What links the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Wagner’s Ring Cycle, the invasions of Attila the Hun and many Norse sagas? The first half of the 5th century, says Tim Hodkinson, a time of tumult when legends were born; stories which still inspire us 1,600 years later.
It was a time of legends…
Of all the historical eras that could lay claim to that title, the first half of the 5th century AD must have the best one. The Western Roman Empire fell, sending ripples in all directions, and from its ruins rose the tribes and powers that would dominate Europe for the next millennium.
Whole peoples moved their homes from one end of the continent to another, kingdoms rose and fell and some of the figures whose legends still entertain us today lived, achieved their fame and died. Through it all were woven the narratives of some of the most enduring works of art we have. This is the era in which my latest novel, Sword of the War God, is set.
In this tumultuous time a number of Germanic tribes swept down from what is now Scandinavia and northern Europe to force their way inside the boundaries of the Empire.
Goths, Vandals, Alemanni, Franks and Burgundars migrated south, crossing the frozen Rhine and carving kingdoms of their own from lands that had been ruled by Rome. Like a line of dominoes, each newly arriving tribe pushed others out, resulting in more pressure on the already stretched Imperial Army.
In desperate need of soldiers to fight the barbarian menace, Rome withdrew its legions from Britannia. The Irish (at the time referred to as Scoti/Scots) were quick to see this opportunity and began raiding the coast of Britain, taking plunder and slaves wherever they landed. One of the slaves they carried back to Ireland, the son of an official called Calpurnius, took a new faith with him and is today known as St Patrick.
The Britons, used to the protection of Rome’s legions, began hiring Saxon mercenaries from Europe to help defend them defend themselves. Within a decade these mercenaries turned on their paymasters and began to take the Britain for their own. The Britons fought back under the leadership of a warlord called Arthur (a name proposed to mean ‘the Bear’) and the legends of the ensuing adventures are still told and retold today.
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Then the Huns came from the east. Like a jackal scenting the blood of a wounded lion, Attila spotted his chance and attacked, riding through Europe in a storm of blood and destruction. It looked as though Attila’s would be the last blow that would herald the final collapse of the whole, crumbling edifice of the Empire.
Rome did not go down without a fight. General Flavius Aetius, the man Edward Gibbon described as “the last of the Romans”, gathered together what he could of the Roman army, formed an unlikely coalition with some of Rome’s deadliest enemies, and brought Attila to battle at the Catalaunian Plains. Osprey Books describe this fight as ‘Rome’s last battle‘ and it is this conflict that forms the heart of my novel.
From all this turmoil arose legends and myths that have echoed down through the ages, and are still told and retold today, long after the historical events that inspired them have been forgotten.
Attila and his bloody dealings with the Burgundar siblings, Guðrún and Gunnarr (Gunhild and Gunderic in my book) are the subject of one of the oldest poems extant in the Old Norse language, the Atlakviða, which possibly dates to the early 9th century.
Their tale quickly entwined with that of Sigurd the dragon slayer and Brunhild the valkyrie, which led to numerous stories, most notably that most iconic of legendary medieval Icelandic sagas, the Saga of the Völsungs.
All these characters, along with the cursed treasure of the Rhine Gold, came together again sometime around the year 1200 in the German version of the tale, the Nibelungenlied, which also added the Rhine Maidens to the mix. Each generation since has created their own artworks inspired from these, from Richard Wagner’s operas to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
George RR Martin took real history (the Wars of the Roses) and put it into a fantasy setting. In Sword of the War God I have tried to do the opposite: to take the legends which grew out of real events and try to place them back into the historical context in which they happened.
In the process I found many fascinating coincidences reveal themselves. A historical novel cannot have a real dragon for Sigurd to slay, but Roman cavalry troopers at the time bore dragon banners. One of the most famous Old Norse poems about Brunhild is called Helreið Brynhildar, Brunhild’s Hell Ride. Part of the battlefield of the Catelaunian Fields (just outside Troyes in modern France) is known to this day as l’Enfer, or ‘Hell’. Dwarfs, in their form of magical creatures, abound in all the legends.
Atilla’s brother Bleda (and later Atilla himself) employed a Mauritanian dwarf, Zerco, as a jester (though ‘enslaved’ is probably a more accurate description of his position), so Zerco had to become one of the main characters.
And what of the Sword of the War God the book takes it title from? Again it is a mixture of legend and history. Tyrfing, the sword in the book, is a magic — or rather cursed — weapon from Norse myth that appears in many sagas. Like the kukri of a Gurkha warrior, if it was drawn, it could never be returned to its sheath before it had drawn blood. Its name suggests it was associated with Tyr, the Germanic war god (Tiwass in my book).
The Roman historian Jordanes wrote in the 6th century that Atilla bore a magic sword he called ‘The Sword of Mars‘, Mars being the Roman god of war. Atilla, as a Hun, would have had a different name for the war god, just as the Burgundars and other Germanic tribes would have called him Tyr.
If you visit the Habsburg Schatzkammer museum in Vienna today you can see this very sword, or at least one purported to be it. Is it the real sword? Probably not, but it provides a tangible physical manifestation of the legends that grew up around that momentous era.
I have no illusions that Sword of the War God will be on a par with the great works listed above, but I do hope it will at least keep some people entertained for a little time, and perhaps reawaken interest in an age that has proved so inspiring to many.
Sword of the War God by Tim Hodkinson is published on 11 April, 2024.
Read more about this book.
Tim is also the author of the six-part Whale Road Chronicles. He grew up in Northern Ireland, where the rugged coast and call of the Atlantic ocean led to a lifelong fascination with Vikings and a degree in Medieval English and Old Norse Literature. After several years in the USA, Tim has returned to live with his family in Northern Ireland.
Other Historia features on similar subjects include:
From slave to queen: an extraordinary medieval woman by Matthew Harffy, about the real-life Brunhild
The power of alliance in the Viking Age and
Battling with history: how to write fight scenes and battles in historical fiction also by Matthew Harffy
Brávellir: the greatest battle… that never was and
Widukind of Westphalia – the Saxon Wolf and
How to become a berserker – a historical novelist’s guide by Angus Donald
On the Trail of the Vikings by Patricia Bracewell
A short history of werewolves by Theodore Brun (yes, Viking werewolves)
Vikings in Georgia: history or myth? by Simon Turney
874 and All That: a short history of a small country (Iceland) by Michael Ridpath
Images:
- Brunnhild by Gaston Bussière, 1897: Wikimedia (public domain)
- Map showing Attila’s empire, c450 by William R Shepherd: Wikimedia (public domain)
- Attila as the first Hungarian King in the Chronicon Pictum, c1360: National Széchényi Library, Budapest, via Wikimedia (public domain)
- The quarrel between Brunhild and Kriemhild (Guðrún), Hundeshagener Kodex, 15th century: Wikimedia (public domain)
- The Sword of Mars, or Attila’s sword, or Charlemagne’s sword: Allie_Caulfield for Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
