‘No! No! You think I would act from venery?’ He shakes his head and gentles me with his hands, stroking my cheek, my hair, my shoulders. ‘You think I would leave my brother and my countrymen that I had longed for all my life just for silver!’
‘What then? I know you would have had a good, an honourable reason.’
I tell him then, in a great relieved rush, the whole story of Thorgils and Aina and their child and Olafr’s fury and how I had persuaded Melisende to help me, because there was no help for it. ‘I’m so sorry,’ I begin, but he puts his fingers to my lips.
‘No. No sorries, Aina, my love,’ he says with the greatest gentleness. ‘I know that you did this for love of your brother and your friend. I know that you did not intend any harm to me or deceive me for malice.’
I shake my head desperately.
‘I cannot but love you Aina-Sigrid,’ he says smiling and I know that everything will be alright as the weight of my deception drops from me like the heaviest anchor plummeting into the deepest sea and wallows down there in the deeps where I can no longer see it and I weep loudly against his chest, shaking and soothed. ‘I have been a Viking serpent in your breast,’ I moan and hear a strangled noise from Guy. I look up to see he is trying, unsuccessfully, to smother a great fit of laughter, and then I am laughing with him and swallowing my salty tears.
37
Kelda Ey
1009
On Kelda Ey a ship from Dublin has come into harbour bringing news that Angharad is to wed Llewlyn of Powys and they mean to challenge usurpers in Dyfed for her father’s kingdom. The ship also carries a package from Normandy for Aina that comes from Sigrid in Limoges. Aina unwraps the layers of packaging, thinking that Sigrid has gone to great pains to keep its contents safe on the voyage and how like her to be so over-careful. Inside is a letter in Occitan and a parchment scroll in Latin in an unknown hand. Aina reads aloud the title of the scroll: ‘Ademari Cabannensis, Chronicon, Liber Tertius, Capitula XLIV.’ She looks up at Thorgils. ‘It says Ademar of Chabannes, Chronicle, Book Three.’
She frowns at him perplexed as to why Sigrid has sent this to her, and shrugging her shoulders, she begins to slowly read the Latin text. After a while she begins to laugh. ‘Listen to this, Thorgils! It is written here:
Aina of Ségur was kidnapped by Vikings from the monastery of Saint Michel en l’Herm and held hostage for three years abroad until Viscount Guy of Limoges paid a huge ransom and then, the Viscountess was returned and conveyed to her marriage in Limoges by Richard, son of the Duke of Normandy and an escort of the best Norman warriors.
She glances at him and continues: ‘And in her letter Sigrid writes: “See Aina we are not unsung, just wrong sung! And we can’t blame anyone but ourselves for that.”’
Thorgils smiles with Aina, watches her read and re-read both the parchment and the letter and watches her expression change.
‘I will never see Sigrid again will I?’
Thorgils knows that Aina weather this morning will be bleak and grey. ‘I don’t think we will see her, no, much as we long to.’
‘I would have liked her to meet Ulf.’
‘She has met him in her heart and in her mind’s eye.’
This kind of Aina weather is best left to pass over in its own time and so he leaves her alone in the hall, while he goes down to the beach to carry on the work on the ships he has in hand. Carrying out these tasks that he knows so well always gives him good thinking time.
‘Come on, Aina,’ Thorgils says, rousing her from the bed. ‘Get dressed. I want you to see something.’
Thorgils leads Aina up the beacon hill. They reach the top and Aina holds her hand flat between her breasts, catching her breath after the long climb. She looks around at the stupendous view that is now so familiar and she remembers running up here with Sigrid on their first day on the island, whirling round and round. ‘I came here with Sigrid often,’ she says.
‘I know. Look over there.’ Thorgils points to the headland.
Aina looks where he is pointing. There is a new standing stone, the height of a woman. She glances at Thorgils in wonder and runs over to the stone. She traces its snaking runes with her fingertips slowly translating them in her head, making sure she has them right and then she laughs aloud, throws both arms around Thorgils and hugs him with all her strength so that he groans, ‘Oof!,’ as she punches the air from him.
Over his shoulder she sees that the snake shape of the runes mimicks Sigrid’s serpent brooch. ‘Thank you,’ she says fiercely, looking into his freckled face and holding the gaze of his seagreen eyes. ‘Oh Thorgils! You can feel the vehemence of life up here, a vehemence that you, me, Sigrid and Olafr have known!’
He laughs at her delight and kisses her. Aina pushes him away and walks to the very edge of the cliff so that he has to put his fingers into her belt in fear for her, and she shouts out the runes that Thorgils has carved on the standing stone, out to the sea, into the wind:
‘Thorgils Thorolfsson and Aina Ademarsdottir raised this stone for the courage of their sister Sigrid Thorolfsdottir, who went on the Swan Road and lived with the Franks as a secret Viking and a free woman!’
Historical Note
In 1028 the monk Adémar of Chabannes, who lived in the monasteries of Saint Martial in Limoges and Saint Cybard in Angoulême, completed his Chronicle of Aquitaine and France. The Chronicle described the kidnap of Emma of Ségur (or Aina in this novel), wife or betrothed wife of Guy of Limoges. Adémar reported that Emma was kidnapped by Vikings from Saint Michel en l’Herm monastery and held hostage overseas for three years before Viscount Guy could raise and pay her ransom. The Chronicle also described the marriage of Guy’s sister, Adalmode of Limoges, to Audebert of La Marche who had been imprisoned for a long period of time in her father’s dungeon. Adémar of Chabannes’ elliptical accounts of these two historical events were the starting points for this novel.
Most of the noble characters in this story of late 10th and early 11th century Europe, focussing on Aquitaine (modern south west France) and Dyfed (Pembrokeshire in modern Wales), principal events such as marriages, wars and deaths, and the contacts between Scandinavians, Franks and Welsh are based on the lives of real historical people. Which Vikings kidnapped Emma of Ségur, where she was held, and what happened to her during that time is not recorded. Before he became King of Norway, some sources have Olafr Tryggvason sold into slavery with Thorgils Thorolfsson. Sigrid Thorolfsdottir, however, is a fictional character, as are all the characters who are not noble-born. The story draws on historical research, but this is nevertheless a historical novel rather than a history and much of the detail and all of the psychology and emotions are imagined.
There is some disagreement amongst historians over the identity of Duke Guillaume V of Aquitaine’s first wife Adalmode. Adémar of Chabannes, the primary source, informs us that she was Adalmode of Limoges, sister of Viscount Guy of Limoges, and widow of Audebert of La Marche. Pierre de Maillezais, however, writing in 1060 claimed that she was the daughter of Adelais-Blanche of Anjou and a number of later historians have followed this identification (Bachrach, 1993) and assumed that Audebert’s first wife, the sister of Guy of Limoges, died and Adalmode was his second wife and Fulk’s cousin. Cawley (Medlands) and Settipani (2004) argue that Stasser (1997) disproved this. I have worked on the assumption that she was Guy’s sister and Audebert’s only wife. The history of this period is a moveable feast and many ‘facts’ about it are debateable, with an abundance of documents being forgeries – not least some by Adémar of Chabannes – the main chronicler for 10th and 11th century Aquitaine, who was notorious for forging the life of a saint and supposed apostle.
The Swan Road was a Norse kenning meaning the sea. One sea route, frequently used by Norwegian raiders and traders, came from Norway skirting Scotland and the islands, threading down past the Isle of Man, between Ireland and Wales, past the Scilly Isles, towards the island of Noirmoutier, and down to the coast of Aquitaine.
&nb
sp; Place-names, archaelogical finds and scanty written accounts evidence Viking raids, bases and settlements along the Pembrokeshire coast. The Vikings knew Wales as Bretland and named the Welsh inhabitants, the Bretar. Kelda Ey is a fictional mix of the real islands of Caldey and Skomer which were occupied by Vikings in the 10th century. Caldey was known as Kelda Ey – Island of the Spring – to its Viking inhabitants, or Kaldr Ey – Cold Island. Llanteulyddog is an old name for Carmarthen. Dinbych-y-psygod is the Welsh name for Tenby. The Viking raiders, mercenaries and settlers undoubtedly played some part in the unstable dynastic rule in Dyfed, and in depicting them I have tried to unpick the demonisation or romanticisation that often imbues accounts of Vikings, to portray them in feasible relationships with people from other cultures.
This was a period of Christian evangelism. The Dukes of Normandy were descended from marauding Vikings who had so successfully harassed the King of France that he ceded Normandy to them. In the 10th century they were consolidating their power, shifting from their pagan beliefs to Christianity, and integrating with their reluctant Frankish hosts. Olafr Tryggvason was purported to have accelerated the slow process of converting Norway and its colonies in Iceland and Greenland to Christianity, although this is disputed as heroic legend by some historians. There is a particularly enjoyable dismantling of the legends surrounding Olafr written by Gwyn Jones (1968) where he argues that we cannot believe in the story of Tryggvason’s slavery.
As Wendy Davies points out ‘sovereignty is not a concept which has much applicability in the early middle ages’ (Davies, 1990, p. 16) and this is true of both Aquitaine and Dyfed with various lords violently, or through negotiation and marriage, vying for control and expansion. In the 10th and 11th centuries the southern counties of France were effectively independent of the northern French king and ruled by various Dukes and Counts. The novel covers the period of time in which the Carolingian line of Kings, descended from Charlemagne, came to an end. In Wales Kings and Princes vyed with their own kin for control of territories, and contested with Viking invaders and encroaching Anglo-Saxon forces.
The early Middle Ages was a surprisingly international experience for some people: sailors, soldiers, traders, pilgrims, missionary priests, slaves, and some brides. All Scandinavian peoples (who we now distinguish as Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, Finns) spoke mutually intelligible forms of Old Norse. Matthew Townend argues that Old English and Old Norse were also mutually intelligible (2002). Old Welsh would have been understood by Cornish and Breton speakers. Children born to Welsh slave mothers and Norse fathers might well have been bi-lingual.
This was a highly stratified and unequal society. Slavery was a flourishing trade until at least the 12th century and there was still a high demand for slaves at the turn of the 11th century and little attempt by Church or State to intervene. From the 9th century some elements in the Church tried to suppress the sale of Christians into pagan territories but this was motivated by a concern for souls rather than any notion of inhumanity during the lifetimes of those unfortunate enough to find themselves enslaved due to birth, capture in war, raiding, destitution, or as a sentence for a crime.
The meaning of the term hostage in the Middle Ages was different from our contemporary understanding (Kosto, 2012). Now we would consider someone kidnapped and taken for ransom as a hostage, but in medieval Europe that person was a prisoner and a kidnap victim but not a hostage. Similarly Audebert, imprisoned for a crime, was a prisoner and not a hostage. A medieval hostage was given as surety for a promise. A prisoner was taken, a hostage was given. There could be some blurring when for instance a person was kidnapped and held for ransom and then released in exchange for another person, a hostage, as the guarantee of future payment by the original prisoner.
I have drawn on a wide range of literary and historical sources published in contemporary English and French, from translations of Adémar of Chabannes writing in the 11th century and Snorri Sturlsson writing in the 13th century, to recent historical scholarship including Bernard Bachrach, Eric Christiansen, Wendy Davies, James Graham-Campbell, Judith Jesch, Gwyn Jones, Kari Maund, Mark Redknap, Peter Sawyer, Christian Settipani, and many others. Some key sources are listed in the Selected Bibliography.
Amongst the historical people my characters are based on: Adalmode of Limoges, Duchess of Aquitaine, died in childbirth shortly after the period covered by this novel; Guillaume, Duke of Aquitaine, had two subsequent wives and a long reign; Adalmode and Audebert’s son Bernard, held the county of La Marche through turbulent times; Fulk went on many penitential pilgrimages and was a strong ruler in Anjou; Angharad’s husband and son were amongst the most successful of the Welsh princes; Guy ruled Limoges until his death in 1025; and his wife, the Viscountess, died the following year. Count Audebert of La Marche and Périgord and Adalmode of Limoges were the grandparents of Almodis of La Marche who is the heroine of my first novel, Almodis: The Peaceweaver (Impress Books, 2011).
Genealogies
Genealogies for characters in the novel (shown in bold) who are based on real historical people. Dates of accession to titles are shown. These are selected rather than comprehensive genealogies (not all of Harald Finehair’s wives are shown for instance.)
CAROLINGIAN KINGS
CAPETS
KINGS OF NORWAY
KINGS of DEHEUBARTH (South West Wales)
LIMOGES HOUSEHOLD/SÉGUR HOUSEHOLD
LA MARCHE HOUSEHOLD
AQUITAINE HOUSEHOLD
ANJOU HOUSEHOLD
NORMANDY HOUSEHOLD
Selected Bibliography
The epigraphs at the beginning of the three parts are from the following sources:
Part One: Adalbero of Laon, quoted in Fichtenau, Heinrich (1991) Living in the Tenth Century, transl. Patrick J. Geary, London: University of Chicago, p. 403.
Part Two: Edmund Spenser, ‘Amoretti LXXV: One Day I Wrote Her Name upon the Strand,’ Smith, J.C. & de Selincourt, E., eds. (1977) Spenser: Poetical Works, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 575.
Part Three: Anonymous, from the Poetic Edda, translated in Jesch, Judith (2013) Viking Poetry of Love and War, London: British Museum, p. 70.
In Chapter 26 Guy’s description of spring in Aquitaine is a quotation from Freda White’s wonderful book: White, Freda (1984) Three Rivers of France: Dordogne, Lot, Tarn, London: Faber & Faber.
Some of the primary sources I looked at were:
(1912) The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, trans. Rev. James Ingram and Dr J. A. Giles, London: Everyman, online at http://omacl.org/Anglo/
Annales Cambriae (The Annals of Wales) 447–954, online at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/
annalescambriae.asp
De Chabannes, Adémar (2003) Chronique, 3 vols., trans. Yves Chauvin et Georges Pon, Turnhout: Brepols.
Dudo of St Quentin, Gesta Normannorum, 1015, online at
http://theorb.net/orb_done/dudo/dudintro.html
Fanning, Steven and Bachrach, Bernard S. (2004) The Annals of Flodoard of Reims 919–966, Orchard Park: Broadview Press.
Giles, J. A. (2000) Gildas, Ontario: In parenthesis.
Some of the other significant sources I looked at were:
Abel, Mickey (2012) ‘Emma of Blois as Arbiter of Peace and the Politics of Patronage’ in Martin, Therese, ed. (2012) Reassessing the Roles of Women as ‘Makers’ of Medieval Art and Architecture, Leiden/Boston: Brill, pp. 823–861.
Ackroyd, Peter (2012) The History of England Volume I: Foundations, London: Pan.
Adams, Jonathan and Holman, Katherine (2004) Scandinavia and Europe 800–1350: Contact, Conflict, and Coexistence, Turnhout: Brepols.
Bachrach, Bernard S. (1993) Fulk Nerra: The Neo-Roman Consul 987–1040 – A Political Autobiography of the Angevin Count, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cawley, Charles, Medieval Lands: A Prosopography of Medieval European Noble and Royal Families, online at
http://fmg.ac/Projects/Medlands
Christensen, Eric (20
06) The Norsemen in the Viking Age, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Davies, Wendy (1990) Patterns of Power in Early Wales, Oxford: Clarendon.
Duby, Georges and Goldhammer, Arthur (1993) A History of Private Life: Revelations of the Medieval World, Boston: Harvard University Press.
Fletcher, Richard (1998) The Conversion of Europe from Paganism to Christianity 371–1386 AD, London: Fontana.
Graham-Campbell, James (2001) The Viking World, London: Frances Lincoln.
Hadley, Dawn M. (2006) The Vikings in England: Settlement, Society and Culture, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Herlihy, David (1985) Medieval Households, London: Harvard University Press.
Jesch, Judith (2001) Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age, Woodbridge: Boydell Press.
Jesch, Judith (1991) Women in the Viking Age, Woodbridge: Boydell Press.
Jones, Gwyn (1968) W.P. Ker Lecture: The Legendary History of Olaf Tryggvason, Glasgow: University of Glasgow.
Jones, Gwyn (2001) A History of the Vikings, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kosto, Adam (2012) Hostages in the Middle Ages, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Landes, Richard (1995) Relics, Apocalypse and the Deceits of History: Adémar of Chabannes 989–1034, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Lavergne, Maurice de Bony de (1965) Une Descendence des Seconds Rois d’Austrasie les Vicomtes de Limoges, Dordogne: Clairvivre.
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