The Lords of the North
BBC2’s major TV series THE LAST KINGDOM is based on Bernard Cornwell’s bestselling novels on the making of England and the fate of his great hero, Uhtred of Bebbanburg. THE LORDS OF THE NORTH is the third book in the series.
Season 2 of the epic TV series premiers this March.
Uhtred wants revenge. He wants the land and castle that is his. He wants his treacherous uncle to pay for taking them.
Heading north with his lover, former nun Hild, he finds chaos as the Vikings battle among themselves to consolidate their hold on the region. At the heart of it are men from Uhtred’s past – Sven the One-Eyed and Kjartan the Cruel, men of vicious reputation. Still, he has matched such men before.
Then Uhtred suffers a betrayal to rival the treachery that deprived him of his birthright. It will leave him trapped with no hope of escape…
Uhtred of Bebbanburg’s mind is as sharp as his sword. A thorn in the side of the priests and nobles who shape his fate, this Saxon raised by Vikings is torn between the life he loves and the cause he has sworn to serve.
Книга издана в 2012 году.
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Copyright
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
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.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
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
Beowulf
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, Yorkshire
Temes
River Thames
Thornsæta
Dorset
Thresk
Thirsk, Yorkshire
Tine
River Tyne
Tuede
River Tweed
Wiire
River Wear
Wiltun
Wilton, Wiltshire
Wiltunscir
Wiltshire
Wintanceaster
Winchester, Hampshire
Part One
The Slave King
I wanted darkness. There was a half-moon that summer night and it kept sliding from behind the clouds to make me nervous. I wanted darkness.
I had carried two leather bags to the small ridge which marked the northern boundary of my estate. My estate. Fifhaden, it was called, and it was King Alfred’s reward for the service I had done him at Ethandun where, on the long green hill, we had destroyed a Danish army. It had been shield wall against shield wall, and at its end Alfred was king again and the Danes were beaten, and Wessex lived, and I dare say that I had done more than most men. My woman had died, my friend had died, I had taken a spear thrust in my right thigh, and my reward was Fifhaden.
Five hides. That was what the name meant. Five hides! Scarce enough land to support the four families of slaves who tilled the soil and sheared the sheep and trapped fish in the River Kenet. Other men had been given great estates and the church had been rewarded with rich woodlands and deep pastures, while I had been given five hides. I hated Alfred. He was a miserable, pious, tight-fisted king who distrusted me because I was no Christian, because I was a northerner, and because I had given him his kingdom back at Ethandun. And as reward he had given me Fifhaden. Bastard.
