The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

I have a weakness for historical fiction, and I heard an NPR podcast with the author that was pretty interesting. He is an English writer and specializes in English history. He is a prolific author of historical works and he is best known for the 11-book Sharpe’s series which take place at the end of the 18^th and beginning of the 19^th century. This particular book, The Last Kingdom, takes place in 9^th century England and is the first in a series of five books about that period. Basically, he describes the efforts of Alfred the Great (the only English monarch to be referred to as “the great”) who led the effort to consolidate England into one entity. Cornwell has obviously done a lot of research and he attempts to be reasonably accurate with his characters and events, but he obviously has to fill in his own dialogue. Furthermore, he is willing to take minor liberties with dates and events in order to serve his story. At times, his historical events and dialogue seem a bit too contrived. In this book, Uhtred is the protagonist. He is the son of Uhtred, who is the son of Uhtred, etc., and our Uhtred, not his ancestors, is 10 years old at the outset of the book in 866, 20 years old at the book’s conclusion. Uhtred was of noble birth, his father being the Ealdorman of Bebbanburg, which is the early word for Earl. Bebbanburg, if you care is in Northumberland. This is the era of the Danes constantly raiding England’s coast (think of Hagar the Horrible, but with real life battles and real human consequences). Uhtred is captured in one of the Danish raids, and he is then raised by Ragnar the Fearless, the very man who beheaded his brother. Cornwell clarifies the use of the word Viking: “Some readers may be disappointed that those Danes are called Northmen or pagans in the novel, but are rarely described as Vikings. In this I follow the early English writers who suffered from the Danes, and who rarely used the word Viking, which, anyway, describes an activity rather than a people or a tribe. To go Viking mean to go raiding, and the Danes who fought against England in the ninth century, though undoubedtly raiders, were preeminently invaders and occupiers.” In the course of the book, Uhtred is raised and trained by the Danes, but he eventually changes sides to be with Alfred. Despite Uhtred’s success as a warrior for Alfred, he is constantly tempted to trade sides once again. Probably the most important historical note of the book is that the Danes were incredibly close to capturing all of England. They literally controlled the entire country, except for Wessex, and it was Alfred, a clever, literate, sickly, and religiously devoted man who saved the realm from destruction. Otherwise, we would not be speaking English in the 21^st century. I may be the only one of our blog reviewers who reads this book, but the timing was right for me. Maybe, during my next long vacation, I’ll take on book #2 of the series, but it is not a high priority to do so.

West Coast Don