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Saga
11th Century
England
This is part one of a series about the last Saxon Lords of
England – the Godwine family, the most famous of whom was Harold Godwineson,
King Harold II of 1066 fame. This first episode, however, is the tale of
Godwine, the ‘founder’ of the dynasty, Harold II’s father.
We follow Godwine through his youth, his rise to power and
downfall into exile. As a Saxon shepherd with no prospects he gives aid to the
invading Danish, seizing an unexpected opportunity to make something better of
himself. Wise choice, because Canute of Denmark became King of England and
Godwine is duly rewarded by being granted the Earldom of Wessex and a Danish lady
of rank as his wife.
Through the untimely death of Canute, the troublesome times
of Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut, to the eventual reign of Edward the
Confessor, we tread with Godwine, sometimes on firm, but most times on
treacherous ground. His fall from power is as spectacular as his previous rise.
The story was a little slow to get going, but soon picked up
pace. I was a little confused by some of the story – Godwine, I thought was the
son of a seafarer, not a shepherd, but then, this is fiction and Godwine’s
early life is very hazy when it comes to factual history. I would have liked a
little more depth to the character himself particularly in understanding his political
motivations and the modern American English occasionally jarred a little (i.e
‘gotten lost’) which may be an issue for
UK readers, although not for US.
However, the author has obviously taken a lot of trouble
with the research required for the customs and life in general during these
early to mid 11th Century England is brought very vividly to life.
© Anne Holt
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