 First edition cover | |
| Author | Bernard Cornwell |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Saxon Stories |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Published | 23 October 2014 HarperCollins |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 400 (hardback edition) |
| ISBN | 978-0-00-750416-9 (hardback edition) |
| Preceded by | The Pagan Lord |
| Followed by | Warriors of the Storm |
The Empty Throne is the eighth historical novel in The Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in October 2014. It is set in 10th-century Mercia and Dyfed.
In 911 AD, Uhtred of Bebbanburg's son, also named Uhtred, ambushes a small band of Norse raiders in the north of Mercia and brings the captives and plunder to Aethelflaed, who instructs him to take them to Gloucester, where the Mercian Witan is about to convene.
Aethelred, the King of the Mercians and estranged husband of Aethelflaed, is dying after being wounded in a battle at Teotanheale. The Witan is to decide Aethelred's successor, a difficult task as there is no obvious candidate. Eardwulf, whose sister is Aethelred's lover, commands Aethelred's household warriors and is a contender. Another is Edward, King of Wessex, but the Mercians do not wish to be ruled by a foreign king. Uhtred of Bebbanburg, who is seriously, perhaps fatally wounded, knows that Aethelflaed is the best choice, but the Witan will not choose a woman. Instead, Aetheflaed is likely to be consigned to a nunnery after Aethelred's death. Uhtred is puzzled at being summoned to the Witan. However, upon the discovery that Aethelhelm, the most powerful ealdorman in Wessex, is at the meeting, he realises this is a ploy to draw him away from Aethelstan, the son of King Edward's first wife. Aethelhelm wishes the boy to be killed to remove the only serious rival to his own grandson as heir to the throne of Wessex (his daughter being Edward's second wife).
The Witan reluctantly seems to settle on Eardwulf. As Eardwulf is not highly born, he will marry Aethelred's daughter. Uhtred pretends to be dying in order to leave without raising suspicion. He races back to his home and Aethelstan. After a fight with some of Aethelhelm's troops, Uhtred sends most of his followers, including Aethelstan, to Chester, while he and his daughter Stiorra go back to Gloucester to prevent Aethelred's daughter from being married to Eardwulf. He then rejoins the rest of his followers. Pursued by a much larger force, they take refuge in an abandoned fort. There Eardwulf demands he surrender Aethelstan. Uhtred refuses, but just before Eardwulf can attack, Aethelflaed arrives, seemingly with hundreds of warriors (though this is a deception), and commands him to return to Gloucester. Eardwulf leaves, but Uhtred knows that Eardwulf's scouts will soon discover that he has been deceived, and prepares a trap. Eardwulf's only chance for the throne is to kill Uhtred and Aethelflaed that night. Uhtred outwits his opponent, and Eardwulf, now an outlaw, flees with only a handful of retainers. Eardwulf's sister, Edith, is captured.
Uhtred returns to Gloucester, and he learns than Eardwulf has stolen Aethelred's wealth. With Eardwulf gone, Uhtred reminds the Witan that his mother was a Mercian and that he is Aethelred's closest male relative. To placate the priests, he also "converts" to Christianity. He is chosen, probably in part because they do not expect him to live long. He then promptly abdicates and names his successor: Aethelflaed.
Uhtred believes that he can only be cured if he possesses Ice-Spite, the sword Cnut used to inflict his wound. Edith becomes Uhtred's lover and reveals to him that she knows the location of Ice-Spite. Asser, a monk who hates Uhtred, took the sword to Wales, where he died. Uhtred heads to Wales and encounters Welsh King Hywel. They join forces and rout a Norse raiding party which burned down a monastery, tortured and killed the monks, and took Ice-Spite. Edith uses the sword to drain the pus from Uhtred's body. His pain immediately stops.
Uhtred realises that the exiled Eardwulf has joined a Norse fleet from Ireland, led by Sigtryggr. (The Irish are too strong, so the Norse are being driven out.) Eardwulf has joined them. Uhtred correctly guesses they are going to attack Ceaster. Uhtred rushes there and, realising that some of Eardwulf's men have infiltrated the fort, he has them seized. He learns they plan to open one of the gates for Sigtryggr upon seeing a pre-arranged signal. He prepares his own trap. When the Norse army attacks, their mounted warriors ride through the open gate, but find themselves trapped inside (Uhtred had ordered the construction of fortifications around the gate) and are slaughtered. Sigtryggr and a handful of his men manage to flee the killing ground. He then attacks Uhtred, but is distracted by Stiorra, and loses an eye to Uhtred before escaping.
The two sides negotiate a settlement. The Norse will abandon another, half-finished fort they had already captured, surrender half their weapons, and sail away the next day, as neither army has enough men to guarantee victory. As part of the bargain, Sigtryggr offers himself as hostage for the night. Also, Eardwulf and his few remaining followers are handed over to Uhtred; as part of Aethelstan's training to be a king, Uhtred has the boy Aethelstan execute him. When Sigtryggr and his fleet prepare to leave, however, Stiorra reveals that she and Sigtryggr have fallen in love at first sight, and she is going with him. Uhtred, seeing the similarities with himself and Gisela, gives her his approval (foiling Aethelflaed's marriage plan for her).
The Times (of London) commented that "The Empty Throne is Cornwell's best Uthred tale yet. If there is a throne for writers of this particular type of muscular historical fiction, then Cornwell is firmly wedged in it. And on this evidence, he is not budging." [1]
Kirkus Reviews says, "the lusty, rollicking narrative is totally accessible and great good fun.". [2]
One reviewer wrote of this installment, "copious bloodletting, ever-so-slightly anachronistic profanities, and intriguing political maneuvering", obviously liking what Cornwell has written as the latest in the Saxon Tales. "Cornwell's action-sequences are pearls of pure adrenaline", amid well-constructed characters with the historical detail skillfully woven into the plot. [3]
Keith McCoy, writing for Library Journal , summarises highlights of the plot, including continuity from the previous novel, when both Uhtred and Aethelred were wounded, but Aethelred is dying, while Uhtred seeks a missing sword to heal himself and protect two children, and then remarks that "Once again, Cornwell perfectly mixes the history and personalities of tenth-century England with several doses of battles, trickery, and treachery." [4]
The novel was on The New York Times Best Seller list of Hardcover Fiction in February 2015, entering at number 19. [5]
Edmund Ironside was King of the English from 23 April to 30 November 1016. He was the son of King Æthelred the Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu of York. Edmund's reign was marred by a war he had inherited from his father; his cognomen "Ironside" was given to him "because of his valour" in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut the Great.
Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians ruled Mercia in the English Midlands from 911 until her death. She was the eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and his wife Ealhswith.
Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians became ruler of English Mercia shortly after the death or disappearance of its last king, Ceolwulf II in 879. Æthelred's rule was confined to the western half, as eastern Mercia was then part of the Viking-ruled Danelaw. His ancestry is unknown. He was probably the leader of an unsuccessful Mercian invasion of Wales in 881, and soon afterwards he acknowledged the lordship of King Alfred the Great of Wessex. This alliance was cemented by the marriage of Æthelred to Alfred's daughter Æthelflæd.
Ælfwynn was the ruler of Mercia for a few months in 918, following her mother's death on 12 June 918. She was the daughter of Æthelred and Æthelflæd, the rulers of Mercia. Her accession was the only example of rule passing from one woman to another in the early medieval period in the British Isles. Manuscript C of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states: "Here also the daughter of Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, was deprived of all control in Mercia, and was led into Wessex three weeks before Christmas; she was called Ælfwynn." ASC C dates Æthelflæd's death as 12 June 918 and Ælfwynn's deposition to December 919, but most historians revise the deposition to 918. George Molyneux gives the period of Ælfwynn's power as "six or eighteen months". ASC C is the only version of the Chronicle to mention Ælfwynn. Other versions reflect a West Saxon view point and ASC A states that Edward took power in Mercia immediately after Æthelflæd's death, but ASC C includes entries from a lost version called the 'Mercian Chronicle'.
The Last Kingdom is the first historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2004. This story introduces Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a Saxon noble who is kidnapped by Danish Vikings as a young child and is assimilated into their culture, religion and language before a series of events lead him into the service of King Alfred of Wessex and his participation in multiple battles, including the notable Battle of Cynwit before the book's conclusion.
Æthelfrith was an ealdorman of southern Mercia, who flourished in the last two decades of the ninth century and the first decade of the tenth century. His father is unknown. He was married to Æthelgyth, daughter of Æthelwulf; Æthelwulf is unidentified, but a possible candidate is King Alfred the Great's brother-in-law, the ealdorman of the Gaini who died in 901. Æthelfrith was father to four ealdormen: Æthelstan Half-King, Ælfstan (Mercia), Æthelwald (Kent), and Eadric (Wessex).
Edward the Elder was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æthelwold, who had a strong claim to the throne as the son of Alfred's elder brother and predecessor, Æthelred.
Sword Song is the fourth historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2007. Uhtred leads battles against the Danes, as King Alfred strengthens the defences of his kingdom of Wessex.
Ælfhere was Ealdorman of Mercia. His family, along with those of Æthelstan Half-King and Æthelstan Rota, rose to greatness in the middle third of the 10th century. In the reign of Edward the Martyr, Ælfhere was a leader of the anti-monastic reaction and an ally of Edward's stepmother Queen Dowager Ælfthryth. After the killing of Edward by Ælfthryth's servants in 978, Ælfhere supported the new king, Ælfthryth's son Æthelred the Unready, and was the leading nobleman in the Kingdom of England until his death in 983.
Events from the 10th century in the Kingdom of England.
Uhtred was an ealdorman based in Derbyshire in the 10th century. His date of birth and origins are unclear, although it has been suggested by some modern historians that he came from Northumbria. He is thought to have been the thegn who, having purchased land at Hope and Ashford in Derbyshire from the Vikings before 911, had it confirmed by King Æthelstan in 926. He was ealdorman in or before 930. It appears that he witnessed charters during the remainder of the reign of Æthelstan, the reign of Edmund I (939–46) and the reign of Eadred (946–55), and the last king appears to have granted Uhtred land at Bakewell in 949. It is thought that Uhtred may have used this land to found a minster there. An Uhtred witnesses charters from 955 to 958, in the reigns of Eadwig the Fair (955–59) and Edgar the Peaceable (957–75), but some historians believe this to be a different Uhtred, perhaps Uhtred Cild.
The Burning Land is the fifth historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2009. The story is set in the 9th-century Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Wessex, Northumbria and Mercia. The first half of season 3 of the British television series The Last Kingdom is based on this novel.
St Oswald's Priory was founded by Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great, and her husband Æthelred, ealdorman of Mercia, in the late 880s or the 890s. It appears to have been an exact copy of the Old Minster, Winchester It is a Grade I listed building.
Death of Kings, published in 2011, is the sixth novel of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Tales series. It continues the story of Saxon warlord Uhtred of Bebbanburg who resists a new Danish invasion of Wessex and Mercia.
The Pagan Lord is the seventh historical novel in the Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 2013. The story is set in the early 10th century in Anglo-Saxon Mercia and Northumbria.
Warriors of the Storm is the ninth historical novel in The Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in October 2015. It is set in 10th-century Mercia, Northumbria and Northern Ireland and continues to follow the fortunes of the fictional Uhtred of Bebbanburg.
The Flame Bearer is the tenth historical novel in The Saxon Stories series aka The Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in April 2016. It is set in 10th-century England and continues to follow the fortunes of the fictional Uhtred of Bebbanburg. In this novel Uhtred sets out to finally regain his childhood home, Bebbanburg, which is now held by his cousin.
War of the Wolf is the eleventh historical novel in The Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell. It was first published in October 2018.
Sword of Kings is the twelfth historical novel in The Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell. It was first published in October 2019.
War Lord is the 13th and last novel in the Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell. It was published on 15 October 2020 in the UK.