Matthew Harffy, author of the Bernicia Chronicles, is no stranger to the history of Bamburgh (once Bebbanburg) during the Anglo-Saxon period of English history. He reviews Edoardo Albert and Paul Gething’s latest book, Warrior, for Historia. The title of Warrior: A Life of War in Anglo-Saxon Britain by Edoardo Albert with Paul Gething might lead […]
Review: Fortress of Fury by Matthew Harffy
Edoardo Albert reviews Fortress of Fury, the latest book in Matthew Harffy’s much-loved Bernicia Chronicles series set in the turbulent world of seventh-century England. The many readers who have accompanied Matthew Harffy’s seventh-century warrior hero, Beobrand, through his adventures in the previous six books in the series will be expecting taut adventure, bloody and brutal […]
Bebbanburg 2020: the lessons I learned from a seventh-century siege
Matthew Harffy, author of the Bernicia Chronicles novels, finds unexpected similarities between the seventh-century siege of Bebbanburg and his life in 2020, whether it’s coping with lockdown or making a television trailer. The world is under a cloud of sickness. People despair at ineffectual politicians as more of the global population fall ill and succumb […]
A life of war in Anglo-Saxon Britain
The skeleton of an unknown 7th-century warrior buried near Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland seemed to have nothing to tell historian and novelist Edoardo Albert… until tests showed a link to a Scottish holy island and the original returning king: Oswald of Northumbria. The bones were silent. That’s the problem: they usually are. They are the […]
Oswald: Exile, King, Saint
If you were to ask most people to name an Anglo-Saxon king, they might mention Alfred (he was Great, after all!), or Harold (with the infamous arrow in the eye). A few might even bring up names like Ethelred the (mistranslated) Unready, or, if they are a bit more into pre-Norman Conquest British history, they […]