I was not long born the day my uncle stood on the battlefield, surrounded by the corpses of his men.

They had died defending this narrow gully through hills which blocked the approach to the city of Eboracum. The city lay to the east under a pall of smoke that arose from a hundred burning houses. King Aelle had taken the army there to capture it but, hearing reports of an enemy warband coming to lift the siege, had sent Cynric and his company around the city to the west to intercept them.

Eighty men marched through the night to reach this sunken road. They planted their flag in the ditch so it streamed in the wind, revealing the image of the running wolf emblazoned upon it. Then, they gathered about it and waited.

They did not have to wait long.

Soon after dawn, over three hundred spearmen came down the road and needing to reach the city urgently, attacked at once. The narrow confines of the gully funnelled the enemy and brought them onto the spears of Cynric’s men. Then, the killing began.

The enemy paid dearly for each step they took, bled heavily for each wound they inflicted and three died for each of our own men slain. But, in the end, it was not enough. One by one, Cynric’s companions perished and as the company dwindled, it was pushed back down the lane. Time and again, my uncle rallied his men and they charged back into the fray, regained ground and forced the enemy to retreat.

But now, as the sun sank and the sky turned a crimson red matching the bloodstained clay of the road beneath them, Cynric’s company were all dead.

All dead, that is, apart from my uncle, Cynric and the grim-faced Grettir. The pair stood on the road in front of their battle standard. Cynric: tall and fierce, with hair the colour of autumn leaves, which in the dying light must have seemed almost like flames; Grettir: shorter, stocky and muscular with black hair and bushy eyebrows.

Cynric thrust forward his great sword and pointed it at the shield wall. It was a magnificent weapon, forged from rods of twisted iron overlaid with the strongest of steel, crossed by a bronze guard and finished with an elaborately patterned pommel. With it he now gestured at several enemy warriors, picking out − or so it seemed − his next victims. Strapped to his other arm was his bright blue shield, which was dented and scuffed from a hundred sword and axe blows. Grettir had abandoned his and now both hands grasped the shaft of a fearsome axe that had already today slain a score of foes. Together, they glared down the lane and waited for the enemy to attack once more.

There in front of them many more than one hundred enemy warriors still remained and they, having now reformed their shield wall and seeing that only two foes were standing, came on again. Eboracum lay just a mile beyond this lonely pair standing beside their flag, which now hung limp in the still evening air. If the warband could reach the city they could swell the numbers of the beleaguered defenders and the city might hold. If that happened, more of the Eboracii tribesmen from the surrounding lands would come here. They would save Eboracum, then the Angles and Saxons − like Cynric and Grettir − who had risen up from their scattered villages and come here to capture the city, would be slain. Then, there would be no English city; no English kingdom here north of the Humber; perhaps even no English race anywhere.

All that was needed was to kill these two men and march on to Eboracum.

For Cynric and Grettir, this was equally clear. All they had to do was plant their feet on the bloody soil and survive just a little longer. Cynric glanced at Grettir and smiled thinly at him. Grettir just nodded back. Both men knew they would die here … it was just a matter of when.

The Amber Treasure

Historical Fiction in Dark Ages Britain
…all good stories are about a sword.

 The Amber Treasure is historical fiction set in Dark Age Britain –

597 A.D. Betrayal threatens the Kingdom of Northumbria.

Six sentence Sunday #3

I recovered my senses as Cuthbert’s second arrow left his bow and flew towards the wounded foe. It hit him in the throat and the man’s hand flew up to grasp the arrow, shock and disbelief showing in his wide eyes. Then he tumbled full length onto the grass; already dead. I ran forward ten yards behind Eduard, feeling the blood pumping through my veins and my heart pounding like a blacksmith’s hammer. Suddenly, the fear was gone and all I now wanted was to kill these bastards and make them pay for what they had done to us.

From The Amber Treasure

The Amber Treasure

Historical Fiction in Dark Ages Britain
…all good stories are about a sword.

The Amber Treasure is historical fiction set in Dark Age Britain –

597 A.D. Betrayal threatens the Kingdom of Northumbria.

Six sentence Sunday #1 The Amber Treasure

A man has five senses and each and every one of them gets used in a battle. That morning of the second day of the Battle of Catraeth, my senses were overwhelmed. You see with a terrifying clarity the approaching army; perceive the fear mingled equally with hate in the eyes of the enemy as well as the terrified pleading expressions of those you have struck down. You feel your heart pounding and later, the terrible crush of battle, the indescribable sensations of your blade cutting flesh and bone, the searing pain of injury and the air burning in your lungs. You taste blood and smell – gods, the smell -’ you smell sweat and shit and piss, the appalling stench of viscera and the smoke of burning buildings.

Above and beyond all of that, however, is the sense of hearing: it is the sounds you will recall more than anything else when you think of battles you have been in.

From The Amber Treasure

The Amber Treasure

Historical Fiction in Dark Ages Britain
…all good stories are about a sword.

The Amber Treasure is historical fiction set in Dark Age Britain –

598 A.D. Betrayal threatens the Kingdom of Northumbria.

An author needs to be open to any opportunities to market their book. Anything which gets the book “out there” and raises its profile is worth considering.

One option I explored was making audio books. The idea here is to release the book as a serialised story. Hopefully if listeners enjoy the book you will get feedback and possibly this can lead to reviews, sales etc.

PodioBooks

There are a number of options whereby an author can go about doing this. One is Podio Books. This site is a FREE to use and free to download site. In theory listeners CAN donate money to authors and in this case the author of the audio book will earn 75% of any donations. In practice donations are (according to the folk who run the site) infrequent but do occasionally happen.

Podiobooks are also supplying some audiobooks to iTunes and a few other sites so there is potential for income. BUT it is best to see this as marketing and not worry about income.

What you do

If you are serious about this possibility you need to do some research. Join Podiobooks and download some books and see how they sound and are put together. Get on the forums and learn a bit about the process. In particular read and re-read the instructions and how to guides. You then produce a sample file which has to go through a mentoring stage before you are cleared to make your audio book.

Equipment

It is best not to record using a Skype headset or similar USB microphone. The help forums will give advice on kit to buy but a good microphone from Maplins or a similar electronic store is a starting point.  Serious Podio Books users, just like regular podcasters have mini studio setup that look like a radio studio:

Such a set up, with mixer, headphones, microphone, etc etc will cost £100s but on Podio Books there are suggestions for starting kits of less that $200 say.  The key seems to be  a good microphone and a good headset.

Software

There are free software packages that you can use to record to and edit your audio book

Audacity

Audacity is a free to download programme that is easy to use. It offers noise reduction. Editing is simple

http://www.download-audacity.com/ is where you grab it. You can set it to take sound from various input routes. You can cut and paste sections, delete errors etc.

The Levelator

The Levelator automatically evens out the sound levels of an audio recording. When you are recording your voice will go up and down in volume. Levelator evens all that out as well as boosting the volume of spoken word.
http://www.singularsoftware.com/levelator.html

Mixcraft

Mixcraft is a paid for programme that allows for blending and mixing various sounds tracks into a recording as well as adding sound effects and making sections of the recording have the sound qualities of certain situations. For eg you could make a part echoey like in a cathedral.

Magnatunes

With the curious tagline of “we are not evil” (at one point Magnatunes got flack along the lines of Napster but pays musicians for their work) Magnatunes is a bit like iTunes – a huge database of music. You can download a lot for free and there are various arrangements if you wish to use tracks on podcasts and audiobooks. With  a large array of styles the Audio Book producer can find cheap affordable music to use on their recordings. I used a simple section of music as the “intro” and “outro” to each episode.

Its a Wrap

So with all this hardware and software you record an episode, edit it and mix in some music. You export it as an MP3 file (all the techie details are in the guides). You TAG the file with relevant details and then upload it to Podiobooks. Then you get started on the next.

There is a lot to learn about this process and it DOES take a lot of time to record, edit, tag and upload each episode BUT once you have uploaded it there is the pleasing result of seeing new subscriptions coming online. I put the book up about 18 months ago and 306 folk have subscribed to it in that time.

You can see that I am still getting new subscriptions and ratings:

Having done this I realise that I could do more to make the sound better, pace my reading more, use more emotion, reducing breath sounds, cracks and pops etc- so I think I would do better the next time. I am in fact starting to think about doing another book.

You can take a look at my book page and listen to a bit:

The Amber Treasure on Podio Books

The Amber Treasure

Historical Fiction in Dark Ages Britain
…all good stories are about a sword.

The Amber Treasure is historical fiction set in Dark Age Britain –

598 A.D. Betrayal threatens the Kingdom of Northumbria.

The Kingdom of Northumbria is born

by Richard Denning

Northern Britain 580 to 616

The existence of the England we know today is strongly and rightly linked to the victories of Alfred the Great and his Kingdom of Wessex over the Vikings in the ninth century. Yet, three hundred years before Alfred’s time, it was the creation of the powerful kingdom of Northumbria and its emergence as the dominant power in Britain for about a century, where we can see the roots of that England.

This was the Kingdom of Bede, the great chronicler of the late 7th. and early 8th. centuries and author of Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum: ‘The Ecclesiastical History of the English People’. It is also the land of the great kings, Aethelfrith, Edwin and Oswald, as well as the location of the Council of Whitby that established the form that the Christian Church in England would take: a form that lasted − more or less unchanged − until Henry VIII broke away from Rome some 900 years later.

One day, the Vikings would sweep it all away, but by then the mark left on the history of England by the golden age of Northumbria, could not be erased. How though does Northumbria come to exist? What are its roots?

A tale of two Kingdoms

In the 5th and early and mid 6th century two distinct groups of Angles migrate to Britain and settle in Northumbria. The first group to come were led by a figure called Soemil of which we know almost nothing. Sometime in the 5th century, possibly in response to appeals by the Romano-British inhabitants pleas for mercenaries, he establishes settlements along the river Humber and in the Yorkshire Wolds. These will one day become the kingdom of Deira in what is today Yorkshire.

In the 6th Century another Anglo-Saxon warlord, Ida and his family capture the fortress of Din Guardi – what is now Bamburgh and around this and settlements along the coast up to Lindisfarne they create a kingdom – Bernicia.

To begin with both are weak and small and surrounded by potent Romano British kingdoms of which the strongest was the Kingdom of Eboracii (what is now York) under King Peredur and further west Rheged under King Urien. Survival of the fledgling Anglo-Saxon enclaves may have been a lot to do with infighting between the various British kingdoms. Perhaps in the early stages the Angles avoided provoking the British too much but they were gradually expanding. The succession of kings in Bernicia is confusing and between circa 569 and 593 there seems to have been as many as 7 different Kings. It is likely that all of these (Ida, Clappa, Ada, Frithuwulf, Theowulf, Hussa, Aethelric) were all related and that Ida was succeeded by a series of sons, brothers or uncles most of whom may have died in battle.

After the mysteriousness Soemil the succession in Deira is totally unknown to historians BUT around 560 a strong king emerges – Aelle – who set about unifying the Deiran lands and establishing his own dynasty.

Slowly the invaders numbers grew, their lands expanded and finally the British took notice and began to take action.

Battle of Caer Greu

Around 580 King Peredur and his brother, alarmed by the growth of Bernicia, took an army north to attack them – probably in the time of King Ada. At a battlefield somewhere in Bernicia called Caer Greu the British army is defeated and the British Kings slain. Bernicia’s immediate future is secured but this battle has a knock on effect as Aelle may well have taken advantage of the power vacuum at Eboracum  (York) to capture the city. Certainly around the same time Eboracum becomes part of Deira. It was renamed Eorforwic. ( Which the Vikings would one day change to Jorvik and later people to York).

Crisis at Lindisfarne

The defeat at Caer Greu and the fall of York would have sent shock waves through the Northern British.  The powerful king of Rheged, west of the Pennines in what is now Cumbria set about building an alliance of Kingdoms that included the kingdoms of Strathclyde, Gododdin (around Edinburgh) and others. He led an army on a furious campaign around the year AD 590 that swept across Bernicia and retook almost all the land previous lost by the northern Britons. The Bernicians under either Theodric or Aethelric (or maybe both as they were probably brothers. ) were besieged on the island of Lindisfarne and may well have been destroyed had the British alliance not then started to crumble and old rivalries emerge. Urien was assassinated by a fellow British ruler, Morcant before he could defeat the Angles and the heart seemed to have gone out of the British alliance. A resurgent Bernicia launched a counter attack that turned the tables on the losses suffered and in fact Theodric and Aethelric now invade Rheged.

Disaster in Rheged – Rise of Owain and Aethelfrith

At some point in circa 590 to 593, whilst campaigning in Rheged, first Theodric and later Aethelric are killed by the son of Urien – Owain.  Owain then seems to take a pause to regroup and rebuild the shattered alliances with his British neighbours. In Bernicia, meanwhile, this brings the powerful Warlord Aethelfrith, son of Aethelric to the throne. He too rebuilds his strength but it now can only be a matter of time before another huge clash ensued.

The Battle of Catreath – Owain tries to destroy Northumbria

That clash takes place at a place called Catreath in about AD 597. This is PROBABLY Catterick in Yorkshire which is located on the junction of two Roman roads – one over the Pennines to Rheged and the other the main north south road linking Deira and Bernicia.  Strategically an army able to capture Catterick can turn on Bernicia OR Deira at will.

The battle of Catreath has passed into legend thanks to a Welsh Poem Y Goddodin that tells of the gathering of a host of British from various kingdoms and their march to Catreath. It tells of their bravery and prowess and the charge of the Goddodin cavalry. Then it tells of defeat. For whereever the battle occured Aethelfrith of Bernicia and probably Deira united to crush Owain and his alliance.

This defeat removed the risk that the fledgling Northumbrian Kingdoms would be easily destroyed. There were still enemies of course  but Catreath can possibly be seen as the birthplace of Northumbria

In another article I will take the story forward as the Northumbrian Kingdoms once again unite to crush the Scots of Dal Riata at the battle of Degsastan and then turn on each other in a tale of exile and revenge that lasts 28 years.

The time period of this article is the same as my novel The Amber Treasure:

“I will take care of the body of my lord and you can carry the sword, story teller. For all good stories are about a sword.”

6th Century Northumbria: Cerdic, the nephew of the great warrior Cynric, grows up dreaming of glory in battle and writing his name in the sagas.

When war comes for real though, his sister is kidnapped, his family betrayed and his uncle’s legendary sword stolen. It falls to Cerdic to avenge his families’ loss, rescue his sister and return home with the sword.

‘Enjoyable novel set in sixth century Northumbria. Accurate detail and vivid fight scenes together with an engaging central character and his coming-of-age make this an absorbing read for fans of historical fiction…’ The Book Bag

One of the more well known battles between the Saxons and Vikings was the Battle of Maldon. This is due in part to the existence of a poem from soon after the battle that tells us about who took part and what happened. It is also one of the few battles from the time where we are reasonably certain where it took place.

The Battle of Maldon  was fought on the 10th of  August in 991 near the small town of Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex. It took place during the reign of the weak king, Aethelred the Unready. What is interesting is that this battle and its aftermath show the two main approaches to dealing with the Vikings. Some leaders would fight them and if successful this approach would often force the Vikings to come to terms and make peace for a while. The other approach was to bribe them with money or land. This might work and save lives in the short term BUT it could mean the danes felt that since threats had worked before why not try again. The Saxon leader at the battle favoured resistance and we shall see what happened.

The battle occurred during the years of Viking raids and invasions that raged on during the 8th to 10th centuries. Maldon was a coastal town and so vulnerable to attack. It had been fortified but its wealth still made it a target for the Vikings who had moved on there after attacking Ipswich. These raids on the east coast were costly and it seems that the local Saxon lord was Earl Byrhtnoth determined to try and engage the Vkings in a pitched battle in an attempt to destroy the host.

The Battlefield

Earl Byrhtnoth having heard of the Viking raids called out the local Fyrd (the militia which would defend the local area ) and along with his huscarls (personal troops) his thegns (lords) led the English against the Viking invasion.

Initial deployment

It is thought that the armies had perhaps 2000 men each (really we don’t know for certain).

The Vikings had chosen not to directly assault Maldon (which would mean attacking the fortified port) but had landed in the safe anchorages and various channels of the estuary and then assembling on Northey Island had move towards the causeway which connected it to the main land via a causeway. The Saxons moved to the end of the causeway At the start of the battle the causeway was flooded and so what occured was a stand off with the two armies hurling abuses and challenges.

The Battle starts

Initially a few Saxon warriors held the causeway and denied the Vikings passage but then Byrhtnoth ordered the army to pull back and permit the enemy to cross. This is unlikely to have been good sportsmanship or a sense of honour. Byrhtnoth wanted to destroy the Vikings and so, possibly fearful they would just get in their ships and leave, he allowed them onto the main lands.

The battle then proceeded in a fairly standard manner with an exchange of arrows, slingstones and javelins. Then the main bodies closed and the push and shove of the shield wall ensued. It may be that the Saxons were doing OK until something unexpected happened. Byrhtnoth seems to have believed that an enemy leader was challenging him and stepped forward to engage in one to one combat. The Vikings fell upon him and cut him to pieces.

Once the leader was dead the Saxon Fyrd turned and fled. Byrhtnoth’s household troops and retainers fought over the body of their lord until slain but after his death the battle was over in moments.

The Aftermath.

The battle having ended in an Anglo-Saxon defeat, the Vikings went on to pillage Maldon. After the battle the Archbishop of Canterbury advised King Aethelred to follow the other policy and to try and buy off the Vikings rather than fight them. The King agreed and as a result a payment of 10,000 pounds of silver was handed over as Danegeld. The idea was that the Vikings would not come back but year after year return they did. Ultimately, despite English resistance, a Viking king would sit on the throne – Canute and the Vikings would rule England for 25 years.

A statue of Byrhtnoth in Maldon

The Poem

Fragments of an account of the battle probably written soon afterwards still survive today. The poem is embellished by proud boasts and accounts of the bravelry of the Saxons in much the same way that the poem Y Goddodin tells of the attributes and abilities of the defeated British at the earlier battle of Catreath in c597. So what we have is a piece of propaganda. Yet it does give us something of an outline of the battle as well as include references to some snapshots of the action that help us understand the weapons used.

My own historical fiction, The Amber Treasure, is set during the late 6th century and includes an account of the battle of Catreath.

Last Tuesday I visited the Staffordshire Hoard exhibit at Stafford Guild Hall gallery. In 2009 a treasure hunter armed with a metal detector found a vast number (3500) of items of gold and silver in a field near Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. This hoard is the single largest collection of items from the Anglo Saxon period – even larger than Sutton Hoo the great burial treasure of King Redwald of East Anglia. The treasures were purchased for the nation and money provided to preserve, research and exhibit them.

This year the items went on display in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery as well as in Stafford. Later in the summer they will be shown in Lichfield Cathedral and Tamworth Castle (Tamworth was the ancient capital of Mercia the Anglo Saxon Kingdom wherein the treasures were found). Last week I popped along to take a look.

You have to book in to see the exhibit but it is free to do so. You get a 45 minute timed slot to look around. That is adequate time as it is only a small display. What you get is first a small area describing the finding of the hoard, a bit about 7th century Mercia and speculation of the nature of the hoard. You learn that at this time Mercia stood on the front line between the Anglo Saxon lands and the Vikings who were pushing down from Northumbria or raiding along the Trent.  So  was the hoard the treasures of the Mercian King or a warlord? Was it Viking loot from a raid? How did it end up buried in a field? No one knows as yet. What was thought interesting is is contains no feminine items (combs, broaches etc) but mainly is either religious items or that of a military nature (bits of swords etc).

Then you can pick up and try the weight of certain replica items – two shields, a sword and a seax and three helmets.

Finally you enter the display area. There are two areas. In each there are three small glass pyramids with treasure items on 4 sides. There are maybe 3 to 6 items per side – so a total of around 100 items. Many items are small – parts of a sword, a piece of a helmet etc. There are no large items really so if you are hoping to see a huge pile of treasure you would be disappointed. It is better to see this as an opportunity to get a feel for the quality of the workmanship and also how elaborate the items could be. The main impression I got was the skill of the craftsmen. Some of the detail is incredible with fine threads of gold and silver woven or jewels are being mounted on beautiful mounts.

In the museum there is a well made video showing something of the Saxons, who they were and how they made some items. A gift shop sells postcards of the items and some replica items BUT not as many as I would have hoped.

Is it worth the visit? Yes if you are close by and are interested in the period.  It is not a large display however and I hope that in time a larger display would expand on what is after all only a start – it is only 2 years since this hoard was found.

My own Dark Age Novel, The Amber Treasure is in part about the theft of two great treasures – a set of rare jewellery and a sword.

A primer on the Anglo-Saxon Era
by Richard Denning

Overview: Who were the Anglo Saxons

The Anglo Saxon Era lasted from about 449 to 1066. Much of the England we know today dates back to these years. Our language, our places names, many of our laws and traditions owe much to this period.

If you ask the question: Who were the Anglo Saxons? The answer is WE ARE!

Did you know?

The name Anglo-Saxon comes from two of the tribes who invaded Britain – The Angles and the Saxons.

The Anglo Saxon Invasion

AD 449: In their days Hengest and Horsa,  invited by Wurtgern, king of the Britons to his assistance,
landed in Britain in a place that is called Ipwinesfleet; first of all to support the Britons, but they afterwards fought against them.

From AD 70 until around AD 400 most of Britain was ruled from Rome as the Province of Britannia. As pressures from outside the empire, and weaknesses and corruption from inside grew Rome abandoned Britain. The result was that the Romano-British (who would one day become the Welsh) were left to defend themselves from Picts and Irish and Germanic Raiders.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other records suggest that after Rome officially told the former province of Britannia to look to its own defences in about 410 AD that the British invited in Germanic mercenaries to help defend Britain. Probably German tribes were already migrating to Britain in the Roman period as the Romans used Germans in their Legions but in 449 there is this entry. The British King Vortigern invited Hengest and Horsa to come to Britain.

Hengest and Horsa were followed by many other warlords and their followers. At first they fought for the British and settled peacefully along the eastern and Southern coasts. Eventually several things may have occurred:

1. Its possible that the British refused to pay the mercenaries or to give them promised land.

2. The numbers of Anglo-Saxons grew year on year and in time their immigration became a big problem bringing them into conflict with the Romano-British Population.

3. Ambitious Warlords amongst the newcomers saw an opportunity to carve out a kingdom and launched attacks.

4.Pressures from movement of Eastern Europeans westwards pushed the Angles and Saxons off their own homelands encouraging them to look elsewhere for land.

However it happened by the late 5th centuries colonies and settlements of many tens to hundreds of thousands of Anglo Saxons were established. The stage was set for several centuries of conflict that would see the Anglo-Saxons occupy most of what is today England.

The invading Tribes

There were a number of Tribes who migrated to Britain:

The Angles – from Denmark settled along the North and East – in Northumbria and East Anglia.

The Saxons – from Northern Germany settled Essex, Sussex, Kent and other South Eastern parts.

The Jutes from the north of Denmark landed along the south coast especially around Hampshire.

There were other tribes who came such as the Frisians from Holland and the Franks (who also invaded and gave their name to France).

These tribes were divided and fought as much against each other as against the Romano-British inhabitants. Indeed in the early period there were several times when the British and allies launched huge counter attacks such as at Catraeth in circa AD 597 and Degsastan in AD 603. The Anglo-Saxons weathered these storms and by the mid 7th Century had established a number of strong Kingdoms.

The Heptarchy

After the first few centuries the myriad of colonies and settlements had merged into what is usually identified as seven more permanent kingdoms. These were the kingdoms of

Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex. The Roman-British were now pushed west into Wales, Cornwall, the Scotish Borders, Lancashire and Cumbria. This process of amalgamation into these larger kingdoms was ongoing but by about AD 800 this is what England looked like:

The Overlords – or Imperators

From about AD 600 onwards several of the Chroniclers of the time began to talk of overlords or Imperators who recalling the power of Roman Emperors exerted influence BEYOND their own borders. In the late sixth century the King of Kent was a prominent lord in the south; in the seventh century the rulers of Northumbria and Wessex were powerful; in the eighth century Mercia achieved hegemony over the other surviving kingdoms. These Imperators give us a hint of the struggle towards the possibility of a single King and a single Kingdom – England. But just as the move towards a unified England are going on the we enter the era of a great threat to England – the Vikings.

The Viking Invasions

AD 787 to 1066

A.D. 787 . This year King Bertric took Edburga the daughter of

Offa to wife. And in his days came first three ships of the

Northmen from the land of robbers. The reve then rode

thereto, and would drive them to the king’s town; for he knew not

what they were; and there was he slain. These were the first

ships of the Danish men that sought the land of the English

nation.

From the late 8th century and in particular the 9th,10th and 11th Centuries the Vikings or Danes began raiding Britain. At first the Vikings plundered and killed but went away again. In time, however, they stayed and settled the east coast of Northumbria and East Anglia. They destroyed the Kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia, Essex and Mercia and almost overran Wessex. But a young king called Alfred defeated them at Edington, Wiltshire, in 878 and earned himself the name “The Great”. He made a peace with the Vikings and saved England but the peace deal granted the Vikings a kingdom called Danelaw which included their possession of Jorvik (York) and so the Danes had gained a solid foothold in England.

The Vikings would continue to be a threat right up to 1066 when they fought Harold at Stamford Bridge. Indeed a Viking King – Canute and his sons sat on the English throne in the 11th century and ruled over a unified England at last – Vikings and English as one people.

This unified England carried on under the last Anglo Saxon Kings – Edward and Harold.

Finally then we have one land – one England. Then came 1066.

1066 – The end

King Edward the Confessor made one major error. Having failed to produce an heir he made a mess of establishing the sucession. He led William of Normandy into a belief that he was the heir – a belief given weight when William obliged the obvious English candidate – the powerful Earl Harold – to swear alliegance to him. When Edward died and the Witan elected Harold as king the scene was set for the Norman Invasion.

The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy, who became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating the then king Harold II of England. Harold’s army was badly depleted in the English victory at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in Northern England on 25 September 1066 over the army of King Harald III of Norway. By early 1071, William had secured control of most of England, although rebellions and resistance continued to approximately 1088.

The Aftermath – did the Anglo-Saxons Survive?

The Norman conquest destroyed the Anglo-Saxon monarchy and a large part of the noble lines as incoming Normans became the lords of the land. That said the blood line of the Anglo-Saxon kings re-emerged later on because of marriages of various daughters and sons of former kings into for example the Scotish Royal line. So in time the Kings of England would one again have Anglo-Saxon ancestors.

The Normans became the ruling class but probably 95% of the population was English. Although for a time the language used in court was French and that in legal documents latin eventually English reemerges as the dominant language.

Some place names come from the Norman period but most come from Anglo-Saxon and Viking origins. Many of the laws we have have origins in the Anglo-Saxon common law.

So we can conclude that the Anglo-Saxon period did not really end in 1066. If you are English or of English descent YOU ARE an Anglo-Saxon.

—————————————————————————–

This period – and in particular the early years of the Anglo-Saxon settlement – is of great interest to me.  My Historical Fiction Series called Northern Crown is set during this period.

The first book is  The Amber Treasure. You can read the first third of the book on my site. The series currently has 3 books with more planned.

Experiences of organising visits to schools to do author talks.

by Richard Denning

For an author the hardest part of the process of writing and publishing books is promotion and marketing. Getting your book read by people involves getting it IN FRONT of people. The hard grind of achieving that falls to the author not the publisher (and in many cases they are one and the same in any event).

One opportunity worth exploring is giving talks at schools. All schools are keen to bring in a variety of visitors to talk about all subjects and topics and therefore an author should think hard about whether they or their books could be of interest to the school.

1)Working out what you could talk about

Whether your book is fiction or non fiction ask yourself:

• Is the book aimed at or appropriate for Primary or Secondary age children?
• Is the subject matter one that fits with the schools curriculum? Here in the UK there is a National Curriculum that it is worth checking over to see what is actually taught at schools. Most other countries will have something similar.
• Are you an expert on your subject matter. The answer may well be yes even if you don’t think it. If you have researched a particular historical period, an area of science or a specific location the chances are that you know a lot about that – a lot more than most others anyway.
• Are there other aspects of the world of writing planning a book that could be used in a talk?
• Is there something about publishing that you can talk about. Actually getting a book published -whether mainstream or self published or Print on Demand involves many steps that has given you an experience that most people do not understand and that could be valuable.

Sit down and write out the sorts of topics that you could cover. So in my case I write Historical Fiction and also Young Adult Science fiction involving time travel to different periods. This means there are specific historical periods I know a lot about. I have also explored the physics of Time Travel as well as seen an unhealthy number of films and read too many books about it. I have developed my own method of researching, plotting and writing that I can discuss. I am self published so I have experiences of that process and because like all authors I have approached mainstream agents and publishers I know something of the stages of making submissions.

I then summarised several of these areas into a brief description:

Time Travel sound like fun until you try it The fascination of time travel and why it could be more dangerous than you think! A rattle through Time Travel in book and movie, the physics of Time Travel and its dangers. Includes readings from Tomorrow’s Guardian. Ideal for Years 6 to 8.

The Great Fire of London 1666 By Permission of Heaven! A talk about The Great Fire of London – its causes, extent and the fallout from it. Includes readings from Tomorrow’s Guardian and/ or The Last Seal and use of video, maps and my Board Game to illustrate. Can be pitched at Primary school or adapted for secondary schools.

Introduction to writing Historical Fiction Making the past believable. Looking at writing historical novels. Inspiration for ideas, researching the subject, plots and people, making it vibrant and alive. Where to go next. This is intended for Year 6 Primary school or Secondary schools.

The ins and outs of getting published – by a self published author “I would be grateful if you would consider my novel.” So you have written a book – where to go next. Researching the market, spotting the next big thing. Writing a proposal. Agents, publishers, Print on Demand, Small press and self publishing. This is intended for secondary schools and possibly Year 6 primary schools.

The Zulu war of 1879 –Great Courage and great fools! About the invasion of Zulu land in 1879 – the mistakes and the amazing heroism on both sides.

From those outlines I then planned out each talk which included estimates of timing of each bit. No plan will survive intact on contact with school children but you need A PLAN and then the ability to adapt it. I aimed for talks that would last about 60 to 90 minutes but could be shortened if needed. See more later.

2)Approaching Schools

The next thing I did was to set up a page about the visits on my website so that the schools could see what was on offer. On this website I lay out my expectations. So I specify the talks that I will do. I say something about age groups and duration. I give some idea about the sorts of activities that would go on. Then I say what I would expect in return. Now this is a delicate matter. At my stage I am very keen to get more readers and so I will go to some lengths to facilitate a visit. All I ask for is that the school buy 1 copy of each of my 4 titles at £6 each – which is not exactly a vast outlay. In the case of primary schools only2 of my titles are really appropriate so I only ask that they obtain those 2. Schools do have a budget for this sort of thing and that kind of outlay is really within their scope. You have to consider whether to charge travel costs. I say on my website that I will charge 25p a mile but will actually wave this if the school is local.

I don’t charge any form of appearance fee. My view is that I want to get my books in front of as many people as possible so why put obstacles in the way. Furthermore I am an unknown author beyond a small readership so who would pay me?

You can contact schools:

• In person by going in. This is difficult as most schools are not keen on drop in visits but it would be a way of getting material to them. It is easier if you have contacts in the school.
• By mail – but a physical mail shot to lots of schools will get expensive.
• Email. School do list contact email addresses and there are sites that list schools in each area and even ones that have lists of contact emails BUT these can be out of date quickly.
• By word of mouth. Of you get a good visit, ask the school to tell other schools.

When you have contact with a school I suggest you spell out in detail:

• The exact time and date of the visit
• The age group and group sizes you will be talking to
• What environment will you be talking in – the school hall, library or class room etc.
• Who is the supervising person. You should never be left alone with children.
• The time length of the sessions
• The subject matter you are being asked to talk about
• An agreement on terms of any payment, expenses , book purchases etc
• Can you park the car, will they feed you!

3) The Talk

Attention spans are getting shorter we are told. Therefore it is important to grab the audience’s attention and keep them engaged. As I have progressed through the talks I have done so far I have added in MORE interaction and more times when the children can get up, come forward and do something.

I take a lot of props along – such as old uniforms, weapons, armour posters from movies and books. The children should be encouraged to pick them up, talk about them and try clothing on.

I incorporate activities. FOR EG I hand out lots of post cards of histocal periods and ask them to choose one to wrire about. When exploring Time Travel I get them to play out some paradoxes and experiments and I am always on the look out for more to add in.

I build in video clips from movies and cartoons. I use power point to illustrate talks as well.

The key is to break it up. Have lots of different things going on. Get the children out to take part and involve them in discussion. Challenge them “Do you think Time Travel is possible?” “No — why not?”

4)The Promotional bit

I take along book marks and postcards and posters and liberally hand these out. I make sure that I do a reading from a book at least once in a talk – even if a brief one. I mention my website and blog and suggest if they want to find out more they go there. I DON’T try and sell the books to the children BUT I of course will do so if they ask. You wont sell many books directly at school most likely BUT you hope that some will be picked up afterwards and if the school can buy a couple then that is a result already.

I take a camera and ask one of the children to take some photos. I ask permission IN ADVANCE about this and also ask the school to check permissions for each child’s image to be taken (most schools will get parents to sign these at the start of the year).

5)Afterwards

I email the school within a day or two, thank them for having me, ask for feedback and permission to use images and ideally a quote I can use on the website. I offer to go back if they want another visit.

You can see my visits page on my site here:

http://www.richarddenning.co.uk/visits.html

For more about my time travel series go here:
http://www.richarddenning.co.uk/tomguard.html

For more about my historical fiction series go here:
http://www.richarddenning.co.uk/theambertreasure.html

For more about the Great Fire Historical Fantasy go here:
http://www.richarddenning.co.uk/thelastseal.html

¿

I write historical fiction and fantasy novels because those are exactly the type of novels I also enjoy reading. If you are considering writing historical fiction here is a quick gallop through the process and the decisions to make.

What to write?
Firstly you have to consider these questions:

Consider who the story is about

OK lets hit the books

The one biggest problem (and joy) about writing historical fiction is that you have to do a LOT of research. You simply have to get the facts right or you will come unstuck. So (amongst many other things) when thinking about the people in your book think – can you answer THESE questions:

Even in these digital age there is a LOT can can be learnt (and in some cases ONLY learnt) from books, maps, documents such as birth, marriages and death cerificate, ship manifests, wills, school records, old trade directories etc. Your local library can help you start out but you may well need the services of a larger central library, a focused one such as the libraries in the National Maritime centre at Greenwich or the Public record office. If you are serious about writing historical fiction you will quickly develop a library at home. Check out second hand book shops and even car boot sales to pick up some general purpose reference material but you will have to visit a book shop or Amazon and other online sites to source more detailed books. I write about 6th century England and had to find some VERY obscure books by trawling the internet. Many museums will have a number of books for sale on their subject area and I always check out museum shops. It is worth buying a dictionary of slang terms so you can check if a phrase you want to use was in circulation.

Indeed almost every where I go I have half an eye on the history. That medieval mill over there … what is its story. What is that stone monolith on the hill? What are the town names. Can you spot the Saxon ones and see where they change to Viking ones. You can learn a lot by keeping your eyes open.

LANGUAGE

You need to find out what language your characters would speak and then you have a choice to make. How to write a book for MODERN readers set in the 7th century. Barring university professors no one these days speaks much old English. So you cant have your people speaking authentically very often (unless the fiction is set quite recently) BUT you can avoid them using modern slang. I advise you do not have them all saying “heh noney noney” and “thee and thou”. Use modern English but blend in a few elements of slang from the period OR maybe a few words in (to use my example) Old English to refer to very specific items and events.

PLACE NAMES

Likewise you will have to decide whether to use MODERN place names, original place names or a mix. But some old place names are very alien and difficult to pronounce so a pragmatic blending of old names for the authentic feel with modern terms is advisable.

The Internet is  now the single largest source of material on the planet and like it or lump it writers have to use it. You Tube has a wealth of really useful videos. Want to know how to load a Brown Bess musket?  Watch a video about it. How to put on a toga? How does Tiger Tank sound when it fires – its all on there too. Facebook is the largest source of images world wide. Join groups relevant to your subject area and  get involved in discussions. When I was trying to find a likely place for the lost 7th century battlefield of Degsastan I found a small forum dedicated to early Scottish history. Wikipedia is a good start point as a general encyclopaedia  BUT take it with a pinch of salt and check additional sources as it is not ALWAYS rght. Google images is great for pictures of pretty much everything as well a a large number of useful maps. The internet should also be your starting point for planning trips to other libraries, battlefields, museums and living history centres.

Which brings me onto the next area critical to good research. Get up, leave the PC behind and get out. Go to museums, visit living history centres and re enactments of battles. Talk to reenactors. If time permits BECOME a reenactor and experience life as a Viking, Roundhead or Knight. Get into the car and drive to a battle field. Walk the streets of Pompeii. Stand where Napoleon stood and see what he saw at La Belle Alliance. The walk across Waterloo field and stand where Wellington did when twenty thousand French cavalry were charging the British Squares. NOTHING replaces actually being there.

If you do all this you should now have the facts and figures, the images and maps that will enable you to write authentic and believable fiction. You will also have become a little bit of an expert on the subject which will serve you well in writing blogs and articles on the subject. As an example check out the blog entries related to Anglo Saxon weapons on this blog. If you can talk with some authority on a subject people are more likely to give your novel a go.

So you are ready to write. How then to plot your book?? Ah well that is for another article …

For an example of my historical fiction try The Amber Treasure. You can read the first part on my website for FREE.