The Day of the Wolf is C R May’s final book in his Erik Haraldsson trilogy. Erik Haraldsson goes by the better known (and descriptive!) name of Eric Bloodaxe. Perhaps you are aware of Eric, if you have ever visited the Jorvik Viking Centre, or maybe you remember him from Michael Woods’ excellent TV series and book In Search of the Dark Ages? He is remembered as the last king of an independent Northumbria; his demise at Stainmore signalling the end of the Viking Age in England. The Day of the Wolf ably stands alone as a novel, but you would be doing yourself a disservice not to read Bloodaxe (see my review here) and The Raven and the Cross (review here).
In the hero society of the pagan Viking world reputation was all. To be a renowned doughty warrior, to command respect amongst your comrades at the ship’s oar and be a worthy opponent on the field of battle, such things were worthy. Warriors would gain reflected glory slaying such an opponent, whilst the slain, denied the shame of the straw death would enter the halls of Valholl, their names extolled and invited to feast until Ragnarök, alongside Odinn and his heroes. Many would forgo their weight in silver to be enriched with fame-wealth, their name remembered long after the count of their years is done.
Four years have passed since Erik Haraldsson – the Bloodaxe- relinquished the throne of York to return to the Orkneys. According to the prophesy given to him many years previously in the far north, it was his wyrd – his destiny – to wear five crowns. The kingdom of York was his fourth. The fates demand that he will wear it again.
Erik and his family have not been tardy in their four years in the Orkneys. Experience has taught him that a ready supply of silver can help hold a throne better than any sword arm. To that end he has been busy raiding as a true Viking, filing his treasure chests with plunder and the profits from slavery. In conjunction with the Archbishop of York, Wulfstan, Erik works to oust the present incumbent, the puppet of Wessex – Olaf Cuaran. With Eadred, the king of Wessex, now old and ailing, Erik seeks to make his fifth crown a success, perhaps carve out a North Sea empire. However, the three Norns that weave men’s fates are fickle; that prophet from long ago spoke also of Erik meeting his death on a windswept fell.
The Day of the Wolf brings Cliff May’s Erik Haraldsson trilogy to a worthy finale. It is a fast-paced tale, reflecting Erik’s lightning strikes to secure his newly won kingdom. He has enemies all around, the English king with his deep pockets of silver, to the south of course is an ever-present threat. However, it is Erik’s immediate neighbours - the kingdom of Strathclyde to the west, Alba to the north and, in between them, the strategically positioned Earldom of Bernica and the untrustworthy Oswulf Ealdwulfing - that may snatch away his crown.
Erik truly is a thunderbolt, striking hard and fast on his own terms. Lovers of Mr May’s prose, as the ravens caw above warriors and shields clash together in battle, will not be disappointed. The battle centred around Corebricg and Haydon is truly epic, in scale and description, with Erik facing an alliance of three enemies. He must fight and think like Odinn to prevail. What struck this reader was how Eric, now in his sixth decade, forces himself to be the dynamic warrior he ever was, but now faces the bone weariness battle inflicts. As ever he has his capable warriors of his hird (trusted warband) around him and Erik knows when he must be seen to take the lead and when his cause is better served to let others lead the Svinfylking -Boar-snout in attack.
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| Boarsnout formation - Pintrest. |
Mr May has pieced together a riveting tale and has had to research widely to create the momentous three years of Erik’s fifth kingship. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is very scant, but Eric is mentioned in a variety of other sources around the Viking world – snippets here and there in the annals of his contemporaries, a few lines written by an anonymous Clerk in York. Perhaps the best description of Erik the man and his true Viking finale is in the Eriksmal, his poetic epitaph, as this last Viking enters Odinn’s halls. The reader finds themselves rooting for Eric, even as the Norns sharpen their shears and the wolf drools in hungry expectation; you always carry the hope that the Bloodaxe will somehow avoid his doom, that the final battle will be won by him, but…
‘What thunders there as if a thousand were stirring – a mighty host?’ Said Bragi. ‘All the bench planks creak, as if Balder were coming back into the halls of Odinn.’
‘The wise Bragi should not blather, ‘ replied the Allfather, ‘when you know the truth full-well; the clamour is made for Erik, who must be coming here, a prince into Valoll.’
Was it not for that windswept fell one wonders what could have been? Erik’s alliance with Archbishop Wulfstan proves that he had succeeded in bringing together his English and Norse subjects and won the church based in York to his side. For a brief time perhaps Alfred’s dream of a unified England was in jeopardy, but instead it was the last hurrah of a fading age.
As with all Mr Mays novels I would thoroughly recommend reading his afterword section. It is perhaps the fate of writers of historical fiction (unfairly in my view) to have to justify their stories with factual records, but it offers fantastic factual snippets as well as an overview of the evolution of the author’s telling of their story. Such snippets are the fate of Erik’s family, from his remarkable widow Gunnhild (who deserves a storytelling herself) to that of his sons and daughter. Alas Erik’s dream of a dynasty was not to be, but to be remembered, to have the glint of his fame-wealth shine down the ages; perhaps he would be content.
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