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Shadow on the Crown
Patricia Bracewell
Set in England when Vikings are on the brink of invasion, this is an epic tale of seduction, war, and unrequited love from an outstanding new voice in historical fictionThe year is 1001 and England is under threat. The air off the southern coast hangs heavy, thick with the fear of Viking sea raids.For England’s King Æthelred the night sky is heavy with a dark portent. England’s future hangs in the balance, its path determined by a struggle for the King’s own heart. Two women – Emma, his Norman bride and Elgiva, his Anglo Saxon mistress – will stop at nothing in their battle for the King’s favour and the Queen’s Coronet. But the sky speaks of a royal death and ahead of all three is a journey fraught with danger and deception.
Copyright (#ulink_166f8dba-5b71-5b7a-b31f-05d3ea3dff00)
Harper
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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2013
Copyright © Patricia Bracewell 2013
Map © Matt Brown 2013
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014
Cover photography © Richard Jenkins
Patricia Bracewell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it, while at times based on historical figures, are the work of the author’s imagination.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007481767
Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007481750
Version: 2015-09-29
For Lloyd, Andrew, and Alan
The English Court, 1001–1005
Æthelred II, Anglo-Saxon king of England
Children of the English king, in birth order:
Athelstan
Ecbert
Edmund
Edrid
Edwig
Edward
Edgar
Edyth
Ælfgifu (Ælfa)
Wulfhilde (Wulfa)
Mathilda
Leading Nobles and Ecclesiastics
Ælfhelm, ealdorman of Northumbria
Ufegeat, his son
Wulfheah, his son (Wulf)
Elgiva, his daughter
Ælfric, ealdorman of Hampshire
Ælfgar, his son
Hilde, his granddaughter
Ælfheah, bishop of Winchester
Godwine, ealdorman of Lindsey
Leofwine, ealdorman of Western Mercia
Wulfstan, archbishop of Jorvik and bishop of Worcester
The Norman Court, 1001–1005
Richard II, duke of Normandy
Robert, archbishop of Rouen, brother of the duke
Judith, duchess of Normandy
Gunnora, dowager duchess of Normandy
Mathilde, sister of the duke
Emma, sister of the duke
The Danish Royals
Swein Forkbeard, king of Denmark
Harald, his son
Cnut, his son
A.D. 978 In this year was King Edward slain at even-tide, at Corfe-gate, on the fifteenth before the kalends of April, and he was buried at Werham without any royal honours. Nor was a worse deed than this done since men came to Britain … Æthelred was consecrated king. In this same year a bloody sky was often seen, most clearly at midnight, like fire in the form of misty beams. As dawn approached, it glided away.
– The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Table of Contents
Cover (#u9ac27acd-1175-5450-ba84-34dd6fa13b28)
Title Page (#uf8dd837b-e241-5cfc-898e-af9fd75f05e6)
Copyright (#ua09b52c1-9cb9-5254-aa3d-f5ec8ecd45be)
Dedication (#u87071f1c-4131-50b1-aa36-4126f1ebf1ec)
Epigraph (#ub45d7eff-e86d-5790-ac9c-69767a6fc30d)
Map (#u47f0c126-ee5c-5be0-b990-8dbe73d52d71)
Prologue (#u062d8848-10b3-5dd9-9dac-d3d049ff2836)
Chapter One (#u70dc2d67-e838-5382-808a-f142b4ae9d6c)
Chapter Two (#u81098cb1-c932-50d1-92ac-1eb055af6f4d)
Chapter Three (#ud8b06d13-56f1-5f46-ab62-71ab4c37608a)
Chapter Four (#u7f71701e-ca2f-5223-9a6c-beda0179918e)
Chapter Five (#ue726f669-8f6c-597c-91de-ae8b2ec49692)
Chapter Six (#uccd026d9-bc2d-5a20-9352-403822698beb)
Chapter Seven (#u6e491c51-8552-5235-8fbd-f99141267283)
Chapter Eight (#ub99dd5bf-d4b4-557c-aed2-0935e7502501)
Chapter Nine (#u6b95dca2-bd80-54bf-addb-d3e2b090d21a)
Chapter Ten (#u913f915b-1ea8-55c8-b115-c642008cc81c)
Chapter Eleven (#u934adde8-a2e0-54a6-8a3b-6e0d14e743b3)
Chapter Twelve (#u9e02f37e-2003-5d1e-a27f-fdde2c184611)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-one (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-one (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-two (#litres_trial_promo)
