Viking Treasure (28 page)

Haaken began to sing.

"Around the mast the oathsworn stood

Deep in gore, deep in blood.

Brothers in arms they fought as one

They fought when hope had all but gone.

Ulfheonar never forget

Ulfheonar never forgive

Ulfheonar fight to the death

Remember this fight at the end of days

Warriors dying but hopes still raised

Oathsworn all and the Dragonheart

They died together were never apart

Ulfheonar never forget

Ulfheonar never forgive

Ulfheonar fight to the death"

It was a strange experience as Haaken's voice rang out.  He always had a fine voice and to have created his own death song in the midst of the battle was truly wondrous. All those who stood and breathed chanted the chorus and perhaps the gods heard for Arne Eriksson, who was clinging to the shrouds suddenly shouted, "
'Heart of the Dragon'
, '
Crow
' and
'Odin's Gift'
! They are come!"

When all hope had gone the gods sent us help. We redoubled our efforts and the Frisians either threw down their weapons or threw themselves over the side. We had survived.

I quickly tied a cloth around Snorri's leg and then touched the dragon amulet and thanked the spirits for our salvation.

Three weeks later the last of the wounded left Kara's hall.  We had lost twelve warriors but the eight who had been wounded all survived. Men did not mourn those who had died because the fight was worthy of retelling.  The mysterious Jarl had disappeared when our ships had approached. 
'Red Snake'
was too badly damaged to be left  and so she was tied between '
Crow'
and'
Heart of  the Dragon'
and brought home with four sets of ships' boys bailing.
'Odin's Breath'
followed the Frisian until it disappeared beyond the wild islands of the north. I would meet the Frisian again; of that I had no doubt.  The survivors whom we enslaved were just poor warriors.  They only knew his nickname, 'The Skull'. We did have a description.  He had no hair at all and red eyes. As Haaken said, 'If we can't find him then we are poor hunters!"

The dead were buried with honour at Cyninges-tūn.  It was a place of reverence and contemplation. Warriors went there to remember what it was to be a warrior. I was sad that Karl Karlsson had died.  A fine ships' boy, we had had hopes for him. Erik Short Toe had lost an eye while his son, two fingers.  Guthrum had a scar to the end of his days but none would change their wounds.  They were all badges of honour.

I sent Beorn to Jorvik.  He discovered that Hermund the Bent had fled there and was hiring men to raid Jarl Gunnar Thorfinnson.  I sent Raibeart in '
Weregeld
' to warn him.

I sat in Kara's hall with my whole family around me.  Elfrida had come with Ragnar.  We had spoken of many things but not the most important.  Kara was never afraid of broaching difficult matters and she asked outright, "Was it worth it, father?"

"What?"

"The treasure you took; was it worth it?"

She was not being critical but she had to ask the question.  Since my return I had wrestled with it. I had been at Erika's grave and begged forgiveness.  I had travelled to Olaf's peak and sought the spirits.  None had given me solace.  Kara was right to ask me.  Every face turned towards me.

"Was the treasure worth the death of my son and grandson?  Was it worth the death of warriors like Sven Svensson and Bjorn Eiriksson and young boys like Karl Karlsson? The answer is no. And that is obvious to all in this room but if you ask me would I do it again then the answer would be yes, as you know my daughter for it was meant to be.  It was
wyrd
. The Weird Sisters willed it so. A man cannot escape what must be but I tell you this I now realise the true measure of a Viking's treasure.  I understand what it is." I saw Ragnar and Gruffyd lean forward eagerly. "It is his blood, his family and it is his oathsworn.  That is the true Viking treasure.  It is not my sword nor my jewels.  It is not gold. It is something which cannot be weighed and it is in here," I patted my chest,  "in the Dragonheart."

Afon Hafron- River Severn in Welsh

Alpín mac Echdach – the father of Kenneth MacAlpin, reputedly the first king of the Scots

Alt Clut- Dumbarton Castle on the Clyde

Balley Chashtal -Castleton (Isle of Man)

Bardanes Tourkos- Rebel Byzantine General

Bebbanburgh- Bamburgh Castle, Northumbria Also know as Din Guardi in the ancient tongue

Beck- a stream

Beinn na bhFadhla- Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides

Belesduna - Basildon

Blót – a blood sacrifice made by a jarl

Blue Sea- The Mediterranean

Bondi- Viking farmers who fight

Bourde- Bordeaux

Bjarnarøy –Great Bernera (Bear Island)

Byrnie- a mail or leather shirt reaching down to the knees

Caerlleon- Welsh for Chester

Caestir - Chester (old English)

Casnewydd –Newport, Wales

Cephas- Greek for Simon Peter (St. Peter)

Chape- the tip of a scabbard

Charlemagne- Holy Roman Emperor at the end of the 8
th
and beginning of the 9
th
centuries

Celchyth - Chelsea

Cherestanc- Garstang (Lancashire)

Corn Walum or Om Walum- Cornwall

Cymri- Welsh

Cymru- Wales

Cyninges-tūn – Coniston.  It means the estate of the king (Cumbria)

Dùn Èideann –Edinburgh (Gaelic)

Din Guardi- Bamburgh castle

Drekar- a Dragon ship (a Viking warship)

Duboglassio –Douglas, Isle of Man

Dun Holme- Durham

Dyrøy –Jura (Inner Hebrides)

Dyflin- Old Norse for Dublin

Ēa Lōn - River Lune

Ein-mánuðr - middle of March to the middle of April

Eoforwic- Saxon for York

Faro Bregancio- Corunna (Spain)

Ferneberga -Farnborough (Hampshire)

Fey- having second sight

Firkin- a barrel containing eight gallons (usually beer)

Fret-a sea mist

Frankia- France and part of Germany

Fyrd-the Saxon levy

Garth
- Dragon Heart

Gaill- Irish for foreigners

Galdramenn- wizard

Gesith- A Saxon nobleman.  After 850 AD they were known as thegns

Glaesum –amber

Gleawecastre- Gloucester

Gói- the end of February to the middle of March

Grendel- the monster slain by Beowulf

Grenewic- Greenwich

Gulle - Goole (Humberside)

Hagustaldes ham
-Hexham

Hamwic -Southampton

Haughs- small hills in Norse (As in Tarn Hows)

Heels- when a ship leans to one side under the pressure of the wind

Hel
- Queen of
Niflheim
, the Norse underworld.

Here Wic- Harwich

Hersir- a Viking landowner and minor noble. Ranks below a jarl

Hetaereiarch – Byzantine general

Hí- Iona (Gaelic)

Hjáp
- Shap- Cumbria (Norse for stone circle)

Hoggs or Hogging- when the pressure of the wind causes the stern or the bow to droop

Hrams-a – Ramsey, Isle of Man

Hwiteb
i
 
- Whitby, North Yorkshire

Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog- King of Gwynedd 814-825

Icaunis- British river god

Issicauna -River Seine

Itouna- River Eden Cumbria

Jarl- Norse earl or lord

Joro-goddess of the earth

kjerringa - Old Woman- the solid block in which the mast rested

Knarr- a merchant ship or a coastal vessel

Kyrtle-woven top

Lambehitha- Lambeth

Leathes Water- Thirlmere

Ljoðhús- Lewis

Legacaestir- Anglo Saxon for Chester

Lochlannach – Irish for Northerners (Vikings)

Lothuwistoft- Lowestoft

Louis the Pious- King of the Franks and son of Charlemagne

Lundenburgh- the fort in the heart of London (the former Roman fort)

Lundenwic - London

Maeresea- River Mersey

Mammceaster- Manchester

Manau/Mann – The Isle of Man(n) (Saxon)

Marcia Hispanic- Spanish Marches (the land around Barcelona)

Mast fish- two large racks on a ship designed to store the mast when not required

Melita- Malta

Midden- a place where they dumped human waste

Miklagård - Constantinople

Nikephoros- Emperor of Byzantium 802-811

Njoror- God of the sea

Nithing- A man without honour (Saxon)

Odin
- The "All Father" God of war, also associated with wisdom, poetry, and magic (The Ruler of the gods).

Olissipo- Lisbon

Orkneyjar-Orkney

Penrhudd – Penrith Cumbria

Portesmūða -Portsmouth

Pillars of Hercules- Straits of Gibraltar

Ran- Goddess of the sea

Roof rock- slate

Rinaz –The Rhine

Sabrina- Latin and Celtic for the River Severn.  Also the name of a female Celtic deity

Saami- the people who live in what is now Northern Norway/Sweden

Samhain- a Celtic festival of the dead between 31
st
October and1
st
November (Halloween)

St. Cybi- Holyhead

Scree- loose rocks in a glacial valley

Seax – short sword

Sheerstrake- the uppermost strake in the hull

Sheet- a rope fastened to the lower corner of a sail

Shroud- a rope from the masthead to the hull amidships

Skeggox – an axe with a shorter beard on one side of the blade

South Folk- Suffolk

Stad- Norse settlement

Stays- ropes running from the mast-head to the bow

Strake- the wood on the side of a drekar

Suthriganaworc - Southwark (London)

Syllingar Insula, Syllingar- Scilly Isles

Tarn- small lake (Norse)

Temese- River Thames (also called the Tamese)

The Norns- The three sisters who weave webs of intrigue for men

Tilaburg - Tilbury

Thing-Norse for a parliament or a debate (Tynwald)

Thor’s day- Thursday

Threttanessa- a drekar with 13 oars on each side.

Thrall- slave

Tinea- Tyne

Trenail- a round wooden peg used to secure strakes

Tynwald- the Parliament on the Isle of Man

Úlfarrberg- Helvellyn

Úlfarrland- Cumbria

Úlfarr- Wolf Warrior

Úlfarrston- Ulverston

Ullr-Norse God of Hunting

Ulfheonar-an elite Norse warrior who wore a wolf skin over his armour

Vectis- The Isle of Wight

Volva- a witch or healing woman in Norse culture

Waeclinga Straet- Watling Street (A5) Windlesore-Windsor

Waite- a Viking word for farm

Werham -Wareham (Dorset)

Wintan-ceastre -Winchester

Withy- the mechanism connecting the steering board to the ship

Woden’s day- Wednesday

Wulfhere-Old English for Wolf Army

Wyddfa-Snowdon

Wyrd- Fate

Yard- a timber from which the sail is suspended

Ynys Enlli
-
Bardsey Island

Ynys Môn-Anglesey