Home › Blogs › parakletos's blog

Swaefred of Cent

Sun, 01/03/2010 - 23:37 — parakletos

    My wife has never read any of my fanfic, always asking why I don't write any original stuff. She tends to be a lone voice amongst those who are interested in what I write as everyone else wants to know when the next chapter of 12M or Sins will be. But now she's happy, because I'm working on an idea that has no links to Harry Potter.

    I've had a love of Anglo Saxon England for most of my life, normally centred around the demise of the Kingdom in 1066. In recent years I've been reading the Anglo Saxon Series by Bernard Cornwell which is centred around the reign of Alfred the Great and the fictional warlord, Uhtred. I've just finished the 5th in series and this coincided with a pre-Christmas visit to the library and clearing their (limited) stock of book on all things Anglo Saxon.

    As I read the 363 pages of the general history of the period I'd picked up, I began looking for an event or series of events around which I can base a story. I eventually settled for the 15 year reign of the first true King of all England, Æthelstan.

    I'm currently assembling my cast of characters including the three main ones who will be fictitious but hopefully believable. I have a semblance of a plot which is stronger at the start than it is at the end, that is to say I know how it starts rather than it ends. I'm realistic about the story and I'm more interested in how I fare in my own world rather than someone else's.

    So take a bow, Swaefred of Cent

    Comments

    Mon, 01/04/2010 - 03:28 — moshpit
    moshpit's picture

    What's your reference material?

    I've browsed several texts covering the period in question, but haven't found a good, solid, definitive anything. Granted, the state of record keeping and Victor-Writes-The-Account is a bit of a problem to begin with, but if you've found what you feel is a good text on the period, I'd be interested in reading the same. (Assuming I haven't already...)

    Mon, 01/04/2010 - 05:37 — Vespers

    Æthelstan

    Æthelstan was certainly a finer king than the second Æthelred, his great^4 grandson.

    I've quite a love for the early history of all countries, Britain included. I look forward to reading your story. Where will it be posted?

    Mon, 01/04/2010 - 13:14 — parakletos
    parakletos's picture

    Sources

    I'm currently reading A brief history of the Anglo-Saxons by Geoffrey Hindley for, dare I say it, a brief history.

    I'm also getting some background to social life etc from Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest by HR Lyon.

    On order is The Age of Athelstan: Britain's Forgotten History by Paul Hill.

    I'm also going to use a number of the Osprey Men at Arms books I've acquired scans of over the years.

    Geographically things will be set in Kent which I know fairly well and the Midlands (Mercia) around Tamworth close to where I was brought up as a child.

    Mon, 01/04/2010 - 13:17 — parakletos
    parakletos's picture

    The plan will be to post it

    The plan will be to post it here as the site does accomodate original fiction. It may be some time in coming as this will be a world i'm creating rather than one i can slip into. I'm helped by the fact that I have a friend who is fluent in the language.

    Mon, 01/04/2010 - 15:23 — bransfolly
    bransfolly's picture

    Historical books...

    checking my old university books and others i can recommend to you

    Wessex to AD1000 Barry Cunliffe
    Arthur's Britain Leslie Alcock
    Anglo Saxon England Lloyd, Laing and Laing

    If you need anymore, or you can describe exactly which ear you are targeting i'll see if i can find anything more precise .

    It is a fascinating era, though my area of expertise is Romano-Britain

    Mon, 01/04/2010 - 17:04 — parakletos
    parakletos's picture

    My plan is that the story is

    My plan is that the story is set in the reign of Athelstan, so 924 - 939.

    What I am struggling with is the strata of society I'm going to place the protagonist in. He needs to be high enough to go into battle on a horse, but low enough so that an act of bravery regarding his Jarl can elevate him. If you want an equivalent it would be Hornblower; low but not too low.

    Ah well, back to being puzzled. What I need is a diagram.

    Wed, 01/06/2010 - 07:26 — CaffeineAddict

    Anglo-Saxon England has

    Anglo-Saxon England has always interested me but it's one of the periods I haven't had much of a chance to focus on in my studies yet, but it's something I'm looking into for grad school. The exact date eludes me at the moment but would this be set before or after the creation of the Danelaw in the eastern regions of England? I can't seem to remember when the Danes first began making forays into England.

    Wed, 01/06/2010 - 11:05 — parakletos
    parakletos's picture

    CaffeineAddict

    CaffeineAddict wrote:

    Anglo-Saxon England has always interested me but it's one of the periods I haven't had much of a chance to focus on in my studies yet, but it's something I'm looking into for grad school. The exact date eludes me at the moment but would this be set before or after the creation of the Danelaw in the eastern regions of England? I can't seem to remember when the Danes first began making forays into England.

    The official date of the first landing by the Danes in England is 449 AD but its almost certain that they arrived before. The story starts around 924/925 AD. Danelaw was as the result of agreements made by Alfred the Great the date of which escapes me but was the previous century.