I have long been fascinated by the 'Dark Ages.' I think it began with the realisation that the tales of King Arthur were based upon the exploits of some Romano-British cavalry commander who gave the invading Saxons a hard time.
Later on I learned to my surprise, that the Saxons were invited to England as mercenaries. They just didn't go away when the British stopped paying them. What then followed over the next few hundred years was the replacement of one alien culture, the Roman, by another, the Anglo-Saxon.
Still later yet, I began to research my own ancestry. I found the Family name is derived from the Saxon name Ædwig, which means 'spear-bearer.' That set me off on a long love-affair with Anglo-Saxon History.
The stories here take their title from one of the oldest and most important documents in English History, The Anglo Saxon Chronicle itself. The 'Chronicle' is laid out as a series of annals, recording events year by year. The period between the accession of Alfred the Great in AD868 and the death of his grandson, Athelstan, in AD 940 is particularly violent and bloody. However, like that of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, the culture of Wessex flowered while all around was darkness and misery.
Alfred and his successors brought both Law and Learning to their people. The basic tenets of Common Law have their roots in the laws of Alfred and Athelstan. Alfred translated works in esoteric Church Latin into the vernacular, making them accessible to all. Athelstan was far more enlightened than many English Monarchs up to the Middle Ages and beyond, yet he is scarcely remembered today.
I wrote these stories, not as works of scholarship but because they were fun. I have tried to stay true to the real events of the age wherever possible but admit and acknowledge that these are merely simple entertainments. The Saxons loved a good story, so as they would say "Hwæt!" Look!
The Winter of the Danes (nosex)
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An Interlude on Athelney (MF,rom)
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The Lady of Mercia (FF,rom)
Athelstan's Mercy (mf,pett)
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