The Price of Blood

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Authors: Patricia Bracewell

Also by Patricia Bracewell

Shadow on the Crown

VIKING

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 2015

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Excerpt from
Gesta regum Anglorum—The History of the English Kings
by William of Malmesbury, edited and translated by R.A.B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson and M. Winterbottom, Volume 1 (1998). By permission of Oxford University Press.

Map illustration by Matt Brown

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Bracewell, Patricia, 1950–

The price of blood : a novel / Patricia Bracewell.

pages; cm

ISBN 978-0-698-16452-9

1. Emma, Queen, consort of Canute I, King of England, –1052—Fiction. 2. Ethelred II, King of England, 968?–1016—Fiction. 3. Great Britain—History—Ethelred II, 979–1016—Fiction. 4. Queens—Great Britain—Fiction. 5. Normans—Great Britain—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3602.R323P75 2015

813'.6—dc23 2014038484

Version_1

Contents

Also by Patricia Bracewell

For Ron and Dot

Who share my earliest memories

Dramatis Personae

*Indicates a Fictional Character

Anglo-Saxon England, 1006–1012

Royal Family

Æthelred II, King of England

Emma, Queen of England

Children of the English king, in birth order:

Athelstan

Ecbert

Edmund

Edrid

Edwig

Edgar

Edyth

Ælfgifu (Ælfa)

Wulfhilde (Wulfa)

Mathilda

Edward

Emma’s Household

Aldyth, niece of Ealdorman Ælfhelm

Elgiva, daughter of Ealdorman Ælfhelm

*Father Martin

*Hilde, granddaughter of Ealdorman Ælfric

*Margot

Wymarc

Robert, Wymarc’s son

Leading Ecclesiastics

Ælfheah, Archbishop of Canterbury

Ælfhun, Bishop of London

Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, Archbishop of Jorvik

Leading Nobles

Ælfhelm, Ealdorman of Northumbria

Ufegeat, his son

Wulfheah, his son (Wulf)

*Alric, his retainer

Ælfric, Ealdorman of Hampshire

Godwine, Ealdorman of Lindsey

Leofwine, Ealdorman of Western Mercia

Eadric of Shrewsbury

Godwin, Wulfnoth’s son

Morcar of the Five Boroughs

Siferth of the Five Boroughs

Thurbrand of Holderness

Ulfkytel of East Anglia

Uhtred of Northumberland

Wulfnoth of Sussex

Normandy

Duke Richard II, Emma’s brother

Duchess Judith

Dowager Duchess Gunnora, Emma’s mother

Robert, Archbishop of Rouen, Emma’s brother

The Danes

Swein Forkbeard, King of Denmark

Harald, his son

Cnut, his son

Hemming

Thorkell

Tostig

Glossary

Ætheling:
literally,
throne-worthy.
All of the legitimate sons of the Anglo-Saxon kings were referred to as æthelings.

Ague:
any sickness with a high fever

Breecs:
Anglo-Saxon term for trousers

Burh:
an Anglo-Saxon fort

Burn:
a small stream

Ceap:
the market street

Cemes:
a long linen undergarment for men

Ceorl:
a freeman, neither noble nor slave; peasant

Chasuble:
an ecclesiastical vestment, a sleeveless mantle covering body and shoulders, often elaborately embroidered, worn over a long, white tunic

Cyrtel:
a woman’s gown

Danelaw:
an area of England that roughly comprises Yorkshire, East Anglia, and central and eastern Mercia, where successive waves of Scandinavians settled throughout the ninth and tenth centuries

Ealdorman:
a high-ranking noble appointed by the king to govern a province in the king’s name. He led troops, levied taxes, and administered justice. It was a political position usually conferred upon members of powerful families.

Eyas:
a falcon chick, taken from the nest for training

Five Boroughs:
a region in Mercia made up of Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Stamford, and Lincoln, it exercised significant political influence in late Anglo-Saxon England

:
literally
flesh street
; outdoor meat market

Fyrd:
an armed force that was raised at the command of the king or an ealdorman, usually in response to a Viking threat

Gafol:
the tribute paid to an enemy army to purchase peace

Garth: a small piece of enclosed ground used as a yard, garden, or paddock

Geld:
a tax levied by the king, who used the money to pay the tribute extorted by Viking raiders

Gerningakona:
Old Norse term for a woman who practices magic

Godwebbe:
precious cloth, frequently purple, normally of silk; probably shot-silk taffeta

Haga:
a fenced enclosure; a dwelling in town

Handfasting:
a marriage or betrothal; a sign of a committed relationship with no religious ceremony or exchange of property

Headrail:
a veil, often worn with a circlet or band, kept in place with pins

Hearth troops:
warriors who made up the household guard of royals and great lords

Hibernia:
Latin name for Ireland

Hide:
an Anglo-Saxon land reckoning for the purpose of assessing taxes

Hird:
the army of the Northmen; the enemies of the English

Host:
army

Hythe:
Old English term for a wharf or pier

Leech:
a physician

Lindsey:
the district of eastern England between the River Witham and the Humber, in the northern part of Lincolnshire

Mantling:
in falconry, the action of a bird spreading its wings and arching over its prey to hide it

Mere:
a lake or pond

Murrain:
a disease of domestic animals

Nithing:
a pejorative term in Norse and Old English meaning “abject wretch”

Reeve:
a man with administrative responsibilities utilized by royals, bishops, and nobles to oversee towns, villages, and large estates

Rood:
the cross on which Christ was crucified

Sámi:
a culture indigenous to Norway, believed to have prophetic skills

Scop:
storyteller; harper

Screens passage:
a vestibule just inside the entrance to a great hall or similar chamber, created by movable screens that blocked the wind from gusting into the hall when the doors were opened

Scyrte:
a short garment worn by men; shirt

Seel:
to sew shut the eyes of a falcon for training

Sennight:
a week

Skald:
poet or storyteller

Smoc:
a shirt or undergarment

Thegn:
literally
one who serves another
; a title that marks a personal relationship; the leading ones served the king himself; a member of the highest rank in Anglo-Saxon society; a landholder with specified obligations to his lord

Thrall:
a slave

Wain:
a wagon or cart

Wergild:
literally
man payment
; the value set on a person’s life

Witan:
wise men; the king’s council

Wyrd:
fate or destiny