Fury of the Vikings by Dominic Sandbrook

In Fury of the Vikings, Dominic Sandbrook traces the history of the Viking rampage through the known world during a three-hundred-year period beginning with the Norse mythology.

The Prologue opens with the attack on the monastery on the island of Lindisfarne, off the Northumbrian coast on June 8, 793.  The monastery held the remains of St. Cuthbert. The attackers killed and enslaved the monks, destroyed exquisitely crafted Bibles, and plundered the treasures of the monastery. It was the beginning of three hundred years of Viking raids that saw pirates from Denmark, Norway and Sweden loot and pillage their way across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland as well as France, Southern Spain and North Africa. In the East, they established a new kingdom at Kyiv which eventually became Russia and Ukraine. The Vikings traveled as far east as the Holy Land, Turkey and the deserts of Asia. They even attempted to destroyed Constantinople. They founded new settlements on Iceland and Greenland as well as travelling further west to North America. But the Vikings never called themselves that. Instead the label comes from the voyage to go "viking" or plundering. But the name became synonymous with the people who raided the coasts of Britain and Europe.

No story of Viking history would be complete without beginning with the Norse myths, with the kingdom of fire - Muspelheim, with Buri the forefather of the gods, his son Bor who had three sons, Odin, Vili and Ve. The Norse people believed the world consisted of nine realms spread over three levels and that Midgard or Middle Earth was one. There was  Asgard, the kingdom of Odin and the Aesir. Vanaheim was another dynasty of gods, the Vanir. Alfheim was the land of light-elves connecting Asgard to the middle level - the fourth kingdom Midgard or Middle Earth.

In Midgard, the ice covering the land finally melted and humans came to live there. "From hunters they became farmers living in wooden longhouses." As they built up their own society, they heard fantastic stories of the Romans to the south who lived lives in wealth and comfort.  During the sixth century B.C., there was a three year period without spring or summer, cold and with frequent snows. As the harvests failed, people starved. By the seventh century, the Western Roman Empire had collapsed, leaving the world to the south in disarray. Meanwhile, the men of Denmark, Norway and Sweden began to rebuild, sailing east and west, trading furs, cloth and tools, fishing and farming. 

By the eighth century, some of the North chieftains would sail along the fjords of Norway to attack settlements along the coast. The loot they obtained from these raids made them wealthy and able to build great wooden halls and earn loyal followers called housecarls. The existence of these wealthy chieftains or sea kings was unknown to the people of northern France, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (now England), western Germany or the Low countries. 

The raids first began in the East, in the Baltic where Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are located. They took furs, slaves and amber. The Norsemen explored south along the rivers that traversed the forests of Europe to Lake Ladoga, in what is now Russia.

But on a summer day in 789 B.C., the people of England had their first encounter with the people who came to be knowns as "Vikings".  The attack on Lindisfarne signalled the beginning of a new era of raids, plundering and death. Further attacks on monasteries along the coast and in Scotland and Ireland only further enticed the Norsemen who saw the Christians as weak and afraid. 

While the Franks had dominated western Europe for the past three centuries, in the 800's, civil unrest and war saw them become vulnerable, and the Norsemen took advantage. The next three hundred years would see the Norsemen ravage the Anglo-Saxons in England, taking huge hauls of silver and enslaving the women, destroying the Christian culture and eventually ruling a large part of the country. 

The Norsemen's voyages would eventually traverse a large part of the known world. They would travel to Constantinople or Miklagard as they called it, in an attempt to conquer the city. They would establish river towns in what is now eastern Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. They would attack towns and cities throughout Christendom, including France, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Ibiza and Majorca, returning home with huge hauls of gold and silver.  They would settle Iceland and Greenland and travel west to Vinland, now called Canada. There is evidence  their voyages extended as far east as Afghanistan and Baghdad and that they had fought for the Emperor Basil II in Israel, Turkey, Greece, Georgia and Armenia. Their influence on European culture would be significant and lasting.

Discussion

Fury of the Vikings is a fascinating, detailed and enjoyable account of the Viking Age.  Fury of the Vikings sets the stage for the Viking era with details about Norse mythology, offering young readers insight into how the Norse people viewed the world around them and their place in it. From this point on, the author chronicles the rise of the Norsemen, beginning with the rebuilding of their society after three years of devastating cold, likely brought on by volcanic eruptions. They moved from raiding their own villages and settlements to those of their richer Christian neighbours to the south. They quickly discovered the Christians were rich, weak and afraid and thus began centuries of pillaging, plundering and murder.

It's impossible to write about the Viking era without including a wide cast of characters, some courageous, but many cruel and ruthless. In England, there was King Aethelred who valiantly defended Wessex, the last holdout in the country from the Danes. His son, Alfred of Wessex saved his corner of England from the invaders, thus keeping alive the dream of a united England some day. Edward, Alfred's heir, his older sister Aethelflaed and his son Athelstan, were formidable adversaries of the Danes, reclaiming occupied English lands and uniting Angles and Saxons under one king. 

Other characters include the well known Erik the Red, a Norseman brought to Iceland by his father and whose fiery temper led him to settle Greenland. There is St. Olga, the cruel widow of Igor, Grand Prince of Kyiv, who supposedly buried alive the Derevlians, but who came to be baptized and ruled until her son could take over. Others like Eric Bloodaxe, a warrior and a killer, son of the first sea-king to rule Norway, are less well known.

Sandbrook descriptions of various battles and confrontations between rival Vikings, and between the Vikings and the leaders of lands they were bent on pillaging, demonstrate the cruelty of this era.  The Norsemen not only murdered entire villages and towns, enslaving women and children, but also plundered and desecrated many Christian monasteries and relics. 

Sandbrook, describing the plundering of the city of Canterbury by Sweyn Forkbeard's chief warlord, Thorkell the Tall, writes, "What happened next was like a scene from the last days of mankind. 'Some were slaughtered with the sword, some destroyed by the flames,' wrote one chronicler. 'Many were also thrown from the walls, while some were killed by being hung up by their private parts. The women were dragged by their hair through the streets of the city, and then, being thrown into the flames, were thus put to death; infants were torn from their mother's breasts and were either caught on the points of spears, or ground to pieces under the wheels of vehicles."  It was a brutal revenge for the English massacring of Danes in the St. Brice's Day Massacre. 

Fury of Vikings portrays how extensive the Viking presence was throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, through northern and western Europe and extending well into Asia and how this presence influenced the local culture. For example, Sandbrook points out that in the United Kingdom today,  many words, surnames and places names are derived directly from Dane influence. 

Like the other books in the Adventures in Time series, Fury of the Vikings is  filled with tidbits of interesting information. Sandbrook, in his Author's Note, writes, "To weave all these tales together, I read as many Viking books as I could, mercilessly looting their most dazzling treasures." 

Fury of the Vikings will definitely satisfy young readers who are familiar with Norse mythology and who have a strong interest in Viking history and culture. It is another strong and fascinating installment in Sandbrook's books on history for young people.

Book Details:

Fury of the Vikings by Dominic Sandbrook
Canada: Particular Books     2022
341 pp.

Cleopatra Queen of the Nile by Dominic Sandbrook

Eleven-year-old Cleopatra has dreamed of  visiting the tomb of Alexander ever since she can remember. This night, she is successful, avoiding the tomb guards and is now able to gaze on the face of Alexander, "...a warrior, hero, King of Kings and Son of Zeus."

Alexander the Great became King of Macedonia and then conquered Persia and then Egypt, becoming "Lord of the Two Lands (Upper and Lower Egypt), Heir of Horus and Beloved of Amun" as well as learning from the Oracle of Siwa that he was the son of the god Zeus Ammon. Alexander then continued east, where he met and married Roxana after he conquered the Amazons. He also travelled into Afghanistan and India. But Alexander died suddenly when he was only thirty-two years old. 

One of his captains, his boyhood friend, Ptolemy, returned to Egypt, bringing with him, Alexander's body. Ptolemy installed himself as King and Pharaoh, and heir of Alexander. Ptolemy was Cleopatra's great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. He moved the capital of Egypt from Memphis to Alexandria, the city that Alexander the Great had planned himself. Under his rule, Egypt had expanded its borders toward Syria, into Libya and into the southern deserts of Nubia. The island of Cyprus also became part of Egypt.

Cleopatra's family, the Ptolemies have the strange custom of marrying their sisters, something the native Egyptians believe is wrong. This is done to keep the royalty and power within their family but it has made for "bitter rivalries" and a dangerous place for someone like Cleopatra to grow up in.

Cleopatra's father is the twelfth King Ptolemy meaning the Ptolemies have reigned for over three hundred years. Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C., one of five children that included Berenike, Arsinoe, Ptolemy Sr. and Ptolemy Jr.  Her father decides to take Cleopatra with him on a trip down the River Nile. The royal barge along with a fleet of boats travels through Krokodilopolis or Crocodile City, past the ancient pyramids to Memphis. There Cleopatra and her father visit the great white temple and the Egyptian priests. 

In Memphis, Ptolemy reveals to Cleopatra that he plans for her to learn how Egypt works. It is a rich country, able to make money, drachmae minted in silver in Alexandria, from what the country grows. It is his intention that she one day wear the Double Crown of the Two Lands. But Ptolemy explains to Cleopatra she will need "...to win the hearts and minds of the ordinary Egyptians." Outside the temple Cleopatra encounters a strange woman near a large stone slab carved with hieroglyphics. The woman translates the stone which writes about Isis, who had ruled Egypt with her brother-husband, Osiris.

The story then shifts to Rome, which would be a major factor in Cleopatra's life. A thousand miles to the north, Rome rules the Mediterranean, except for Egypt, something they have done since Cleopatra's birth in 69 B.C. With each new conquest, Rome finds it's culture, traditions and deities challenged.

During Cleopatra's childhood, Rome was ruled by Pompey the Great, a cruel conqueror. But in 60 B.C., he made a deal with two rivals, Marcus Licinius Crassus, a general and businessman, and a younger man named Julius Caesar who claimed to be descended from the goddess Venus. This alliance was known as the Triumvirate.

Rome and Egypt had been partners for centuries. Egypt was the oldest and richest country during this time but its influence was fading. Rome's power and influence grew as Egypt became divided because of the Ptolemy family feuds. Cleopatra's father, Ptolemy XII had a difficult balancing act - to keep his own people happy and to stand up to Rome while not antagonizing this new power. To accomplish this, Ptolemy bribed the most powerful Romans, including Julius Caesar.

The seizure of Cyprus, an island once belonging to Egypt, the heavy taxes levied to pay Roman bribes resulted in riots, looting and the burning of Alexandria, and almost the destruction of the beautiful library there, led to rioting in Alexandria. Ptolemy fled to Rome and nineteen-year-old Berenike became Queen of Egypt. In Rome, Ptolemy used more Roman money to raise support while Berenike remained on the throne in Egypt. Eventually Ptolemy regained his throne with the help of the Roman governor of Syria, Aulus Gabinius. With him was a young cavalry officer named Marc Antony who would play a significant part in Cleopatra's life later on. To pay for his victory, Ptolemy taxed Egyptians to their very limits.

In 51 B.C., Ptolemy XII died and the crown passed to eighteen-year-old Cleopatra and her ten-year-old brother Ptolemy Senior. They were to rule and husband and wife, with Rome as their guardians. However, from the beginning, there was division and tension between the two. It was to be a foreshadowing of the many difficulties Cleopatra would face both within Egypt and with Rome as she struggled to save her country.

Discussion

Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile is the fifth book in Dominic Sandbrook's Adventures In Time series about famous historical figures and events.

Because Egypt's history was tied so closely to that of Rome's during the time of Cleopatra, Sandbrook offers readers much historical information about both nations, allowing young readers to place Cleopatra's life and the choices she made within the proper historical context. It also means that Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile is rich in historical detail Sandbrook seamlessly incorporates into the narrative. For example, when Cleopatra visits the tomb of Alexander - a fictional event described at the beginning of the novel, Sandbrook uses this to explain how Cleopatra's ancestor, Alexander's boyhood friend Ptolemy came to rule Egypt and begin the reign of the Ptolemies. This information also sets the stage for the events that happen later on in Cleopatra's life as her brothers and sisters turn against one another, in their ongoing struggle for power. 

In the chapter, The Sons of the Wolf, Sandbrook gives similar treatment to the history of Rome, describing how it grew to become a great power, able to challenge Egypt's dominance. This too provides readers with the context for the events surrounding Julius Caesar and later on Marc Antony as well as Octavian who eventually defeats Cleopatra and Marc Antony, subjugating Egypt.

As Sandbrook mentions in his Author's Note, almost all our knowledge about Cleopara comes from Roman sources. And these sources tend to portray the Egyptian queen as a villain, not surprising since Egypt was at odds with Rome, as it was the only territory it had not yet conquered. Little is known about her early life growing up in Egypt so the author has imagined the events of her childhood. Cleopatra is portrayed as an intelligent woman, capable and determined to save her country and preserve its power. No story of Cleopatra is complete without exploring her relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony which Sandbrook does in an engaging and balanced manner.

Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile is an engaging biography that informs, but also brings alive this very interesting period of history. There is a map of the Cleopatra's Empire in 34 B.C. but it would have been interesting to have had a map of Alexandria during Cleopatra's time to help readers understand the location of some of the events described in the city.

Overall, this is a refreshing historical novel in a series that seems to be very promising. It's definitely geared to older readers or those interested in history, especially given the detail as well as the subject matter of Cleopatra's relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony.

Book Details:

Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile by Dominic Sandbrook
Canada: Particular Books    2022
316 pp.