Tag: M J Porter

I’m sharing a blog post about Penda, king of the Mercians.

Penda of Mercia

Penda of Mercia is famous for many things, including killing two Northumbrian kings throughout his life. He’s also famous for being a pagan at a time when Roman Christianity was asserting itself from the southern kingdom of Kent. But who was he?

Who was Penda of Mercia?

Penda’s origins are unclear. We don’t know when he was born or where he came from, although it must be assumed he was a member of a family from which the growing kingdom of Mercia might look for its kings. He’s often associated with the subkingdom of the Hwicce, centered around Gloucester. The later source, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written at least two hundred and fifty years after his life records,

626 ‘And Penda had the kingdom for 30 years; and he was 50 years old when he succeeded to the kingdom.’ ASC A p24

626 ‘And here Penda succeeded to the kingdom, and ruled 30 years.’ ASC E p25

Knowing, as we do, that he died in 655, this would have made Penda over eighty years old at his death, a fact that is much debated. Was his age just part of the allure of the legend? A mighty pagan warrior, fighting well into his eighties? Sadly, we may never know the truth of that, but it is disputed, and there are intricate problems with the sources that boggle the brain.

Hædfeld, Maserfeld and Winwæd

Suffice it to say, we don’t know Penda’s age or origins clearly, but we do know that he was involved in three very famous battles throughout the middle years of the seventh century, that at Hædfeld in 632/33 fought somewhere close to the River Don, in which King Edwin of Northumbria was killed. That of Maserfeld, in 641/2 in which King Oswald of Northumbria was killed, close to Oswestry, not far from today’s Welsh border. And Penda’s final battle, that of Winwæd in 655 in which he was killed while fighting in the north, perhaps close to Leeds. While these are the battles we know a great deal about, thanks to the writings of Bede and his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a Northumbrian monk, with an interest in Northumbria’s religious conversion, who completed his work in 731, Penda was a warrior through and through. He fought the kingdoms to the south, the West Saxons, or Wessex as we might know it. He fought in the kingdom of the East Angles. He allied with Welsh kings. He meddled in affairs in Northumbria, and had he not died in 655, it is possible that Northumbria’s Golden Age would have ended much sooner than it did. His son married a Northumbrian princess. His daughter married a Northumbrian prince. Penda was either brokering an alliance with Northumbria or perhaps using marriage as a means of assimilating a kingdom that he was clear to overrun. 

Bede

Our narrator of Penda’s reign, is sadly a Christian monk writing up to seventy years after his death. His commentary is biased, and his story is focused on the triumph of religion and Northumbria, probably in that order. And yet, as Bede’s work was coming to its conclusion, even he understood that the Golden Age of Northumbria was coming to an end. A later king, Æthelbald, related not to Penda, but to his brother, Eowa, killed at the battle of Maserfeld, although whether fighting beside his brother or for the enemy is unknown, was the force in Saxon England at the time. How those words must have burned to write when Bede couldn’t skewer the contemporary narrative as he might have liked.

But while Penda’s reign is so closely tied to the words of Bede, our only real source from the period in Saxon England, although there are sources that exist from Wales and Ireland, Penda’s achievements aren’t to be ignored.

Penda’s reputation

Recent historians cast Penda in a complimentary light. D.P. Kirby calls him ‘without question the most powerful Mercian ruler so far to have emerged in the Midlands.’ Frank Stenton has gone further, ‘the most formidable king in England.’ While N J Higham accords him ‘a pre-eminent reputation as a god-protected, warrior king.’ These aren’t hastily given words from men who’ve studied Saxon England to a much greater degree than I have. Penda and his reputation need a thorough reassessment.

After his death, his children ruled after him, but in time, it was to his brother’s side of the family that later kings claimed their descent, both King Æthelbald and King Offa of the eighth-century Mercian supremacy are said to have descended from Eowa.

Check out the Gods and Kings page for more information.

I’m sharing a blog post about what we do and don’t know about warfare in the Saxon era. #GodsAndKingsTrilogy #histfic #PaganKing

I’m sharing a blog post about what we do and don’t know about warfare in the Saxon era. #GodsAndKingsTrilogy #histfic #PaganKing

Here’s the blurb for Pagan King

Britain. AD641.

The year is AD641, and the great Oswald of Northumbria, bretwalda over England, must battle against an alliance of the old Britons and the Saxons led by Penda of the Hwicce, the victor of Hæ∂feld nine years before, the only Saxon leader seemingly immune to Oswald’s beguiling talk of the new Christianity spreading through England from both the north and the south.

Alliances will be made and broken, and the victory will go to the man most skilled in warcraft and statecraft.

The ebb and flow of battle will once more redraw the lines of the petty kingdoms stretching across the British Isles.

There will be another victor and another bloody loser.

books2read.com/PaganKing

Warfare during the Saxon period. What we know and what we don’t know about the battle of Hædfeld.

Thanks to some spectacular archaeological finds, we can visualise how a Saxon warrior might have looked. The reconstructions of the Sutton Hoo helm, and that found with the Staffordshire Horde (as well as a few others), present us with elaborate helmets crested with dyed-horse hair in a way very reminiscent of the Roman era. They glitter, and they seem to be festooned in gold and silver work, but whether these were actually worn in battle or not is debatable. Firstly, they would have made the kings or noblemen very noticeable to their enemy. Secondly, they were so valuable it’s impossible to consider the loss of one of them should they fall and their goods be taken by their enemy. Bad enough for their king and leader to die in battle, but to also lose such precious wealth as well seems unlikely. That said, of course, the Sutton Hoo helm was buried, and the fragments of the Staffordshire Hoard helmet were buried and lost. An image of the Staffordshire Helmet can be found here: https://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/pmag/collections/archaeology/the-staffordshire-hoard/

The monograph on the Staffordshire Hoard is also available for free download from https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/39941

But there is another reason why these helmets might have existed, and that’s because they were for ceremonial purposes. Kings, before the reign of Athelstan (925-937) are not known to have undergone consecration with a crown but rather with a helmet. After all, they were warrior kings. Perhaps then, these survivals are more akin to that worn by a warrior-king when appearing before his people or for ceremonial reasons.

What then might have been the more usual garb for a warrior of the Saxon era, which at nearly six hundred years is bound to offer some variations? Shield, spear, seax, sword and byrnie. We get a feel for these items and how valuable they were from wills that survive from the later Saxon era, hundreds of years after the events of Pagan Warrior. Ealdormen had horses, both saddled and unsaddled, shields, spears, swords, helmets, byrnies, seax, scabbards and spears. The will of Æthelmær, an ealdorman in the later tenth century, records that he’s granting his king, ‘four swords and eight horses, four with trappings and four without, and four helmets and four coats of mail and eight spears and eight shields,’[1] as part of his heriot, a contentious term for something that some argue was an eleventh-century development, and others argue, is merely reflecting earlier practice on the death of a man.

There would also have been thegns and king thegns, who had their own weapons, as well as the men of the fyrd, the free-men who could be called upon to perform military service each year, as and when required. It’s often assumed they would have been less well-armed, although this begs the question of whether kings and their warrior nobility were prepared to sacrifice those they relied on to provide them with food to gain more wealth. They might have found themselves with the money to pay for food but without the opportunity to do so.

There are very few representations of warriors, but the surviving strands of the Gododdin, a sixth-century lament to the fallen of Catraeth gives an idea of how these warrior men thought of one another. There is much talk of killing many enemies, drinking mead, and being mourned by those they leave behind.

Flickr user “Portable Antiquities Scheme”, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

Battle tactics from the period are impossible to determine fully. Before writing my books which are blood-filled and violent, I read a fascinating account, by a military historian, on how he thought the Battle of Hastings might have been won or lost. The overwhelming sense I came away from the book with was that local features, hillocks, streams, field boundaries even perhaps the path of a sheep track might well be the very thing that won or lost a battle for these opposing sides. The land that kings chose to go to war on was incredibly important,

When trying to reconstruct the battlefield for the battle of Hædfeld, which concludes Pagan Warrior, I encountered a problem that will be familiar to writers of the Saxon era. The place where the battle is believed to have taken place, on the south bank of the River Don (although this has been disputed and work continues to discover whether the other location could be the correct one), has been much changed by later developments. It was drained in the 1600s and therefore, it doesn’t look today as it would have done when the battle took place. 

I had very little information to work on. The River Don, the River Idle, the River Ouse, the belief that the ground would have been marshy, and that many men fell in the battle. And the words of Bede in his Ecclesiastical History, ‘A great battle being fought in the plain that is called Heathfield.’[2] Much of the rest is my imagination.

[1] Dorothy Whitelock, Anglo-Saxon Wills 1930, reprinted edition. Cambridge University Press. p27

[2] http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book2.asp

Posts

It’s cover reveal day for Clash of Kings, book 3 in the Bruanburh Series

Here’s the blurb

Can the Norse and the Scots exact their revenge over the mighty King Athelstan of the English?

AD937

After the slaughter field of Brunanburh, a defeated Olaf Gothfrithson of the Dublin Norse and Constantin of the Scots narrowly escaped with their lives. In their kingdoms, failure has left them demoralised and weak.

Olaf licks his wounds in Dublin, whilst Constantin and the Welsh kingdoms who defied King Athelstan, are once more forced to bend the knee. As Athelstan’s reputation grows stronger day by day, their need to exact revenge on the overmighty and triumphant Athelstan has never been greater. 

Olaf sets his sights on reclaiming the lost kingdom of Jorvik only for tragedy to strike at the heart of England and a reluctant new King, Edmund steps in the fray.

While England mourns the death of their warrior King, her enemies gather on her borders and England stands alone against the might of the Norse, Welsh and Scots. 

Can the new King be victorious and banish her enemies once and for all or will England, and its king lose all that’s been gained and succumb to a new pretender? 

Preorder Link

books2read.com/clashofkings

Check out the first two books in the series, King of Kings and Kings of War

Spotify Premium Subscriber? You can now listen to 15 hours of some of my audio books each month included in your subscription in the UK and Australia

I know I shared that many of my audiobooks are now available on Spotify, well now it’s even better for Premium Subscribers in the UK and Australia, as you can listen to up to 15 hours of audiobooks each month, included in your subscription. That’s enough hours to listen to any of my audios in their entirety. (I have been a premium subscriber for more years than I care to remember – we have a family subscription which is great until one of us forgets their log-in and logs-in using the wrong persons details:).

I know it’s all quite new at the moment, and therefore, not all of the titles are included – I’ve also noticed that not all of my titles are showing under my profile, and I’m trying to correct this. But, you can find all of my audios from Boldwood Books on Spotify, as well as Warrior King. But you will need to search for Son of Mercia, Wolf of Mercia, Kings of War and Warrior King separately until I can get them attached to my profile.

I understand that Spotify US will be following soon.

It’s the anniversary of the battle of Hædfeld, and I’m sharing a post about Britain in the Seventh Century

Here’s the blurb

Britain. AD632.

Penda, a warrior of immense renown, has much to prove if he is to rule the Mercian kingdom of his dead father and prevent the neighbouring king of Northumbria from claiming it.

Unexpectedly allying with the British kings, Penda races to battle the alliance of the Northumbrian king, unsure if his brother stands with him or against him as they seek battle glory for themselves, and the right to rule gained through bloody conquest.

There will be a victor and a bloody loser, and a king will rise from the ashes of the great and terrible battle of Hædfeld.

books2read.com/PaganWarrior

(Nook readers, use code BNPWARRIOR75 to get 75% off the ebook cost)

Britain in the Seventh Century – a patchwork of kingdoms

One of the hardest processes when writing about this very early period of Britain is to get an idea of what the kingdoms might have looked like and to explain this to the reader. The seventh century is often seen as the period when the Heptarchy, the seven very well-known kingdoms of the Saxon period, emerged and formed, ultimately derived from potentially very many much smaller kingdoms, the names of which are only rarely still known.

The Heptarchy consisted of the kingdoms of Northumbria (itself derived from the uniting of Deira and Bernicia), Mercia, the kingdom of the East Angles, Wessex, Sussex, Kent, and Essex. In later centuries, these kingdoms would merge until only four main kingdoms remained, and then, from the early middle of the tenth century, England emerged. But the battle of Hædfeld with which Pagan Warrior concludes was a British-wide battle set as this process was formalising in the seventh century, and there are yet more kingdoms that must be mentioned which didn’t form part of Saxon England.

Scotland didn’t yet exist, but Dal Riata, Pictland and Alt Clut (sometimes called Strathclyde) did. Wales didn’t exist, although the kingdoms of Gwynedd, Deheubarth, Ceredigion and Powys did, The kingdom of Dumnonia (modern-day Cornwall), was also in existence and very much not part of Saxon England. Indeed, these kingdoms are often termed British, as opposed to Saxon. As someone woeful at geography – I purposefully don’t adopt the names of places from this period because it confuses me – I’m only too well aware of how much I’m asking from my reader as it is without adding weird place names to already strange sounding personal names, and yet it was necessary to add a whole host of strange names, which often, have no relation to the current names of counties, let alone kingdoms.

All of these different kingdoms, we’re told, were involved in some way in the battle of Hædfeld. Some of the kingdoms joined the alliance, spear-headed by Cadwallon of Gwynedd, Edwin’s foster-brother. Others joined that of Edwin of Northumbria. Almost all of them took one side or another in the mighty battle of Hædfeld fought in 632 or 633 (there is some confusion about the exact date) between the two sides. To ensure my readers have some idea of who’s who, I’ve termed all of the character’s as being ‘of’ their kingdom, although I’m unsure if that’s actually how they might have been named.

I was surprised by how many individuals could be named from the seventh century, particularly for the build-up to the battle of Hædfeld. The cast is not Game of Thrones huge, but it was larger than I expected. Not just Penda of the Hwicce, only later could he be termed of Mercia, and Cadwallon of Gwynedd in the British ‘alliance’, but also Cloten of Deheubarth, Clydog of Ceredigion, Eiludd of Powys, Clemen of Dumnonia, Domnall Brecc of Dal Riata, Beli of Alt Clut and Eanfrith of Bernicia. While on the Northumbrian led alliance were Edwin of Northumbria, alongside his children, Osfrith and Eadfrith, as well as Eowa of the Hwicce, Osric of Deira – Edwin’s cousin, Cynegils of Wessex, Sigeberht of the East Angles and Oswald of Bernicia – Edwin’s nephew. At least, that’s how I stack the two sides as the battle is about to commence. In later periods, it is sometimes a struggle to find who was king of where and when that might have been, so to find so many characters, even if it can seem a little overwhelming, was fantastic and ensured that the British-wide battle of Hædfeld could be retold in Pagan Warrior with a nod to each of these kings, and the part they might, or might not, have played in the events that played out on that fateful day in October 632 or 633. 

Map of Britain in the 600s, User:Hel-hama, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

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A day trip to Jorvik Viking Museum and York Minster

As a writer of tales set in Saxon England, and often, but not always, featuring Viking raiders, it’s a bit shocking that I’ve never visited Jorvik Viking Museum. I’ve been to York on only a handful of occasions. However, opportunity presented itself recently, and so I finally went – it helped that I wanted to see the Silverdale Hoard which is only on display for a few weeks more. (It looks much shinier in person than this image portrays it).

Portable Antiquities Scheme, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Now, you can take photos inside Jorvik, but my phone was playing up and I couldn’t get the flash to turn off, and so I couldn’t take any of the exhibit itself, as you can’t use a flash. But, it was really a lot of fun – it is a bit of a shame that it’s in the dark – no doubt reinforcing the whole ‘Dark Ages’ ideal, which I can assure you, as quite a literal minded child, I genuinely took to mean it was always dark – and I didn’t appreciate the smell – but I did enjoy seeing all the reconstructions – including cats and dogs, oh, and rats – and learning about the excavations. There are some fab ideas to make the excavation accessible- the glass floor so visitors can see parts of the excavation (is it a mock up one or a proper one, I’m not sure). The staff are in period costume, and very knowledgeable – even if someone tried to say that King Athelstan wasn’t the king of all Britain, as his coins used to proclaim. (Read the Brunanburh series, people, for all the information about that claim).

And then, after my trip to Jorvik, and having spent quite some considerable coin in the gift shop – sadly the axe I really wanted was sold out – I took myself to York Minster.

I’ve only recently really started to appreciate church buildings for what they are. I’m not religious, and I’ve always been somewhat daunted about going inside, but these buildings, if you know where to look (and people point out the interesting bits) are a real, physical connection to the past. (If you’re not convinced, then do consider joining, or just attending one of the Society for Church Archaeology Zoom meetings – I have learned so much from these meetings). And York Minster has certainly realised this. While it is very famous for its many devastating fires, Blue Peter endeavours, and stained glass windows, (photos below), they’re also showing off the heritage of the building itself.

And of course, it was this part of the trip that I found fascinating. In the undercroft museum, they have some of the original Roman remains on view – the top left photo below is, I think, part of the drainage system. They’ve mapped the Roman settlement and the current cathedral, as well as the Saxon settlement, and the many phases of construction as well – cathedrals take hundreds of years to build – and throughout the undercroft, they have a running timeline, events not just in the UK, but also worldwide. While it might smell a bit damp down there, there is so much information on display, that I spent a long time just looking at everything.

But to return, ‘top-side’ again, and more in keeping with my Gods and Kings trilogy, and some of the other Saxon stories I’ve written, the Minster also has some lovely stained glass depicting the life of St Cuthbert and St Oswald – the two Northumbrian saints most associated with Bamburgh and Lindisfarne. They’re currently conserving the glass, so you can get a really good look at it. And, of course, St Cuthbert is shown, in the bottom right image, holding St Oswald’s head. This, I confess, occasioned quite a few amusing conversations from people looking at the glass, who unsurprisingly, have no idea why this image is depicted in glass. It is, very weird, after all – I didn’t tell them that ‘back in the day’ there were quite a few ‘heads of St Oswald’ claimed by rival monasteries and churches. And of course, St Oswald is also connected with Mercia, as Lady Æthelflæd and her husband took his remains from Bardney and had him reinterred in Gloucester. He got around in the afterlife, that’s for sure.

I did once ask a historian about this appropriation of a Northumbrian saint by the rulers of Mercia. I’m still not entirely convinced by the answer I received.

There were many highlights of the day, but I particularly liked getting my hands on this ‘Viking History Ruler,’ which matches my Rulers of England one.

And, because I’m a bit obsessed with Saxon coinage, I added two more reproductions to my collection.

An Athelstan reproduction coin
The flip side, showing a Viking York coin design
A Cnut reproduction coin
My ‘real’ Saxon coin from the reign of Æthelred II of Northumbria 840-841, that I’ve had for a few years

And just to top my day off, I nipped into a fabulous second hand book shop and managed to swag three books that I’ve been using my local university library for – all with translations of Saxon charters – I appreciate it’s not everyone’s idea of fun, but it was so happenstance – I just glimpsed the covers as I was leaving – they were even marked on a ‘still to sort’ shelf. Go me!

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I’ve found an interview that King Coelwulf gave a few years ago to share with you:)

A few weeks ago, I was granted exclusive access to King Coelwulf.

A few weeks ago, I was granted exclusive access to King Coelwulf. Here’s what the enigmatic king of Mercia had to say.

King Coelwulf, thanks for allowing me entry into your stronghold at Northampton. It’s quite interesting to be at the heart of the Mercian defence against the Raiders. Now, can you tell me why people should want to read about you?

“Well, I’m not saying that they will. I mean, if they’re like me, then they probably don’t have time to be reading a story. I’ve got bodies to bury, Raiders to hunt down, and a kingdom to rule. I would tell anyone to spend their time more wisely than reading a book. That sort of thing is for the monks and the clerics, not warriors trying to defend a kingdom.”

Ah, well, in that case, thank you for finding the time to speak to me.

“I didn’t have much choice. Or rather, I was advised it would be a good use of my time, by my Aunt, Lady Cyneswith.”

Well, Lady Cyneswith is a wise woman, and I’m grateful that she’s encouraged you to speak to me.

“She is a highly intelligent woman. Braver than many men when it comes to the Raiders, and skilled when it comes to healing injuries of the body, as well as the mind.”

And her dogs have very interesting names, what was it again? Wiglaf and Berhtwulf, surely the names of old Mercian kings? Men who usurped the ruling line from your family?

“Oh really. I’d never realised. Funny, that.”

Ah, well, moving on, could you tell me about your books? I’m sure my readers would love to hear about it.

“Nothing to say really. Same old, same old. Raiders to evade, Raiders to find, Raiders to kill, a kingdom to keep whole. It’s a grand old bloody mess. I swear, I’ve barely managed to scrub the grime and body fluids from my sword and seax. Or rather, Wulfhere has. He’s a good lad. Quick on his feet. He’s one of my squires. Couldn’t do it without him.

That’s interesting that you should mention your squire, did you say? I wouldn’t have expected you to even know the lad’s name. After all, you are the king of Mercia, surely your squire is beneath you. Are there any more of your warriors you’d like to mention by name?

“Of course there are. I’d name them all if I had the time, which I don’t, just to make you aware. I’ve got to go to a crown-wearing ceremony shortly. But, I’ll mention a few, just to keep you happy. And you should know that no man is ever above knowing the names of those who serve him. Remember that. 

But, I’ll mention some of my warriors by name. If only because it’ll infuriate some of them. Edmund, he’s my right-hand man, a skilled warrior, missing an eye these days, but it’s not stopped him, not at all. His brother, Hereman. Well, where do I start? Hereman does things no one would consider, in the heat of battle, and he’s a lucky b……. man, sorry, he’s a lucky man. And then there’s Icel. He’s lived through more battles than any of the rest of my warriors. I almost pity the Raiders who come against him. None of them live for much longer. 

And Pybba. You know, he fights one handed now, and the Raiders seem to think he’s easy picking, but he’s not. Not at all. And, I can’t not mention Rudolf. He’s the youngest of my warriors, but his skill is phenomenal, not that you can tell him that. Cheeky b……, sorry cheeky young man. But, all of my warriors are good men, and we mourn them when they fall in battle, but more importantly, we avenge them all. All of them. No Raider should take the life of a Mercian without realising they’ve just ensured their own death.

Yes, I’ve heard that you avenge your men, with quite bloody means. And Edmund, there’s a suggestion that he’s a scop, a man who commits the deeds of the fallen to words? That fascinates me, as someone who also makes a living from using words.

“Well, Edmund has some small skills with words, but he honours our fallen warriors by weaving them into the song of my warriors. In fifty years, when we’re all dead and gone, our legend will live on, thanks to Edmund, and his words.

Can I ask you about Alfred, in Wessex? Have you met him? Do you think he’s doing a good job in keeping the Raiders out of Wessex?

“I’ve never met him. Couldn’t say either way. It’s not for me to comment on a fellow king. We’re all after the same thing. Kill the f……, sorry, kill the b……., sorry, kill the enemy. All of them, until Mercia is safe once more. And Wessex, if you’re from there.”

Well, it looks like you’re needed. Is that your crown?

“Yes, and now I need to go and perform some ceremonial task. It’ll take a long time, no doubt. Make sure you have an escort when you leave here. I wouldn’t put it passed the f……, sorry, the Raiders, to be keeping a keen eye on the bridge over the Nene. 

Thank you for your concern, and yes, I’ll make sure I do. Good luck with the new book.

“I don’t need luck. I just need to kill all the b……., sorry, Raiders. 

As you can tell, King Coelwulf was a very busy man. But I found him to be honourable and worthy of leading the Mercians against our persistent enemy. Long live the king.

The Ninth Century Mercian series covers for all 9 books

A photo diary of my experiences on the Bamburgh Research Project Post Excavation Week

If you’ve not heard of the Bamburgh Research Project then WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, no I jest. It’s fine if you’ve not heard of them. Briefly, because you can check out their blog for all the details, they’ve been excavating at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland for about twenty years – maybe a little bit longer. Their most famous finds were the Bamburgh Bones, discovered in the Bowl Hole, and now reinterred in St Aidan’s Church, in a crypt, in an ossuary, and there is an entire database about the individuals, and what their lives might have been like in seventh century Northumbria. It is certainly worth checking out. I mean, as a historical fiction writer, there is a lot of scope for a fabulous story there.

But the BRP aren’t just all about bones. They’ve also been trying to rediscover the secrets of Bamburgh Castle, a rocky outcropping on the Northumbrian coast, which shows signs of habitation dating back into the Iron Age. Now, they are a field school so volunteers can sign up to help them with the excavations, but this year they offered something else, a post-excavation week, which is much more my sort of thing. (I have excavated elsewhere, but I don’t much like getting dirty hands, so it was not much fun for me – I’m most certainly a ‘sit down’ and read the excavation report sort of historian.)

So, I thought I’d share what I’ve been up to all week, and what I’ve been learning.

Various views of Bamburgh Castle, from the cricket ground, from the windmill inside the castle walls, and from the Bowl Hole.

Day 1 – look at this year’s excavation site and also, finds recording

This year’s excavation site
Some of the finds made at the various sites, and also some coins found in the village of Bamburgh itself

Learning how to record finds did involve some experimenting with pencils and pen width – it’s important to get the right sort of pencil and pen!

Day 2 – tour of Bamburgh Castle interior (including the Last Kingdom exhibition) and the chapel, and getting my hands wet with some environmental sampling

I didn’t take many photos of my wet hands:) In true ‘historian’ style, I did not enjoy getting my hands dirty and wet:)

Day 3 Processing and cleaning finds and a talk about Saxon textiles as well as a demo – bone is animal bone!

You can really tell the difference between the early medieval finds and those from a more ‘modern’ layer. I did clean a lot of glass – I would say they were discarded milk bottles:) I forgot to take many pictures during the textiles talk but it was fascinating, and alas, I’ve been told that toggles are only found from the 1300s so I need to rewrite a bit of my current writing project.

Day 4 Site visits to Lindisfarne/Holy Island and Ad Gefrin/Yeavering

Thank you to the teams excavating at the two locations for sharing their experiences with us. You can find details of the two excavations online. Lindisfarne Dig Ventures. Ad Gefrin Trust. Lindisfarne is the site close to the ruined priory in the background. Ad Gefrin is essentially a field in a beautiful valley with the hill, Yeavering Bell, looking down on it. I also took a quick stroll through the museum at Lindisfarne Priory.

Day 5 Visit to the Bowl Hole, St Aidan’s Church and a talk by an osteoarchaeologist

The well-known Bamburgh Bones were discovered in the Bowl Hole – there’s little to see there now but overgrown weeds but the view from the Bowl Hole to the castle is important. The skeletons excavated from the Bowl Hole have now been interred in St Aidan’s Church in the village. You can visit the database for the Bamburgh Bones and learn about the individual skeletons. I’ve not included any photos from the osteoarchaeologist because I was too busy making notes, but it was fascinating to discover what can be discovered about the lives people led from their bones.

It was a fabulous week. Being allowed to ask as many questions as I wanted was fantastic, and I’d like to thank my fellow students, the Bamburgh Research Project Team, Dig Ventures, the Ad Gefrin Trust and all the specialists who shared their knowledge with us for contributing to the amazing experience.

Rudolf from The Last King/Mercian Ninth Century series gives an interview #TheLastKing

An interview with Rudolf

Ere, what you up to?

Oh, hello, I’m here to interview King Coelwulf about his latest book.

Really, I wouldn’t think he’d do that. He’ll make some excuse about having no time, or some such. Oh wait, did Lady Cyneswith set this up?

Yes, she did, and I’ve already spoken to her. But tell me, do you know the king? You seem to know who everyone is.

Of course I do. I’m Rudolf. His old squire, and now member of his warband. Why?

Would you like to talk to us about his latest book?

Well, I suppose I have the time. If you’re quick, and I don’t get caught. I’m supposed to be showing young Hiltiberht the ropes, and Haden can be a real handful.

Tell me, what’s King Coelwulf like? As a warrior?

Bloody lethal. You don’t want to be facing off against him. I’ve never seen anyone kill so quickly. And the moves he can do? I wish I had even half of his skill. I mean, he says I’m a good warrior and all, but I make up for my lack of skill with speed. And he doesn’t have that because he’s so bloody …. Um, because he doesn’t need to do that. Sometimes, I swear the enemy make it look so easy it’s as though they’re falling onto his seax or sword.

He’s quite good then?

Better than good. I’ve never seen anyone fight the way he does. Well, apart from Icel, and Edmund, and maybe Hereman. But, certainly, the Raiders stand no chance against him.

I hear he even camps in the woodlands and forests? It’s not really the sort of thing a king should do, is it?

Now, you see here. He was a warrior long before he was king. King Coelwulf only has one aim, to kill all the Raiders. To drive them from Mercia and make sure they don’t come back. He’s not into all that fancy clothes, and court etiquette, or sleeping in a bed of silk sheets. They’d be too damn cold, anyway. He’s told me. No, the king of Mercia is a damn warrior, and the only man capable of defeating the Raiders, and the Welsh, if it comes to it. 

And, have you read the new book?

Got no time for reading. I’m sure King Coelwulf told you that, and he’s right. I’d like a good night’s sleep without interruption more than I’d like to read a book. Maybe a scop could tell the tale. But, that would be Edmund and I’d have to listen to him tell the tale. He’s good, of course he’s good, but he probably wouldn’t mention me as much as I might like.

To all the young lads who do read the book, what would your advice be? How could they get into King Coelwulf’s warband?

Well, they should probably have joined it a while ago, and at the moment, there’s a few squires that need training up, so there’s no room, not for a while. So, I’d tell them to wait, and while they’re waiting, learn a few things, like how to clean saddles and seaxs. It’s a mucky job, but someone’s got to do it. And with King Coelwulf, you’ve got to earn his respect first. And then, well, once you’ve got it, you’ve got to keep it. A hard man, but a great man. Mercians should be pleased with their king. He’ll keep them safe, or he’ll die trying. You didn’t find the old king doing that. Far from it in fact. He’s scuttled off to Rome, or somewhere like that. Gone to pray for his soul. He’s got a lot to need forgiveness for, abandoning his kingdom like that.

Oh, sorry, I’ve got to go. 

And there you have it. A few words from Rudolf, King Coelwulf’s old squire. I hear he fights incredibly well, and offers some important advice for any would be members of the king’s warband.

The Ninth Century Mercian series covers for all 9 books

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The Custard Corpses is now available from Kobo, Apple, Nook and other retailers, as well as Amazon

With a snazzy new cover, and with its sibling to arrive in the coming months, I’ve taken the decision to move The Custard Corpses to a wider audience in ebook format, so readers on Kobo, Apple, Nook and other retailers accessed via the Ingram distribution option, as well as Amazon, can now enjoy my twentieth-century mystery, set in the 1940s.

Here’s the blurb

A delicious 1940s mystery.

Birmingham, England, 1943.

While the whine of the air raid sirens might no longer be rousing him from bed every night, a two-decade-old unsolved murder case will ensure that Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington Police Station is about to suffer more sleepless nights.

Young Robert McFarlane’s body was found outside the local church hall on 30th September 1923. But, his cause of death was drowning, and he’d been missing for three days before his body was found. No one was ever arrested for the crime. No answers could ever be given to the grieving family. The unsolved case has haunted Mason ever since.

But, the chance discovery of another victim, with worrying parallels, sets Mason, and his constable, O’Rourke, on a journey that will take them back over twenty-five years, the chance to finally solve the case, while all around them the uncertainty of war continues, impossible to ignore.

books2read.com/TheCustardCorpses

Or you can buy paperback and hardback copies directly from me. Visit my SumUp store.

If you’ve not yet tried one of my ‘modern’ mysteries, then check out my series page on the blog to discover why I decided to write something so very different to everything I’ve ever written before.

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