War hangs heavy in the hot summer air as Penda of Mercia and his allies march into the north. Caught unawares, the Bernician forces are besieged within the great fortress of Bebbanburg. It falls to Beobrand to mount the defence of the stronghold, but even while the battle rages, old and powerful enemies have mobilised […]
Anglo-Saxon women with power and influence
Annie Whitehead, historian and novelist, writes about the women who had power and influence in Anglo-Saxon England. Pre-Conquest women are rarely written about, so for my new book, Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England, I decided to track them down and tell their stories. The original plan was to categorise them – queens, abbesses, witches, […]
Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England by Annie Whitehead
Many Anglo-Saxon kings are familiar. Æthelred the Unready is one, yet less is written of his wife, who was consort of two kings and championed one of her sons over the others, or his mother, who was an anointed queen and powerful regent, but was also accused of witchcraft and regicide. A royal abbess educated […]
Wolf of Wessex by Matthew Harffy
AD 838. Deep in the forests of Wessex, Dunston’s solitary existence is shattered when he stumbles on a mutilated corpse. Accused of the murder, Dunston must clear his name and keep the dead man’s daughter alive in the face of savage pursuers desperate to prevent a terrible secret from being revealed. Rushing headlong through Wessex, […]
The Battle of Brunanburh
When author Hilary Green heard that the long-forgotten site of the Battle of Brunanburh (937) had been located not far from where she lives, she had to find out more… Everyone knows about the Battle of Hastings, but how many of us have heard of the Battle of Brunanburh? Yet the outcome of this battle […]
Wolf of Wessex by Matthew Harffy
AD 838. Deep in the forests of Wessex, Dunston’s solitary existence is shattered when he stumbles on a mutilated corpse. Accused of the murder, Dunston must clear his name and keep the dead man’s daughter alive in the face of savage pursuers desperate to prevent a terrible secret from being revealed. Rushing headlong through Wessex, […]
Storm of Steel by Matthew Harffy
AD 643. Anglo-Saxon Britain. A gripping, action-packed historical thriller and the sixth instalment in the Bernicia Chronicles. Heading south to lands he once considered his home, Beobrand is plunged into a dark world of piracy and slavery when an old friend enlists his help to recover a kidnapped girl. Embarking onto the wind-tossed seas, Beobrand […]
The power of alliance in the Viking Age
Matthew Harffy is well known for his Bernicia Chronicles, set in Northumbria in the turbulent mid-7th century. For his new book he moves place and era, and his research has led him to ask an intriguing question: were there two kings of Wessex who could claim to be called ‘the Great’? My latest novel, Wolf […]