The Last Kingdom

by Bernard Cornwell

'866 - 876': Osbert is 9 years old and the second son of Ealdorman (Earl) Uhtred, Lord of Bebbanburg in Northumbria. Danes raid Bebbanburg, and Ealdorman Uhtred's first son, also called Uhtred, is killed while scouting the raiders. Ealdorman Uhtred renames Osbert Uhtred. Ealdorman Uhtred is killed during a failed attack on Eoferwic (York) and his son is captured by Danish Earl Ragnar the Fearless. Ragnar, amused by the boy's bravery during the battle, keeps him as a thrall. Uhtred's uncle, Ælfric, takes Bebbanburg and usurps the title of ealdorman for himself, although Uhtred is the rightful heir.

Uhtred befriends Ragnar's youngest son, Rorik, and has many clashes with one boy in particular, Sven, son of Kjartan, one of Ragnar's shipmasters. One day, Sven kidnaps Ragnar's daughter, Thyra, and removes part of her clothing in an effort to sexually assault her. Uhtred charges Sven from hiding, taking Sven's sword and attacking him with it. Uhtred, Rorik, and Thyra escape back to Ragnar's hall. Ragnar dismisses Kjartan from his service when Kjartan makes light of his son's behaviour. He also crushes one of Sven's eyes with the hilt of his sword - adding darkly that he would have crushed both, had Sven stripped Thyra completely naked.

Uhtred then goes viking across East Anglia, and participates in the conquests of Mercia and East Anglia, and the invasion of Wessex. He is kidnapped by a priest, Beocca, an old family friend. He then escapes from Wessex and rejoins Ragnar. Uhtred enjoys life with the Danes, but flees after Kjartan kills Ragnar, burning down his hall with Ragnar inside and abducting Thyra.

Uhtred hopes to escape Kjartan's assassins by spreading the rumour that he too died in the hall-burning. Uhtred then joins King Alfred in Wessex. There he learns to read and write, and sails with Alfred's fleet of 12 ships against the Danes. After a battle with the Danes, he meets Ragnar the Younger, Earl Ragnar's eldest son, and tells him how his father died and that Thyra was kidnapped. They part friends, swearing that one day they will band together to take revenge on Kjartan and rescue Thyra. Seeking to take command of the fleet, Uhtred gains it on the condition that he marry the orphaned Wessex girl Mildrith. He is not told that, by marrying her, he takes on her family's very large debt to the Church. Afterward, he takes part in a siege against Guthrum, and is among a group of hostages exchanged when the Danes and Saxons make peace. Staying with the Danes in the city over the winter, he again meets Ragnar, who saves him from death when Guthrum breaks the peace and murders the other Saxon hostages. Uhtred then escapes to find his wife. She was taken by Odda the Younger, another Wessex ealdorman, to the north. There he fights in the Battle of Cynwit, where Uhtred finds himself fighting against Ubba Lothbrokson's Danes.