The Lords of the North
Copyright
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2006
Copyright © Bernard Cornwell 2006
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2017.
Photography by Steffan Hill © Carnival Film & Television Limited 2017.
Bernard Cornwell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it, while at times based on historical figures, are the work of the author’s imagination.
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Source ISBN: 9780007219704
Ebook Edition © September 2008 ISBN: 9780007236879
Version: 2017-10-18
The Lords of the North
is for Ed Breslin
. . . . . Com on wanre niht scriðan sceadugenga
From out of the wan night slides the shadow walker
Place-names
The spelling of place names in Anglo Saxon England was an uncertain business, with no consistency and no agreement even about the name itself. Thus London was variously rendered as Lundonia, Lundenberg, Lundenne, Lundene, Lundenwic, Lundenceaster and Lundres. Doubtless some readers will prefer other versions of the names listed below, but I have usually employed whichever spelling is cited in either the Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names or the Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names for the years nearest or contained within Alfred’s reign, AD 871–899, but even that solution is not foolproof. Hayling Island, in 956, was written as both Heilincigae and Hæglingaiggæ. Nor have I been consistent myself; I should spell England as Englaland, and have preferred the modern form Northumbria to Norðhymbralond to avoid the suggestion that the boundaries of the ancient kingdom coincide with those of the modern county. So this list, like the spellings themselves, is capricious.
Æthelingæg
Athelney, Somerset
Alclyt
Bishop Auckland, County Durham
Baðum (pronounced Bathum)
Bath, Avon
Bebbanburg
Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland
Berrocscire
Berkshire
Cair Ligualid
Carlisle, Cumbria
Cetreht
Catterick, Yorkshire
Cippanhamm
Chippenham, Wiltshire
Contwaraburg
Canterbury, Kent
Cumbraland
Cumbria
Cuncacester
Chester-le-Street, County Durham
Cynuit
Cynuit Hillfort, nr Cannington, Somerset
Defnascir
Devonshire
Dornwaraceaster
Dorchester, Dorset
Dunholm
Durham, County Durham
Dyflin
Dublin, Eire
Eoferwic
York
Ethandun
Edington, Wiltshire
Exanceaster
Exeter, Devon
Fifhidan
Fyfield, Wiltshire
Gleawecestre
Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Gyruum
Jarrow, County Durham
Hamptonscir
Hampshire
Haithabu
Hedeby, trading town in southern Denmark
Heagostealdes
Hexham, Northumberland
Hedene
River Eden, Cumbria
Hocchale
Houghall, County Durham
Horn
Hofn, Iceland
Hreapandune
Repton, Derbyshire
Kenet
River Kennet
Lindisfarena
Lindisfarne (Holy Island), Northumberland
Lundene
London
Onhripum
Ripon, Yorkshire
Pedredan
River Parrett
Readingum
Reading, Berkshire
Scireburnan
Sherborne, Dorset
Snotengaham
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Strath Clota
Strathclyde
Sumorsæte
Somerset
Suth Seaxa
Sussex (South Saxons)
Synningthwait
Swinithwaite,