To Save a Kingdom

by Marianne Whiting

  Kirsten, Kveldulf, Anlaf and Ylva sat waiting for us. They had been joined by Eysten Mordson and his men. He looked tired but unharmed. When I praised his brother Njal, his eyes watered.

  ‘I was so pleased to see him again and now he’s gone.’

  ‘He left you a nephew.’

  ‘Yes, it feels good to know I’m not alone.’

  Varg lay there drifting in and out of consciousness. Kirsten nodded that he was doing well. The Norwegian was dead. Orm and Cerdic had dug a shallow grave for him next to Njal. It was time to move. I sent Unn with Kveldulf to find Ragnar’s horses. The lad looked ready to burst with pride when she deferred to him as the one who’d know where to look. He must have been sure, for it wasn’t long before they returned with the thralls and servants leading Ragnar’s horses. Anlaf took Varg in front of him on his stallion.

  ‘We’ll manage,’ he said, ‘after all; we’ve got two whole legs between us.’

  Varg woke and growled, ‘Yours will heal, whelp.’ Then he passed out again, his head resting on Anlaf’s shoulder.

  ***

  We found Ragnar and Lothar where I’d left them. Ragnar’s mail shirt had repaid his trust in it. His shoulder wound was not very deep and he’d already staunched the blood with a strip of material from his tunic. Kirsten looked at it and added some bog moss.

  ‘That’ll do for now,’ she said, ‘you’ll mend. But Lothar looks feverish.’ She cleaned Lothar’s wound. When she placed a bandage on the cut, she muttered a chant and added a stick with a holy rune carved on it. I realised she feared for his life. ‘We must get him home,’ she said. ‘That was the last of the ointment and I’m almost out of herbs too.’

  We fashioned a stretcher, put Thorfinn’s horse in front and a quiet gelding behind. There were enough mounts for everyone including servants and thralls and we were able to move at a steady pace. Ragnar and I rode next to each other in front. Behind us Orm, Ylva and Anlaf kept up a cheerful banter with Eysten and his karls; young people relieved and happy to be alive. I was pleased when, after a while, first Unn and then Kirsten joined in. I was more startled than pleased when Kveldulf did. Where had he learnt such language? I looked at Ragnar with raised eyebrows. He laughed and shook his head. Then he grew serious.

  ‘So Thorfinn got his warrior’s end then,’ he said and pointed to Thorfinn’s stallion. I just nodded and smiled. There would be time enough for the recounting of the bravery and cruelty of the last battle for Cumbria. There would be stories to fill many long winter nights and the greatest of them all would be the tale of how Thorfinn Egilson became King of Cumbria and slew the hirdsmen of the English King Edmund and how he died axe in hand and was given a royal burial on the spot that afterwards became known as Dunmail’s Raise.

  ***

  The gathering at the Thing that autumn was sombre. We honoured the many dead from the battle at Dunmail’s Raise and many a horn of frothing ale was raised in acknowledgment of courage and achievement. But there was also a great deal of relief when the newly elected Lawman related the outcome of our defeat.

  ‘I hear daily reports of how Edmund has set his soldiers to punish the Northumbrians. Their savagery exceeds anything we’ve known in the past. Villages lie in ruins, crops are burnt to ashes, men are slaughtered like cattle whether they were part of the rebellion or not. Women are raped and children starve. We could have met with the same fate. But King Edmund has handed over Cumbria to King Malcolm in recognition of his support. Malcolm has other things than revenge on his mind. I feel confident that we shall be spared.’

  ‘We’ll have to pay tribute though, won’t we,’ said a disgruntled farmer. The Lawman stared at him under knitted brow.

  ‘For my own part I’d rather pay tribute to the Scottish King than lie dead among the ashes of my farm.’ The man looked sheepish and nodded.

  ‘Your luck holds true, Shieldmaiden,’ said Ragnar. ‘You should be safe from Edmund now and, as long as you keep your hands off the Scottish King’s horses, he’ll not bother you either.’ The people standing close enough to overhear him laughed and that evening the story of how I took North Wind back from the Saxon King was told again and again.

  Kjeld Gunnarson was nowhere to be seen. There was much anger at his treason and many vowed to spill his blood should he ever show his face in our neighbourhood again. His old supporters kept a low profile and there was nobody to challenge or doubt my right to be a full member of the Thing. My hird grew in number; Anlaf, Ylva and Unn were joined by three young women and one man who offered to serve me. But I no longer needed to worry about two chieftains, each with their own hird, sharing the same hall. ‘Sigrid Kveldulfsdaughter of Becklund’, it had the sweet sound of a wish fulfilled and I kept whispering it to myself.

  ‘What are you muttering, Sigrid?’ asked Ragnar. ‘Are you worried you’ll forget who you are if you don’t keep reminding yourself?’

  ‘Oh no, I know perfectly well who I am: Sigrid Kveldulfsdaughter of Becklund married to Ragnar Sweinson of Buttermere.’

  THE END

  Some Terminology Explained

  Religion and Superstition

  Aesirs, the Viking gods

  Alves, supernatural beings that protect the home and watch over animals but can turn nasty if neglected

  Baldur, God of light

  Bifrost, the rainbow that serves as a bridge to Asgard –.The Valkyries use it to return to Valhalla after battles.

  Blot, a ceremonial animal-sacrifice

  Fetch, ghost of a dead person who cannot find peace

  Frey, god of harvests

  Freya, goddess of fertility

  Frigga, Odin’s wife

  Fylgia is a family’s guardian spirit who will warn and protect their home

  Gnomes live below ground and can cause sickness to people and domestic animals

  Loki, half-god, mischief-maker who killed Baldur and was punished by being chained to a rock, where a serpent drips venom on his head

  Niflhel, hell

  Norns, three sisters who weave people’s futures

  Odin, the highest of the Viking gods, rides an eight-legged horse called Sleipnir. His two ravens, Hugin and Munin, fly round the world gathering information for him

  Prime shorn, someone who has accepted baptism but not confirmation. Pagans did this to be allowed to trade with Christians

  Runes are the letters used by Vikings – introduced by Odin, they were invested with magic and carved on sticks or wooden tablets which are cast on the ground to show the future

  Seidir, someone using magic

  Thor, God of thunder and war, travels in a chariot drawn by two goats. His weapon is the hammer Mjölnir. Vikings wore amulets in the shape of Mjölnir

  Valhalla is the hall of Odin in Asgard. It is where the Valkyries bring fallen warriors to feast and fight while awaiting Ragnarok, the battle at the end of time

  Valkyries, Odin’s shieldmaidens

  Yuletide, a midwinter celebration involving a particularly significant blot

  Law and Society

  Blood Eagle, a particularly gruesome way of killing a person by pulling out their lungs

  Brage Cup, a toast involving a promise to perform a deed

  Drapa, a poem written in a particular meter and often using alliteration

  Hnefatafl, a board-game similar to chess

  Hólmganga, single combat to establish guilt or innocence

  Jarl, a nobleman similar to an Earl

  The Leap, When an old person is deemed unfit for life they can be pushed off a cliff which sends men straight to Valhalla while women join Freya in her hall in Asgard. Men in particular dreaded the ‘straw death’: to die in their beds and so end up in Niflhel instead of Valhalla.

  Nithing, a criminal. Nithings-bane is someone who has killed a nithing

  Thing or Allthing is the annual gathering by the Thing-mound to bring lawsuits to be judged by the Lawman but also to trade, socialise and compete at sports

  Thrall, a slave who could have b
een bought but it was also possible to have to serve as a thrall as punishment for failing to repay debts or breaking an oath – such punishments were usually for a set period of time after which the person would regain their freedom

  Weregeld, compensation for a killing, money paid to avoid a blood-feud

  Places

  Jorvik, York. The Viking Kingdom of Jorvik covered roughly the same area as Yorkshire today but see Historical Note about borders

  Langobardia, Lombardy, Italy

  Miklagard, Constantinople

  Nidaros is today part of the centre of Trondheim

  Shieling, small, remote huts where people stayed to tend the animals that were sent there to graze during the summer. It often included a dairy for making butter and cheese

  HISTORICAL NOTE ON CUMBRIA IN VIKING TIMES

  The names Cumbria and Strathclyde are used interchangeably by modern historians. The same goes for King of Cumbria and King of Strathclyde in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and other manuscripts. I have opted to use the title King of Cumbria throughout.

  Territory was not defined by clear boundaries. It is useful to think in terms of a centre of power with a closely controlled hinterland and, beyond that, a wider area of influence.

  Neighbours are important whatever the boundaries and Cumbria (Strathclyde) bordered on:

  Alba, to the north, referred to as Scotland in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and ruled by the King of Scots.

  The Viking Kingdom of Jorvik (York) to the east. It is usually referred to as Northumbria, land north of the Humber, in contemporary sources. I have chosen to call it the Kingdom of Jorvik to prevent confusion with Northumberland which was ruled by the Earls of Bamburgh who were loyal to Wessex/Mercia. Where the chroniclers refer to Northumbrians I use Northmen.

  To the south lies Amounderness, an area between the rivers Ribble and Lune (possibly reaching as far north as River Cocker). It was owned by a Scandinavian called Agmund, probably Hiberno-Norse, until King Æthelstan bought it from his heirs. In 934 Æthelstan gifted the area to Archbishop Wulfstan I of York as church land. A blatant but, in the long run, failed attempt to buy his support.

  The central area in today’s Lake District, including Buttermere and Loweswater, was probably a border zone, an area where whoever was strongest at the moment could demand tribute. The Cumbrian population included Britons, Angles and Scandinavians, both Danes and Hiberno-Norse. It probably made for an interesting mix of political allegiance but how this would manifest itself can only be subject for speculation.

  The same goes for the area known as the Five Boroughs; Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Stamford and Lincoln. Again, we need to think of each of these as a centre of power in the areas each of them controlled to a greater or lesser extent. This was a border zone between Wessex-controlled lands and the Kingdom of Jorvik. It was fought over and changed hands repeatedly over the years.

  The Danelaw was the area north of Watling Street, which was agreed as boundary between Viking areas and Wessex-Mercia in 866. It consisted of Danish Mercia and The Kingdom of Jorvik.

  Manuscripts give different dates, 941 and 943, for the events at Tamworth and Leicester. If they took place in 941, the King Anlaf mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles must be Anlaf Guthfridson. He died in 941 so, if they took place in 943, it was Anlaf Sithricson (Cuaran). It is not impossible that both Anlafs fought at Leicester a couple of years apart. In 941 the experienced Anlaf Guthfridson was a serious threat to the young king Edmund and peace was brokered by Archbishops Wulfstan of York and Oda of Canterbury without a major battle taking place. Anlaf died later that year and, in 942, Edmund ‘liberated’ the area of the Five Boroughs. In 943 Anlaf Sithricson, young and inexperienced, tried to regain the lands previously held by his uncle. That year, according to one manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Wulfstan and Anlaf Sithricson were besieged at Leicester by Edmund but ‘broke out in the night’. That version was too good for a writer of fiction to resist.

  A young noblewoman, Wulfrun, is named in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles both in 941 and 943. I have included her in this story as, it seemed to me, Anlaf Sithricson and Wulfstan needed a strong bargaining point. It must have worked because, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: ‘after this King Anlaf obtained the friendship of King Edmund.’ That, of course, didn’t last long.

  The battle of Dunmail Rise is the stuff of legend. Safe to say is that Dunmail did not die there but on a pilgrimage to Rome many years later. The Cumbrians (Strathclyde) and the Northmen (Northumbrians) were defeated by King Edmund after a protracted campaign that ended in 945. He handed Cumbria to King Malcolm of the Scots in return for his continued loyalty and support. In other words: a return to status quo. Cumbria and Strathclyde have their own king but under King Malcolm the Scot’s overlordship. The boundaries, as far as they existed, did not coincide with those of today. The southern part of today’s Cumbria was part of Edmund’s England, only the northern part stayed in Strathclyde. To me, it seems likely that it was Amounderness that was retained for England as it strictly speaking belonged to the diocese of Jorvik/York.

  For more information visit my blog Shieldmaidenthenovel.blogspot.com

  Marianne Whiting

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  As for me, I was born and grew up in Sweden. I came to England to study for a year, met my husband and remained. We live in Leicestershire but enjoy visiting the old Danelaw, especially Cumbria and Yorkshire. I see it as my duty to challenge the prevailing view of Vikings as mad marauders and remind people that they were also traders, explorers and farmers.

  For more about me and my writing see mariannewhiting.com.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First of all, a warm thank you to Hazel Cushion of Accent Press who was brave enough to take on The Shieldmaiden Trilogy and to Rebecca, Bethan, Emily, Anne, Kate and Joe, who have helped me negotiate the road to publication. I particularly want to mention my editor, David Powell, who has an impressive knowledge of Old Norse and the Viking Era.

  My friends at Leicester Writers’ Club have, as always, been ruthless in their critique and unfailing in their support. A special thank you to David Martin/Hood and Rod Maude/Duncan who, when the going was particularly tough, pulled me up, dusted me off and set me back on track!

  The re-enactors, Vikings of Middle England, are brilliant and I’m grateful for their enthusiastic support.

  Last but absolutely not least, my long-suffering husband Jon, has demonstrated a level of patience that goes beyond what could be reasonably expected. He’s also been very good at providing a first-reader response and demanding explanations.

  For more information about Marianne Whiting

  and other Accent Press titles

  please visit

  www.accentpress.co.uk

  Published by Accent Press Ltd 2017

  www.accentpress.co.uk

  Copyright © Marianne Whiting 2017

  The right of Marianne Whiting to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  The story contained within this book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of Accent Press Ltd.

  ISBN 9781786153654

  eISBN 9781682996089

 

 

 
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