Chapter 59
The time between winter 840 and summer 843 was when the final chapter in the Pictish conquests came to an end. In late 840 and early 841 the Dukes of York and Mercia went to war against the King of Shrewsbury. Seeing how his vassals could not muster enough men to take on both Shrewsbury and the two Holy Orders left in Britain (the Knights of Santiago and the Knights Hospitaller) he called upon his raiders and led an army to destroy any resistance. The stratagy worked and only worked because of how Brindei inspired his men to march against superior numbers. This was used in Cornwall two years later to kill off the last Saxon King.
In 841 the mother of the King, Bertrada died. It came after she went to a small port town on the south coast of England (possibly Brighton). From what records remain of her the accepted idea is that she caught Pnumonia. Brindei was not upset to see her gone. In fact he commited his most wicked act. A few years previously he had taken a lover, not the most sinful thing he ever did. But then he took her as a concubine. This in itself caused his wife to not speak to him, and after other news came to light she left him altogether. This was probably his intent as it was common knowledge that Brindei detested being married to a dwarf. The
thing about the woman (thought to be Siunod Cait, daughter of an important landowner) was that she was a nun. A deeply religious one apparantly. How then she came to be a concubine of the King is unknown and remains a source of befuddlment to modern scholars.
On the 27th July, 843, Brindei was proclaimed overlord of the Welsh, Saxons, Angles and Irish. The last one being but a title, the Irish ruled by his brother were independant at this point. The land was divied up and, unsurprisingly, it went to his nephews. Wessex, Cornwall and South Wales all went to two brothers, and his own sons made minor advancements in the new territory. Brindei of East Anglia made the larger gains, and was able to rule them unlike his brother.
It was around this time that Ragnarr Lodbrok finally died. Sweden and Finland were divided between his son and grandson. Sigurdr Ragnarrsen took the poor and sparsly populated Finland where he ruled only in name, he was far too cowardly to engage in politics. Bertil was given Sweden and the entire Viking army and navy with which he intended to do as they always had done, Viking. He was a good ruler, intelligent, kind, talkative, but was did not approve of justice. He was famously (or infamously) arbitrary. This was seen by the Priest of Canterbury, Girom, who tried to convert the King but was imprisioned.
In autum 844 his daughter was married to the Byzantine Duke of Thessalonika. This was not however the best marriage. He was 52 and while capable was strange and prone to illness. It is often thought that he married her to him to get rid of her! Previously in the Eastern Empire the Basileus had changed religions with the Iconoclast Patriarch. They gave up the Cathar-friendly Iconoclasm in favour of old Orthodoxy.
The time between winter 840 and summer 843 was when the final chapter in the Pictish conquests came to an end. In late 840 and early 841 the Dukes of York and Mercia went to war against the King of Shrewsbury. Seeing how his vassals could not muster enough men to take on both Shrewsbury and the two Holy Orders left in Britain (the Knights of Santiago and the Knights Hospitaller) he called upon his raiders and led an army to destroy any resistance. The stratagy worked and only worked because of how Brindei inspired his men to march against superior numbers. This was used in Cornwall two years later to kill off the last Saxon King.
In 841 the mother of the King, Bertrada died. It came after she went to a small port town on the south coast of England (possibly Brighton). From what records remain of her the accepted idea is that she caught Pnumonia. Brindei was not upset to see her gone. In fact he commited his most wicked act. A few years previously he had taken a lover, not the most sinful thing he ever did. But then he took her as a concubine. This in itself caused his wife to not speak to him, and after other news came to light she left him altogether. This was probably his intent as it was common knowledge that Brindei detested being married to a dwarf. The
thing about the woman (thought to be Siunod Cait, daughter of an important landowner) was that she was a nun. A deeply religious one apparantly. How then she came to be a concubine of the King is unknown and remains a source of befuddlment to modern scholars.
On the 27th July, 843, Brindei was proclaimed overlord of the Welsh, Saxons, Angles and Irish. The last one being but a title, the Irish ruled by his brother were independant at this point. The land was divied up and, unsurprisingly, it went to his nephews. Wessex, Cornwall and South Wales all went to two brothers, and his own sons made minor advancements in the new territory. Brindei of East Anglia made the larger gains, and was able to rule them unlike his brother.
It was around this time that Ragnarr Lodbrok finally died. Sweden and Finland were divided between his son and grandson. Sigurdr Ragnarrsen took the poor and sparsly populated Finland where he ruled only in name, he was far too cowardly to engage in politics. Bertil was given Sweden and the entire Viking army and navy with which he intended to do as they always had done, Viking. He was a good ruler, intelligent, kind, talkative, but was did not approve of justice. He was famously (or infamously) arbitrary. This was seen by the Priest of Canterbury, Girom, who tried to convert the King but was imprisioned.
In autum 844 his daughter was married to the Byzantine Duke of Thessalonika. This was not however the best marriage. He was 52 and while capable was strange and prone to illness. It is often thought that he married her to him to get rid of her! Previously in the Eastern Empire the Basileus had changed religions with the Iconoclast Patriarch. They gave up the Cathar-friendly Iconoclasm in favour of old Orthodoxy.
