Anderson by Mother of Kings

Anderson by Mother of Kings

Author:Mother of Kings [Kings, Mother of]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00


V

T

o Harald Bluetooth at Jelling came a man named Poppo with a goodly following. He was a bishop, but not one of the three in Jutland. Rather, he came straight from the South at the behest of the Emperor Otto, his mission to win all Denmark over to the Faith.

The king received him well. He could hardly do otherwise, as powerful as the German overlord was, to say nothing of the trade with yonder realms. Harald lodged Poppo and his confessor in a house near the hall, the rest of the men beneath roofs humbler but not leaky. He feasted them while he sent for his jarls and hersirs and others whose counsel was worth hearing. These arrived speedily.

Gunnhild’s five oldest sons were not among them, though the king had bestowed broad lands on them, telling the dwellers to heed these newcomers. They were off at sea to harry the shores of Vikin. It was Erling’s first such time; she heard later that he showed himself the most ruthless of all. Gudrod and Sigurd stayed behind with her.

Bishop Poppo was a stout, square jawed man who spoke flowing, if somewhat heavy, Danish. While he waited for the meeting, he preached only to the Christians on hand, though he eagerly answered men’s questions about belief. His own questions were searching; he soon knew well how matters stood throughout this kingdom. Gunnhild would gladly have talked with him at length. There was much she wanted—needed—to learn. However, he said no more to women than he must. Therefore she in her turn scorned the priests he had brought along.

Nonetheless, she was a queen, kin to the king here, her sons his allies. She was not kept out on the day when men gathered to speak of gods.

This was in the great hall. She got a seat of honor, not far down from the king’s and the high guest’s, a little below his but a step above the benches which the leaders of Denmark filled. On her left sat her namesake, Harald’s wife, very straight so that everyone could see she was the taller. On the right of Gunnhild Ozurardottir was her son Gudrod. At fourteen he could be on hand, although she had warned him to stay quiet. Brown eyes beneath unruly brown locks were hawk-watchful.

Sigurd, twelve, was still too young. Besides, he was so brash and boastful that folk were calling him Sigurd Loudmouth. She had sent him on a week’s outing, lest he fall into a fit of rage and make a ruckus that would shame her.

He was not unlike her brother Eyvind the Braggart, she thought. That man was not here. Someone must keep ship-watch, for Haakon’s under-king Tryggvi of Vikin was as much a threat to Denmark as the sons of Gunnhild were to Norway.

But the time would come, she thought, when they were more than vikings—oh, far more. Then would Tryggvi rue his own raids.

Her brother Aalf sat nearer King Harald than she did, a grave and weighty man.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.