The Saxon Stories

Infobox Book
name = The Saxon Stories
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Covers for the Saxon stories books
author = Bernard Cornwell
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series = The Saxon Stories
subject =
genre = Historical Novel
publisher = HarperCollins
release_date = October 2004
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = SBN 0-00-721968-7 - The Lords of the North
oclc =
preceded_by = The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, The Lords of the North, Sword Song
followed_by = TBA

The Saxon Stories

Information

The "Saxon Stories" is a continuing series of books written by the historical novelist Bernard Cornwell about 9th century Britain.

The following novels are available so far:

*"The Last Kingdom"
*"The Pale Horseman"
*"The Lords of the North"
*"Sword Song"
*"Book 5" (October 2009) [cite news | author = Amazon | title = Alfred untitled 5 | publisher = Amazon | date = 2008-04-07 | url = http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alfred-Untitled-5-Bernard-Cornwell/dp/0007219741/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b | accessdate=2008-04-07]

The protagonist of the series is Uhtred Ragnarson, sometimes known as Uhtred Uhtredson. Uhtred is born in Northumbria, but captured and adopted by the Danes. The story takes place during the Danish invasion of Britain, where all but one of the English kingdoms is conquered. The story centers on the ruler of Wessex, Alfred, later historically dubbed 'the Great'.

The series is frequently compared to The Warlord Chronicles, not only because of the orphaned and other similarities between the two protagonists, but also in the similarities between the foreign menace in the form of the Danes in The Saxon Stories and the Saxons in The Warlord Chronicles. Alfred also resembles Arthur in his mission as the only man to save England from an unstoppable threat.

Originally thought to be a trilogy, Bernard Cornwell mentions in the historical notes at the end of The Lords of the North that he intends to continue writing The Saxon Stories. On his website, Cornwell states he may write seven or eight novels under The Saxon Stories banner, However what is certain is that there will be a fifth book due to confirmation of the continuation of the series in the historical notes of Sword Song.

Book four in the series, Sword Song, was released on the 3rd September 2007, and in January 2008 for the US [cite news | author = Fantastic Fiction | title = Sword Song | publisher = Fantastic Fiction | date = 2007-06-13 | url = http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/bernard-cornwell/sword-song.htm | accessdate=2007-06-13] [cite news | author = Amazon | title = Alfred the Great 4 | publisher = Amazon | date = 2007-06-13 | url = http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0007219717/ref=nosim/authordatabase | accessdate=2007-06-13]

Release Dates

*Book One in the series: The Last Kingdom was published in the UK and US on October 2004.
*Book Two in the series: The Pale Horseman was published in the UK in October 2005 and was published in the US in January 2006
*Book Three in the series: The Lords of the North was published in UK, Canada and Australia in May 2006, and was published in the US in January 2007.
*Book Four in the series: Sword Song was published in the UK on September 3rd 2007 and published in the US in January 2008

Trivia

*Bernard Cornwell also mentions that he is in fact distantly descended from a historical Uhtred of Bebbanburg, on whom the protagonist is based.
*In The Lords of the North Uhtred reveals he lives to be at least 80. Uhtred was born c. 857, eight years after Alfred the Great. This would place his time of death at least after 937.
*In at least one printing of The Last Kingdom, the text changes 'Alfred' to 'Arthur' in two places.
*The tagline for every Saxon Story book is "In a clash of heroes, The kingdom is born".

References

See also

* Anglo-Saxon warfare