Christmas in early seventh
century Britain.
By Matthew
Harffy
"Come, remove your sodden cloak and take a place on the bench.
The fire is warm and there is food and drink a-plenty." The bearded man
looks at you askance. "Even one who has travelled so far to be here tonight."
He ushers you towards the long bench where others are seated around
the central hearth. The feast is already well underway and the men raise their
cups and drinking horns to you as they slide along, making way for you to sit.
"I see from your apparel that you have come a long way to be
here in our Lord King Edwin's hall at Gefrin," says the steward as you
settle onto the wooden bench. "I note you have no eating knife. I will
fetch you one." And with that he is gone, bustling away through the
servants and thralls who attend the revellers.
Looking up, you see the rafters of the long hall are wreathed in soot
and the smoke from the hearth fogs the air around the beams. Your nostrils are
filled with the scent of roasting meat, ale, mead, and the sour stink of dozens
of unwashed bodies. The man beside you, a sharp faced brute with a badly set
broken nose and a savage-looking scar under his right eye, pushes a wooden cup
into your hand. Some of the contents slosh over your fingers and onto the board
before you. The man grins. There is a gap between his strong white teeth, and
judging from his scarred face you imagine he might have lost the tooth in
combat. You suppress a shiver of fear, but he seems friendly enough and the
warmth of the hall is welcome after the driving, bitter rain outside.
"Drink!" the gap-toothed man demands.
Nervously, you sniff the liquid in the cup. It smells faintly of a
plant. Heather, perhaps. You sip it and it tastes unlike anything you have
drunk before. It is not unpleasant and has a slightly floral taste.
"The ale is good, is it not?" the man asks. "It is
fresh," he continues, "goodwife Aelswith made it this very
morn."
You drink some more, allowing the ale to refresh you, and offering
the man a nod. He seems pleased.
"Here is the knife I promised you." The steward has
returned and hands you a small scabbarded knife. Its handle is smooth and made
from antler. "So, tell me, stranger,” the steward says, “did you travel
here with the Christ followers? They have come all the way from Cantware."
He indicates a dark robed, sallow-faced man, sitting at the high
table beside the richly dressed man you assume to be the lord of the hall, King
Edwin of Northumbria. Before you can answer, the steward continues.
"Now I have nothing against this new religion of the Christ, and
my Lord King is wise to invite the learned men from Roma into his lands. But
they say that this, the shortest day of the year and the longest night, is the
birth of their god, the Christ. I suppose that might be true.” He scratches at
his beard for a moment, finds something in the thatch of hair and inspects it.
He squeezes whatever it is between his fingernails and flicks it over the laden
board and into the fire. “But for me,” he continues, “this night will always be
Modraniht, Mother Night, and I will celebrate it as I always have and as my
father did and my father's father did before him. See," he waves his hand
towards the carcass that was being turned slowly on a spit over the fire by a
sweat-streaked youth, "a boar has been sacrificed and its head and blood
offered up to the gods, that the coming year will bring us fertility and
prosperity. This priest man from the south, with his strangely-shaved head, can
preach all he wishes about the birth of a child god, but I think Yule will
always be celebrated as we do now. With good food, strong drink, and offering
up thanks to our forebears and the gods. For at this, the darkest and coldest
time of the year, we must make our own light and merriment and look forward to
the turning of the year and the coming of the sun and warmth of summer once
more. Then the land will be green and full of life and plenty." He laughs
and shrugs ruefully. "Listen to me, I speak as though I were a scop, ready
to tell you a tale or sing a song. But that is not my place, I am not a spinner
of words. That will come later, after the eating is done. Caedmon the bard will
sing then and tell-tales the like of which you have never heard. His voice is
like liquid honey poured into the ears. But now I must be away. I see Hrothgar calling
for more ale. Where is Odelyna?” He tuts. “I told her to take a fresh jug over
there an age ago. If I find her dallying again with young Acennan, I will take
a hazel switch to her hide! Enjoy the food, friend." He shakes his head,
gives you a friendly pat on the shoulder and hurries away.
One of the servants, a redheaded comely girl with skin as pale as
lamb’s wool and eyes the green of a summer orchard, places a trencher of
freshly sliced meat onto the board. Unsheathing the small knife, you take your
lead from the others sitting around you and skewer a piece of meat. Chewing the
succulent flesh, you look about contentedly, allowing the merriment of those
gathered in the fug-filled mead hall to wash over you. The dark-garbed priest
at the high table catches your gaze and inclines his head, as though he
recognises a kindred spirit. You raise your cup to him and drink deeply of the
ale that had tasted so foreign only moments before. Now, you savour the brew as
you wash down the boar meat.
You look the length of the hall, taking in the throng of revellers,
the raucous laughter. The heat from the fire and the redolence of the hearty
food is comforting. You lean back, feeling the tension easing from your
shoulders and you ponder the steward's words.
Much will change over the centuries, you muse. Until one day, this
draughty timber hall is just a distant memory, veiled in an almost forgotten
past. In these northern lands, raiders and invaders will come and go, kings
will be born, rise to power and then go the way of all things.
And yet there will be a constant through the ages. When the year is
at the wane and the longest night is come, then, whether it is known as Yule, Modraniht
or Christmas, the people of this island will eat, drink and spend time with
their loved ones, looking back at the year behind them and gazing forward to
warmer, brighter times ahead.
Matthew Harffy is the author of the Bernicia Chronicles series of
novels set in seventh century Britain. The fourth in the series, KILLER OF
KINGS, is out in hardback on 13th December. Just in time for
Christmas!
Killer of Kings
(Book four of the Bernicia Chronicles)
AD 636. Anglo-Saxon Britain. A gripping, action-packed historical
thriller and the fourth instalment in The Bernicia Chronicles. Perfect for fans
of Bernard Cornwell.
Beobrand has land, men and riches. He should be content. And yet he
cannot find peace until his enemies are food for the ravens. But before
Beobrand can embark on his bloodfeud, King Oswald orders him southward, to
escort holy men bearing sacred relics.
When Penda of Mercia marches a warhost into the southern kingdoms,
Beobrand and his men are thrown into the midst of the conflict. Beobrand soon
finds himself fighting for his life and his honour.
In the chaos that grips the south, dark secrets are exposed, bringing
into question much that Beobrand had believed true. Can he unearth the answers
and exact the vengeance he craves? Or will the blood-price prove too high, even
for a warrior of his battle-fame and skill?
Catch up with The Bernicia
Chronicles today!
Matthew Harffy
Matthew Harffy lived in Northumberland as a child and the area had a
great impact on him. The rugged terrain, ruined castles and rocky coastline
made it easy to imagine the past. Decades later, a documentary about
Northumbria's Golden Age sowed the kernel of an idea for a series of historical
fiction novels. The first of them is the action-packed tale of vengeance and
coming of age, THE SERPENT SWORD.
Matthew has worked in the IT industry, where he spent all day writing
and editing, just not the words that most interested him. Prior to that he
worked in Spain as an English teacher and translator. Matthew now writes
full-time in Wiltshire, England, where he lives with his wife and their two
daughters.
Super writing! So atmospheric.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteWonderful story, Matthew.
ReplyDeleteGreat story!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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