by Max Adams
In the days of Kings Æthelfrith, Edwin and Oswald the greatest architectural feats since the end of the Roman Empire stood here as symbols of royal power: a palace complex, noble halls of great technical complexity and grandeur and, wonder of wonders, a grandstand unique in its period. In a pagan temple offerings were made to the gods and tribal totems of the Bernicians; immense herds of cattle, the surplus wealth of the land and the tributary tax of subject kingdoms were corralled and counted; and the family of Æthelfrith could take comfort from the knowledge that the most powerful warlord in early Britain was unchallenged by any other earthly force. So complacent were the Bernician kings in their golden hall that no defences were ever constructed at Yeavering, a place of tribal assembly, judgement and ritual since time out of mind.
During great festivals, the cream of Northumbrian society gathered in the mead halls of Bamburgh, Yeavering or one of the other royal vills.*9 Mead flowed, tall tales grew taller, gifts of rings and torcs were made, alliances cemented or broken, troths plighted and promises made and regretted. Small boys being small boys, no doubt conversations were overheard which were meant to be private and neglected cups were drained by aspiring warriors who should have been in bed.
One wonders what status Oswald enjoyed with his father and half-brother. His moral authority among younger siblings was one thing, but half-siblings are another; jealousies are easily fostered. Anglo-Saxon warlords did not name heirs; kings were chosen by the political elite from a pool of athelings, those whose blood and personal attributes entitled them to be considered; those who survived. In his time Eanfrith would make one disastrous bid for the kingdom of Northumbria; Oswald would wait his turn. His relationship with his father was terminated when he was twelve. Oswald would not see his home or native land again until he was twenty-nine.
*1The epigraphs which head each chapter are from a work generally known as Anglo-Saxon Maxims II, because there is something similar in the Exeter Book known as Maxims I. British Library Cotton MS Tiberius B.i ff. 115r-v. The translations are adapted from Tom Shippey’s Poems of learning and wisdom in Old English. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer 1976.
*2See Glossary, Appendix C, p.409.
*3Rex Norðanhymbrorum, king of the Northumbrians: the term was first applied by Bede to King Edwin in II.5 of his Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum), abbreviated to EH by historians.
*4See Chapter IV.
*5Oswudu has been left out of the genealogical table In Appendix B, p.408, because I suspect him to be the same as Osguid, mis-transcribed.
*6Historia Regum (HR) sub anno 774. Symeon’s authorship of the Historia Regum is no longer acceptable. Hunter-Blair 1964.
*7See Chapter VII.
*8The dynamics of such families haven’t changed much; my own mother was one of eleven and the second-hand mythology of that Midlands family growing up during the Second World War is enough to fill the imagination with plenty of food for thought.
*9Villa regia: a royal estate. See Colgrave and Mynors 1969, 188. See also Glossary, Appendix C, p.415.
Notes for the preview of King in the North
ABBREVIATIONS
HB
Nennius’s Historia Brittonum
EH
Bede’s Ecclesiastical History
ASC
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
LC
Life of Colomba
HA
Historia Abbatum
WLG
Whitby Life of Gregory
AC
Annales Cambriae
PLC
Bede’s Prose Life of St Cuthbert
VW
Vita Wilfridi
HTSC
Historia Translationum Sancti Cuthberti auctore anonymo
HSC
Historia de Sancto Cuthberto
Chapter I
1 Nennius: Historia Brittonum (HB) 70; ed. J. Morris 1980.
2 Rackham 2006, 150.
3 Beowulf trans. and ed. Alexander 2014–31.
4 Ecclesiastical History of the English People (EH) (Historia Ecclesiastica) III.5.
5 EH II.5.
6 HB 57; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC) Recension E sub anno 617.
7 Groves 2011.
8 Retrieved from an online article by Project Director Graeme Young: www.btinternet.com/~graemeyoung/BowlHole.htm 13.07.2012.
9 Young 2003, 18.
10 Tolkien 1936.
11 Henry IV Part I, Act I, Scene 1.
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Glossary
Abscissin. One of the five main tree hormones, partly responsible for the shedding of autumn leaves. It also plays a role in controlling the dormancy of buds.
Angiosperm. A major division of higher plants, including the broadleaved trees. The term literally means ‘enclosed seed’ but is commonly used to refer to all flowering plants.
Barker. One of those old English surnames that reflects a trade or profession. Barkers stripped the valuable bark off oak trees, which is rich in tannin, and sold it to tanners (another old English surname) for preserving animal hides.
Barrel staves. Vertical staves of oak, each trimmed to be wider in the middle than at each end and tailored to fit together perfectly to make a traditional wooden barrel. Each type and size of barrel required immense skill to judge the exact size and shape of each stave.
Billet. Any piece of wood, roughly shaped, which is to be converted to something else, like a chair leg… or a BARREL STAVE.
Boreal. Northern, as in Aurora borealis, the Northern Lights.
Brashings. The small branches and twigs left over from trimming—‘brashing’—the main stem of a tree.
Broadleaf. A leaf of one of the familiar deciduous trees, such as oak, beech, etc., as opposed to the needle of a CONIFER. Most broadleaved trees shed their leaves in winter and are therefore deciduous. Exceptions include the holly.
Cambium. The thin ring of cells inside the bark of a tree, which produces XYLEM (woody) cells on the inside and PHLOEM cells on the outside.
Conifer. A tree that bears cones instead of flowers, such as a pine, fir, spruce or redwood. Biologically, the conifers are part of the division called GYMNOSPERMS because their seeds are not contained in ovaries. Most conifers are evergreen; the larches are exceptions.
Coppice. A term used to mean (verb) both the act of cutting down a broadleaved tree at the base so that it grows again, and (noun) a wood that is predominantly managed by coppicing. The word comes from the French verb couper, ‘to cut’.
Coppice stools. The stumps left behind after a tree is felled. They regrow the following spring, sending up multiple, straight shoots.
Cord. A unit of volume for a pile of stacked logs, typically 4ft wide (i.e. the length of the logs) × 8ft long × 4ft high.
Cycads. An ancient family of tropical tree-like plants resembling palms and tree ferns but genetically quite distinct.
Epiphyte. A non-parasitic plant, which grows on another without drawing on it. Epiphytes get their moisture and nutrients from the air, using their host merely as a frame. Honeysuckle is a common epiphyte of woodlands; so is ivy, despite the widespread belief that it kills trees by sucking their sap.
Froe. A single-edged blade, about a foot long, hafted so that it looks like an ‘L’ shape, with the handle held upright. The sharp edge of the blade is placed horizontally down onto a log, and the back of the blade struck with a mallet. It is a traditional tool for splitting logs into billets.
Grubbing-up. The process responsible for removing woodland from our landscape. It involves digging (or blowing up with dynamite; or dragging out with oxen, horses or tractors) the whole root system of a tree so that it cannot regrow. Grubbing-up alters land from woodland to farmland, or to industrial or urban uses.
Gymnosperm. A naked-seeded plant; it almost always refers to the family of CONIFERS, the cone-bearing, mostly evergreen trees.
Haws. The red berries of the hawthorn, or May tree.
Hurd
les. The traditional wooden panels and fences made from interweaving horizontal and vertical rods, often of hazel or willow.
Lignin. The glue-like polymer that turns cellulose into wood—strengthening tissues and transforming living cells into dead wood.
Mast. The seed production of large nut-bearing trees like oaks and beeches. Since these species produce quantities that vary with the years, but seem to coincide with one another, the term ‘mast-year’ is used to indicate a particularly heavy crop.
Phloem. The thin layer of cells between a tree’s bark and its CAMBIUM layer. The phloem undertakes the transportation of sugars, minerals and liquids up and down a tree.
Photosynthesis. The process of transforming the energy from light (photons) into glucose in leaves.
Revetting. The shoring-up of a wall or embankment, using timber or stone.
Sawyer. An ancient English surname reflecting the trade of sawing, particularly the laborious job of sawing a tree trunk lengthways into planks.
Stamen. The male part of a flower; it consists of an anther and a filament, or stalk.
Stigma. The female receptor for male pollen in a flower.
Top-hamper. On a ship, the mass of yards and rigging that holds the sails up and presents them to the wind; it seems rather an apt term for the branches and twigs of a great tree.
Tracheids. In CONIFERS, the large elongated XYLEM cells, which are dead but provide the internal strength of the tree.
Transhumance. The once-widespread practice of pasturing animals in mountains and hills in the summer and returning to farm settlements for the winter.
Transpiration. The drawing up of water from roots in a tree, and its expulsion from leaves by evaporation.
Twybil. A traditional tool used by makers of gates and HURDLES, to cut neat holes for joints (like a mortise).
Underwood. Wood taken from the process of COPPICING; i.e., not timber from mature trees. Underwood might consist of poles, bundles of brushwood for fires (faggot-wood), and CORDwood. By extension, underwood is a wood managed by coppicing.
Windlass. A rotating cylinder around which rope is wound, operated by a crank; like a fishing reel.
Withies. Very thin rods cut from willow or hazel, often split down the middle to make a supple form of binding, or for weaving into HURDLES or baskets.
Xylem. The dead, woody cells in a tree; the word has the same stem as xylophone (the tuned wooden blocks, not to be confused with the glockenspiel, which has metal plates). The darker, tougher heartwood at the centre of a mature tree is made from dead cells reinforced with LIGNIN, tannins and other toughening chemicals. Lighter sapwood, outside the heart-wood, contains less of these chemicals and is physically weaker.
Acknowledgements
I should like to thank the Royal Literary Fund, whose continued support has allowed me the time to write; my publishers, Head of Zeus, for indulging such a capricious enterprise; many students for keeping me on the straight and narrow over the years; Stefan Sobell and Dennis Turner for being willing accomplices; Jenni Cochrane of Matamata-Piako District Council for putting me straight on the Hobbiton party tree; and the giants on whose shoulders any arboreal student must stand to get a good close look at trees. MAX ADAMS
All illustrations are from John Evelyn’s compendium on forestry, Sylva, or, a Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesty’s Dominions, which was prepared for the Royal Society in 1662 before being published as a book in 1664. The engraved plates, depicting the foliage, flowers and fruit of the trees, were added by ‘John Miller’ (Johann Sebastian Müller, c.1715–92) for the 1776 edition.
Index
Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations
ACACIA 82, 86
acorns 18, 28, 60, 61, 107, 146, 201, 202, 204
adze 134, 125
alder 66, 175, 181, 201, 236
Ancient Oak, An (painting by Ward) 16, 24
apple tree 66, 72–5, 83
Archimedes screw 152
Ascension Island, trees of 123
ash 47, 87, 158, 189, 198, 230, 239, 241, 242–3
Ashington Woods 235–8
aspen 64, 189
autumn 17–19, 37, 44, 48, 68, 69, 79, 101, 163, 202, 238
auxin 150–1
axe 134, 136
axle 120, 143, 153, 155
BALSAM, Indian 153
bamboo 46
baobab tree 11, 40
bark 83; acacia 86; birch 32
beech 18, 47, 66, 130, 144–7, 145, 239; in woodcraft 146; southern 96; tallest 146
beechnuts 61, 146
berries: rowan 48, 50; hawthorn 164, 167; holly 183, 184; whitebeam 68
billhook 18, 29, 57, 128, 130, 138, 193, 238, 247
birch 29–33, 31, 47, 63, 87, 126, 189, 239; silver 30–1, 83; tallest 33
birch wine 32, 63, 157
blackthorn 18, 81–2, 87, 166
books about trees 240, 242
Boscobel oak 204
bow-drill 120–1, 151, 155, 157
‘bread and cheese’ 164
briar 18
Britain, native trees of 62–7
broadleaf characteristics 19, 20, 37–8, 40, 46, 47, 61, 80, 106, 163
buds 19, 20, 57, 150, 239; ash 243; hazel 56; rowan 48
Burnham Beeches 146
CAD Goddeu (poem by Taliesin) 87
Caledonian Forests 112
Cameron, Susan Collingwood 28
catkins 63, 236
cedar 97, 98
Centurion (eucalyptus) 160
Chalara fraxinea (fungus) 242
charcoal 170–5, 230; and gunpowder 180, 182; in smelting and forging 176–8, 181–3
cherry tree 70, 71, 83, 87
chestnut 60, 65, 66
Cocwuda (Northumbria) 221
coffins 194–6, 225
colliers 181–2
Collingwood, Admiral Lord 27–8
Collis, John Stewart 9, 11, 93, 133, 242, 248
conifer characteristics 37, 40, 47, 55, 57, 66, 79, 80, 163
coppicing 20, 22, 58, 103, 104, 106, 166, 239; in St Columba’s time 103; in The Woodlanders 247
cork oak 83–4, 121
Croft Castle Park (Herefordshire) 67
DARWIN, Charles 123, 150–1
Deakin, Roger 240
dendrochronology 180, 208
dragon tree 40
drought 37, 38, 81, 95, 96, 98, 123
Dutch elm disease (ascomycete fungus) 78, 222, 224
ELM 63, 98, 195, 222–5, 223; and coffins 224–5; English 224; Scots (wych) 224
Enclosure, Parliamentary 82
ents (in Tolkien) 209
Epping Forest 221
eucalyptus 60, 84, 98, 160
FIG tree 11, 74
fire and firewood 120, 122, 196–200; see also charcoal
flood dangers 81
Flora, goddess of plants 16
forest gardens 232–5
Forest of Dean 181–2, 221
forest types 94–9
Forster, Georg 123
froe 136, 137
fruit (trees) and orchards 26, 61–2, 70, 73, 228, 234, 235; biblical 23; rowan 48; ‘Strange’ (i.e. lynchings) 23–4; see also apple; cherry; fig
GARDEN of Eden 23
Greendale Oak 8, 244
guaiacum 88
HARDY, Thomas see Woodlanders, The
Hart, Robert 232–4
hawthorn 81, 82, 164–7, 165
hazel 20, 47, 56, 59, 66, 128–31, 129, 243; tallest 128; hurdles 59, 130–1, 193
hazelnuts 18, 66, 190, 128
Heart of Midlothian, The (novel by Scott) 27
‘Heart of Oak’ (song) 204–5
hedges 82, 166–7
hemlock, Western 231
Hobbiton party tree 211–12
Hogarth, Bill 130
holly 66, 183–4, 185; largest 184
Homme qui plantait des arbres, L’ (short story by Giono) 202
Hooker, Joseph 123
hormones 57, 150–1
hornbeam 127, 166
Horse chestnut 43, 73–4
horsetail 45, 46
Hundred Horse Chestnut 11
hurdle construction 130
Hyperion (redwood) 160
INDIA, tree management of 228–9
JUNIPER 89
KAHIKATEA 211
kauri 210
LABURNUM 84
larch 37, 39, 126
lathe 117, 157, 201, 216; pole-lathe 158–9, 238
leaves, science and structure of 37–43
lignin 46
lime tree 66, 87, 237, 239
linden see lime tree
MABEY, Richard 240
maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba) 44, 47
mallorn (in Tolkien) 209, 211