The Last Kingdom is the primary historic novel in The Saxon Stories through Bernard Cornwell
The Last Kingdom is the primary historic novel in The Saxon Stories through Bernard Cornwell, published in 2004. This tale introduces Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a Saxon noble who is kidnapped via Danish Vikings as a young child and is assimilated into their subculture, religion and language earlier than a sequence of events lead him into the provider of King Alfred of Wessex and his participation in a couple of battles, consisting of the top notch Battle of Cynwit before the e book’s conclusion.[1]Plot summary[edit]
Osbert is the second one son of Ealdorman (Earl) Uhtred, Lord of Bebbanburg in Northumbria. Danes arrive on Bebbanburg’s beaches, and Ealdorman Uhtred’s first son, also called Uhtred, is killed whilst scouting. Ealdorman Uhtred renames his next oldest son, Osbert, Uhtred. Ealdorman Uhtred is killed at some point of a disastrous attack on Danish-seized Eoferwic (York) and his son is captured by way of Danish Jarl Ragnar the Fearless. Ragnar, amused by means of the boy’s bravery throughout the conflict, continues him as a thrall. Uhtred’s uncle, Ælfric, takes Bebbanburg and usurps the title of ealdorman from Uhtred, the rightful heir.
Uhtred befriends Ragnar’s youngest son, Rorik, and has many clashes with one boy in particular, Sven, son of Kjartan, considered one of Ragnar’s shipmasters. One day, Sven kidnaps Ragnar’s daughter, Thyra, and removes part of her apparel a good way to sexually assault her. Uhtred charges Sven, taking Sven’s sword and attacking him with it. Uhtred, Rorik, and Thyra break out returned to Ragnar’s hall. Ragnar dismisses Kjartan from his service while Kjartan makes light of his son’s behaviour. He also crushes one among Sven’s eyes with the hilt of his sword – adding darkly that he might have crushed each, had Sven stripped Thyra absolutely bare.
Uhtred, in conjunction with Ragnar and the Danes, then goes raiding throughout East Anglia, and participates in the conquests of Mercia and East Anglia, and the invasion of Wessex. He is abducted via a priest, Beocca, an old own family pal. He then escapes from Wessex and rejoins Ragnar. Uhtred enjoys existence with the Danes, even after Rorik dies due to an extended sickness, however flees after Kjartan and his men set fireplace to Ragnar’s corridor and kill every body who tries to escape. Ragnar stays internal, who prefer to die on his phrases instead of at Kjartan’s arms. Kjartan abducts Thyra.
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Uhtred hopes to escape Kjartan’s assassins by spreading the hearsay that he too died within 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 in opposition to the Danes. After a war with the Danes, he meets Ragnar the Younger, Earl Ragnar’s eldest son, and tells him how his father died and that Thyra become kidnapped. They part buddies, swearing that in the future they’ll band together to take revenge on Kjartan and rescue Thyra. Seeking to take command of the fleet, Uhtred profits it at the circumstance that he marry the orphaned Wessex girl Mildrith. He isn’t instructed that, via marrying her, he will additionally expect her own family’s very huge debt to the Church. Afterwards, he takes component in a siege in opposition to Guthrum, and is amongst a collection of hostages exchanged when the Danes and West Saxons make peace. Staying with the Danes in the town over the wintry weather, he once more meets Ragnar, who saves him from dying when Guthrum breaks the peace and murders the other Saxon hostages. Uhtred then escapes to locate his spouse. She turned into taken by using Odda the Younger, another Wessex ealdorman, to the north. There he fights in the Battle of Cynwit, wherein Uhtred kills the famend Danish chief Ubba Ragnarsson in unmarried fight.
Uhtred then rides along with his men to Exanceaster to locate his spouse and newborn son, as opposed to going immediately to inform Alfred of his victory.Characters in The Last Kingdom[edit]
Cover for the mass-marketplace paperback.Fictional[edit]
- Uhtred – dispossessed Ealdorman of Bebbanburg at first named Osbert
- Earl Ragnar the Fearless – Danish warlord who increases Uhtred like his own son
- Ragnar Ragnarsson (Ragnar the Younger) – Ragnar’s son, Uhtred’s foster brother and near buddy
- Rorik Ragnarsson – Ragnar’s more youthful son and Uhtred’s early life buddy
- Thyra Ragnarsdottir – Ragnar’s daughter, abducted through Kjartan
- Brida – East Anglian Saxon girl, Uhtred’s lover and pal
- Sigrid – Earl Ragnar’s wife and mother to Ragnar the Younger, Rorik and Thyra
- Ravn – blind skald and Earl Ragnar’s father
- Sven Kjartansson – Uhtred’s sworn enemy and Kjartan’s son
- Kjartan – Danish shipmaster who kills Earl Ragnar
- Father Beocca – Alfred’s priest and Uhtred’s family friend
- Mildrith – Uhtred’s pious West Saxon wife
- Leofric – Uhtred’s friend, warrior and shipmaster
- Odda the Younger – Ealdorman Odda’s son and Uhtred’s enemy
- Ælfric – Uhtred’s uncle and usurper of Bebbanburg
- Lord Uhtred of Bebbanburg – Uhtred’s father
- Gytha – Uhtred’s stepmother
- Father Wilibald – West Saxon priest serving Alfred and near acquaintance of Uhtred
Historical[edit]
- King Alfred of Wessex (Alfred the Great) – King of Wessex
- Æthelflæd – Alfred’s eldest daughter, Lady of the Mercians
- Guthrum the Unlucky – Danish warlord
- Ubba Ragnarsson – Danish warlord feared by using many, older brother to Ivar and Halfdan
- Ivar Ragnarsson (Ivar the Boneless) – Danish warlord feared through many, brother to Ubba and Halfdan
- Halfdan Ragnarsson – Danish warlord and younger brother of Ubba and Ivar
- Ælswith – Alfred’s wife, who dislikes Uhtred
- Æthelwold – Alfred’s nephew and acquaintance of Uhtred
- Ealdorman Odda – Ealdorman of Wessex
- King Edmund of East Anglia
- King Osbert of Northumbria
- Wulfhere – Ealdorman of Wiltshire
- Haesten – Danish warrior recruited and saved by Uhtred
Television variation[edit]
In July 2014, the BBC announced that production could begin in autumn 2014 on a television variation, to be titled The Last Kingdom. Stephen Butchard is the author. A series of 8 60-minute episodes become produced, and the collection commenced airing on 10 October 2015.[2] BBC Two, Carnival Films and BBC America were worried within the manufacturing.The series lasted for a complete of five seasons, a complete of forty six episodes, with the final season airing on 9 March 2022.Publication info[edit]
- 2004, UK, HarperCollins ISBN zero-00-714990-five, Pub date 4 October 2004, hardback
- 2005, UK, HarperCollins ISBN zero-00-714991-3, Pub date 30 May 2005, paperback
- 2006, UK, HarperCollins ISBN zero-00-721801-X, Pub date three October 2005, paperback (mass-market)
- 2006, USA, HarperTorch ISBN 0-06-053280-7, Pub date 30 June 2006, paperback (mass-marketplace)
See additionally[edit]
- Uhtred (Derbyshire ealdorman), actual ealdorman throughout the e-book’s set generation
References[edit]External links[edit]
- The Last Kingdom on Netflix