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Description edit
In the middle years of the ninth-century, the fierce Danes stormed onto British soil, hungry for spoils and conquest. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the ruthless invaders until but one realm remained. And suddenly the fate of all England—and the course of history—depended upon one man, one... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Osbert - Uhtred: Second son of Ealdorman Uhtred. Renamed Uhtred after his older brother, Uhtred is killed by the Danes. Narrator of the story
- Ealdorman Uhtred: Lord of Bebbanburg castle. Killed by Ragnar the Dane
- Uhtred: First son of Ealdorman Uhtred. Killed by Ragnar
- Father Beocca: Ealdorman Uhtred's chaplain and in charge of teaching Uhtred to read and write
- Aella: Another Northumbrian ealdorman. Wanted Uhtred's castle and did not help him fight the Danes
- Aelfric: Uhtred's uncle. Wanted Uhtred killed so that he could inherit the Ealdorship
- Bebba: Bebbanburg queen
- Gytha: Uhtred's stepmother. Married Aelfric after Uhtred the father was killed by the Danes
- Saint Cuthbert: Gytha worshiped him
- Woden: Ancient Saxon battle god
- Ealdwulf: The smith at Bebbasburg. Escaped with Uhtred when it became clear that he was alive and Aelfric had stolen the aeldorship
- Ethelfrith: Queen Bebba's husband. Killed by the East Anglians
- Ragnar: Danish Earl. Killed Uhtred's family but adopted him and raised him as his son
- Ravn: Ragnar's father. Blind and wise. Also a poet
- Odin: Viking god. Also worshiped as Woden
- Ivar Lothbrok the Boneless: One of the three Danish Lothbrok earls who conquered Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, and tried to capture Wessex from Alfred
- Ubbar Lothbrok: One of the three Danish Lothbrok earls who conquered Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, and tried to capture Wessex from Alfred
- Earldorman Egbert: King of Northunbria in name only. In reality he was a puppet of the Danes
- Gudrum: Ravn's wife
- Sigrid: Ragnar's wife
- Ragnar the younger: Ragnar's son
- Rorik: Ragnar's younger son. Died from his ailments
- Kjartan: Commander of one of Ragnar's ships. Had a fallout with his lord
- Egil: Commanded the third of Ragnar's ships
- Sven: Kjartan's son. Always fighting Uhtred. Dared unclothe Thyra, Ragnar's daughter, thus causing animosity between the fathers
- Thor: Another Viking god
- Wulfhere: Eoferwic's Archbishop. Swore allegiance to the Vikings
- King Aethelred: King of Wessex. Died when his son was too young, so Alfred succeeded him to the throne
- Alfred: King of Wessex. Aethelred's brother
- Weland: Godfred's son
- Wind-Viper: Ragnar's ship
- Burghred: King of Mercia
- Aeswith: Alfred's wife
- Aethelbrid: Snotengaham's bishop
- Osferth: King Alfred's bastard son
- Storod: Askald - priest - that foretold the future for lord Ubba
- Aethelwood: King Aethelred's son and proper heir to the Wessex throne
- King Edmund: Ruler of East Anglia. Killed with arrows by the Danes because he would not submit to them. Declared a saint by the church
- Godrin: Left in East Anglia to rule for the Danes
- Ricsig: Ealdorman at Dunholm. Never attacked the Danes
- Aelfric the younger: Uhtred's cousin and Aelfric's son
- Wergold: The blood price of any man
- Earldorman Aethelwulf: Uhtred's uncle on his mother side. Ealdorman in Mercia
- Serpent-breath: Uhtred's sword
- Thiorbjorn (toki): Ragnar's shipmaster
- Halfdan: One of the three Danish Lothbrok earls who conquered Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, and tried to capture Wessex from Alfred
- Bagseg: One of the Danish earls that went to battle with Alfred at Wessex
- Sidroc: One of the Danish earls that went to battle with Alfred at Wessex
- Sidroc the younger: One of the Danish earls that went to battle with Alfred at Wessex. Sidroc's son
- Harald: One of the Danish earls that went to battle with Alfred at Wessex
- Fraena: One of the Danish earls that went to battle with Alfred at Wessex
- Osbern: One of the Danish earls that went to battle with Alfred at Wessex
- Guthrum the unlucky: One of the Danish earls that went to battle with Alfred at Wessex
- Aethelflaed: Alfred's daughter
- Aelswith: Alfred's wife
- Hewald: Winburman's Abbott where Alfred is sent to learn to read and write
- Willibald: Priest who's in charge of delivering Alfred to Abbott Hewald
- Brida: Rescued from the Wessex battle and taken by the Danes. Becomes Uhtred's best friend and lover
- Nihtgenga: Brida's dog
- Anwend: Was to become Thyra's husband before they are killed by Kjartan and Sven
- Wasp-Sting: Uhtred short sword
- Aethelred: Mercia's Ealdorman and Uhtred's uncle
- Tatwine: One of Aetheltred's captains
- Edward: King Alfred's son
- Heahengel: Uhtred's ship given by Alfred to command
- Wesferth: Heahengel's shipmaster
- Leofric: Lead Heahengel
- Ealdorman Hacca: Commanded Alfred's fleet
- Hroi: A Dane captured by the British fleet
- Thurkil: Hroi's lord, who served Guthrum
- Mildrith: A reece's daughter who marries Uhtred
- Swithun: A Bishop who was the subject of Father Beocca's book. The Father wanted he bishop to be canonized
- Ealdorman Odda: Mildrith's godfather and her keeper
- Odda the young: Odda's son who had an interest in Mildrith
- Uhtred: Uhtred's son with Mildrith
- Walla: Alfred's cousin killed by Guthrum
- Edon: Lead the men who helped Uhtred to victory against Ubba
Quotes edit
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“I am Uhtred, son of Uhtred, son of another Uhtred, and we had not held Bebbanburg and its lands by whimpering at altars. We are warriors.”
Uhtred
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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Start your killers young, before their consciences are grown. Start them young and they will be lethal.
Highlighted by 46 Kindle customers -
We are all lonely and all seek a hand to hold in the darkness. It is not the harp, but the hand that plays it.
Highlighted by 34 Kindle customers -
War is fought in mystery. The truth can take days to travel, and ahead of truth flies rumor, and it is ever hard to know what is really happening, and the art of it is to pluck the clean bone of fact from the rotting flesh of fear and lies.
Highlighted by 34 Kindle customers -
An army, I learned in time, needs a head. It needs one man to lead it, but give an army two leaders and you halve its strength.
Highlighted by 27 Kindle customers -
“You can’t live somewhere,” he told me, “if the people don’t want you to be there. They can kill our cattle or poison our streams, and we would never know who did it. You either slaughter them all or learn to live with them.”
Highlighted by 26 Kindle customers -
“A leader leads,” Ragnar said, “and you can’t ask men to risk death if you’re not willing to risk it yourself.”
Highlighted by 24 Kindle customers -
“Arrows of insight have to be winged by the feathers of speculation.”
Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers -
The preachers tell us that pride is a great sin, but the preachers are wrong. Pride makes a man, it drives him, it is the shield wall around his reputation and the Danes understood that. Men die, they said, but reputation does not die. What do we look for in a lord? Strength, generosity, hardness, and success, and why should a man not be proud of those things? Show me a humble warrior and I will see a corpse.
Highlighted by 19 Kindle customers -
The poets, when they speak of war, talk of the shield wall, they talk of the spears and arrows flying, of the blade beating on the shield, of the heroes who fall and the spoils of the victors, but I was to discover that war was really about food. About feeding men and horses. About finding food. The army that eats wins.
Highlighted by 19 Kindle customers -
Wergild was the blood price of a man’s life, and every person had a wergild. A man’s was more than a woman’s, unless she was a great woman, and a warrior’s was greater than a farmer’s, but the price was always there, and a murderer could escape being put to death if the family of the murdered man would accept the wergild. The reeve was the man who enforced the law, reporting to his ealdorman, but that whole careful system of justice had vanished since the Danes had come.
Highlighted by 10 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
- Mercia
- Northumbria
- England
- Bebbanburg
- Eoferwic: York
- Ireland
- Readingum
- Cynuit: An ancient Iron Age fort, scene of the final battle
- Lundene
- Denmark
- Wales
- Gewæsc
- Synningthwait
- Pedredan
- Cippanhamm
- Snotengaham
- Exanceaster
- Frankia
- Baðum
- Ceruphin
- Heilincigae
Organizations edit
- The Devonshire Fyrd: The force raised by Oddo to defend Devonshire.
First Sentence edit
My name is Uhtred.
Themes & Symbolism edit
- The Raven: Ubba's totem featured on his battle flag.
- The three spinners were making my fate: Describe this theme.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 1 of 6 in The Saxon Stories. (standard series)
Followed by The Pale Horseman.
Authors & Contributors edit
- Bernard Cornwell (Author)
Other Contributors:
- Libertad Aguilera (Translator)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Harper
Country: United States
Publication Date: January 25, 2005
ISBN: 0754099954
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harper
Country: United States
Publication Date: January 25, 2005
ISBN: 0754099954
Page Count: 352
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 823.914
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Links to Supplemental Material edit
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