So, Paul, The Reckoning is the third and final book in the Rebellion trilogy. Bring us up to date with where Thegn Oslac of Acum is now.
Yes, it seems a long time since I started the first book, but we’re finally into the home straight now. After the failure of the previous uprising, the great lords have either fled north to Scotland (to take refuge with King Malcolm Canmore) or have thrown themselves at King William’s mercy, leaving the rank and file to drift away back to their homes.
Oslac therefore is back home in Acum, trying to readjust, but brooding over what might have been. The age-old problems of failure to unite behind a capable and charismatic leader have been their undoing. He’s also worrying about what may come to pass if or when the king decides to punish their disobedience.
He’s right to be concerned, because it’s not long before messengers arrive from Earl Gospatric with news that William has sent a new army north, under a Flemish knight, Robert de Comines, with orders to stamp the king’s authority on the region. Cue more chaos, mayhem and lashings of bloody violence.
I understand this new book will be dealing with the event known as the Harrying of the North. What can you tell us about that, without giving anything away?
Yes. It’s an appalling event, even by the standards of the time. It felt like I had to include it, though, but it was not an easy decision to go there. Once I’d decided to bring it into the story, I then had to think about what level of detail was appropriate. Hopefully readers will appreciate the way I chose to handle it.
To cut a horrific story mercifully short, the Harrying was ordered by King William across a wide swathe of land north of York (and south of the Tyne), and also across my own county of Cheshire. Units of Norman knights were sent out with orders to ‘lay waste’ to the region, something they then proceeded to do with gusto. Many thousands of ordinary villagers died (the exact number is not known, but figures of 100,000 have been mentioned). But they did not all die by the sword. The Harrying also resulted in the destruction of property, farm equipment and the confiscation of livestock. In fact, pretty much everything people needed to subsist. A sizeable proportion of the deaths can therefore be attributed to disease and starvation. A near contemporary chronicler, Orderic Vitalis, spoke of people selling themselves into perpetual slavery just to survive; there were even some accounts of cannibalism.
Some historians have referred to the Harrying as genocide. What’s your view on that?
It’s a difficult one, for sure. First of all, I think we have to be careful not to project our 21st century mores back onto the distant past. We’re a long way from any form of Human Rights Act here. That said, I think there can be no doubt that the Harrying stands out as an incredibly brutal act that was imposed upon ordinary civilians rather than any military targets.
Some apologists might shrug and say: ‘well it was how things were then, William was no better or no worse than anyone else in that era.’ I take that point, but I can’t help but think that it was a deliberate, calculating response that was out of proportion with the scale of the threat posed. To take the fight to non-military targets and to do so in such a way that you know will cause atrocious suffering shows just how ruthless William was prepared to be to stamp out insurgency.
The fact that many chroniclers criticized him for it and that his own chaplain, William of Poitiers, brushed over it, tells us that even his contemporaries were uneasy about it.
This is your second trilogy after the Huscarl Chronicles which followed Thurkill as he navigated 1066 and its immediate aftermath. How do you think your writing has changed in that time?
That’s a tough one. I am sticking to the same core principles in terms of making the characters and their emotions, hopes and fears as relatable as possible for the reader, but I do think a stronger, grittier element of darkness has found its way into this trilogy. Whereas Thurkill had some romantic concepts and ideals, Oslac &co are imbued with more of a pessimistic strain of battling against almost inevitable defeat. That has to affect their mood and their outlook on life.
That said, I do still try to keep a level of lightheartedness running through the narrative to offer some relief from the relentless despondency; it may just be a little harder to find and a little blacker in nature.
Having reached the end of the trilogy, are you said to leave Oslac behind? Are you happy with where they are now?
Definitely. I’ve had a lot of fun with these characters. Not least Oslac’s relationship with his wife, Godgifu. However competent he might be as a warrior and a leader, she can always find a way to make him feel like a naughty school boy. (That’s possibly a little too autobiographical – except for the warrior bit).
Then there’s Agatho. I’ve loved having an unhinged Frank running around with a pair of throwing axes (I even went so far as to purchase a replica francisca – for ‘marketing’ purposes, you understand. Honest).
In terms of where they are… I don’t want to say too much, of course, but when I wrote ‘The End’ I felt I could let go.
What can we expect to see next from your (virtual) pen?
I’ve been thinking long and hard about that, and discussing with my publisher, Sharpe Books. I’m going to journey a little further back to the time of England’s first – and possibly best – king, Aethelstan. It offers itself well to a three part series: Upbringing and accession; birth of a nation; and lastly the grand conspiracy leading up to the battle of Brunanburh. With luck the first instalment will see the light of day later in 2026.
Paul Bernardi is the author of The Reckoning, the last volume in the Rebellion Trilogy, published in February 2026 by Sharpe Books.
