Cornwell was born in London in 1944. His father was a Canadian airman, and his mother, who was English, a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. He was adopted and brought up in Essex by the Wiggins family, who were members of the Peculiar People, a strict Protestant sect who banned frivolity of all kinds and even medicine. After he left them, he changed his name to his birth mother's maiden name, Cornwell. There is a very odd series of passages towards the end of WAR OF THE WOLF, the 11th entry in Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Tales. The great warrior Uhtred pauses in his recollection of the mighty battle he fought against a nefarious Norse intruder to correct the bard who is writing a song about it. So what you have is a fictional character, telling the story of what is essentially a fictional battle, being interrupted by another fictional character, telling the story of the same battle. But it’s a different story, and the two stories disagree with each other. It is set in 10th-century England and continues to follow the fortunes of the fictional Uhtred of Bebbanburg. In this novel Uhtred is finally secure in his childhood home, Bebbanburg. It is the next stage in a long story that has many fans. [3] Plot [ edit ]

Edward, King of Wessex (and son of Alfred the Great), is dying. There are three strong candidates to succeed him: Edward's vicious adult son Ælfweard by his second wife; Æthelstan, Edward's eldest son by his first wife (though many incorrectly believe he is illegitimate); and Edmund, Edward's infant son by Queen Eadgifu of Mercia. Uhtred has raised Æthelstan and trained him to be king, so Æthelhelm had tried to preemptively remove Æthelstan's most effective supporter. Cornwell was sent away to Monkton Combe School, attended the University of London, and after graduating, worked as a teacher. He attempted to enlist in the British armed services at least three times but was rejected on the grounds of myopia. I really did not enjoy the first part & if it was another book in a series I may well have thrown it in...... Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing!

Yet he still feels bound by an oath he took to protect Æthelstan, his friend, protege and Edward's oldest son. So when there is a Mercian revolt against Edward, he rides with Finan and about 90 veteran warriors to relieve the Siege of Ceaster. When he gets there, he realises he has been lied to; the besieged, led by Æthelstan, were in no real danger, and the enemy are soon defeated. War and fight scenes are chillingly realistic. I really felt like I was there with Uhtred, fighting every new enemy or being part of countless shield wars.

In each of the previous books, Uhtred comes up with a clever plan to overcome his adversaries. In this book, he does not conceive of a good plan, and his adversaries look overwhelmingly strong in a fortified position. So, the book cleverly held me in suspense. Will Uhtred come out of this battle alive? He cannot retreat--that would mean a slaughter. He cannot go forward; the unscalable walls have battle-hardened enemies on the ramparts. The ending--I won't spoil the ending here, I just want to emphasize that Bernard Cornwell really knows how to keep his readers in suspense. It has been no easy road to for Uhtred to achieve his life’s ambition and I have fought by his side from day one. It isn’t just Uhtred who finds himself in a tight spot. His son-in-law, Sigtryggr, is King of Northumbria. [For those not familiar with this Kingdom, it was one of the four eventually melded into England. At this time, it is the only remaining non-Christian kingdom of any significance on the Island that now contains England, Scotland and Wales.] “If I fight Thurferth and his followers,” Sigtryggr went on, “I’m fighting King Edward. And I’ll get no help from the west, will I?” He meant Cumbraland, which was supposedly a part of Northumbria. He then joined BBC's Nationwide and was promoted to become head of current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland. He then joined Thames Television as editor of Thames News. He relocated to the United States in 1980 after marrying an American. Unable to get a green card, he started writing novels, as this did not require a work permit. I don’t know how Uthred is still crushing at 60 something years old, but he’s an absolute LEGEND and one of my favorite characters of all time, and Finan of course. 11 down 2 more to go ! I’m going to have the worst book hangover .

By Jess Montgomery

When a new Viking invader decides to set up his own kingdom in the lawless Western Northumbria, fate pulls Uhtred down a difficult new path of sorrow, pain, and renewed entanglements with Wessex. The themes of War of the Wolf are in many ways beautiful. Here is an old and weathered warrior whose family and friends are mostly all gone with the wind. His old enemies, once legends of the sword threatening the very existence of the places and people we readers have come to know and love, are distant memories from days of yonder. When Uhtred's internal monologue considers his father, his brother, his wife, his children, his mentor, the kings who made him and who he made, his brothers-in-arms from countless battles, and now even the lost keeper of the oath who shaped him, the thoughts are simply glimpses of something that once was, and is no more. I’m not too sure what magic Cornwell used here. I’ve mentioned in my review of The Flame Bearer that Cornwell might be running out of ideas to prolong this series. I’ve even mentioned that the previous book should’ve been the final book of the series. Maybe it’s because we’re so near the end of the series now. Or maybe it’s really because this one was just so enthralling. But War of the Wolf, the eleventh book in The Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwell, is a return to form to what made the series great. Then I forgot the dead brothers as we rode south through fields showing the first signs of the new year’s crops, beside pastures where fresh-born lambs bleated, and by woods hazed with new leaves. A fat land, I thought, which is why men fought for it. The Romans had captured it, then we Saxons took it, and after us came the Danes, and now the Norse were strengthening their hold on the wilder lands of Cumbraland and casting greedy eyes on these plump fields. I touched Serpent-Breath’s hilt. “They’ll always need us,” I said to Finan.

He and Sigtryggr lead nearly 500 warriors there, but their assault fails, and both Uhtred and Sigtryggr are wounded. Their situation is dire, as they are outnumbered, and retreating would be perilous. Then Snorri comes outside the fortress and starts cursing them. The half-mad, self-styled bishop Ieremias engages in a war of cursing and scores a victory of sorts, when Snorri's dog deserts him for the bishop. This enrages some of Sköll's wolf-warriors, half-crazed from applying an ointment of henbane. They charge out as a disorganised rabble, but are defeated by a disciplined shield wall. Then, something unexpected happens. Berg becomes separated from the rest of Uhtred's men during the fighting. He finds his two older brothers in Sköll's fortress and persuades them to switch sides. With their help, Uhtred and Sigtryggr's warriors force their way inside, and Sköll's men either die or surrender. Sköll himself pretends to surrender, then tries to kill Sigtryggr, but Uhtred saves his son-in-law. Uhtred disables Sköll in single combat, then invites Sigtyrggr to avenge his wife, but not before he disarms Sköll, thus ensuring that Sköll will not go to Valhalla. Lady Æthelflaed, Uhtred's on-again, off-again lover and ruler of Mercia, dies. Edward, King of Wessex, seizes the opportunity to take over the kingdom from his niece Ælfwynn. Uhtred ignores Edward's summons to swear fealty to him, and his Mercian lands are forfeited, but Uhtred is content with his beloved Bebbanburg. At the opening of War of the Wolf, Uhtred has grown old — he’s now over 60 — but is still a formidable warrior. King Alfred is dead, as is his daughter, Æthelflaed, ruler of Mercia, as well as Uhtred’s lover and best friend. Alfred’s son, King Edward, rules England and pursues his father’s dream of bringing Northumbria under his rule. But first he must confront the Danes, who roam the untamed lands of northern England. War is bitter. The poets give battle a splendor, extolling the brave and exulting in victory, and bravery is worth their praise. Victory too, I suppose, but the poems, chanted in mead halls at night, give boys and young men their ambition to be warriors. Reputation! It is the one thing that outlives us. Men die, women die, all die, but reputation lives on like the echo of a song, and men crave reputation”

Thome de Viridi Campo, valleto regine, de dono regis in recompensacionem laboris quem sustenit circa facturem Lupus Guerre quem rex fieri ordinavit pro insultu castri de Stryvelyn, …, xl li. Uhtred finds himself more than once at the wrong place, and at the wrong time. This is what engenders his thoughts of being cursed by the gods (those being the Norse gods). Be that as it may but when a Norse chieftain gathers a formidable army with the intention of taking Bebbanburg and calling himself ‘King of Northumbria’ Uhtred is the first to gather his horse, shield and sword in preparation for war. After publishing eight books in his ongoing Sharpe series, Cornwell was approached by a production company interested in adapting them for television. The producers asked him to write a prequel to give them a starting point to the series. They also requested that the story feature a large role for Spanish characters to secure co-funding from Spain. The result was Sharpe’s Rifles, published in 1987, and a series of Sharpe television films staring Sean Bean.