Annie Whitehead (1)

Being from The Other Side of the Pond, it’s always been hard for me to get a mental map of the British Isles in comparison to the United States; so much history and literature and science should somehow take up a lot of land – maybe everything east of the Mississippi. In fact it would all fit into a medium size US state – Colorado or Missouri, for example (you’d have to do a little rearranging of the bits that stick out, like Cornwall and the Shetlands). That makes it even more surprising to realize that there were once smaller political subdivisions; in the aftermath of the collapse of Rome Dumnonia and Kent, Hwicce and Elmet, East Anglia and Gwynedd, Berncia and Mercia, and half a dozen others were all independent kingdoms.

Mercia was one of these, extant from around the middle of the 6th century AD to the middle of the 9th and at one point controlling most of the middle of England, including London. Eventually Vikings and the rise of the Kingdom of Wessex brought it down; it became an earldom (Lady Godiva was Earl Leofric of Mercia’s wife) and was eventually divided into “shires” to conform to the Wessex system of land organization.

Annie Whitehead, author of Mercia, is primarily a historical novelist; however, this is a serious and very scholarly history. The problem is Mercia flourished during the “Dark Ages” and there’s not much in the way of historical records; some saint’s lives, Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and a number of works written much later (for example, Chronicon ex chronicus of Florence of Worcester, Historia Anglorum of Henry of Huntingdon and Flowers of History by Roger of Wendover, all dating from the 12th and 13th centuries). Whitehead is often reduced to speculating on subtle bits of data from these – is some poorly-attested king of Mercia related to some other poorly-attested king? Was some casually mentioned battle important? There’s not much feel for what life was like for the average Mercian – or even if there were people who thought of themselves as “Mercians”. That’s not Whitehead’s fault, of course, she has to deal with the scanty evidence available.

Instructive for me; I’ve been reading a lot of English history recently and Mercia gives considerable insight into an otherwise obscure historical period. Only one map, and that’s a very general one; a handicap for readers like me who don’t live in the UK and therefore don’t have a good idea of regional geography. A color plate section with relevant illustrations. Lots of genealogical tables. A useful preface with sources and abbreviations. Extensive endnotes bibliography.… (meer)

This e-book is a series of short fictions, by various authors, each based on alternative history outcomes for the events of 1066. The stories were rather variable in quality (the 'Roman' one was particularly silly), and between them they only threw up one good idea (that Harold Godwinsson sent the fyrd home and stopped watching for the Normans because he believed that William's excursion to Dives in a storm had finished his invasion prospects).

I am keen on both alternative history and 1066, so snapped this up in a Kindle daily deal, but I wouldn't have wanted to pay more than the £1.99 I actually did for it. Disappointing.… (meer)

This collection of stories from published historical novelists imagines alternatives outcomes to the events of the most famous date in English history. It's a thought-provoking reminder at the time of the 950th anniversary of the Norman Conquest how differently the long term history of the country might have been had events turned out differently that year. Some are the more conventional alternatives, where Harold waits a day to allow more of his men to catch up before advancing to face William and defeating him with larger and more rested forces. But among the other scenarios included are more indirect ones where Harold's allies Edwin and Morcar defeat Harald Hardrada at Fulford, thereby freeing King Harold from the need to march up north to face the Norwegian king at Stamford Bridge; or conversely, where Hardrada defeats Harold at the latter battle and then teams up with Edwin and Morcar to confront and defeat the greater threat that they see William as posing, making England part of a longer-lasting Scandinavian empire. Even after Harold's defeat at Hastings, other scenarios were possible: in one here, the young Edgar the Atheling is able to resist William and prevent him from taking London, killing the Duke in the process. An interestingly eclectic collection.… (meer)