influence in Mercia is potentially of great benefit to future negotiations. If you are in England, you will enrage him further, and he has already threatened to withdraw his support if he hears of your presence on this island. It is therefore my will that you must not return.
I am speaking harshly. But the world is full of harsh things, and sometimes we are forced to choose between them. Our lives are never our own property as much as we would like. Do not be concerned for Eulalia’s safety. Sigeheard will not threaten her if you are absent from England.
Since you are banished from this land for the time being, I now order you to make yourself useful and undertake a mission to the heathens on the Continent. You have my full material and spiritual support. I have cleared the matter with Archbishop Bregowine, and enclosed the necessary letters of commendation. You also have the limitless spiritual comfort of your brothers and sisters at Barking, who miss you and are praying for you constantly.
I have sent you twelve chests, and twenty good mules and horses. It is well known here that Frisian horses are not as strong as ours, so king Sigeric has insisted that you have some of his own. The chests contain the following items: Ten woollen cassocks, a supply of candles, thirty woollen blankets, two gold chalices, four silver bowls, four stoles and two altar cloths.
In the small bronze casket, which the letter bearer will present you with, you will find a purse containing fifty shillings. Use them as you see fit, my warrior for Christ. They are given to you with much love from my own store. The bronze casket also contains an exquisite jet-stone ornament, a wolf carved in the Northumbrian style; a gift from none other than Eulalia. She has asked me to say the wolf is brave, like you. I think it might be useful in winning the support of German chiefs, or trading for supplies for the brethren. I must say, the carving is a triumph of the art. The wolf ‘s eyes seem to follow one around. It is nearly one hundred years old. Archbishop Bregowine has personally blessed it, so that it may do God’s work for you.
I have also spoken with some West Saxon brothers who attended missions in Germany many years ago, and some of your old fighting companions here in Essex. Upon their counsel I have arranged the appropriate quantities of weapons for your escorts. You have fifty spears and shields, all according to their specifications. The spear shafts are ash, and the tips are variously designed for stabbing and slashing. The shields are made from lime wood, which your companions assure me you will find comforting. I could only manage a dozen swords, for they are expensive. The sword with the cross on the hilt was made especially for you. Sigeric’s smith Dunnere has christened it with a name, Angel Wrath, which I am told the sword-makers of this country sometimes do when they are particularly proud of one they have created. There is only one helmet, as they are even more expensive than the swords. King Sigeric himself has donated it to the mission. It is very old, made in the style of our king’s pagan forebears. But you will see that the wolf on the crest has been recently engraved with the inscription “I am Christ the Light”. Wear it with his best wishes.
I have personally blessed all of the weapons, Ohthere, knowing that you would not use them except to defend your honourable lives. Be careful. It is well known even here that the German forests are dark and endless. You may remember the words of Tacitus the Roman, who wrote of Germany one hundred years after the birth of Our Lord. He spoke of strange creatures called the Oxiones and Hellusii, who have human faces but animal bodies and limbs. Whether this is true or not, I do not know, but I am certainly under the impression from the West Saxon missionaries that the woods are full of peril nonetheless.
You must write to me, your lord and patron, as often as you can with news of your progress. I am an unhappy man for having commanded you to stay away. But I have spoken, and my decision is final.
Farewell in Christ,
Ecgwulf
6
“The North Sea is the roughest in the world … The
disaster was proportionally terrible - indeed, it was
unprecedented. On one side were enemy coasts, on the other
a sea so huge and deep that it is held to be the utmost, with
no land beyond.”
The Roman general Germanicus loses his fleet, 15 AD
Tacitus’ Annals Of Imperial Rome , c. 115 AD
Nielsen seemed hypnotised as he scanned my transcript of Bishop Ecgwulf ‘s letter, scarcely moving except to smoke one cigarette, which he did very slowly and deliberately. Something about his appraisal of my notes suggested that he knew more than he was letting on, and I began wondering what a man like him was doing with documents like these. These were letters from the Dark Ages, and any sort of written evidence from this period was extremely rare. To have two documents - two well preserved, beautifully written personal letters - in front of me like this seemed almost a minor miracle. Where did he get them?
Nielsen spoke at last: “Are you certain about the date, Mr Haye?”
The question bothered me: he hadn’t let me get my books - how could he expect me to date the documents off the top of my head? But I played it down. “I’m confident. But I’m not an expert in that area, and I don’t have my books with me. Some of my colleagues at St Matthew’s are experts at scripts, though. If you like, I can arrange for them to have a look.”
“That will not be necessary. Please just tell me why you think these documents are from the eighth century.”
“Well, in Ohthere’s letter, St Boniface was mentioned as having died recently. Boniface was very famous in his time; any scholar with even a mild interest in the Dark Ages knows that he died in about the middle of the eighth century, so it couldn’t have been written much later than that.”
The detective made notes. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes - the script. Ohthere’s letter is written in a hand known as half-uncial, which was out of fashion in England by the early ninth century, if I remember rightly.”
“Do you think the documents could be forgeries from more recent years?”
“No, fakes usually occur when there’s something to be gained, such as land, or the honour of belonging to a royal pedigree. I can’t think of anything that one would gain from forging these letters.”
“How literally have you translated this? Could any one of these words possibly mean anything else?”
“No. They’re either literal or very close translations. The two letter writers were probably educated somewhere in England that valued the classical Roman tradition, somewhere such as the Canterbury School, as their Latin is extremely clear. That style of Latin is infinitely easier to read than that produced in some of the smaller and more independent Church schools of the time. As a result, I don’t think I needed a dictionary at all.”
Nielsen nodded. “And how big do you think the wolf ornament would be, sir?”
“Well, I’m not an archaeologist, and the wolf ‘s size is not specifically mentioned in the text, so it’s hard for me to say.”
“If you had to guess?”
“Three
