Darkest before Dawn (The Kingdom of Mercia Book 2)
Read Darkest before Dawn (The Kingdom of Mercia Book 2) Online
Authors: Jayne Castel
Darkest before Dawn
A Historic Romance
set in Anglo-Saxon England
Book #2: The Kingdom
of Mercia
Jayne Castel
Historical
romances by Jayne Castel
The Kingdom of the East Angles series
Night Shadows (prequel novella)
Dark Under the Cover of Night (Book One)
Nightfall till Daybreak (Book Two)
The Deepening Night (Book Three)
The Kingdom of the East Angles: The Complete Series
The Kingdom of Mercia series
The Breaking Dawn (Book One)
Darkest before Dawn (Book Two)
Dawn of Wolves (Book Three)
All
characters and situations in this publication are fictitious and any
resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.
Darkest
before Dawn by Jayne Castel
Copyright
© 2016 Jayne Castel. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the author.
Edited
by Tim Burton.
Cover
photography courtesy of www.istockphotos.com.
Maps
courtesy of Wikipedia.
Visit
Jayne’s website and blog: www.jaynecastel.com
Follow
Jayne on Twitter at: @JayneCastel
***
This book is for Tim,
with love.
***
Historical background for Darkest before Dawn
In
the 7th Century, England was not as we know it today. The Anglo-Saxon period
lasted from the departure of the Romans, in around 430 A.D., to the Norman
invasion in 1066 A.D. My novels focus on the period in between the departure of
the Romans, and the first Viking invasion in 793 A.D. – a 300 year period in
which Anglo-Saxon culture flourished. The British Isles were named Britannia (a
legacy of the Roman colonization) and split into rival kingdoms. For the
purposes of this novel, we focus on two of them: Mercia and Northumbria. The
Kingdom of Gwynedd and The Kingdom of the East Angles, are also mentioned.
Many
locations in Northumbria and northern Britannia appear in this novel, although
their names are somewhat different to modern-day England. Northumbria was split
into two kingdoms: Bernicia and Deira. Bebbanburg was the old name for Bamburgh,
the seat of Northumbrian Kings for many centuries. At the time of our story,
the castle would not have been built, however there would have been a wooden
fort at the top of the rocky outcrop, and, possibly, a Great Tower made of
local stone. Farther south, Pons Aelius was the Latin name for the settlement,
which would one day become Newcastle.
Tinanmuðe
was the Anglo-Saxon name
for the River Tyne. Our characters make a stop at the town of Eoforwic, which
would be renamed Jorvik after settlement by the Danes – today, we know it as
York. Toward the end of the novel, we visit Laegrecastrescir – today known as
Leicester.
Glossary of Old English
(in
alphabetical order)
Æftera
Geola
–
January
béagas
–
arm-rings
Blod
monath
– Blood month (November)
ceorl
– a free
man
Eoforwic
– York
(Anglo-Saxon name, prior to Danish settlement – also spelled Eoferwic)
ealdorman
– earl
Ēostre
– Easter
fæder
–
father
Frea
– Freya –
Anglo-Saxon goddess of love and fertility
fyrd
–
a king's army, gathered for war
handfasted
– married
heah-setl
– high
seat (later called a ‘dais’) for the king and queen
hōre
– whore
Hrēðmonath
– March
Hwaet?
– What?
Legacæstir
–
Chester
Lindisfarena
–
Lindisfarne Island (Holy Island)
misteltãn
–
mistletoe
mōder
– mother
nithing
– a
person without honor or status, also refers to a coward
Nithhogg
– a
fire-breathing dragon that lived in the underworld
nón-mete
– midday
meal (literally: noon-meat)
Powys
– Wales
Sōlmōnath
–
February
steopmōdor
–
step-mother
thegn
–
a king’s retainer
theow
– a slave
thrymsas
–
Anglo-saxon gold shillings
Thunor
– Thor
Tinanmuðe
(pronounced: tienanmootha) – The River Tyne (Newcastle)
Tiw
–
Anglo-saxon god of war and combat
wealca
–
a tube linen dress with shoulder straps attached with brooches
Wes
hāl
– ‘greetings’ in old English
Winterfyllth
–
Anglo-saxon Halloween
Woden
– the
Anglo-saxon father of the gods (Viking: Odin)
Wyrd
– fate