The lords of the north

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The Lords of the North (Engl. The Lords of the North ) is a historical novel by British writer Bernard Cornwell . The book was published in German in 2008 by Rowohlt Verlag . It is a historical novel , i.e. a prose work , which takes historical (i.e. actual) events as the background for its invented (= fictional) main story.

The work as a historical novel

The action takes place in the 9th century AD in the British Isles. At this time most of England was occupied by the pagan Danes. As the last independent Anglo-Saxon and Christian kingdom, only Wessex remained under King Alfred . In and based on the main character Uhtred , the conflict between Danes and Anglo-Saxons is illustrated. The (fictional) hero of the novels stands emotionally between the conflicting parties. On the one hand, he is an Anglo-Saxon. He comes from the occupied north of England. As a child, he saw the Danes invade his home in Northumbria and kill his father, Aldermann von Bebbanburg, at the Battle of York. As a result, he has become a nobleman without his own lands, because his uncle has stolen his fortress Bebbanburg and wants to get Uhtred out of the way. On the other hand, he found new roots with the Danes, who raised him like their own child. In particular with his Danish adoptive brother, who fights on the side of the Danes, he feels a bond of mutual respect and loyalty. He also owes him his rescue from Danish captivity and with it his life. He also believes in the Nordic gods , which for him mean freedom and honesty. For this reason in particular, King Alfred (who is deeply religious to bigoted in the novel) is repugnant to him.

Classification in Cornwell's series

It is in The Lords of the North to the third part of a multi-part series, which in English under the title The Saxon Stories appears. In German it is called Die Uhtred-Saga after its protagonist . Predecessors are The Last Kingdom and The White Rider . The sequel sword song was published in 2007 in English and in 2008 in German. With Wolf War eleventh novel was the cycle by Alfred the Great and his son in April 2019 Edward published in German. How many parts the entire series will contain has not yet been announced by Cornwell.

action

The plot follows almost immediately from the end of the previous novel The White Rider . At that time, Uhtred had helped King Alfred decisively to defend the independence of the southern kingdom of Wessex against the Danes. But now he is drawn back to the north, which is under Danish rule. On the one hand, he is moved by emotional ties and duties towards people who are under Danish rule. On the other hand, he still hopes to regain his father's legacy.

The story begins with Uhtred hiding his hoard in the south by his property Fifhaden and then rowing back to Eoferwic ( York ) on a slave ship . Here he learns that the Saxon puppet king Egbert rebels against the Danes who, after Alfred's victory over Guthrum, believe that victory is near and that Uhtred is just another sign of the imminent end of the Danes. Uhtred heads north with Bolti and meets Sven, Kjartan's son, in a village. After Sven tries to extort tolls from Uhtred and his companions, he is overwhelmed by Uhtred, his assistant is killed and forced to leave the city. This releases Guthred, the self-proclaimed King of Northumbria , from Sven's captivity. In the whole incident, Uhtred pretended to be the warrior of the dead and did not reveal his true identity to Sven in order to make him fear an imminent death.

The two ride on to Cair Ligualid, where Uhtred is received as the king, but reveals himself and Guthred is crowned in a solemn ceremony in front of the corpse of Saint Cuthbert. Then one begins in Cair Ligualid to build up an army in order to retake Eoferwic and thus Northumbria. When Uhtred is alone with the king, they are ambushed by eight black riders who recently joined the new army. Uhtred is powerless, but is saved by his newly trained fighters and can overwhelm the riders. He learns details about Kjartan's fortress from their leader, Tekil, before killing him and six of his colleagues. The eighth, Sihtric and a son of Kjartan, he swears allegiance and spares him.

The army moves to Eoferwic and finds an almost deserted town there, whose new ruler is now Guthred. In the autumn the army moves north to Dunholm to finally defeat Kjartan. On the way there is Count Ivarr, the son of Ivar the Boneless, who was badly wounded and lost a battle against Aed of Scotland . He is accepted by Guthred and moves to Dunholm with them. There Uhtred is lured to the coast under a pretext and sold by Guthred to the slave trader Sverri. Guthred thus secures the loyalty of Aelfric, Uhtred's hated uncle and ruler of Bebbanburg .

On the ship, Uhtred Finan met the Irishman, also a warrior, and initially remained a slave under Sverri for several years. During this time, a red ship constantly chases Uhtred's, but never reaches it, albeit often just barely. When Sverri anchors at the place where he recorded Uhtred, Sven the one-eyed recognizes Uhtred. However, he does not succeed in bringing him under his control, because at that moment the red ship arrives and Uhtred is freed. The ship was sent out by King Alfred and on board are Uhtred's old friends Ragnar and Steapa Snotor.

They make their way back south, where Uhtred recovers his equipment at Hild. Upon arriving at Alfred's, Uhtred immediately received a new assignment: he was to return to King Guthred's north as ambassador, together with Ragnar, Father Beocca and Steapa Snotor. When he arrives in Eoferwic, he first learns that Uhtred's beloved Gisela has been married to his uncle Aelfric. Guthred moved with her towards Bebbanburg, but is now being hunted by the Danes because he has become too powerful. Uhtred and Ragnar decide to look for him so that they can attack Dunholm together.

Guthred is now besieged by Kjartan's men and is freed by Uhtred and Ragnar. In a subsequent interview, Uhtred kills the priest who was responsible for his fate as a slave and persuades Guthred to move to Dunholm with him. Once there, Uhtred and eleven others use a trick to get into the castle. There they are discovered and Kjartan sets his notorious pack of dogs on them, but they are stopped by Thyra, Ragnar's sister and prisoner of Kjartan. She has the dogs under control and sets them on Kjartan's men. With this and with the support of Ragnar, Dunholm can be taken. Sven is pushed off the parapet and killed by Thyra and Kjartan dies in the fight between him and Ragnar.

After the fall of Dunholm, whose new ruler is now Ragnar, the army sets out to face and kill Ivarr. Uhtred manages to provoke Ivarr at the meeting so that he gets involved in a man-to-man fight and defeats him. The rest of Ivarr's army joins Ragnar and Uhtred.

Characters of the plot

Fictional

  • Uhtred - protagonist , narrator and dispossessed Aldermann von Bebbanburg
  • Gisela - Dane, sister of Guthred
  • Hild - Saxon, former nun, becomes Uhtred's lover
  • Ragnar Ragnarsson - Danish warlord, son of Lord Ragnar, Uhtred's step-brother and close friend
  • Ælfric - Uhtred's uncle and illegitimate heir to the throne of Bebbanburg
  • Father Beocca - Alfred's priest and Uhtred's family friend
  • Kjartan the Terrible - ruler of Dunholm , murderer of Lord Ragnar
  • Sven the one-eyed - son of Kjartan, Uhtred's enemy
  • Thyra Ragnarsdottir - sister of Ragnar, kidnapped by Sven Kjartanson
  • Ivarr Ivarson - Danish warlord, son of Ivar the Boneless
  • Rypere - young Saxon warrior trained by Uhtred
  • Clapa - young Danish warrior trained by Uhtred
  • Sihtric Kjartanson - Kjartan's illegitimate son and follower of Uhtred
  • Jænberht and Ida - monks in the service of Ælfric
  • Steapa - leader of King Alfred's household troops and comrade in arms of Uhtred in the Battle of Ethandun
  • Father Hrothweard - priest in Eoferwic
  • Tekil - warrior in the service of Kjartan
  • Sverri Ravnsson - Danish slave trader from Jutland , buys Uhtred as a slave
  • Hakka - Sverri's Frisian confidante
  • Finan the Nimble - Irish slave and warrior, makes friends with Uhtred

Historic

expenditure

The novel was first published in 2006 in English under the title The Lords of the North in the United Kingdom . In the US , the work is instead published under the title Lords of the North . The German edition was published in 2008 under the title Die Herren des Nordens in a translation by Karolina Fell. From (The) Lords of The North also different issues exist abridged and unabridged English-language audio books . An abridged audio book has been published for the German translation.

Printed editions

Audio books

  • The Lords of the North . Unabridged, speaker: Richard Armitage , language: English, format: CD (10 CD), playing time: 12 hours 02 minutes, publisher: Chivers Audio Books (an imprint of BBC Audiobooks) Bath, England 2007 // Audio Book Collection, ISBN 978 -1405623698
  • Lords of the North . Speaker: Tom Sellwood, Language: English, Format: CD , Publisher: North Kingstown, RI: BBC Audiobooks America, 2007, ISBN 0792747291 and ISBN 978-0792747291
  • Lords of the North . Speaker: Tom Sellwood, Language: English, Format: CD , Publisher: North Kingstown, RI: Sound Library 2007, ISBN 0792747453 and ISBN 978-0792747451
  • Lords of the North . Speaker: Jamie Glover , Language: English, Format: CD , Publisher: Harper Audio, New York 2007, ISBN 0061155780 and ISBN 978-0061155789
  • The lords of the north . Abridged, speaker: Gerd Andresen, director: Lisa Bitzer, translation: Karolina Fell, language: German, format: CD (7 CD), playing time: 502 minutes, publisher: Audiobuch , Freiburg im Breisgau 2008, ISBN 3899643046 or ISBN 978- 3899643046 .

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