Category Archives: Misc

The Spoils of War…

03 Sunday Jan 2016

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blood red moon“Far and near, high and clear,
Hark to the call of War!
Over the gorse and the golden dells,
Ringing and swinging of clamorous bells,
Praying and saying of wild farewells:
War! War! War!

High and low, all must go:
Hark to the shout of War!
Leave to the women the harvest yield;
Gird ye, men, for the sinister field;
A sabre instead of a scythe to wield:
War! Red War!

Rich and poor, lord and boor,
Hark to the blast of War!
Tinker and tailor and millionaire,
Actor in triumph and priest in prayer,
Comrades now in the hell out there,
Sweep to the fire of War!

Prince and page, sot and sage,
Hark to the roar of War!
Poet, professor and circus clown,
Chimney-sweeper and fop o’ the town,
Into the pot and be melted down:
Into the pot of War!

Women all, hear the call,
The pitiless call of War!
Look your last on your dearest ones,
Brothers and husbands, fathers, sons:
Swift they go to the ravenous guns,
The gluttonous guns of War.

Everywhere thrill the air
The maniac bells of War.
There will be little of sleeping to-night;
There will be wailing and weeping to-night;
Death’s red sickle is reaping to-night:
War! War! War! “

The Call

Robert William Service

War is a theme that runs throughout Denny Bradbury’s follow-up novel, ‘Borvo II’, with a number of the younger characters such as Hild’s son Aescwine in particular wanting to leave his community and fight for his King and country as soon as he possibly can, regardless of the danger he may be putting himself in.

Yet as he experiences the reality of war rather than the perceived perception of what it would be like to fight against a common enemy his view can be seen to change:

“ …Of the 400 Danes that marched that day less than half made their way home.  Of the 200 Saxons only 40 lay dead on the sodden field….Aescwine was in shock at the events of the day.  Fighting was honourable and glorious wasn’t it?  War with right on your side was good, wasn’t it? … What manner of men kill with such ferocity?  He had seen men hacked to pieces where they lay just for the spoils on their bodies.  This wasn’t what he expected.  Kill your enemy yes of course otherwise the enemy will kill you, but this wanton carnage, this mayhem, this oblivion was unbearable.  Why hadn’t anyone warned him?…. “ (Chapter Twenty Two, Fidelity)

Denny writes of how the philosophy behind the fighting stemmed from the belief that the more dead enemies, the fewer there would be to fight against at the next battle yet war meant that men lost all sense of belonging other than to those they fought alongside.

In this particular era, weapons of choice were swords that would be responsible for the fatal slashes to heads that were poorly protected by leather helmets with only the very elite wearing iron headgear that gave added protection, and being battered by axes.

In Chapter Twenty Four, Aescwine is dismissed by Aethelwold, the nephew to the King, as he recognises that Aescwine’s heart is not in being a fighter “Go from my camp, I want only those who seek to fight, your heart is not in killing…..you kill only to survive, you have no taste for it….I need rogues who live to kill.  Men who obey without question.”

Yet the fact that Aescwine has killed another is seen as yet another passage into adulthood.  As his mother, Hild, says to him in Chapter Twenty Seven, when he returns to his village “ Your anger is gone.  But I sense you have grown in more ways than I know.  You have killed Aescwine, you are a man now.  Don’t let it take you like it did your father.”

As Beadmund, Borvo’s brother in law and Aescwine’s uncle also says “ You have grown in manhood.  Killing does that.  It is necessary in these days”.

War is something that continues throughout the ages and Denny contrasts the brutality that is witnessed by some with the gentle healing that Borvo, the leading protagonist, does to those around him in need of his help, be it a sickness of the soul, the injuries of war or an unprovoked attack or a malicious attempt to poison, such is the case with Beadmund, or helping the king himself.

Peace and healing in an often violent world.

 

 

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Anglo Saxon Festive Traditions

01 Friday Jan 2016

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starWassailing – coming from the Anglo Saxon phrase “waes hazel” which means ‘good health’ – is a very ancient custom that is rarely done nowadays.  Originally, the wassail was a drink made of mulled ale, curdled cream, eggs, cloves, roasted apples, nutmeg, sugar and ginger. It was served from large bowls, often made of pewter or silver.  At Oxford University, Jesus College has a Wassail bowl that is covered with silver and can hold ten gallons of drink.  Wassailing was traditionally done on New Year’s Eve and Twelfth Night but some of the richer members of Anglo-Saxon drank Wassail on all twelve days of Christmas. The mixture was sometimes referred to as “Lamb’s Wool” because the pulp of the roasted apples looked all frothy and took on the appearance of lamb’s wool.

The legend surrounding the creation of Wassailing states that a beautiful Saxon maiden called Rowena presented Prince Vortigen with a bowl of wine whilst toasting him with the word ‘waes hael’. Over the following centuries a great deal of ceremony developed surrounding the custom of drinking wassail, with the large bowl being carried into a room accompanied by a great fanfare, a traditional carol being sung and finally the hot beverage being served.

This then led on to this tradition being another way of saying Merry Christmas to each other.

One of the most popular Wassailing Carols was:

“Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a-wassailing,
So fair to be seen:

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too,
And God bless you and send you,
A happy New Year,
And God send you,
A happy new year”

 

Another ancient pagan custom was called “Mumming”, a custom that was really just an excuse for people to have a party at Christmas.  The word itself meant “making diversion in disguise”, with the tradition being that men and women swap clothes, put on masks and go visiting their neighbours, singing, dancing or putting on a play with a ridiculous plot.  The narrator of the mummers was always dressed as Father Christmas.

A poem often said when mumming was:

“Christmas is coming, the beef is getting fat,
Please drop a penny in the old man’s hat.”

Over the years this has been changed into a very similar poem that is often said be people today:

“Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat,
Please put a penny in the old man’s hat.”

With the theme of storytelling being one that is prominent in Denny Bradbury’s follow up novel ‘Borvo II’ with her character Seofon and his son Seith both having the gift of story-telling and using it at many points throughout the book, it is of no surprise that it is a tradition that has continued throughout the ages, with Christmas being a time of year famed for such tales.

The Power Of Love

20 Sunday Dec 2015

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heart“i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)” – E.E.Cummings.

Throughout Denny Bradbury’s follow up novel to “Borvo”, “Borvo II”,  the theme of love is one that plays a prominent part, be it the love of a good friend such as  the friendship that has endured many ups and downs between Borvo himself and Seofen, the travelling storyteller, between a man and a woman or amongst the village community as a whole.

As Denny writes in Chapter Twenty Three ‘Mercy’ “…As Borvo rode without rest his thoughts turned to Seofon.  Their friendship had endured through the disagreement and the partings.”

Love in “Borvo II” is demonstrated in a variety of ways – not just between close friends but between man and animal (Aescwine and the stray dog , Hlaf, who attaches herself to him and whom he defends with no hesitation when she is set upon) “… Aescwine was aware for the first time of a red  mist of anger, so uncontrollable that he had no way to stem the energy that came with it.   He rose like a goliath from his crouching position and ran towards them to defend his dog.  To him it was simple and plain. She was his to defend and he did”. (Chapter Seventeen, Aescwine travels on).

There is also the love triangle between Alric, Wystan and Godgyfu, where Alric seeks out Borvo’s approval for the match, despite fearing that Godgyfu and both their families prefer her union to be with Wystan.  The situation culminates in a vicious fight between the two young men when Wystan, happening upon Alric laying bare his soul to Godgyfu and asking in which direction her heart lies, is overcome by an uncontrollable jealousy and lays into Aldric, causing great harm to his love rival.  It is this violent outburst that prompts Godgyfu to realise her true feelings for both men and declares “I love Alric but knew not how he was in his heart towards me” (Chapter Eighteen, ‘Godgyfu’)

Talking of Aescwine and his unabated desire to find his place in the world, the happy news of Cenhelm, Eldric the Elder’s brother setting up home with Hild, Borvo’s sister-in-law after admitting their feelings for one another is marred by the worry surrounding Aescwine’s disappearance when his desire for adventure leads him to flee rather than wait to be escorted “his  very bones ached with the desire to go, he would walk until he fell asleep and then get up and go on until he found what he was looking for.  Of this goal he was uncertain but he knew that when he found it he would know he had met up with his destiny”. (Chapter Sixteen – ‘ Two go, two come, one act of vandalism’).

As Borvo says “…He meant to go.  He must follow his heart and when he returns, as he will, he will have found his home.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Battle of Maldon

10 Thursday Dec 2015

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riverThe Battle of Maldon is an Old English heroic poem that describes an historical skirmish between the East Saxons and mainly Norwegian Viking raiders in 991. The actual battle took place three weeks before Whitsun on 10th August 991 AD near Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex during the reign of Aethelred the Unready.

The poem itself is incomplete as both its beginning and ending is lost but the poem is famous for its vivid and dramatic description of the combat scenes and the way in which it expresses the Germanic ethos of loyalty to a leader – an emotion that is evident in Denny Bradbury’s novel “Borvo II”, where many of the young men, such as Aeschwine, Borvo’s nephew, approaching adulthood are looking for something more than just the village life and have a restlessness inside them that drives them forward and pushes them to become fighters for their King.

When Aeschwine is confronted – and defeats – three men who threatened to hurt his new found four-legged companion Hlaf, he is then brought before the “Lord’s man”, Aethelword, son to the King’s dead elder brother by Wyman and despite his “youthfulness and probable inexperience” within him Wyman sees “..A stubborn defiant look that hinted of a great soldier.  Many men can kill but to kill and also know when to stop was the difference between a soldier and a leader of men.  Compassion was a good trait in the eyes of the old campaigner”  – ‘(Chapter 12, Aeschwine travels on’) .

The poem, in so far as what remains, begins with the two war parties aligned on either side of a stream (the present River Blackwater) and whilst the Vikings offer the cynical suggestion that the English may buy their peace with golden rings, the English commander Earl Byrhtnoth replies that they will pay their tribute in spears and darts. When the Vikings cannot advance because of their poor position, Byrhtnoth allows them safe conduct across the stream, the battle then follows and in spite of Byrhtnoth’s feats of courage he is finally slain.  As a result, some of the English warriors flee and the names of these deserters are recorded in the poem as well as the names of those loyal retainers who stood fast to avenge Byrhtnoth’s death.  The poem, as it exists as such, ends with the rallying speech by the old warrior Byrthwold.  Translated from Olde English into that of modern day it reads:

“..Mind must be firmer, heart the more fierce,

Courage the greater, as our strength

Diminishes…..”

With the University of Essex taking its motto “Thought the harder, heart the keener” from the poem’s line “Hige sceal pe heardra, heorte pe cenre,” there is no denying how keen Aescwine is to play his part in a country at war, haunted as he is by the final lines of a chant that people said in times of wistful longing:

“…. – leaving ruins and a race

with steel inside their loins – determination in their jaw.”

In Chapter Seventeen, ‘Aescwine travels on ‘ Denny writes how these words set Aescwine’s  “… determination to find the fight and take on the world.  He was full of anger and hope and a need to justify his position in a confusing world…. The longing to be someone would take hold of him and his energy burst forth so that he rose, broke his fast and moved on, ever onwards until he met up with his fate.”

 

 

Pagan Beliefs

01 Tuesday Dec 2015

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spiritPaganism encompasses a wide range of ritual practices and is best described as a group of religions and spiritual traditions that are based on a reverence for nature. Like Hinduism there is no single founder, scripture or religious philosophy but most pagans believe in the divine character of the natural world, hence Paganism often being described as an “Earth religion”.

In Denny Bradbury’s second novel, “Borvo II”, the healer Borvo often finds his pagan past at odds with the trend of Christianity in the 9th century in the Kingdom of West Sussex but there are many within his village that rely upon certain rituals and beliefs to guide them through the difficult times.

According to the 2011 census almost 57,000 people in England and Wales identify themselves as Pagan which makes Paganism the largest non-mainstream religion and whilst twelve centuries ago the people of Borvo’s village had a general sense of unease and suspicion when it came to welcoming strangers into their village, there was also a belief in certain rituals and spirits that could aid, help, curse or assist in whatever particular problems they were facing at the time.

In Chapter Nine, ‘Seith makes amends’, when Seith queries with his mother why she did not tell him about his father she talks of how she always knew that Seofon would come back one day “..I sought the advice of the wise woman beyond the hill. She cast her runes and told me with great conviction that he would come back and claim you. I believed her….Shame really, she was beaten out of her living and has not been seen since.  They do say she cursed those that hurt her and two of them have had bad luck walk beside them since that very day”…

The turning to other worldly spirits is also in evidence in Chapter Fourteen ‘Gwynne and Liliflead’ when Gwynne, the wife of Cedric the freed slave and companion to Borvo and Seofon during their journey through Wales, gives birth prematurely to a baby girl. The three youngsters, Durwynm Eadmund and Aenis are all deeply affected by the helplessness of Gwynn’e situation and Denny writes of how their mother Sunny “..told them to go out to the orchard, pick blossom from their favourite tree and send a wish to the highest spirit they could name and ask for help.  After this they were to go to the stream and throw the blossom bough into the water.  This she said would help the baby in this life or the next.  Whatever her fate the little baby needed their love to guide her.”  Durwyn is the first to speak when the three children go to the stream and throw their boughs into the water, saying “ To the god of my father and my mother, I ask that Gwynne and the baby are made well.  The blossom on the bough help them live their lives with fruitful labour.”

Borvo himself, whenever needing guidance or inspiration, always looks to his pagan river god of healing, after who he is named and in Chapter Fifteen ‘Borvo finds solace from the past’ when he is seeking the answers as to how best to integrate Mairwen and Yssild into the village community, instead of being visited by his god he is visited by the spirit of his mother who offers to help him by saying he must listen to what his heart tells him.  When Borvo says “I have need of you now, the way is strewn with trouble”, his mother replies “Your heart Borvo, your destiny is in your hands.  Take it and be true to who you are.”

A message – whether it be from spirits past or present; those closest to us in this lifetime or from a mystical god we never see – is one that stands the test of time today.