Review: Aedan of the Gaels by Keith Coleman

Synopsis: This is the first full-length work devoted to Aedan mac Gabrain, 6th century king of Dal Riata in Scotland. An associate of the famous St. Columba, he was the first recorded king to be ordained in the British Isles and was the most powerful ruler in his generation. His astonishing military reach took him from Orkney, Pictland, Ireland, Northumbria and the Isle of Man. 

This book details his dominant career, which came to a shattering end after decades of warfare at the Battle of Degsaston in AD 603. Beyond the record of warfare, there is a unique and tantalising accumulation of legend concerning Aedan, from stories about his birth, to tales of him in battle with Irish heroes. English sources mention him and he is one of the few Gaelic kings to feature prominently in Welsh tradition, where he is remembered as a uniquely powerful player in the north of Britain. Modern writers highlight Aedan as the father of a prince named Arthur, which has led to his place in Arthurian studies. Aedan's prominence in his era qualifies him as a fascinating figure, whose life and legend are accessibly explored in this exciting account of this unique ruler.

Aedan macGabrain (r. 574–608) was a 6th century Irish warlord of the Dal Riata (Riada) - an area which encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and the north-eastern corner of Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries - the period under Aedan and his successors - it covered what is now Argyll in Scotland and part of County Antrim in Northern Ireland. After a period of expansion, Dál Riata eventually became associated with the Gaelic Kingdom of Alba.

The sources for Áedán's life include Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum; the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of Tigernach; and Adomnán's Life of Saint Columba. The Senchus fer n-Alban, a census and genealogy of Dál Riata, purports to record his ancestry and that of his immediate descendants. However, - not one of these sources are contemporary, which makes a re-telling of his life rather difficult. And thus with few concrete fact about him, any considerations are based upon supposition and guesswork, and many points are thus open to dispute.

Much of the earlier history of both Ireland and Pictland is shrouded in a mist that hovers between reality and legend and mythology, and this earlier period is often view through a much later lens.

Coleman does his best to utilise the historic sources, archaeological evidence, and myths and legends, to shed some light onto this period and its ruler. He uses comparative examples to "fill out" a proposed timeline and biography. The early histories were mainly oral except when documented by clerics usually in the form of a Vitae of their patron, and always from a distance and with an agenda or moral in mind. Much of what is covered is - as mentioned - open to interpretation and this itself is explored and placed in context.

Having said that, I enjoyed reconnecting with one of the larger than life, mysterious, yet real characters of history. And like today, the lines of reality are sometimes blurred with those of myth.

Further Reading:

The Annals of Ulster

The Annals of Tigernach

Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum

Life of Saint Columba

Review: The Dark Queens by Shelley Puhak

Synopsis: The remarkable, little-known story of two trailblazing women in the Early Middle Ages who wielded immense power, only to be vilified for daring to rule.

Brunhild was a Spanish princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law Fredegund started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet—in the 6th-century Merovingian Empire, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport—these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms for decades, changing the face of Europe.

The two queens commanded armies and negotiated with kings and popes. They formed coalitions and broke them, mothered children and lost them. They fought a years-long civil war—against each other. With ingenuity and skill, they battled to stay alive in the game of statecraft, and in the process laid the foundations of what would one day be Charlemagne’s empire. Yet after Brunhild and Fredegund’s deaths—one gentle, the other horrific—their stories were rewritten, their names consigned to slander and legend.

In The Dark Queens, award-winning writer Shelley Puhak sets the record straight. She resurrects two very real women in all their complexity, painting a richly detailed portrait of an unfamiliar time and striking at the roots of some of our culture’s stubbornest myths about female power. The Dark Queens offers proof that the relationships between women can transform the world.

Merovingian France may not have been on everyone's radar but it had been on mine for quite a number of years - and I had written about both on a old webpage I created back in the late 1990s (now archived for posterity). And in particular, the incredible and oft times deadly rivalry between two women who managed to wield more power than their contemporaries.

So when the opportunity to read Puhak's book, I jumped at the chance. Puhak describes her main aim as being the resurrection of two women "scratched out of history" - much like two earlier notable women - Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty in Ancient Egypt and Wu Zhao of 7th Century Tang Dynasty of China.

Firstly we have Brunhilde/a, Queen and wife of Sigebert, King of Austrasia. A women of pedigree who - like her sister before her - was destined for a marriage of political consequence.  And then secondly we have Fredegund/a, a slave-girl at the court of Neustria, who in this capacity came to the attention of Chilperic I, and who clawed her way to becoming his third wife - a position she had no intention of relinquishing.

Merovingian Kingdom

The rivalry between not only these two women but also by the sons of Clothar I King of the Franks, upon the disintegration of his kingdom, would resonate through the generations to come, resulting in the death knell for the dynasty which came barely two centuries later.

Puhak gives the reader a history of the region and social structure, the dynasty, the family, as well as court politics and religion, before finishing with the legacy and fate of the two queens and their offspring.

Both women suffered the same fate in the end - to either be written out of the history books or the have their reputations so besmirched as to become the epitome of the fallen Eve or Jezebel reincarnate. And the fate of Brunhilde would not rear its ugly head under the Tudor Dynasty, when Henry VIII dispatched the aged Duchess of Salisbury in 1541.

Puhak brings all of her research together to provide the reader with an accessible account of the Merovingian period under these two women. Ample notes and sources will be much appreciated by those seeking to further enrich their own knowledge of the dynasty.

2022 Independent Press Awards

Author David Salner has been awarded as a Distinguished Favorite in the category of General Fiction by the 2022 Independent Press Award for his novel, A Place To Hide.

If you have not already done so, seek it out and read - it is captivating novel of human endurance, acceptance, and friendships forged under unlikely circumstances.

You can read my review of A Place To Hide posted roughly a year ago.

Pignon Scorbion & the Barbershop Detectives by Rick Bleiweiss

For fans of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, author Rick Bleiweiss’s quirky new detective and ensemble cast of characters set against the backdrop of small-town England in the 1910s will feel both comfortingly familiar and thrillingly new.

The year is 1910, and in the small and seemingly sleepy English market town of Haxford, there’s a new police Chief Inspector. At first, the dapper and unflappable Pignon Scorbion strikes something of an odd figure among the locals, who don’t see a need for such an exacting investigator. But it isn’t long before Haxford finds itself very much in need of a detective.

Luckily, Scorbion and the local barber are old acquaintances, and the barbershop employs a cast of memorable characters who—together with an aspiring young ace reporter for the local Morning News—are nothing less than enthralled by the enigmatic new police Chief Inspector.

Investigating a trio of crimes whose origins span three continents and half a century, Pignon Scorbion and his “tonsorial sleuths” interview a parade of interested parties, but with every apparent clue, new surprises come to light. And just as it seems nothing can derail Scorbion’s cool head and almost unerring nose for deduction, in walks Thelma Smith—dazzling, whip-smart, and newly single.

Has Pignon Scorbion finally met his match?

Review: A Night of Flames by Matthew Harrfy

Synopsis: A wild land. A lethal fanatic. A violent revolt.

Northumbria, AD 794: Those who rule the seas, rule the land. None know the truth of this more than the Vikings. To compete with the sea-faring, violent raiders, the king of Northumbria orders the construction of his own longships under the command of oath-sworn Norseman, Runolf.

When the Northern sea wolves attack for the second year, the king sends cleric turned warrior, Hunlaf, on a mission across the Whale Road to persuade the king of Rogaland into an alliance. But Runolf and Hunlaf have other plans; old scores to settle, kin to seek out, and a heretical tome to find in the wild lands of the Norse.

Their voyage takes them into the centre of a violent uprising. A slave has broken free of his captors, and, with religious fervour, he is leading his fanatical followers on a rampage – burning all in his path.

Hunlaf must brave the Norse wilderness, and overcome deadly foes to stop this madman. To fail would see too many die...

This follows on from A Time For Swords, and we begin with Hunlaf - in old age - recounting his earlier years.

The motley group of warriors continue their quest - the search for the sacred book The Tree of Life, stolen in the Viking raid that set Hunlaf on the warrior path.  But there is an added urgency to their quest, as one of their own must also be found.

Harrfy follows the well-trodden path of the "Hero's Journey" - in "A Time For Swords" we had the departure, wherein young Hunlaf leaves his ordinary existence for adventure, accompanied by his mentor - companion, Runolf.  In this second of the series, we see Hunlaf undertake the initiation component, wherein during the course of his adventures he faces many trial and tribulations (or in this case, many battles) with the assistance of his loyal warband. Overcoming the enemy, there is the reward.

Harrfy's narrative is such that the reader finds themselves not only drawn into Hunlaf's world but posited into the warband itself. Again, Harrfy's extensive knowledge of this period comes to the fore.  The next instalment is eagerly awaited.

Blog Tour: A Night of Flames - Matthew Harrfy

Join me at the Library on 3rd March when I review "A Night of Flames" by Matthew Harrfy

The Berlin Exchange by Joseph Kanon

From “master of the genre” (The Washington Post) Joseph Kanon, an espionage thriller set at the height of the Cold War, when a captured American who has spied for the KGB is swapped by the British and returns to East Berlin needing to know who arranged his release and what they want from him.

Berlin. 1963. The height of the Cold War. An early morning spy swap, not at the familiar setting for such exchanges, or at Checkpoint Charlie, where international visitors cross into the East, but at a more discreet border crossing, usually reserved for East German VIPs. The Communists are trading two American students caught helping people to escape over the wall and an aging MI6 operative. On the other side of the trade: Martin Keller, a physicist who once made headlines, but who then disappeared into the English prison system. Keller’s most critical possession: his American passport. Keller’s most ardent desire: to see his ex-wife Sabine and their young son.

The exchange is made with the formality characteristic of these swaps. But Martin has other questions: who asked for him? Who negotiated the deal? The KGB? He has worked for the service long enough to know that nothing happens by chance. They want him for something. Not physics—his expertise is out of date. Something else, which he cannot learn until he arrives in East Berlin, when suddenly the game is afoot.

Filled with intriguing characters, atmospheric detail, and plenty of action Kanon’s latest espionage thriller is one you won’t soon forget.

Who Killed Jane Stanford? by Richard White

A premier historian penetrates the fog of corruption and cover-up still surrounding the murder of a Stanford University founder to establish who did it, how, and why.

In 1885 Jane and Leland Stanford cofounded a university to honor their recently deceased young son. After her husband’s death in 1893, Jane Stanford, a devoted spiritualist who expected the university to inculcate her values, steered Stanford into eccentricity and public controversy for more than a decade. In 1905 she was murdered in Hawaii, a victim, according to the Honolulu coroner’s jury, of strychnine poisoning. With her vast fortune the university’s lifeline, the Stanford president and his allies quickly sought to foreclose challenges to her bequests by constructing a story of death by natural causes. The cover-up gained traction in the murky labyrinths of power, wealth, and corruption of Gilded Age San Francisco. The murderer walked.

Deftly sifting the scattered evidence and conflicting stories of suspects and witnesses, Richard White gives us the first full account of Jane Stanford’s murder and its cover-up. Against a backdrop of the city’s machine politics, rogue policing, tong wars, and heated newspaper rivalries, White’s search for the murderer draws us into Jane Stanford’s imperious household and the academic enmities of the university. Although Stanford officials claimed that no one could have wanted to murder Jane, we meet several people who had the motives and the opportunity to do so. One of these, we discover, also had the means.

River of Darkness by Buddy Levy

River of Darkness : Francisco Orellana and the Deadly First Voyage through the Amazon

The acclaimed author of Conquistador and Labyrinth of Ice charts one of history’s greatest expeditions, a legendary 16th-century adventurer’s death-defying navigation of the Amazon River.

In 1541, Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and his lieutenant Francisco Orellana searched for La Canela, South America’s rumored Land of Cinnamon, and the fabled El Dorado, “the golden man.” Quickly, the enormous expedition of mercenaries, enslaved natives, horses, and hunting dogs were decimated through disease, starvation, and attacks in the jungle. Hopelessly lost in the swampy labyrinth, Pizarro and Orellana made the fateful decision to separate. While Pizarro eventually returned home in rags, Orellana and fifty-seven men continued into the unknown reaches of the mighty Amazon jungle and river. Theirs would be the greater glory.

Interweaving historical accounts with newly uncovered details, Levy reconstructs Orellana’s journey as the first European to navigate the world’s largest river. Every twist and turn of the powerful Amazon holds new wonders and the risk of death.

Levy gives a long-overdue account of the Amazon’s people—some offering sustenance and guidance, others hostile, subjecting the invaders to gauntlets of unremitting attacks and signs of terrifying rituals.