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It is the story that every schoolchild is brought up on (or at least it was when I was at school in the dim distant past); that brave King Harold was killed at the Battle of Hastings by being shot in the eye with an arrow. But did it really happen? Have millions of children been misled over ...
Many people of a certain age will recognise this quote without any difficulty. If you don't then I can only offer sympathy and suggest that there is a Monty Python-shaped hole in your movie and comedy education - specifically, in this case, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Released in 1975 and ...
What’s Blood Price about?In short, it’s your classic murder mystery story. The sort of tale that is as old as the hills. The difference with this one is that it’s set in the pre-conquest England of King Knut – sometime around the 1020s. The story centres on a young boy – Ulf – the eldest ...
England’s First KingIn the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (specifically the Winchester Manuscript, also known as version [A]), the entry for the year 925 [924] states:“Here, King Edward [The Elder] passed away, and Æthelstan, his son, succeeded to the kingdom.”Taken at face value, one might ...
Resistance to the Normans.You might be forgiven for thinking that the events of 1066 led to a simple shift in power from the old Anglo-Saxon era to that of the new Norman period. And, though it is true to say that a great number of the Anglo-Saxon nobility, warrior elite, and fighting men ...
The Fateful Year: 1066
When William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold II on Senlac ridge on that chill autumn day in October 1066, he must have hoped that the whole country would submit to him without further delay. But he soon found out that little had changed with Harold’s gruesome ...
Those of you who have read Blood Feud (book 1 of my Rebellion trilogy (though keep an eye out for book 2: Uprising which should be launched in early 2025)), will be aware of Agatho, Thegn Oslac’s Frankish champion-cum-bodyguard and most loyal and deadly of his huscarls.
If, as well as reading ...
Author Interview
What prompted you to choose the period that you wrote your first book in?I’ve always loved history from an early age – all those holiday trips to the castles of Wales must have had an impact. However, it was not until I went to university in the late 1980s that I really became familiar – and fascinated – with the Anglo-Saxon ...
Don Hollway, Harald plays an all too brief part in the history of these isles but there is so much more to the man. What led you to want to write about him?I first read Hardrada’s story as a boy and thought, “Wow, what a life that guy led!” I always wanted to tell his tale, but a magazine article wouldn’t do him justice. When my agent said to me, “Vikings are hot right ...
Paul Bernardi, this was your first novel - had you always planned for a trilogy or did the Thurkill's Revenge lead to the following two books?I think it was an idea that evolved over time. I studied this period at university and had always wanted to write about
Paul, many congratulations on Blood Feud. We’re now at the start of a new series with Blood Feud, it’s 1067 and so post Hastings. The Conqueror has been crowned. What was the state of the kingdom so soon after this seismic event in English history?Thanks. I’m not going to ...
Paul, we’re in book 2 of your Rebellion series. Can you update readers on where we are at the beginning of Uprising?
At the end of book 1 (Blood Feud), we left Oslac back home in his village at Acum, following the ...