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Tuesday, November 30, 2021
[New post] The Lords of the Wind – Guest Post for Coffee Pot Book Club
tigers68 posted: " (The Saga of Hasting the Avenger, Book 1) By C.J. Adrien Book Title: The Lords of the Wind Series: The Saga of Hasting the Avenger Author: C.J. Adrien Publication Date: 4th July 2019 Publisher: Runestone Books Audiobook Publisher"
Orphaned as a child by a blood-feud, and sold as a slave to an exiled chieftain in Ireland, the boy Hasting had little hope of surviving to adulthood. The gods had other plans. A ship arrived at his master's longphort carrying a man who would alter the course of his destiny, and take him under his wing to teach him the ways of the Vikings. His is a story of a boy who was a slave, who became a warlord, and who helped topple an empire.
A supposed son of Ragnar Lodbrok, and referred to in the Gesta Normannorum as the Scourge of the Somme and Loire, his life exemplified the qualities of the ideal Viking. Join author and historian C.J. Adrien on an adventure that explores the coming of age of the Viking Hasting, his first love, his first great trials, and his first betrayal.
"The Lords of the Wind" by C.J. Adrien is a gold medal winner in the 2020 Reader's Favorite annual international book award.contest.
GUEST POST
There are many famed warriors from the Viking Age who successfully lived up to the reputation of their people, but perhaps none so much as Hasting. Referred to in the Gesta Normanorum as the scourge of the Somme and Loire, his life was lived for adventure. Although he did not carve out large swaths of territory for himself as many others had done, he built an enduring reputation as a man of great prowess, largesse, and cunning.
Hasting's story begins as many in the Viking Age did: ambiguously. We do not know for certain who his parents were, although it is suggested in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that he was a son of Ragnar Lodbrok. The Chronicle also suggests that he was a Dane, but that too is difficult to verify. His first raid of notoriety was that of the sack of Nantes in 843 A.D. in which he is named in the Annales D'Angoulême as being among the Vestfaldingi, or men of Vestfold. The sack of Nantes was a cataclysmic event that sent ripples throughout the Frankish Empire and marked the beginning of more aggressive Norse incursions in the region.
Hasting is thought to have spent a great deal of time in the Bay of Biscay during his early life, but mentions of him in the sources are sparse. The Chronicle of Nantes mentions he forged an alliance with the usurper Lambert to take Nantes, but the Chronicle is generally considered as having fabricated many of the details of the event. The Vie and Miracles de Saint Martin de Vertou suggests the Vikings were invited into the city for the festival of Saint John, which indicates that prior to the sack of Nantes there may have been semi-amicable relations between the locals and the Scandinavians.
With so much ambiguity in the sources, it is difficult to piece together Hasting's life, despite his notoriety in the Gesta Normanorum and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. My novel is an attempt to give life to a character who has seldom been the focus of the main narrative despite having been the living embodiment of what it was to be a Viking. I attempt to recreate his early life, follow his journey from slave to sea captain, and set the stage for the famous events he orchestrated in his later life, which I will cover in later novels.
Primary sources attesting to Hasting's life:
Gesta Normanorum, by Dudo of St. Quentin
Gesta Danorum, by Saxo Grammaticus
Histoire des Normands, by William of Jumièges
Annals of St. Bertin
Chronicon, by Regino Prum
Annales D'Angoulème
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Chronique de Nantes
Historiarum Libri Quinque, by Raoul Glaber
Author Bio:
C.J. Adrien
C.J. Adrien is a bestselling and award-winning author of Viking historical fiction novels with a passion for Viking history. His Saga of Hasting the Avenger series was inspired by research conducted in preparation for a doctoral program in early medieval history as well as his admiration for historical fiction writers such as Ken Follett and Bernard Cornwell. He is also a published historian on the subject of Vikings, with articles featured in historical journals such as L'Associationdes Amis de Noirmoutier, in France. His novels and expertise have earned him invitations to speak at several international events, including the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), conferences on Viking history in France, among others.
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