Nordic Heroes Series

Exiled after a bitter battle in Finnsburgh, the Angle thegn, Hengest, turns his three war keels to Britannia. All he wants is land and a mead hall of his own, but he ends up winning a country - a country that will later be named England. The original Saga of Hengest is lost, except for a tantalising fragment known as the Freswael, which tells of that battle in Finnesburgh. The rest of the saga has been reconstructed from other, later, sources, mainly Layamon's Brut.   

When Waldere escapes from Attila with Hildegyth, his bride-to-be, Attila sends 11 warriors after him. But Waldere, a master of Nordic martial arts, beats nine of them in single combat with the help of the legendary sword, Mimming. But can he, exhausted as he is, beat off the remaining two assailants?    Waldere was admired by the Anglo-Saxons as the ultimate warrior, and the epic that bears his name stood on equal terms with the only surviving Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, though, sadly, most of it is lost. However, two fragments of the Anglo-Saxon poems remain, and a 9th century Latin version enables us to put those fragments in context. This book is an attempt to reconstruct the lost epic and present it as though it were a translation of an original, similar in style to Seamus Heaney's Beowulf, using a modern version of the Anglo-Saxon poetic line.    

Aelle, a Saxon from Saxony, is one of the founders of England, and responsible in part for the word "Saxon" in the ethonym, "Anglo-Saxon" (Latin, Angli-Saxones). In 477, Aelle and his three sons set out from Saxony to settle in what was to become Sussex (Suth-seax). This is his story. Note that the previous edition was entitled, Sword of Saxony.

Hervor, a young girl who is tired of needlework and wishes to reclaim her inheritance, changes her name to Hervar, dresses as a man, and joins a group of Viking raiders. The story is based on The Hervararsaga. Like many of the Icelandic Sagas, The Hervararsaga is rambling and muddled, though containing much fine material. This version is a straightforward retelling of the best episodes.

When the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok heard that King Aella of Northumbria had killed their father by throwing him into a snake pit, they vowed revenge. They raised what became known as the Great Heathen Army and set out to conquer England. One of those sons was Halfdan "White Shirt" Ragnarsson, and it is he who founded the kingdom of Jorvik, which became today's county of Yorkshire. This is his story.

Blessed by Odin, cursed by Thor, Starkaðr is the greatest of all Viking warriors. This version of his story is closely based on the original sources, mainly the Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus and Gautrek's Saga.

The story of Rouwennë, Hengest's daughter. As a tomboyish girl, fond of stories of shieldmaidens, she gets involved in a Viking raid led by her older brother. The raid goes wrong and her stepmother tries to teach her that her 'womanly weapons' have more power. She uses those weapons to bring down two kings of Britannia and to win her lover—a handsome dreng named Wulf.

Egbert was king of Wessex from c. 770 to 839. His achievement is that he brought about the unification of England under the house of Wessex, and paved the way for the successes of Alfred the Great (his grandson). Historical information is thin on the ground, so I have elaborated many scenes from my own imagination, hoping to bring to life this underappreciated Anglo-Saxon monarch.

A bitter feud between the Angles and Frisians begins with a raid on Wederby. Hengest, a young dreng, takes revenge and is exiled for it. He enters service with the Half-Danes, who are also feuding with the Frisians, but doing their best to build bridges. However, at a Yuletide feast in Finnesburh in the year 449, all hell breaks loose.