Jilliand
Page 31
NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR
WHILE RESEARCHING MATERIAL FOR THIS novel, I looked for names that fit the time period. For the heroine, I chose Jilliand, an Old English name meaning child of the gods. For the Viking, I came across the name Rurik, which was easy to remember, short, and of the correct time period. I next researched all I could regarding Rurik to be certain there was not a dark history to the name. What I discovered was a legendary man. He is credited with founding what we now call Russia, although nothing was written about him until three hundred years after his death.
It is difficult to tell what is fact and what might be fiction. A document, known as The Russian Chronicles, tells of a Viking sea king who settled Novgorod, and two other men, Dir and Askold, who settled Kiev. However, to this day, while some Russian people believe they have Rurik’s DNA, scholars differ on whether he even existed. Some feel he is storied but never lived; others believe he lived.
I do not have an opinion on his existence. However, if he did indeed live, I cannot believe a man who accomplished all that he is believed to have accomplished simply gave his holdings to a good friend, left his only son of record with that same friend to teach how to be a leader, and then quietly went away to farm. If he did even some of the things he is credited with, I cannot, in my mind, marry his colorful career and his sudden disappearance from such a life. It is believed, and certainly very likely, he was a pagan. If so, his ideology was such that he would much rather have wished to die fighting. It is almost as if because little else was known about him, someone filled in the blanks to close his story. I hope I will be forgiven for taking the liberty of allowing him to have a different ending to his life.
One of the articles I found about Rurik tells of a possible marriage to an English princess. My story is the fictional story of a strong lady—one who rose above what might have become her life. I must remind my readers: She and everyone in the book are the products of imaginative writing.
Before sitting at the computer to write this book, I researched the Vikings and life in that period extensively. That research continued during my initial writing and during each re-read. My research revealed them to be a people much more complex than our common stories and movies portray. I believe we have done a grave injustice to the Vikings. It would seem the “berserkers’” actions may have colored much of what we see in our mind’s eye. Some historians believe the berserkers were warriors with a fanatical devotion to the god Odin; men who dressed in bear or wolf skins and fought with a frenzy, striking fear in the hearts of the enemy. In many writings by Christians, the stories of these men were based on legends. However, one must remember, the exploits of Vikings and their raids were written by the people upon whom those raids crashed. Their lives and goods were taken, and their homes, monasteries, and whole villages were destroyed.
Yet, research and archaeological finds tell us more. There is another very important side to the Vikings. Archaeologists have uncovered a great deal of evidence that Viking men and women were clean and particular about their appearance. Items found in ancient graves also speak to Viking skills in jewelry design, stone carving, textile creation, and even tools such as ear spoons used to keep the ear free of wax. Yes, the Vikings were clean, family oriented, and hard working. Research reveals they had strong family ties, not much different from those in England and France. As a general rule, every Viking man was in great physical shape. His day-to-day activities assured he would stay that way.
Captives who were initially taken as slaves were required to learn the language and adopt the religious beliefs of the Vikings. Many were free people by the next generation. Many Viking clans converted to Christianity, while others remained pagans. Volumes of texts tell of Viking supremacy in shipbuilding, navigation, and, of course, fighting. Fighting was not only a way to capture lands, peoples, and plunder but also a way to survive. Their fighting skills were unmatched for many years. Their navigational abilities are legendary.
King Aethewulf ruled Mercia from 839 to 858. One of his sons, Alfred the Great, is credited with turning Wessex into an effective kingdom and reviving intellectual and spiritual life.
It is my hope that my readers have enjoyed this trip with Jilliand and me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CLARE GUTIERREZ, A REGISTERED NURSE, grew up on a cattle ranch in rural Colorado as one of four children. After living in Carlsbad, New Mexico, for twenty-eight years, she now lives in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Together with her husband, Dr. Beto Gutierrez, they host first-class photographers from the world over at Santa Clara Ranch—a 300-acre wildlife sanctuary.
Other titles by Clare Gutierrez are: Dancing with the Boss (2012) and Come Winter (2014).
Annie Kirk leads a quiet life. But everything changes when she arrives at her family’s ranch to visit her retired brother, Allen, for the summer. She is reluctantly drawn into Allen’s relationship with the mafia and an assignment to break up a terrorist plot. As friends fall by the wayside, Annie must make drastic life-changing decisions—Dancing with the Boss.
Clare Gutierrez curates your voyage back to the Scottish highlands of ages past … a time and place in which simply staying alive constituted a noble adventure and becoming a patron of the oppressed and the impoverished could make you a hallowed queen—Come Winter.
GLOSSARY
AMULET: an ornament or piece of jewelry worn for good luck or to ward off evil.
ASGARD: home of the halls of the Norse gods.
BERSERKER: a particularly fanatical Viking warrior who fought with a deep rage.
BLOOD EAGLE: a sacrificial rite to Odin performed by cutting the victim’s ribs at the spine so that they resembled an eagle’s wings; the lungs were then pulled out. The rite, while doubted by some scholars, is reported in sagas.
BURG: (also burgh) structure with a massive series of banks, fronted by a wide ditch or moat. The bank was typically faced and timber riveted. This was topped by a wooden palisade of stakes up to ten feet high, with a walkway. Castles, as we know them today, were not built until around 1066, with the Norman invasion, specifically, William the Conqueror.
CAULKING: a fibrous mixture of animal hair and tar that is packed between two overlapping stakes in a ship, making it watertight.
FREYA: fertility goddess.
JARL: Norse for nobleman, “earl.”
KNARR: a Scandinavian ocean-going cargo ship.
NORMAN: derived from medieval Latin, normanni, meaning “northmen.”
NORNS: the three sisters of fate: Urd (past), Verdandi (present), and Skuld (future).
ODIN: supreme god noted for his ecstatic powers in battle.
RAGNARÖK: the final doom, when the gods and monsters are destroyed in a great combat. A new world will be reborn then.
RUNES: the Viking alphabet was composed of only 16 runes. Runes had magical and numerical value and were sacred to Odin.
THOR: sky god of Odin who was a friend of mankind. His symbol was a hammer that he used to smash other gods.
VALHALLA: hall where heroes feast until Ragnarök.
VALKYRIES: female spirits who select the fallen for Valhalla; they also direct the course of battles.