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| Blog Tour: The Last King: England: The First Viking Age (The Ninth Century Book 1) By M J Porter |
Inspiration behind The Last King - the ‘historical’ Coelwulf
By M J PorterThe hero of my story, King Coelwulf, has not been treated kindly by history.
He appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (the main narrative source for the period) as a ‘foolish king’s thegn’ and not actually a king at all. His ‘reign’ has been explained as being entirely dependent on Viking overlords who really ruled Mercia, from their ‘base’ at Repton. He was a ‘puppet king,’ a sop to assist the independent Mercians as they struggled to come to terms with their new warlords.
The survival of two charters, carrying Coelwulf’s name, and witnessed by the ealdormen and bishops of Mercia, have not been given the attention they deserve because they suggest a different interpretation to that of King Alfred (the Great) single-handedly defeating the Vikings, and making ‘England.’
So, if we put aside the problems of what Coelwulf did, or didn’t achieve, who might he actually be, and why might he have been named as king?
Coelwulf’s name leads historians of the period to suggest he was a member of a branch of the Mercian royal family whose last ruler was King Coelwulf I, who ruled in Mercia from AD821-823. He succeeded his brother, Coenwulf, who ruled from AD796-821. They were descended from the brother of the mighty seventh-century king, Penda, most famously known for being pagan, warlike and terrorising the Northumbrian kingdom during its ‘Golden Age.’ He was therefore a member of a long-lived ruling dynasty that could trace its descendants all the way back to the early 600’s.
This identification of Coelwulf helps to explain why he was accepted as king following King Burgred’s abdication. He was no foolish king’s thegn. He was a member of a ruling dynasty, who, for one reason or another, were no longer the ruling family in Mercia in the 870’s. (And what was happening in Mercia before the 870’s is just as fascinating as what came after it).
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| Representation of Ceolwulf II on a damaged 9th century silver halfpenny, found in Buckinghamshire circa 2003, Wikipedia. |
The Last King: England: The First Viking Age (The Ninth Century Book 1) By M J Porter
Publisher: Indie
The Blurb:
They sent three hundred warriors to kill one man. It wasn’t enough.
Mercia lies broken but not beaten, her alliance with Wessex in tatters.
Coelwulf, a fierce and bloody warrior, hears whispers that Mercia has been betrayed from his home in the west. He fears no man, especially not the Vikings sent to hunt him down.
To discover the truth of the rumours he hears, Coelwulf must travel to the heart of Mercia, and what he finds there will determine the fate of Mercia, as well as his own.
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| The Last King: England: The First Viking Age (The Ninth Century Book 1) - Book Cover |
Buy Links:
Amazon UK • Amazon US |
| M J Porter |
Author Bio:
I'm an author of fantasy (viking age/dragon themed) and historical fiction (Early English, Vikings and the British Isles as a whole before the Norman Conquest), born in the old Mercian kingdom at some point since AD1066. I write A LOT. You've been warned!
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| The Last King - the 3 books |