Alfred the Great; King's Revenge

This is the eighth book in the Ambrose historical adventure series, and the second of the King Alfred Sagas. The previous novel covered a time when England came very close to becoming a Danish kingdom. In this novel, Alfred's long-term plans are finally coming to fruition. His plan to build fortified towns and a navy is underway. The end of this war will see Wessex spread to the north of the Thames, and control much of Mercia. His sea thanes, his garrison troops, and his summer and winter army are all part of a master plan to give Wessex a fighting chance against the savage Viking invaders.

The titles of the books have changed, since the main character in the last two books is Alfred the Great, though Ambrose, Polonius and Phillip will continue to play a major part in the war against the pagan Danes.

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Some years before this story begins, in 876 A.D., King Guthrum of the Danes invades the Anglo-Saxon country of Wessex. Trapped at the town of Wareham by Alfred the Great and his West Saxon army, the Viking agrees to a truce, but, instead, slips out and retreats to Exeter. After a Viking fleet is destroyed in a storm, Guthrum is forced to sue for peace and retreats to East Anglia, a country that he and his ravaging Vikings have already conquered.

Just before Christmas 877, Alfred, whose army was disbanded for the winter, is caught by surprise by a second invasion of Guthrum's army. The Saxon king is forced into hiding in the forest of Selwood. Eventually he finds his way to Athelney, an island surrounded by marshes. From there, he organizes a secret gathering of his fighting men. Meantime, to the west, one of his ealdormen, Odda, destroys a second Viking army newly arrived from Wales and led by Ubbi Ragnarsson.

A single major defeat could mean the end of Saxon Wessex. All of the Angle, Saxon and Jute kingdoms north of the Thames are reeling or have already fallen under the Viking onslaught. Alfred's army manages to gather in May, however, and they meet the Vikings at Edington. Alfred is victorious and the Vikings flee to Chippenham. After a two week siege, Guthrum agrees to be baptized and signs a peace treaty with Alfred. Wessex is saved. This story is told in Alfred the Great; Viking Invasion.

In 885, Wessex is threatened by a new enemy. Another Viking army, fresh from France, lands in Kent and besieges the town of Rochester. This is where Alfred the Great; King's Revenge, begins. Guthrum and his powerful army are bound by treaty to stay out of the fight, but his men are ever hungry for more land and adventure. The territory north of the Thames River belongs to Guthrum. If the Viking king joins his forces with the Danes from France, Wessex may finally be overwhelmed. Alfred arrives with his army before the city falls, and the combined Saxon forces rout the Vikings, who flee precipitously, even leaving behind their entire horse herd.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles say very little about what actually happened between this attack and the eventual peace treaty between Alfred and Guthrum, although they report Alfred attacking a Viking fleet in the mouth of the Stour River. Alfred's fleet wins, but is subsequently defeated by an avenging fleet sent by Guthrum. Why was Alfred's fleet sent so far north; into Guthrum's home waters? How exactly did Alfred take London, and why? Did Guthrum attempt to defend it? The details I use in this story are fictitious.

Although regaining a strong base on the north bank of the Thames seems a good strategic move for Alfred, it was counter to the treaty he had signed with Guthrum. I have to assume that Guthrum must have been involved in some way in the hostilities at Rochester. Statements in Asser's biography of Alfred bear this out. Asser states that the king takes the city of London after . . . burning cities and the slaying of the people. I mention Bishop Asser, but at the time of this story he was actually a newly arrived monk at Alfred's court. He was not made a bishop until the 890's.

I have made the assumption that Guthrum came south to defend London and the north bank of the Thames. How Alfred took the city, and the battle that ensued, is strictly a figment of my imagination. The terms of the subsequent treaty, however, are accurate. (See Appendix III)

This was a critical time for Wessex and all England. The Danish tide had rolled over all but the one southern Anglo-Saxon kingdom. If Wessex had fallen, English history might have been very different. I hope that you enjoy the story. Words in italics generally have special meaning and the details may be found in Appendix I.

The author,

Bruce Corbett

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CAST OF CHARACTERS

Alfred: The younger brother of Ambrose, Ethelbert, and Ethelred. He was an intensely curious man who unexpectedly became king at the death of his brother, in 871 AD. A great general, he drove King Guthrum, leader of the Viking Great Army, out of Wessex, but was almost taken captive in a surprise winter attack. Hiding first in the forests, and then at his island base of Athelney, he started to strike back at the hated enemy. When his men rallied to him in the spring, he was able to defeat King Guthrum. Surprisingly, he treated Guthrum generously and became his godfather. In this story, he is forced to once again take up arms against the Danish ruler who conquered Essex and East Anglia. In the end, he defeats the Viking king and takes vital land north of the Thames.

Ambrose: (Fictitious) He was an Anglo-Saxon bastard prince of Wessex. Kidnapped by Viking slavers as a boy, he was taken to Denmark, and then fled to Norway and Sweden. Chased by the Danes, he joined Gunnar of the Rus Vikings, who sent him and his two companions, Phillip and Polonius, to trade on his behalf down the Russian rivers. Ambrose set up trading posts in Novgorod, and then Kiev. Finally, he travelled to Constantinople as an emissary for the Kiev leaders. From there, he eventually returned to England to help his father and brothers fight against the Viking raiders.

He and his friends became a legend when they first joined the Danish Great Army as Canuteson, stole a princess from a Viking stronghold in Ireland and, as Hamar, spied a second time on the Danes, at Chippenham. In this story, he rides to Guthrum in an effort to keep him out of the upcoming fight, returns home in time to fight at Rochester, and then spies on the Vikings from France. Finally, he participates in the taking of London and the defeat of King Guthrum's army.

Anwell: (Fictitious) He was the ealdorman of Cornwall who had previously made an alliance with the Danes in return for nominal independence.

Askold: He, with his cousin, Dir, are the Rus leaders who left Novgorod to settle at Kiev, a city they feel is ideally situated to control the Russian-Byzantine river trade. Under their leadership, the Dnieper River region came under Varangian control, and they participated in an attack on Constantinople itself. After the attack, in an attempt to end the hostilities, they appointed Ambrose to negotiate with the Byzantine Emperor.

Asser: He was a Welsh monk who was invited to Alfred's court around 885, though he actually arrived in 886. Eventually, in the 890's he was made bishop of Sherborne. He is best known for writing the story of Alfred in the Life of King Alfred. I thus have him at court, and promoted, somewhat early.

Byram: (Fictitious) A ship officer aboard Alfred's Leaping Stag, he was the thane sent as temporary captain to the prize Alfred captured on the Stour River.

Cedd: (Fictitious) One of the crewmen aboard the Thames ferry.

Dag: (Fictitious) The Viking ruler of Wexford, he is mentioned when a Viking minstrel sings of Ambrose's rescue of his fiancé after she was kidnapped and enslaved.

Dir: See ASKOLD.

Ealhswith: Wife of King Alfred.

Egbert: He was an ancestor of Alfred's. He ruled Wessex as king from 802 to 839 AD.

Egil: (Little): (Fictitious) (in Warrior…) A Danish warrior, he is mentioned in the story of when Ambrose and his comrades join the Viking Great Army. Thrust unconscious under a tent and then wounded in combat against Ambrose, he was the butt of many Viking jokes. Egil recognizes Ambrose when the Saxon prince travels north as Alfred's envoy. He first threatens Ambrose, and then tries to assassinate him. Declared outlaw by his own king, he raids south of the Thames, where he is captured.

Ethelred: The Mercian nobleman who conquers western Mercia and eventually marries Alfred's daughter. In this story, he joins Alfred and swears allegiance to him just before his final battle with King Guthrum.

Ethelwold: Alfred's nephew and ealdorman of Dorset. His father was Ethelred, older brother of Alfred. Ethelred had been king of Wessex from AD. 866 to 871. Ethelwold questions the wisdom of Alfred taking the fleet north against the Francian Vikings.

Galar: (Fictitious) In this story, he commands the queen's escort and rides with her from Winchester to Rochester.

Gauti: (Fictitious) He is Alfred's Frisian navigator on his ship, the Leaping Stag.

Giric: (possibly along with Eochaid) is the king of the united kingdom of the Picts and the Scots.

Gretchen: (Fictitious) Is the daughter of Osmond, ealdorman of East Anglia, and distant cousin to the royal family of Wessex. Previous to this story, she first met Ambrose at the Wessex court, and then nursed him back to health when he was wounded during his earlier escape from the Danes. They were betrothed, but Gretchen was first kidnapped by Welsh, and then Viking brigands. Ambrose travelled to Ireland to free her. After many adventures, they were married. A wilful wife, she risks her safety by following Ambrose to Rochester.

Godric: (Fictitious) The young warrior (Dreng) who guards the path to where Phillip has seized a Viking long-ship on the south bank of the Thames

Guthred: A Viking recognized as king of York in 883, he is a potential adversary of King Alfred.

Guthrum: A Dane who was king of East Anglia, Essex, and part of Mercia. He attacked Wessex, was bought off, and then attacked from Mercia at Christmas of 878. After signing a treaty, he returned to East Anglia. In 885, as this story starts, he breaks the treaty with Wessex by allowing his men to go south and join some Vikings from France besieging the West Saxon city of Rochester. Alfred goes north to punish the attackers and seizes Viking ships at the mouth of the Stour River. In response, Guthrum attacks with every ship he can muster, defeating Alfred. A second treaty is signed after Alfred seizes London and defeats Guthrum in battle.

Halfdan: He was elder brother of Ubbi and Ivar the Boneless. He was one of the three original leaders of the Danish Great Army in England. His father was Ragnar Lodbrok.

Hamar: (Fictitious) Was the name Ambrose used previously when he pretended to be a Swedish trader in King Guthrum's camp some years before.

Halig: (Fictitious) Was the young warrior raised up to take the place of Thane Pyt, who had failed to have his long-ship ready to join Alfred's fleet.

Ivar The Boneless: The brother of Halfdan and Ubbi and one of the three original leaders of the Viking Great Army. His father was Ragnar Lodbrok and his son is Sitric Ivarsson, a friend of Prince Ambrose.

Jokul: (Fictitious) The Frisian captain who lures the Vikings towards Alfred's fleet and then leads a raid on the East Anglian coast.

Kuralla: (Fictitious) She was a Slav chieftain's daughter whose village defied Bothi, a Rus nobleman settled near Novgorod. Bothi ordered her father tortured and killed, and she was about to be given to his warriors when Ambrose purchased her to save her life. Polonius married her before they returned with Ambrose to England.

Matilda: (Fictitious) Was the flaxen-headed and sharp-tongued wife of Phillip.

Odda: The elderly ealdorman of Devon, he had served four kings faithfully and killed Ubbi Ragnarsson when his army invaded Wessex. In this story, he is a stalwart supporter of Alfred.

Penrith: (Fictitious) One of the crewmen aboard the Thames ferry.

Phillip: (Fictitious) A giant of a man, he was the free-born guardian of Ambrose. Often called the weapons-master, he had trained several generations of West Saxon noblemen in the military arts. Wherever Ambrose went, there was Phillip. His great goal in life was to protect his prince. When he spied on the Great Army in 868, he called himself Edgar.

Polonius: (Fictitious) He was born to noble Byzantine parents and given an excellent education. When his family had financial reverses, he and his sisters were sold into slavery. He was taken to Lombardy, France, and eventually Frisia. There, he chanced to meet Ambrose and Phillip. Together they embarked on a series of adventures that took them to Norway, Sweden, Novgorod, Kiev, and eventually Constantinople itself. An expert linguist and knife-thrower, he returned to England with Ambrose, and, as Nicholas, helped him spy on the Danish Great Army. Soon thereafter, he helped steal Gretchen back from the Irish Vikings. He taught Alfred to read, and in this story he acts as the king's military advisor and spy master.

Pyt: (Fictitious) Thane of Alfred's Personal Guard, who arranged to hang the Viking hostages at Chippenham, Given 300 hides of land as a reward, he was expected to supply and crew one ship. Because he had assigned his carpenters other tasks, the ship was not completed when Alfred needed it.

Radnor: (Fictitious) Is a loyal thane to ODDA, the ealdorman of Devon.

Raedan: (Fictitious) He was the ealdorman of Kent who sent his men into Rochester before the Vikings could attack. In the following spring, he brought Alfred's main army by a southern route to Wallingford.

Ragnar Lodbrok: A powerful Danish chieftain who invaded England and France. Legend had it that he was killed in Northumbria by being thrown in a pit of snakes. His three sons were Halfdan, Ivar the Boneless, and Ubbi.

Rinc: (Fictitious) The inn keeper and Saxon spy in Lundenwic.

Rodor: (Fictitious) The priest of the village in Essex on the north shore of the Thames, he arranges to get Ambrose and his friends across the river.

Ryscford: (Fictitious) Thane of a little marsh village near Athelney, in this story he brings the news to Ambrose of an attack on a Kentish village.

Sigenert: (Fictitious) A gaunt villager who captures Ambrose and his two friends soon after they cross the Thames River from Viking-ruled Essex.

Sitric Ivarsson: The son of Ivar the Boneless. He previously met Ambrose at the Wessex court, where he was a spy with the identity of a Frisian peddler named Harold. Phillip rescued him from brigands, and they shared adventures together in Ireland. He did not join his uncle on the attack on Wessex. By 883, he was king of Dublin. In this story, he traps Ambrose's ship, but lets the prince escape.

Stearc: (Fictitious) The young assistant to the Anglo-Saxon innkeeper in Lundenwic.

Sun Tzu: A Chinese strategist who wrote The Art of War. This text was written some time between the fifth to the third century B.C.

Theomund: (Fictitious) Commander of Ealdorman Raedan's army. (Kent)

Ubbi: He was younger brother of Halfdan and Ivar the Boneless. Ubbi was killed by Odda's fyrdmen when he brought his army into Wessex in 878 in support of Guthrum.

Wade: He was a master blacksmith who served with the Wessex fyrd.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Cast of Characters

Chapter 1: Vikings Land at Rochester.

Chapter 2: Ambrose Talks with Gretchen About Going North.

Chapter 3: Pigeons.

Chapter 4: Ambrose Rides North to Guthrum.

Chapter 5: The Ferryman Returns.

Chapter 6: The Emissaries Leave London.

Chapter 7: Ambrose Meets Guthrum.

Chapter 8: Assassins in the Night.

Chapter 9: The Saxon Priest.

Chapter 10: Alfred Rides.

Chapter 11: Alfred Wants to Hunt Down the Attackers.

Chapter 12: Guthrum's Men on the South Bank.

Chapter 13: Ambrose Returns To His Brother's Side.

Chapter 14: Alfred's Attack on the Viking Fleet at the River Stour.

Chapter 15: A Thane Loses His Land.

Chapter 16: Alfred Prepares For The Attack.

Chapter 17: Alfred Takes London.

Chapter 18: Guthrum Arrives and Fights.

Chapter 19: Alfred and Guthrum Discuss Peace.

Appendix I: Glossary of terms

Appendix II: The History of Wessex, of Russia, and of Ambrose and his Friends in the Ninth Century AD.

Appendix III: Treaty between King Guthrum and King Alfred the Great.

Appendix IV: Genealogy

Appendix V: Map of Alfred's England.

Appendix VI: About the Author and Other Books.

PART ONE

In the year of our Lord's incarnation 884, which was the thirty-sixth of king Alfred's life, the aforesaid army (Viking army in France) divided into two parts; one body of them went into East France, and the other coming to Britain entered Kent, where they besieged a city called in Saxon Rochester, and situated on the eastern bank of the river Medway.

.............Asser's Life of King Alfred.

Chapter 1

Vikings Land at Rochester.

Polonius entered the room and approached the table that Ambrose and Alfred were sitting at. The king smiled. So there you are, Polonius. I was wondering where you were hiding today. Your turn is next, Scholar. Just as soon as I finish this game with my big brother here, I will show you how well a king can play this new-fangled game you call chess.' He watched as Ambrose took his castle and grinned wolfishly. 'You see - even now Ambrose foolishly sacrifices his horse for my fortress . . . Scholar, what is the matter? You look pale and you are out of breath.

"Majesty, a messenger has just arrived. The Vikings we have had watched in Francia Occidental have finally moved."

And?

Their army has split into two.

You have my attention. Where are the two pieces going?

"One is pushing upriver into Francia Orientalis."

That is a concern for our friend Charles the Fat and his Franks, may God help them. And the other?

They have landed on this side of the channel.

You said there was a good chance they would try Britain after they finished stripping the Frankish coastal provinces bare. Whose kingdom must face their onslaught this time? All that is left for them to devour is the lands of the Scots and Picts, or the Welsh. Perhaps we will be lucky enough to see them tear at Guthrum or Guthred. That would be divine justice.

There is also us, Sire. They have landed in Kent.

By the beard of sweet Jesus! I had hoped we were done with the devil's spawn. We already have bloody Guthrum in East Anglia and this Guthred strutting about in Northumbria, not to mention your friend Sitric ruling in Dublin! Will the bastards never stop coming?' The king took a deep breath. 'Okay, Polonius, how many and where?

The messenger reports that some fifteen ships headed up the Medway River and then beached near Rochester.

And what have the Vikings done since they landed?

They immediately marched on Rochester.

And?

And they have besieged it.

"Rochester . . . It was not yet on our list of burhs to fortify, Polonius, nor have we yet assigned it a garrison. Still, with its old Roman walls properly reinforced, it would be a bitch to take back from the heathen Vikings."

"There is one bit of good news, Sire. The ships were spotted approaching the Medway River and Ealdorman Raedan, your old comrade-in-arms, sent in both supplies and some of his men to reinforce the town before it was forced to close its gates."

Alfred looked up suddenly. "You mean that the tun has not fallen?"

It was still holding out when the messenger started his ride to here.

Well, by the bones of all the saints, may God bless Kentish stubbornness! How long can they hold out for?

"Unknown, Sire. The old Roman walls are pretty substantial, but they are not in great shape. Raedan and the remainder of his sworn band are skulking in the forest and doing their best to harass any Viking raiding parties, but the messenger reports that his ealdorman's forces are very limited. Many of Raedan's best men are inside the city, and the local people are panicked. They are too busy fleeing with their families to answer his call to arms."

That can only mean that the Vikings are up to their old tricks, spreading out in all directions and terrorizing the population.

Exactly, Sire. Raedan is not capable of standing up to the Viking army without serious reinforcements.

He can best defend his people by constant and ruthless attacks on each and every raiding party that sets out from the main Viking encampment. You and Ambrose taught me that, Scholar.

Sire?

"That the Vikings only respect strength. You told me once that, to a Viking, Christian charity is nothing more than a weakness to be exploited.'

"We also hid on the island of Athelney when Guthrum caught us with our breeks around our ankles, Sire."

Alfred looked up sharply a second time. We attacked, and we won, Polonius! You have a short memory.

"We fought and won in the spring only after you had managed to secretly gather a strong force of your best warriors, Sire. Raedan is only doing what we did. He is attacking when he can, and then slipping away