I really felt that my trolls had to be something both like and unlike humans. They have an earthy, stony quality, but they are not made of stone. They look quite human in their body proportions and many of them are either much taller or much smaller the human average. I use the name Orcneas for them, using a word used once to describe Grendel in Beowulf. English did not have a word cognate with troll, it seems to have come into mainstream English usage in the 19th century, although it is recorded in the 17th century in a witch trial from the Shetlands.
I hint that trolls eventually leave Britain in order to find lands less densely inhabited by men; that they now live in Iceland and Scandinavia.During the 7th century they live in areas which are sparsely populated, but the human population is already on the increase and new lands are being cleared for human settlement and agriculture. In Northumberland, the spine of hills that we now call the Pennines meets the Cheviot Hills and the Southern Uplands of Scotland. This area is perfect for the trolls, and this is the area referred to as Trolldom in the book. There are other trolls living outside of Trolldom; one lived near Yeavering under a bridge over the River Glen. Communications with trolls living south of Hadrian's Wall have been lost, so there is no news of any who may have been alive further south.
Trolls and humans can have children together, although it is clear from what Alfreda says that trolls consider humans to be ugly - and most humans similarly consider the trolls to be ugly. Fortunately this is not always the case! Half-trolls may exist, and over time their descendants merge fully into the human population.
Friday, 1 March 2013
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
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?
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Candlemas (again)
Steve Ashley sings a "Candlemas Carol" which begins:
I posted last year about Candlemas, and here I am again. This year it is much colder and I am more inclined to appreciate Steve Ashley's point. So, how to reconcile the conflict between a logical division of the year by length of the day and our observation that there continues to be cold weather after winter (and for that matter warm weather after summer).
I see two factors at work here, the first being that it should be possible to divide the year up into two "great seasons" of warmth and coldness and that the boundary would therefore be the equinoxes, the dates when the day and the night are both twelve hours long (give or take a few minutes). With this pattern, half of spring would fall within the greater winter and the other half would fall in the greater summer. The same apply to autumn.
The other factor is the physical laws relating to the conservation of heat. It feels like summer through August and into September because the energy provided by the sun is still present as warm atmospheric conditions and warm land surfaces. February and early March feel like winter because a lot of the sun's heat is taken up just with heating that mass of air and the upper layers of the surface.
"Oh, Candlemas beware old man
The wind gale and the storm,
For if you think that winter's dead
It's barely been born,
And if you think that the spring has come,
With the bright sun in the sky
An icy wind blows icy tears
From the corner of your eye"
I posted last year about Candlemas, and here I am again. This year it is much colder and I am more inclined to appreciate Steve Ashley's point. So, how to reconcile the conflict between a logical division of the year by length of the day and our observation that there continues to be cold weather after winter (and for that matter warm weather after summer).
I see two factors at work here, the first being that it should be possible to divide the year up into two "great seasons" of warmth and coldness and that the boundary would therefore be the equinoxes, the dates when the day and the night are both twelve hours long (give or take a few minutes). With this pattern, half of spring would fall within the greater winter and the other half would fall in the greater summer. The same apply to autumn.
The other factor is the physical laws relating to the conservation of heat. It feels like summer through August and into September because the energy provided by the sun is still present as warm atmospheric conditions and warm land surfaces. February and early March feel like winter because a lot of the sun's heat is taken up just with heating that mass of air and the upper layers of the surface.
Blog tidy-up
I have created a new page on this blog which brings together the posts that relate to the book. You can find all of this information here. I have deleted the older posts that this information is derived from.
Friday, 18 January 2013
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.
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.
Thursday, 6 December 2012
A peep inside
It is now also possible to view the beginning of the book through the publisher's website: here
Of course, you can do the same wherever the book is available in Kindle or e-book format, even if you intend to buy the hard copy.
Of course, you can do the same wherever the book is available in Kindle or e-book format, even if you intend to buy the hard copy.
Monday, 23 January 2012
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
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
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