difficult it is to find the remains of early Viking settlements.

  Lundenwic/Lundenburh

  I know that there may be some confusion about these, apparently, similar sounding names. Lundenwic was the name of the sprawl of houses and farms just outside the Roman walls. It is the area now known as Central London. Lundenburh equates to London City (St. Pauls and the area around the Bank of England. It is the old Roman city of Londinium. There was a Roman wall around it and, in the centre was a Roman fort. Between the city walls and the fort were houses. When the Saxons began to defend against Viking raids they made burghs/burhs. They cleared houses to give a good field of fire and they built ditches. The raid I describe was one of the first ones on London. In 871, some years after this novel is set, the Vikings camped within the city walls and controlled the city until Alfred evicted them. The Viking raids began in the 830s.

  King Egbert was a real king who did indeed triumph over King Coenwulf. He founded the power base upon which Alfred the Great built. When he defeated the Mercians he became, de facto, High King of Britain. It was also at this time that the Danes came to take over East Anglia and Yorkshire. The land became, over the next 50 years, Danelaw. Its expansion was only halted by Alfred and was finally destroyed when King Harold defeated his brother and King Harald Hadrada at Stamford Bridge in 1066. Until Alfred the Danes were used as hired swords. They fought for gold. It was a mistake for more often than not, as with the first Angles invited over, Hengist and Horsa, they stayed and conquered.

  I have made up Elfrida and Egbert’s marriage to her but the kings of that time had many liaisons with many women. Some kings sired up to twenty illegitimate children and many legitimate ones. The practice continued into the late middle ages. Wives were frequently taken for political reasons. The inspiration for the abduction comes from the story of the Welsh Princess Nest (Nesta) who, in the 12th century had two children by King Henry 1st and was then married to one of his friends. She was abducted by a Welsh knight who lived with her until her husband recaptured her and killed her abductor. The Danish raids on the east coast began in the late 700s. However, the west coast and Hibernian were raided by Norse and Rus warriors who also went on to settle Iceland. There is less recorded evidence of their raids, attacks and settlements. The records we have are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and they tend to focus on the south and east of what was England. The land that is now the Lake District was disputed land between Northumbria and Strathclyde however the Norse influence on the language and its proximity to the Isle of Man and Dublin make me think that the Norse there would not have been part of what would become Danelaw.

  I have used the word Welsh even though it is a modern word. The words used by Vikings and Saxons to describe them were similar to each other and both originated from the Proto-Germanic word Walhaz which means foreigner. Ironic as the Danes, Saxons, Norse and Germans were all the foreigners and the Welsh or Celts were the natives of Britain.

  The Vikings had two seasons: summer and winter. As with many things a Viking lived simply and his world was black or white! There was no room for grey or any shades save the dead!

  I used shadow raven website for the Norse months http://shadowraven.net/calendar/norse.html.

  The coast lines were different in the eighth and ninth centuries. The land to the east of Lincoln was swamp. Indeed, there had been a port just a few miles from Lincoln in the Roman age. Now Lincoln is many miles from the sea but this was not so in the past. Similarly, many rivers have been straightened. We can thank the Victorians for that. The Tees had so many loops in it that it took as long to get from Yarm to the sea as it did to get down to London! Similarly, many place names and places have changed. Some had Saxon names which became Norse. Some had Old English names. Some even retained their Latin names. It was quite common for one place to be known by two names.

  Windar’s Mere is actually Ambleside. The Romans chose its location and Dragonheart is too clever a warrior to ignore its defensive potential.

  The Vikings did not have a religion in the way that we do. There was no organisation. They had no priests or mullahs. They had beliefs. The gods and the spirits were there. You did not worship them. You asked them for help, perhaps, but you could equally curse them too.

  The story of Gruffydd ap Cyngen and his murder is true. The story of the knife and King Coenwulf is pure fiction.

  Pine tar

  Pine tar is a sticky material produced by the high temperature carbonization of pine wood in anoxic conditions (dry distillation or destructive distillation). The wood is rapidly decomposed by applying heat and pressure in a closed container; the primary resulting products are charcoal and pine tar. Pine tar consists primarily of aromatic hydrocarbons, tar acids and tar bases. Components of tar vary according to the pyrolytic process (e.g. method, duration, temperature) and origin of the wood (e.g. age of pine trees, type of soil and moisture conditions during tree growth). The choice of wood, design of kiln, burning and collection of the tar can vary. Only pine stumps and roots are used in the traditional production of pine tar. Pine tar has a long history as a wood preservative, as a wood sealant for maritime use, in roofing construction and maintenance.

  From Wikipedia

  Greenways and trails

  From my book sales, I know that over 66% of my readers do not live in England. They may not understand some of the terms I use. I have taken some photographs to illustrate certain features I use. English woods are not like those in America and Canada. They are mixed and more open. Our paths are less well defined than those which have been manufactured. A greenway is a turf covered path with hedges and trees bordering it. This first one shows a greenway. Some of the hedges and trees to the left have been removed! The dog has appeared in numerous novels. She is Scout- a border collie!

  These three show a typical trail through an English woodland. They were taken in late spring.

  As you can see they are perfect for ambushes. They twist and they turn. They undulate. All of these were taken within four hundred yards of my home. Sadly, modern developments mean that, within a generation, they will be lost. As far as I know these trails are more than a thousand years old. When I walk them, I feel a connection with the past.

  The Raid of 851

  There w
ere many Viking raids on London in the ninth century. They increased dramatically after 825. Dragonheart's raid is one of the first. 842 and 851 saw the largest raids. The raid I write about really happened. They were led by three of Ragnar Lodbrok’s sons. There were 350 ships. Assuming an average crew of between 40 and 60 that gives a warband of between 14000 and 21000 warriors. They then went on the rampage until King Æthelwulf and his son Aethelbald brought them to battle at Aclea. Possible locations for the battle site include Ockley and Oakley Wood, near Merstham, both in Surrey. It was such a huge defeat that the Vikings were unable to mount another attack for fifteen years. However, when they did so they were led by two sons of Ragnar Lodbrok: Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson. They learned from their earlier raid and stole horses when they landed to help them move quicker. They almost conquered the whole of England. Alfred finally defeated them but the Great Heathen Army ruled half of England as a result.

  Rædwulf

  Rædwulf took the throne of Northumbria and held it briefly. After his death he was succeeded by his sons, Osberht and Ælla. They were slain when the Great Heathen Army defeated the Northumbrians and installed their own puppet king. The sons of Rædwulf were the last Northumbrian rulers. After that it became part of Danelaw. It remained Viking until William the Conqueror arrived in 1066 and defeated them at Stamford Bridge.

  Theodora- Byzantine regent