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
Hrofecester -Rochester (Kent)
Hundred- Saxon military organisation. (One hundred men from an area-led by a thegn or gesith)
Hwitebi - Norse for Whitby, North Yorkshire
Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog- King of Gwynedd 814-825
Icaunis- British river god
Issicauna- Gaulish for the lower 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
Karrek Loos yn Koos -St Michael’s Mount (Cornwall)
Kerkyra- Corfu
Knarr- a merchant ship or a coastal vessel
Kriti- Crete
Kyrtle-woven top
Lambehitha- Lambeth
Leathes Water- Thirlmere
Legacaestir- Anglo Saxon for Chester
Ljoðhús- Lewis
Lochlannach – Irish for Northerners (Vikings)
Lothuwistoft- Lowestoft
Lough- Irish lake
Louis the Pious- King of the Franks and son of Charlemagne
Lundenburh/Lundenburgh- the walled burh built around the old Roman fort
Lundenwic - London
Maeldun- Maldon Essex
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
Mörsugur - December 13th -January 12th (the fat sucker month!)
Musselmen- the followers of Islam
Njörðr- 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
Pecheham- Peckham
Peny-cwm-cuic -Falmouth
Pennryhd – Penrith Cumbria
Pennsans – Penzance (Cornwall)
Poor john- a dried and shrivelled fish (disparaging slang for a male member- Shakespeare)
Þorri -January 13th -February 12th- midwinter
Portesmūða -Portsmouth
Porth Ia- St. Ives
Portus Cale- Porto (Portugal)
Pillars of Hercules- Straits of Gibraltar
Prittleuuella- Prittwell in Essex. Southend was originally known as the South End of Prittwell
Pyrlweall -Thirwell, Cumbria
Qādis- Cadiz
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
Sabatton- Saturday in the Byzantine calendar
Samhain- a Celtic festival of the dead between 31st October and 1st November (Halloween)
St. Cybi- Holyhead
Scree- loose rocks in a glacial valley
Seax – short sword
Sennight- seven nights- a week
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
Skreið- stock fish (any fish which is preserved)
Skutatos- Byzantine soldier armed with an oval shield, a spear, a sword and a short mail shirt
Seouenaca -Sevenoaks (Kent)
South Folk- Suffolk
Stays- ropes running from the mast-head to the bow
Strake- the wood on the side of a drekar
Streanæshalc- Saxon for Whitby, North Yorkshire
Stybbanhype – Stepney (London)
Suthriganaworc - Southwark (London)
Syllingar Insula, Syllingar- Scilly Isles
Tarn- small lake (Norse)
Tella- River Béthune which empties near to Dieppe
Temese- River Thames
Theme- Provincial Army Corps
The Norns- The three sisters who weave webs of intrigue for men
Thing-Norse for a parliament or a debate (Tynwald)
Thor’s day- Thursday
Threttanessa- a drekar with 13 oars on each side.
Thuni- Tunis
Tinea- Tyne
Tilaburg – Tilbury
Tintaieol- Tintagel (Cornwall)
Thrall- slave
Trenail- a round wooden peg used to secure strakes
Tynwald- the Parliament on the Isle of Man
Tvímánuður -Hay time-August 15th -September 15th
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
Veisafjǫrðr – Wexford (Ireland)
Volva- a witch or healing woman in Norse culture
Waeclinga Straet- Watling Street (A5)
Walhaz -Norse for the Welsh (foreigners)
Windlesore-Windsor
Waite- a Viking word for farm
Werham -Wareham (Dorset)
Western Sea- the Atlantic
Wintan-ceastre -Winchester
Withy- the mechanism connecting the steering board to the ship
Wihtwara- Isle of White
Woden’s day- Wednesday
Wulfhere-Old English for Wolf Army
Wyddfa-Snowdon
Wykinglo- Wicklow (Ireland)
Wyrd- Fate
Wyrme- Norse for Dragon
Yard- a timber from which the sail is suspended
Ynys Enlli- Bardsey Island
Ynys Môn -Anglesey
Maps and drawings
Stad on the Eden- a typical Viking settlement
A wedge formation (each circle represents a warrior)
0
0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
The boar’s snout formation
A boar’s snout had two wedges and up to five ranks of men behind.
Roman Roads in Britain courtesy of Wikipedia
Historical note
My regular readers will notice that this section is much shorter than in previous novels. Some of my readers do not like the lengthy historical note section. You can find it on my website.
What I will say is that like them or hate them the Vikings were a unique race. Their descendants were the Normans but they were not the same as that hybrid of Norse and Frank. The true Vikings were pagans. They sailed further than any man. Columbus made the West Indies. The Vikings landed in New England and Canada! They were an uncompromising people and I hope that I have done them justice.
Some have questioned Jarl Dragonheart’s longevity. There were examples of Vikings who lived as long. Harald Hadrada was one. They were hard men and their lives were violent. It was war which killed them and not the way they lived when at home. They were active and their diet seemed to make them live a little longer than might be expected. Meat, fish, cheese and ale must be a good combination! I think a vegan Viking would be a contradiction in terms!
The Vikings used foster fathers for younger warriors. When the first Vikings went across the Atlantic there
was a German Viking who was a foster father to the leader of one the expeditions.
I used the following books for research:
Vikings- Life and Legends -British Museum
Saxon, Norman and Viking by Terence Wise (Osprey)
The Vikings (Osprey) -Ian Heath
Byzantine Armies 668-1118 (Osprey)-Ian Heath
Romano-Byzantine Armies 4th- 9th Century (Osprey) -David Nicholle
The Walls of Constantinople AD 324-1453 (Osprey) -Stephen Turnbull
Viking Longship (Osprey) - Keith Durham
The Vikings- David Wernick (Time-Life)
The Vikings in England Anglo-Danish Project
Anglo Saxon Thegn AD 449-1066- Mark Harrison (Osprey)
Viking Hersir- 793-1066 AD - Mark Harrison (Osprey)
Hadrian's Wall- David Breeze (English Heritage)
National Geographic- March 2017
The Tower of London – Lapper and Parnell (Osprey)
Griff Hosker December 2018
Other books
by
Griff Hosker
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Hrolf the Viking
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The Land of the Northmen
Ragnvald Hrolfsson
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1360- 1485
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Adventure at 63-Backpacking to Istanbul
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