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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2013
Copyright © Patricia Bracewell 2013
Map © Matt Brown 2013
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014
Cover photography © Richard Jenkins
Patricia Bracewell 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: 9780007481767
Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007481750
Version: 2015-09-29
For Lloyd, Andrew, and Alan
The English Court, 1001–1005
Æthelred II, Anglo-Saxon king of England
Children of the English king, in birth order:
Athelstan
Ecbert
Edmund
Edrid
Edwig
Edward
Edgar
Edyth
Ælfgifu (Ælfa)
Wulfhilde (Wulfa)
Mathilda
Leading Nobles and Ecclesiastics
Ælfhelm, ealdorman of Northumbria
Ufegeat, his son
Wulfheah, his son (Wulf)
Elgiva, his daughter
Ælfric, ealdorman of Hampshire
Ælfgar, his son
Hilde, his granddaughter
Ælfheah, bishop of Winchester
Godwine, ealdorman of Lindsey
Leofwine, ealdorman of Western Mercia
Wulfstan, archbishop of Jorvik and bishop of Worcester
The Norman Court, 1001–1005
Richard II, duke of Normandy
Robert, archbishop of Rouen, brother of the duke
Judith, duchess of Normandy
Gunnora, dowager duchess of Normandy
Mathilde, sister of the duke
Emma, sister of the duke
The Danish Royals
Swein Forkbeard, king of Denmark
Harald, his son
Cnut, his son
A.D. 978 In this year was King Edward slain at even-tide, at Corfe-gate, on the fifteenth before the kalends of April, and he was buried at Werham without any royal honours. Nor was a worse deed than this done since men came to Britain … Æthelred was consecrated king. In this same year a bloody sky was often seen, most clearly at midnight, like fire in the form of misty beams. As dawn approached, it glided away.
– The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Table of Contents