Aeleva; The Viking Saxon

Historical Note

England in 792 AD, did not exist. The idea of one unified England would not become a reality until 927 AD after years of work from several monarchs, one famously being, Alfred The Great. In 792 AD, 'England' was made up of 7 Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, named the heptarchy. One was the Kingdom of Kent, where my story is set.

The year itself, 792 AD, is somewhat of a mystery. In the Anglo-Saxon chronicles, it is written that the Northumbria king finally defeated an enemy and he married the daughter of Offa. That is the only two sentences written at all. None of which has anything to do with the Kingdom of Kent.

The only other mention of the year 792 AD was where King Offa had signed a charter to build defences along the coasts against the pagans. Little is known as to who was invading. One character that appeared is Ogier the Dane, hence likelihood that Danes were invading.

Offa is a very interesting character and was a great king and was even trying to unite the kingdoms to become one. King Offa, invaded The Kingdom of Kent in 764 and was believed to have some sort of ownership and then became more of a ruler of the Kingdom in 785-796. However, unlike the more successful Alfred The Great of Wessex, he was said to be greedy and that be his reasoning for conquering a lot of land and ruling it as one. But he managed to create relation between Kent, Mercia, Sussex, Wessex and Northumbria which, for the time, was a very impressive feat. His Queen, Cynethryth, is a very interesting character and one I could talk about for hours, so I shan't divulge.

Their son, Ecgfrith, generally was unremarkable in history. He inherited the thrown but died, not even a year into his reign, of illness. He never married but was quoted to be a much noble young man. Unfortunately, that is most of what is written of him, and it is thought that after his death, came the decline of Mercia, the kingdom his father fought so hard to build, and the end of its Golden Age.

Thanet in 792 AD was not raided or occupied, although I did not find evidence that it was or was not. It was, however, occupied later in 851 and 854, the Danes supposedly stayed over the winters. In the invasion of the Great Heathen army in 865 AD Thanet was used for headquarters and a base camp, from there Danes raided across Kent.

It should be noted that technically the Viking age started in 793 AD with a raid in Northumbria, on a monastery in Lindisfarne. This is widely acknowledged as the start of the era but other raids are reported as early as 787 AD. Many monks and people were taken as slaves. Slavery was in common place in the Viking culture and many were taken from raids or traded from Britain, Francia (France) and Eastern Europe.

In terms of Danish history, very little is known (or publicly accessed) in the Vendel period. Which is the period this book is written in. This is because in the culture of medieval Scandinavia, little was written down or very little that was useful. Therefore, most of what we understand as history is passed down by myths or Sagas. Most of the Danish part of my story is fictional, purely because I could not find history to write about. However, Ribe and Kolding are real influential places that would have been around in the Viking era. In some places I nod toward the true Danish and Scandinavian history. Sigurd Ring for example is a famous figure, debated if he was real. It was possible he was around in the year 792 AD. He is widely accepted as the father of Ragnar Lodbrok, who is starred in the much-loved series, Vikings. Sigurd has many famous battles and many legends that differ depending on which chronicles you read. One of which was the battle of Brávellir, where he defeated his uncle and became king of Sweden and Denmark.

The way of life of Saxons and Christians, at the time, I tried to stay true to. Although again little is written about that time, but I assume not much would change in 50 years when the records start appearing in number due to Alfred The Great.

Marden is not a real place. In research, I found a list of settlements that had been destroyed and lost over time. Many were listed but the names were not suitable, so I made up a town that would be destroyed by raiders. Which many have been and their names lost in History.

Aeleva is not a real character and there are no notable historical people with that name. Women in medieval Scandinavia were viewed differently to the way Saxon Christians were. It is debated if woman were typically trained and fought alongside men in Viking culture. I believe there is not enough evidence to undoubtable say. However, in Danish history it is common to hear of women fighter. In the battle of Brávellir, for example, Saxo Grammaticus says 300 shieldmaidens fought. It is most likely an exaggeration but it is still written that they were women. Another famous historical figure was Lagertha. According to legend she was a shieldmaiden and ruler of modern Norway and wife to Ragnar Lodbrok. Little is known about how one would become a shieldmaiden, so hence I took creative liberties.

In Saxon England, women were more constrained into what they could do. It would be very unusual for a woman to fight and lead as a man. However, Æthelflæd Lady of the Mercians, famously ruled Mercia in 911 – 918, so perhaps it was no so out of the question.

Aeleva and Osric are not real character but my story follows events that are plausible if not based on true life. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. The more I research, the more I am fascinated by the time.

I would like to add that I am not a historian nor have I studied History properly at any point in my life, so I do not expect my research to make me as competent as an academic. I have simply written this note to share what I thought relevant and interesting to know.