"Edward the Elder" by Michael John Kay

 

The River Great Ouse at Bedford was once the frontier between the Saxons and the Vikings. Edward crossed the river to capture Bedford during his reign.

Edward the Elder was the son of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex. Alfred is justly celebrated for resisting Viking incursions into the territory of Wessex, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom that covered most of southern England, and reaching a long-lasting peace treaty with the Vikings, albeit one that recognised a split between the Anglo-Saxon part of England (Wessex and half of Mercia, the kingdom in the Midlands, against the Welsh border) and the Viking part (called the Danelaw). But Edward was the King who, with his sister Aethelflaed who was Queen of Mercia) took the fight to the Vikings, retrieving the Midlands and East Anglia. Edward's son Aethlestan was to continue the fight, liberating almost all of what is now England, and creating the unified country that we now have.

So Edward (called the Elder by later generations to distinguish him from Edward the Confessor) is a very important figure in English history and one who has been unjustly overlooked, overshadowed, perhaps, by his father. This biography puts Edward back in the limelight.

It also tells his story remarkably well. My only quibble is that the writer frequently tells you the same thing twice, for example, when he describes the boundary between Wessex-Mercia and the Danelaw, the second time in slightly more detail. But if this is the price to pay for a complicated tale to be told with clarity, so be it, although it does make the book longer (and the print is quite small so my ageing eyes found it sometimes wearisome).

It is a complicated tale. A patchwork of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms battled against a miscellany of Scandinavian marauders. The situation was rarely coherent. Given that all this happened over a thousand years ago, the sources are often either missing, possibly inaccurate or incomplete. The author does a great job or pinpointing dates and places without being overly nit-picking (for example, he tends to summarise scholarly opinion without going into the details). The result is a readable history for the general reader.

I loved it. So many of the places that appear are places I have known, such as Kingston-on-Thames were Edward (probably) and Aethelstan (definitely) had their coronations, sitting on a block of sarsen stone. And Bedford, a frontier town, whose Viking stronghold on the northern bank of the River Great Ouse surrendered to Edward, at which point he built a neighbouring fortified burh on the southern bank. And London where, the Roman city having been abandoned, the Vikings ruled Lundenwic before the Saxons retook the city moving the centre (around 883) back to the Roman ruins as Lundenburh. 

But it's not all warfare. There are lots of other interesting tales and mysteries, such as: Why did Edward ditch his first wife Ecgwyn and send his son by that relationship to be brought up by his sister in Mercia? Was she a concubine as was hinted? And why did Edward's first heir die only fourteen days after Edward; was he assassinated by his half-brother? And who was the nun abducted from Wimborne Minster by Edward's cousin Aethelwold during his first rebellion; was she Edward's sister Aethelgifu and did Aethelwold marry her and if so was it consensual?

This is the story of a critical period in the founding of the country we now know as England and this great book rescues Edward from the neglect of history.

Selected quotes:

• “The slave trade was part of accepted practice, with slaves bought and sold across markets throughout the known world.” (Ch 16)

January 2024; 263 pages

This review was written by the author of Bally and Bro, Motherdarling  and The Kids of God

"River Kings" by Cat Jarman

 This is a book explaining how the trade networks of the Vikings enabled a carnelian bead to be found in Repton. It is written by an archaeologist.

Leif Eriksson's statue in Reyjkavik

The Vikings were traders, as well as raiders. In some ways they epitomise free enterprise: they made money by trade, by theft, by looting, by threat and extortion, by kidnap and ransom, by kidnap and slavery. Enterprise when it is truly free, without any bureaucratic red-tape (or even any laws). That's entrepreneurship!

Cat Jarman's book is a well-written and interesting addition to this developing perspective on the Vikings. I was particularly impressed with how clearly she explained:

• How the DNA analysis available from 'ancestry' websites matches you with matching populations in the places where they live now (which doesn't necessarily correspond with where they lived back in the days).
• How Y-chromosome DNA and mitochondrial DNA can throw light on the different fates of men and women (in Iceland 75% of modern Icelandic men had ancestry compatible with present-day Scandinavian populations but 62% of women had ancestry matching modern populations in the British Isles including Ireland and Scotland which suggests that in the early population of Iceland Scandinavian men interbred with (possibly slave) British women; slave women are more likely to breed than slave men).
• How radio-carbon dating of skeletons may throw up anomalous results for those on a heavy fish diet.
• How bone isotope analysis can suggest where somebody grew up.

The blurb suggested that this book would "transform the way you think about the Vikings." Not for me. I knew they were traders as well as raiders. I knew they had travelled extensively in Russia and that they had reached Constantinople. These things have been known for decades. My only surprise was the extent to which they were slave traders. So I wasn't enthralled (which word, we are told in chapter 2) comes from the Viking word 'trell' or 'thrall' which means a slave). 

But, quite apart from the science of archaeology mentioned above, there were many things that I did learn from this book. For example:

• Monasteries were targets for armies because they stored food which they collected as taxes (‘feorm’ = ‘food rent’) from the local population. Armies need feeding. (Ch 3)
• The first Viking attack recorded in the AS Chronicle was not Lindisfarne but at Portland on the south coast, not far from the 'emporia' (trading station) of Hamwic, now Southampton. (Ch 4)
• For fallen warriors who didn’t make it to Valkyrie, they might be picked by Freya (actually she got first pick) to go to Sessrumnir, her hall in Folkvang (= Field of Folk). (Ch 4) I wondered whether Freya’s Field of Folk made its way into Piers Plowman to become the fair field of folk that Langland spied at the beginning of his poem.
• “The only accounts we have of Asgard, the world of the Norse gods, come from sources written down from the eleventh century onwards, many of them even later.” Some of the buildings may have been influenced by what the Vikings saw in Byzantium etc. (Ch 9)
• ‘Alexander’s wall’ was the Great Wall of China (Ch 9)
• Analysis of DNA from ancient specimens suggest that smallpox originated in about 600.  It may have been spread through north-western Europe as a result of the widespread travelling of Vikings. (Ch 8)
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions in the entry for 883 CE "an embassy sent to the shrine of St Thomas in ‘India/Indea’ by none other than Alfred the Great ... both St Thomas and St Bartholomew, who is also mentioned in the entry, appear to have been martyred in India ... There are documented Christian communities in India from the fifth century.” (Ch9)

So, despite not being astonished and amazed, this book was an enjoyable read, with plenty of interesting facts.

Selected quotes:

“Tracing the objects and materials that went back and forth, the routes they travelled on, and the people who took part in the transactions, is a bit like watching a drop of water running down an uneven windowpane: flowing downwards with gravity, changing path and direction if it uncovers a flaw in the glass, stopping when it reaches an insurmountable obstacle until its path is taken up again when joined by further drops that add the necessary momentum.” (Ch 9)

September 2023; 300 pages

This review was written by the author of Bally and Bro, Motherdarling  and The Kids of God

"Horned Helmet" by Henry Treece

 A Viking story, very similar to Treece's Viking's Dawn. Beorn, an orphaned Icelander, is 'adopted' by Vikings and grows up sharing the hardships of the Viking way of life. It's all about being a man and fighting bravely and ensuring that you face death with a smile.  Little thought is given to the lives of those who suffer these predatory sea-borne brigands. It is written in the style of the sagas and includes incidents from them and genuine period poetry. 

But there are moments when Treece encapsulates profundities in just a few words. For that, he must be reckoned a great writer.

Selected quotes:

• "Greek ... was like trying to read the thorns in a bush." (Ch 4)
• "But it is against the will of the gods to let a man's days run too smoothly with laughter. It is the sort of pattern they will not weave, even though warp and weft seem set to pass the cloth out clean from the loom." (Ch 11)
• "Though he was older now, he had known more mealtimes than meals in the time since he had left Iceland." (Ch 13)
• "Five times he was closer to death than the shod foot is to earth." (Ch 13)
• "If this place is too quiet for you, then you must do what many young hounds do, and go sniffing the hedgerows for yourself." (Ch 13)

A very boyish boys' own adventure. August 2021; 122 pages

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God

Also by Henry Treece

• The Viking trilogy: Viking's Dawn ,  The Road to Miklagard, and Viking's Sunset
• Legions of the Eagle: Romano-British adventure
• The Golden Strangers: A story from prehistory

"Viking's Sunset" by Henry Treece

Harald Sigurdson, whose Viking career has already been chronicled in Viking's Dawn and The Road to Miklagard, sets of on a voyage to revenge himself on a renegade Viking who has looted and burned Harald's own village. With his best mate Giant Grummoch and a crew of characters, he chases northwards to becomes the first Viking to visit Greenland and live with the Inuit; they then voyage on to North America.

As with the other books, this is concerned with bravery in battle and manliness. Cowardice and weakness are despised. Meeting a good death is everything. Women must stay at home, keep house and bring up children. It is a sobering reminder of the mindset not only of the Vikings but of writers for children as recently as 1960.

Some moments:

• "Thorfinn said, 'A poet must live, Harald'. Gudbrod said, 'Why'?" (Ch 10)
• "Before death, man stands alone, and no one may comfort him." (Ch 23)

A very macho boys' adventure story. August 2021; 176 pages

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God

Also by Henry Treece

• Horned Helmet: more Vikings
• Legions of the Eagle: Romano-British adventure
• The Golden Strangers: A story from prehistory

"Viking's Dawn" by Henry Treece

 The first part of a trilogy, this book follows the adventures of Harald Sigurdson, apprentice Viking, as he sails under Thorkell on the ship Nameless. They seek to steal treasure from other ships and coastal communities (this is a children's book so there is no rape) but they pay for it with the death of some of their comrades. There's a lot of death. There is treachery but there is also honour among thieves. There is also a lot of superstition: they take a treasure which is cursed and brings bad luck, two men meet one another in their dreams, there are monks and druids. 

Classically paced, the first quarter of the book takes place before the ship is launched, Harald's first killing is just after the half-way mark, and they meet the Christian holy man who will play a significant part in the climax at the three-quarters mark.

The hero is a young man thirsting for glory and fiercely loyal to his leader. One would hope that the character would develop over the course of the book as a result of some fairly traumatic experiences, but Harald is a hero to the end.

Many of the myths of the Vikings on which this book relies (eg that they wore horned helmets into battle) has been disputed. The book rather glamorises the Viking way of life.

Is it suitable for a children's book? Treece's Vikings are amoral, seeing might as right and stealing what they can. There is a lot of killing and a lot of death and these are lightly born: the general feeling being that the point of life is to have a 'good' death, preferably in battle. I suppose that may accurately reflect the attitude of people for whom life was full of unexpected death, in whose face they were relatively powerless: "You are but an ant crawling on a hunter's boot. That boot may carry you a long distance and you will think that life is good to you. Or it may crush you, then you will know no more." (Ch 5). It may also reflect the attitude of the time: it was written in 1955 so it probably reflects the attitudes of a man who served in World War II, though Treece was an RAF Intelligence officer rather than a soldier.

It is a classic boys' adventure story, almost devoid of women except as home-makers, but nowadays one might question what the subtext is. For example: "Ships be like any other creature. Show them who is master and they will obey; but once let them have the upper hand and they will run wild and break their backs in rebellion." (Ch 6)

Great moments:

• "Life is never sure, Harald. Whichever way a man turns, he thinks he might have done better to take the other path." (Ch 1)
• "A man who is troubled in his mind might bite and do hurt without intending it." (Ch 6)
• "These were old vikings, who knew the sea as a friend, an enemy, a grave." (Ch 6)

An easy read. August 2020; 176 pages

The series continues with:

• The Road to Miklagard
• Viking's Sunset

Also by Henry Treece

• Horned Helmet: more Vikings
• Legions of the Eagle: Romano-British adventure
• The Golden Strangers: A story from prehistory

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God

"From Saxons to Speed" by Ian Freeman

This is a history of Bedford from its beginnings as a Saxon burh until and including the John Speed map drawn in 1610. It makes the fascinating point that most of the roads going itno Bedford aim directly for where the town bridge is now (although some such as Cauldwell Street have subsequently been modified near the bridge and others such as Foster Hill Road have had parks or buildings plonked in their path): this implies that the bridge is where the old ford was.

It is an excellent local history with lots of drawings of street plans and old buildings and some photographic illustriaons too. Nevertheless, I found it hard to envisage exactly where some of the places he was talking about were (and I have lived in Bedford since 1987). So even more maps would have been useful.

There was one bit with which I disagreed. The treaty between Wessex king Alfred (the Great) and Viking Guthrun in about 888 negotiated a boundary between Wessex and Daneland. It travelled from the mouth of the river Lea where it enters the Thames (thus keeping the City of London inside Wessex) up the Lea to the source at Leagrave, then due north to Bedford, and then along the Ouse to Watling Street (now in Milton Keynes), and then northwards along Watling Street. What was to the north and east of this line was Guthrun's and what was to the south and west was Alfred's. This implies that Bedford north of the Ouse was in Viking hands. But this book states on p22 that Bedford (the town centre north of the river) was an Alfredian burh (a fortified township) even though it does not appear in the Burghal Hideage (an assessment of the garrison need for towns in Wessex) and claims that the rectilinear pattern of the roads confirms this. It then (p 23) states that according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 915 Alfred's son Edward the Elder took possession of Bedford from the Danes and commanded that a burh be built south of the river. Although tradition believes that the King's Ditch surrounded this southern burh the book points out that the earliest written reference to this is in the 16th century and suggests that it was simply a ditch to protect the bridgehead for the burh on the north of the river. Given that the Danes attempted (unsuccessfully) to retake Bedford in 917 this might also suggest that Bedford was a Danish town in Guthrun's Daneland until 915; if it was ever Saxon (and Matthew Paris in the 13th century claimed that Offa was buried in Bedford in 796) it was therefore ceded by Alfred to Guthrun. So I suggest that Bedford was a Mercian town, ceded by Alfred to Guthrun in 888, and incorporated into Wessex by Edward in 915.

Another fascinating mention:

• "Hooper's Hypothesis of hedgerow dating [suggests that] ... the age of a hedgerow is proportional to the number of different shrub species which can be identified in a 30m to 50m stretch ... each different species represents one century." (p 101)

A fascinating book for residents of this old town. The author has clearly done a great deal of original research. August 2018; 123 pages