The other project

I have referred to it elsewhere on this blog as "the other project." Well, if you are interested in finding more about it, I have uploaded it onto Authonomy where it is free to view in its unedited form. To view it you will need to be a member of Authonomy; a website run by Harper Collins which allows authors to showcase their work in the hope of receiving constructive criticism and (hopefully) attracting the attention of the editors at Harper Collins or even another publisher.

So, what is the other project? The title it is currently lurking under is "Cædmon: The Lord's Poet."

"Here, my friend, take the harp. I am sure you can entertain us with a fine lay!"

When his lord makes him swear an oath never to sing his greatest composition again, and carrying a burden of additional lies and slanders, Cædda seeks refuge in anonymity and exile as a slave near remote Streneshalh.

His past returns to haunt him when a menacing stranger appears at the Winterfilling Feast, calling upon him to sing.

Eluding his pursuer, he finds refuge in an isolated cow byre. As he contemplates his life story and his immediate situation, he must make a final decision.

Can the Lord’s Poet avoid retribution again, or is it time to rise to the challenge and embrace his destiny?

The Historical Setting: 7th century Northumbria

I'm still not exactly sure why I wanted to set The Adventures of the Billy Goats Gruff in the Early Middle Ages, but I know that I was drawn to stories of the period. I started writing the story in about 1994, before I  started my MA, so the interest was sparked by history books for the general market and I had not at that stage picked up a copy of Bede's Ecclesiatical History to begin to read the primary sources - indeed at that time I knew more about the later Historia Britonnum and Annales Cambriae than I did about the Anglo-Saxon sources.

What I was aware of was the prominent position of Northumbria at that time. I have since learned to develop a layer of scholarly cynicism, to see Bede and other contemporary writers as people with agendas and bias, not as pure, disinterested chroniclers of events. Nonetheless, there was definitely something dynamic and vital about the kingdom in the 7th century, a fact that is attested in the monumental sculpture, the incredible illuminated manuscripts and the fact that no other kingdom at the time produced so many writers who could present their stories of saints and kings and be preserved after Northumbria had ceased to be independent and became a relatively minor earldom and ultimately remembered only through the county name of Northumberland.

It is difficult to define when the concept of Northumbria came into being and whether it was meant to represent a unified political force or to be descriptive of a group of peoples who came to be united. The inverse term of South Humbrians was certainly used (by Bede, of course) to refer to all the other English kingdoms, but that label did not stick, largely because the South Humbrians included Mercia and the West Saxons, who were to be the main rivals in later centuries for the dominance of England.

There were two principal dynasties involved in the formation of Northumbria, the Idings in the north and the Soemilings in the south. The Idings ruled a land given the Latin name of Bernicia, which I have called Bernice (not pronounced Ber-nees like the girls' name, but Ber-nee-che). The Soemilings ruled ina land in modern Yorkshire called Deira, which I have given the alternative name of Dere in the book after the name of the Roman road which runs from York to Edinburgh.

Ida was a king of Bernicia and is said to have joined Bernicia and Dinguaire (Dinware in the book). As the older name given in Welsh sources for Bamburgh is Dingauiraroy (or something similar), this seems to represent a more southerly kingdom, probably centred on the River Tyne, absorbing a more northerly one. Ida seems to have had a lot of sons, the greatest of whom was Æthelric. They were under repeated attack particularly by Urien of Rheged and Morcant, but they survived it all in part because the Welsh were divided and Urien was killed by an assassin. Æthelric's son, Æthelfrith, was the first king of both Bernicia and Deira. He also seems to have expanded his territories westwards at the cost of kingdoms like Rheged and its forgotten southern neighbours.

Soemil is named in the ancestry of the kings of Deira, but may not have been an actual person. For the purposes of the book, I have assumed that he was, and that the Grufflings are descended from him, thus giving them royal blood. The first king of Deira named in history was Ælle, for his name is said to have been known to slave traders in Rome, as recounted in the Life of St Gregory. It was Ælle that was defeated by Æthelfrith when he became ruler of both kingdoms. Ælle's son Eadwine (Edwin) was forced into exile until the time was ripe for his return. Eadwine defeated Æthelfrith and in turn ruled over both Deira and Bernicia, the only Soemiling to do so. The importance of the line continued after his death, however, as we shall see in time.

Into this situation I have placed our family of Grufflings. The two older boys were born in Deira and stayed there as fosterlings when their mother died. Their father was sent north into Bernicia, to the place that Bede tells us was called Ad Gefrin and is know called Yeavering, in Northumberland. Here he remarried, a political match to a princess from the fallen royal family of Rheged. They had two sons and a daughter, born in the north and of mixed ancestry - they differ from their elder brothers in being biligual, learning Welsh from their mother even though English was their main language. When Edgar and his elder brother Athelred join the family, they are almost full grown men, and Athelred is taken by his father as his assistant. The younger boys learn to get along with their older brothers, but the differences between them can cause arguments to flare up - as with brothers anywhere.

In AD 633 two significant events seem to have occurred. The first was that Cearl of Mercia (or Mierce) was deposed by a kinsman called Penda. The second was that Cadwallon (or Cadwalla), who was the king of Gwynedd, rebelled against Eadwine. Together with this same Penda, he marched out against Eadwine, who fell at Hatfield Chase. Cadwallon stormed northwards, harrying the land and seeking out any English settlers, putting them to the sword. Bede states that his intention was to destroy the English race. This is the situation facing the family at the beginning of the book. The events at Yeavering are not part of history, although the excavation there by Brian Hope-Taylor identified two attempts to burn the place to the ground, neither of which was particularly successful. I have taken the first attempt as being in AD 633 and have based my account around that fact.

In a future post I will discuss the aftermath of Eadwine's death further, as it has an impact on one minor character and will affect the world to which the Grufflings return.

The Library

Some time ago I published a list of books on this blog. All of the books shared a common theme: historical settings which can be described as Anglo-Saxon, separated by defining them in terms of blocks of time within this span, which includes both Dark Age and Early Medieval periods.

As is the way of posts, this list has long since dropped to the bottom and is therefore hard to find. Even though I have added to it over time, it remains quite anonymous. Therefore I created a new page called the Library, which has all of the books on this list as well as being an opportunity for me to expand the list into new categories.

I have included a section on Children's books which relate to the same periods of history and to stories with a modern setting but with influences from Anglo-Saxon or Norse literature.

You can see the Library here

A new episode?

I think I have got through The Other Project now and random thoughts of a sequel to the Adventures of the Billy Goats Gruff are being jotted down with a working title of The Revenge of the Grufflings. The first half of the book is pretty plain sailing, but the second half throws up some issues which I don't know how to resolve as history kind of gets in the way ... 


That's the problem when you involve known historical characters such as Penda in your story; you can only interact with them in certain ways, unless you choose to go down some alternative reality line. In part that could happen (there are trolls and elves in the milieu of my book after all), but I think it would be cheating to do so.


The decision has yet to be made and the journey has only just started, so although I know what happens next, I don't know the exact route to get there.

The names of the kingdoms

Very early on in the process of writing the book I got it into my head to deconstruct the names of the various kingdoms, sub-kingdoms, regions, etc. that the characters know and move through. With hindsight I was a little uneven in my approach but I think I got the level about right.

The first name was Dere. This is better known as Deira but this is a Latin name derived (probably) from a Brythonic original (perhaps Deur). However the road that runs from Edinburgh to York is known as Dere Street so I opted to use this name for the land around York.

Having dropped one Latin name, the next in line was Bernicia. The Brythonic original was something like Bryneich which is not very easy on the tongue, so I went for Bernice as a similar name to Dere.

Then there was the land that the story began in. It is often lumped in with Bernice in general histories but I prefer to think of it as a separate kingdom that was later merged. We only have the Welsh name Din Guaire to apply to the region, which seems to have had its political centre at either Bamburgh, Yeavering, or both. My solution was to assume that the "gu" in Guaire was pronounced as a "w" and so Dinware was coined as an easy way to give a name to the land within which Frith and Bertred were born.

Moving away there was The Mark, which represents the midland realm of Mercia. In West Saxon sources this is often written as Mierce which by i-mutation would suggest an earlier northern spelling something like  Mearc. It is The Mark because there were no other marks (border areas, marches) in existence.

Welsh names, paradoxically, are left pretty much as they are. Gwynedd was for some time going to be "Gwunneth" or something similar but I abandoned this idea in favour of the modern spelling because it lacked the simple elegance of Dere and Bernice.

Similarly the Brythonic kingdoms of Rheged and Gododdin are mentioned several times and no attempt was made to alter those names.

Finally there is the name Gatburgh. A single place-name can change from one form to another in a remarkably short period of time. Bede gives the name as "ad gefrin" but on the whole such Brythonic names did not survive elsewhere in Northumberland, so it seems plausible that at some time there was an attempt to change the name to a more English friendly form. Gat is of course Old English for goat and burgh is a fortified place. Although Gatburgh is technically not fortified it does have the illusion of strength to help it along, and the ancient hillfort on the summit of the Bell may have influenced the name further.

A look at other fiction set in the Early Middle Ages

There is a good sized body of historical fiction with an Anglo-Saxon bent out there. Most of it is good, often it can be seriously flawed, but generally it is entertaining stuff and a good way to bring to life the period. I have arranged the list below into roughly chronological periods which are however undefined in terms of dates.

My most common dissatisfaction with books about the period is simple things being wrong, such as pre-Viking Age characters being given Scandinavian names when there is a substantial choice of English names and enough name elements known to make up your own constructs. Then there is the treatment of Anglo-Saxon paganism as being identical to Scandinavian paganism but with a W at the beginning of Odin, not to mention good old fashioned anachronisms. There are a few other points along these lines but this is not the place to make specific criticisms. As these all point to Amazon, take into account the customer reviews there - there may even be some of mine!

NB: An updated list is available here.

Settlement Period
Rhinegold Technically this is of only passing connection to the Anglo-Saxons, being set in Europe throughout, but I have included it for character and because it is truly outstanding!
Hengest's Tale An account of Hengest's adventures in Frisia, possibly aimed at a younger reader.
Men Went to Cattraeth From the other side: an account of the Gododdin.
Ragnarok Bad title (suggestive of Viking Age) for a good book. A British noblewoman marries an English king.
The Way Of Wyrd: Tales of an Anglo-Saxon Sorcerer Not certain what period this belongs to but it is presumably early rather than late. The title says it all.
The Saga of Beowulf A modern retelling of Beowulf. Originally conceived in two episodes, The Land of Death and Shadow followed by The Land of Fire and Ice. It is also available on Kindle

Heptarchy Period
The Amber Treasure (Northern Crown) Set in the 6th/7th century in Deira
Ship Burial: The Rune of Ing A Christian mission from Kent to East Anglia finds the way is less than smooth.
Paths of Exile King Edwin's life as an exile after his father's death.
Storm Frost Set in the 7th century but the location is unknown.
Brightfire: A Tale of Sutton Hoo Sequel to Storm Frost set in 7th century East Anglia
The Whispering Bell Set in 7th century Mercia - the tale of an orphaned girl.
Month of Swallows Story of Hilda, a girl in the court of King Edwin of Northumbria
Holy Isle Sequel to Month of Swallows. Good luck finding a copy (you are up against me for one!)
Wolf Girl A crime story set in 7th century Northumbria

Viking Period
The Last Kingdom Northumbrian exile fights the Vikings
The Pale Horseman Northumbrian exile at Athelney with Alfred of Wessex
The Lords of the North Northumbrian exile returns home
Sword Song Northumbrian exile returns to help Alfred of Wessex
The Burning Land Northumbrian exile saves Wessex
Hrolf Kraki's Saga Poul Anderson's faithful rendition of the saga with additional material from other sources makes for an almost saga-like reading experience; not to everyone's taste as it can feel like reading a translation rather than a work of fiction.
Byzantium Irish monk enslaved by Vikings finds his way by the Volga to Byzantium.
Raven: Blood Eye A Viking's life.
Raven: Sons of Thunder More Viking's life
The Whale Road Viking band in search of the treasure of Attila
The Wolf Sea Still looking for Attila's treasure by way of a stolen sword.
The White Raven Apparently finished with Attila's treasure the boys have problems at home.
The Prow Beast  Their homes lost and their boat sunk, the boys get involved in Swedish politics.
Far After Gold Scottish lass enslaved by Viking brute/hunk in M&B style kirtle-ripper

Pre-Conquest Period
The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth A look back at the Battle of Maldon from the grisly battlefield.
Mercenaries Norman lads go out to seek their fortune
Warriors Norman lads make a name for themselves in Italy
Conquest Normans + Conquest = ?  No, not 1066, this sees our Norman lads go on Crusade.
Housecarl The life of a Huscarl in Harold Godwinson's army.

Post-Conquest Period
Last of the English Story of Hereward the Wake
Hereward Another Story of Hereward the Wake (not yet published)

One final comment: I have discovered in the course of compiling this list that at least one book that I had listed elsewhere (but not here) is probably the work of a Neo-Nazi. The Anglo-Saxons seem to hold a great deal of fascination for English Neo-Nazis, so I suppose a small sample of books from the genre may reflect their distasteful world view. If any of the books here are of the same ilk, I unreservedly apologise for including them. This list is to be viewed as a wide sample of the genre rather than a list of recommendations!