by C. R. May
Eofer’s barrow at Snape again is a historical reality. Dated to the mid sixth century, earlier than the burial field at Sutton Hoo ten miles to the south, the mounds were excavated in the nineteenth century. One barrow contained a ship burial, smaller than the famous one at Sutton Hoo, but containing the bones of a man with a sword, glass claw beaker and a magnificent gold ring. Known simply as the Snape Ring and now kept at the British Museum, I made sure to include it in my tale as a gift from Icel to Eofer in the final scene alongside the glass beaker from his old friend and neighbour, Coelwulf.
Old Shuck, Blæcce shucca or Snarly yowl is a hell-hound, one of many such demons found in local folklore all over Britain. Many of you will recall the death of the British sea wolf in book three of my earlier Sword of Woden series and his curse on the Engles at his sacrifice and burial on the Haigh, present day Sutton Hoo. Their appearance is said to presage death and destruction and I thought that it would add not only a local flavour to the tale, but aid the continuity between the series’.
Despite the death of Eofer and his loyal hearth troop, there are enough loose threads remaining to weave a further tale. Eofer, Horsa, Osbeorn, Octa, Finn, Sæward and the youth will only fight again at the Ragnarök, but others remaining on Middle-earth are honour bound ride on their behalf.
Cliff May
East Anglia
June 2017
Characters
Ælfgar Eofering - Eofer’s second son.
Alyn - A British boatman on the Trenta.
Anna - A youth.
Astrid Hygelacsdottir - Wife of Eofer, sister to Heardred king of Geats.
Bassa - A youth.
Beonna - A member of Hemming’s hearth troop.
Beornwulf - A youth.
Blódulf - Blood-Wolf, the surviving bear shirt at the battle of Hreopedun.
Ceretic ap Cynfawr - Legate of Sawyl Penuchel, king of The Peaks.
Crawa - A youth, one of the dark twins.
Cueldgils - Son of Creoda, king of the Lindisware.
Cynfelyn - A British rustler, Ioan’s trusted right-hand-man.
Cynlas Goch - Cynlas the Red - King of the British kingdom of Powys.
Editha - Astrid’s thyften, her hand maid.
Einar Haraldson - A Geatish scout attached to Eofer’s war band.
Eofer Wonreding - king’s bane.
Eomær Engeltheowing - King of the English.
Feóndulf - Fiend-Wolf - A bear shirt killed at the battle of Hreopedun.
Finn - Eofer’s youth, raised to the position of duguth following Hemming’s departure.
Gildas - A British churchman. Later to become famous as the author of De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (The Ruin of Britain), one of the few contemporary accounts of events during the late fifth and early sixth centuries in Britain.
Grimwulf - A youth.
Gwynfor - A British spearman, friend and neighbour of Wihta.
Heardred Hygelacson - King of Geatland, Astrid’s brother.
Horsa - A duguth. Succeeds Hemming as Eofer's weorthman following his departure.
Hræfen - A youth, one of the dark twins.
Hrothmund Hrothgarson - A Danish ætheling, in exile in Britain.
Hryp - A member of Hemming’s hearth troop.
Icel Eomæring - Son of King Eomær of the Engles. The leader of the Iclings, the people who are fighting to establish the kingdom of Mercia.
Ioan - Leader of the British rustlers.
Octa - Eofer’s duguth.
Osbeorn - Eofer’s duguth.
Porta - A youth.
Sæward - Eofer’s duguth and shipmaster.
Sawyl Penuchel - Sawyl the Arrogant - King of the British kingdom of The Peaks.
Seaxwine - Son of Seaxwulf Strang, captured at Cair Luit Coyt.
Seaxwulf Strang - Seaxwulf the Strong - Leader of the Saxon federates.
Sigmund - Hemming’s weorthman.
Swinna - son of Wihta. Gifted Icel’s knife before the army leave Leircestre for Hreopedun.
Tewdwr - Owner of the taverna which bears his name in Leircestre.
Thrush Hemming - Eofer’s first weorthman. Later raised by
Icel to a thegn controlling the lands around Tamtun.
Weohstan Eofering - Son of Eofer. In Geatland at foster with his uncle, King Heardred.
Wealhtheow - Widow of King Hrothgar of Daneland and mother of Hrothmund.
Wihta - An Engle spearman. Father of Swinna, the best friend of his British neighbour, Gwynfor.
Wulf Wonreding - Eofer’s brother, a member of King Eomær’s personal guard, the gesith.
Places/Locations
Aldu - River Alde.
Alduburh - Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
Brunes Wald - Bromswold forest.
Bruidon - Breedon-on-the-Hill (Hill Hill-on-the-Hill!), Leicestershire.
Cair Luit Coyt - Wall, Staffordshire.
Canoc - Cannock Chase.
Colnecestre - Colchester, Essex.
Fleama - Fleam Dyke, Cambridgeshire.
Grantebrycge - Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.
Hafron - River Severn.
Hreopedun - Repton, Derbyshire.
Isca - Exeter, Devon.
Leir - River Soar.
Leircestre /Ratae - Leicester, Leicestershire.
Lindcylene - Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
Pencric - Penkridge.
Snæpe - Snape, Suffolk.
Snotingaham/Tigguocobauc - Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.
Tamesas - River Thames.
Tamtun - Now part of Tamworth, Staffordshire.
Tamworthy - Tamworth, Staffordshire.
Trenta - River Trent.
About the Author
I am writer of historical fiction, working primarily in the early Middle Ages. I have always had a love of history which led to an early career in conservation work. Using the knowledge and expertise gained we later moved as a family through a succession of dilapidated houses which I single-handedly renovated. These ranged from a Victorian townhouse to a Fourteenth Century hall, and I added childcare to my knowledge of medieval oak frame repair, wattle and daub and lime plastering. I have crewed the replica of Captain Cook’s ship, Endeavour, sleeping in a hammock and sweating in the sails and travelled the world, visiting such historic sites as the Little Big Horn, Leif Eriksson’s Icelandic birthplace and the bullet scarred walls of Berlin’s Reichstag.
Now I write, only a stone's throw from the Anglian ship burial site at Sutton Hoo in East Anglia.
ALSO BY C.R.MAY
BLOODAXE
THE RAVEN AND THE CROSS
SORROW HILL
WRÆCCA
MONSTERS
DAYRAVEN
TERROR GALLICUS
NEMESIS
FIRE & STEEL
GODS OF WAR
