by C. R. May
The attack on Erik’s hall at Solvi by Halfdan the Black really occurred, so the hall burnings and subterfuge were certainly not carried out solely by Erik as they are often portrayed. Another of the sagas, Orkneyinga Saga, contains the following line which supports this: “When they grew up the sons of Harald Fairhair turned out to be very arrogant and caused a lot of trouble in Norway, bullying the king’s jarls, killing some of them and driving others from their estates.”
King Harald did rouse himself for one final campaign in defence of his chosen heir and battle was avoided in the way I have written by the actions of a wandering skald named Guthorm Sindri. Whether he was really Oðin in disguise I will leave it to you to decide, but again it was just the type of thing that the god would be expected to do and he was the god of poetry after all.
The barrows of King Olav and King Gudrod can still be seen outside Tønsberg where they fell in battle against their half brother Erik, but as we have seen, even remote Norway did not exist in a vacuum. Other kings in foreign lands also schemed and plotted and Erik paid the price.
Although it is never mentioned in English sources, it seems very likely that Hakon Haraldsson was fostered at the court of the English king Athelstan and that his return at fifteen years of age was sponsored by the Christian king. Hakon’s forlorn attempts to introduce the religion to pagan Norway is another tale, but Sigurd Lade-Jarl was his strongest supporter and it seems to be true that Hakon had kinship to the jarl on his mother’s side. The horse fight and burning in of Bolli Sigurdsson I introduced to literally fan the flames of hatred felt by the jarl towards Erik, but it is as likely that the ties of kinship and a desire for a return to the old days of independence for the regions could have sufficed. Whether Sigurd was behind the restoration of allodial rights to the bonder is unknown, but all of our sources agree that this happened and that Erik’s support evaporated with it. Rather than fight an unwinnable war Erik chose exile, and it is to those adventures that we turn our attention next.
Thank you for buying and reading Bloodaxe. If you enjoyed my tale could I ask that you help spread the word by leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, social media or elsewhere? Even a line or two are enough to influence Amazon’s algorithms, it really does raise the profile of the book. Independent authors must survive without the advantages of publicity departments and agents, so it is the best way that you can support our efforts beyond the actual purchase itself. I read and appreciate every review and respond to all communication via my website, cliffordmay.com, usually within the day.
Cliff May
East Anglia
March 2018.
Characters
Anlaf Crow - Erik’s huskarl and banner man.
Arinbjorn Thorirsson - Son of Thorir hersir and Bergthora. Erik’s foster-brother.
Bergthora - Wife of Thorir hersir.
Bjorn Farman - Half brother of Erik and under king of the Vestfold.
Bolli Sigurdsson - Son of the jarl of Lade.
Erik Bloodaxe - Favoured son of Harald Fairhair.
Elk Kari - A hunter and guide in Fjordane.
Gauti Thorodsson - Styrisman on the Bison.
Gamli Eriksson - Erik and Gunnhild’s eldest son.
Gorm the Languid - King of Danes, later called Gorm the Old. Father of Gunnhild.
Gudrod Haraldsson - Succeeded his brother Halfdan as king of Trondelag. Killed at the battle of Tunsberg.
Gunnhild Gormsdottir - Erik’s wife. Daughter of King Gorm the Languid and sister to Harald Bluetooth.
Guthorm Sindri - A one-eyed itinerant skald.
Gytha Thorirsdottir - Sister of Arinbjorn.
Hakon Haraldsson - Fostered and sponsored by King Athelstan of England to return to Norway on Harald Fairhair’s death in an attempt to introduce Christianity to the kingdom.
Halfdan the Black - Erik’s half brother. Under king of the Trondelag.
Helgrim Smiter - Harald Fairhair’s leading huskarl. Leads the swine head charge at the Battle of Tunsberg.
Harald Eriksson - Erik and Gunnhild’s son.
Harald Fairhair - High King of Norway. Erik’s father.
Harald Bluetooth - Son of Gorm the Languid and brother to Gunnhild.
Helgi - Thorir hersir’s huskarl.
Horse Hair Gisli - Thorir hersir’s huskarl.
Hrolf the Ganger - A son of Rognvald Eysteinsson jarl of Moerr. Now settled at the mouth of the River Seine in West Frankia.
Kolbein Herjolfsson - Erik’s huskarl and styrisman on first the Isbjorn and then the Draki.
Olav Haraldsson - Under king of Ringerike. Killed at the Battle of Tunsberg.
Olvir - One of Erik’s hirdmen. A native of Vestfold.
Oswald Thane - Archbishop Wulfstan’s representative in Northumbria.
Ragnvald Straight-Boned - Warlock King of Hathaland, burned in by Erik.
Skipper Alf Karisson - Styrisman on the Fjord Ulf. Killed in battle at Perminia.
Sigurd Hakonsson - Jarl of Lade.
Sturla Godi - A Romsdaler. A member of Erik’s hird.
Svasi - King of Bjarmaland, father of the Harald Fairhair’s queen, Snofrid.
Thorfin Ketilsson - Styrisman on the Reindyr.
Thorir Hroaldsson - Hersir at Nausdal.
Thorstein Egilsson - Erik’s huskarl and prow man.
Ulfar Whistle Tooth - Styrisman on the Okse.
Wulfstan - Archbishop of York, Northumbria, England.
Places/Locations
Avaldsnes - Karmøy, Rogaland county, Norway.
Dofrar - Dovre, Oppland county, Norway.
Gulen/Gulathing - Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway.
Hafrsfjord - a fjord in the Stavanger Peninsula in Rogaland county, Norway.
Hestad - Gaular Municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway.
Hov - Oppland County, Norway.
Jelling - Vejle, Syddanmark, Denmark.
Jostrudal - Jostedal, Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway.
Kormt - Karmøy, Rogaland county, Norway.
Lade - now a district in Trondheim, Norway.
Landevennec - Landévennec, Finistère department, Brittany, France.
Lindesnes - Vest-Agder county, Sørlandet. The southernmost point on the Norwegian mainland.
Narvik - Nordland county, Norway.
Nausdal - Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway.
Perminia - Archangel, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia.
Solvi - Selvik, Midsund, Møre og Romsdal, Norway.
Saeheim - Sem, Vestfold county, Norway.
Tunsberg - Tønsberg, Vestfold county, Norway.
About the Author
I am an English writer of historical fiction, working primarily in the early Middle Ages. One day I was taken aside at work and told, ‘we don’t read Archaeology Monthly here. I don’t want to see you doing it again.’ In a moment of clarity/madness I realised that I agreed, resigned on the spot and never looked back.
I have always had a passion for history, and we moved as a family through a succession of dilapidated houses which I renovated before selling on to pay off the bills. These ranged from a Victorian townhouse to a Fourteenth Century hall, and I learned about medieval oak frame repair, lime plastering and childcare on the way. I 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, and Bloodaxe is my tenth novel, following on from the success of the concluding book in the bestselling king’s bane series, The Scathing.
cliffordmay.com
ALSO BY C.R.MAY
SORROW HILL
WRÆCCA
MONSTERS
DAYRAVEN
FIRE AND STEEL
GODS OF WAR
THE SCATHING
TERROR GALLICUS
NEMESIS
axe (Erik Haraldsson Book 1)
