THE FLAME BEARER
BERNARD CORNWELL
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.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2016
Copyright © Bernard Cornwell 2016
Bernard Cornwell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2016
Map © John Gilkes 2016
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007504251
Ebook Edition © 2016 ISBN: 9780007504237
Version: 2019-10-01
The Flame Bearer
is for Kevin Scott Callahan,
1992–2015
Wyrd bið ful ãræd
Contents
Part Four: The Return to Bebbanburg
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 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, is capricious.
| Ætgefrin | Yeavering Bell, Northumberland |
| Alba | A kingdom comprising much of modern Scotland |
| Beamfleot | Benfleet, Essex |
| Bebbanburg |