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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © Bernard Cornwell 2018
Map © John Gilkes 2018
Plan of the Roman fort adapted from a drawing by Thomas Sopwith
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019
Cover photography © CollaborationJS
Bernard Cornwell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of 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: 9780008183868
Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2019 ISBN: 9780008183851
Version: 2020-03-31
War of the Wolf
is dedicated to the memory of
Toby Eady,
my agent and dear friend.
1941–2017
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Place Names
Part One: The Wild Lands
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Part Two: Eostre’s Feast
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Part Three: Fortress of the Eagles
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Historical Note
Also by Bernard Cornwell
The SHARPE series
About the Publisher
The spelling of place names in ninth- and tenth-century Britain 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 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.
| Bebbanburg | Bamburgh, Northumberland |
| Berewic | Berwick on Tweed, Northumberland |
| Brunanburh | Bromborough, Cheshire |
| Cair Ligualid | Carlisle, Cumbria |
| Ceaster | Chester, Cheshire |
| Cent | Kent |
| Contwaraburg | Canterbury, Kent |
| Dunholm | Durham, County Durham |
| Dyflin | Dublin, Eire |
| Eoferwic | York, Yorkshire (Saxon name) |
| Fagranforda | Fairford, Gloucestershire |
| Farnea Islands | Farne Islands, Northumberland |
| Gleawecestre | Gloucester, Gloucestershire |
| Heagostealdes | Hexham, Northumberland |
| Heahburh | Whitley Castle, Alston, Cumbria |
| (fictional name) | |
| Hedene | River Eden, Cumbria |
| Huntandun | Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire |
| Hwite | Whitchurch, Shropshire |
| Irthinam | River Irthing |
| Jorvik | York, Yorkshire (Danish/Norse name) |
| Lindcolne | Lincoln, Lincolnshire |
| Lindisfarena | Lindisfarne (Holy Island), Northumberland |
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