The Raven Standard

The Definitive Biography of Sweyn Forkbeard, First Viking King of England

Produkt bewerten

Winston Maddox

Verlag:

Watersgreen House

Unsere-Artikel-Nr.: P36900092

EAN: 9798235116009

Erhältlich:

Nicht auf Lager

Zustellung: Mi, 09.09.2026

Versand: Kostenlos

CHF 36.50

Beschreibung

How do you erase a conqueror who brought an empire to its knees. For centuries, mainstream history has treated the late Anglo-Saxon era as an inevitable prelude to 1066. We are told of Alfred's defense, Æthelred's failures, and William's triumph. Yet buried beneath monastic bias lies the story of the most formidable naval strategist of the dark ages: Sweyn Forkbeard. He was not a mere shore-raider or an opportunistic mercenary. He was a king who dethroned his own father, extracted modern billions in silver ransoms, systematically dismantled the house of Wessex, and forced London to kneel. The Raven Standard. is built for the history reader who refuses the sanitized, romanticized myths of the Viking Age-offering instead a visceral, uncompromising dive into total war, cold diplomacy, and dynastic ambition. To understand Sweyn is to understand the terrifying mechanics of 11th-century warfare. He viewed England not as a land to be plundered and abandoned, but as an institutional bank to be drained and a kingdom to be claimed. Through forensic examination of contemporary chronicles, skaldic verse, and archaeological hoards, Winston Maddox unveils the logistics that powered the dragon fleets. You will walk the mud of Canterbury, stand inside the shieldwalls along the River Severn, and sit in the war councils where Danegeld ransoms were weighed in thousands of pounds of silver. Sweyn's campaign was a masterpiece of operational pressure, using riverine mobility, targeted terror, and diplomatic isolation to break the administrative spine of Saxon resistance long before his boot ever stepped into a coronation hall. This is history written for those who want to experience the past as it truly was: cold, metallic, calculated, and breathtaking in scope. Maddox rejects the simple caricature of the barbarian king, exposing Sweyn as a master politician who played the monarchies of Norway, Sweden, and Normandy against each other while systematically isolating King Æthelred. From the fratricidal naval battles of the Baltic to the scorched-earth vengeance following the St. Brice's Day Massacre, this biography tracks every step of Sweyn's path toward the English crown. It reveals how his brutal, short-lived reign in 1013 established the military infrastructure, political alliances, and territorial foundation that allowed his son, Cnut the Great, to rule the North Sea Empire. The Raven Standard. brings you directly onto the timber decks of the longships as they cut through the fog of the Humber estuary. It places you inside the council chambers where terrified Saxon witans signed away their kingdom's wealth. If you are tired of pop-history oversimplifications and crave a dense, authoritative, and cinematic chronicle of real medieval power dynamics, this book is your gateway into the mind of Denmark's greatest warlord. Sweyn Forkbeard did not just raid history-he conquered it, wore its crown, and vanished into its shadows. Will you step past the legend and finally witness the man who broke England.

Spezifikationen

Sprache

Englisch

Autor

Winston Maddox

Erscheinungsjahr

2026

Format

Buch (Softcover)

Anzahl Seiten