The Last Kingdom Series Books 1-3: The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, The Lords of the North

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The Last Kingdom Series Books 1-3: The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, The Lords of the North
Bernard Cornwell

BBC2’s major Autumn 2015 TV series THE LAST KINGDOM is based on Bernard Cornwell’s bestselling novels on the making of England and the fate of his great hero, Uhtred of Bebbanburg. This is The Last Kingdom Series Books 1-3.The beginning of the tale of Uhtred. Uhtred is born into the aristocracy of 9th Century Northumbria, but orphaned at ten, adopted by a Dane and taught the Viking ways. Yet Uhtred’s fate is indissolubly bound up with Alfred, King of Wessex, who rules over the last English kingdom when the Danes have overrun Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. So ends The Last Kingdom.The Pale Horseman takes place right afterwards in the fateful year in which the Danes capture Alfred’s kingdom and drive him as a fugitive into the marshes of Athelney. It seems that Wessex, and England, are destroyed, but Alfred is determined to make one desperate gamble that might save his kingdom.The Lords of the North sees Uhtred, having helped Alfred secure Wessex an independent Saxon kingdom, returns north to find his stepsister. Instead he discovers chaos, civil war and treachery in Northumbria. He takes the side of Guthred, once a slave and now a man who would be king, and in return expects Guthred’s help in capturing Dunholm, the lair of the dark Viking lord, Kjartan.

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THE LAST KINGDOM SERIES 1-3

BERNARD CORNWELL

Copyright (#ulink_3ce4f047-f708-53f0-a671-4840af8d4365)

These novels are entirely works of fiction. The names, characters, and incidents portrayed in them, while at times based on historical figures, are the work of the author’s imagination.

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

The Last Kingdom first published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2004

The Pale Horseman first published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2005

The Lords of the North first published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2006

Copyright © Bernard Cornwell 2004, 2005, 2006

Bernard Cornwell 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

Ebook Edition © August 2013 ISBN: 9780007532520

Version: 2017-05-08

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, downloaded, 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.

Table of Contents

Title Page (#uf4a7148b-3284-5ce3-a654-3ea31b825e16)

Copyright (#ue8d4a672-e5f1-5c13-8228-72cfd5df1f6c)

THE LAST KINGDOM (#u62c91e43-fc33-5e9b-a73a-4f9774aa7467)

THE PALE HORSEMAN (#u387c2238-6cff-5e09-8758-093cc08bfdee)

THE LORDS OF THE NORTH (#u646e0e16-c324-5f77-bba4-5fe9d8ee6976)

About the Author (#u1f4de536-7795-5f44-881d-d0611658823f)

Also by Bernard Cornwell (#u770ef402-9786-5fe3-9de4-46ea6c65df6d)

About the Publisher (#u2144a2ab-04dc-540f-bb77-9e25c0f05176)

(#ufafee9d5-4ede-55c8-8ad7-417940eb4910)

THE LAST KINGDOM

BERNARD CORNWELL

Copyright (#ulink_dc047cae-d1c2-59eb-8c2c-0cedd2cd119d)

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.

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2004

Copyright © Bernard Cornwell 2004

Bernard Cornwell 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

Ebook Edition © July 2009 ISBN: 9780007338818

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, downloaded, 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 e-books.

Version: 2017-05-08

THE LAST KINGDOM

is for Judy, with love

Wyrd bið ful ãræd

CONTENTS

Title Page (#u2e73d397-49da-5126-a103-ef91f62f4cc0)

Dedication (#uae77ba11-724f-5725-9ce8-579cb69c1232)

Map (#u037c7010-862e-5d37-87bc-b248c7f13a26)

Place Names (#ubfc436ab-37d0-5770-a60d-e513b5e117f7)

Prologue: NORTHUMBRIA, 866–867 AD (#uef9fed7e-4740-587f-a5c0-beec2984678f)

Part One: A PAGAN CHILDHOOD (#u884a6e6c-d53f-5537-9020-4b48d261a292)

Chapter One (#u07b72eb8-5551-572a-b30b-83bd7d560bc9)

Chapter Two (#uecd2488c-b035-5812-931b-9ab469ff9278)

Chapter Three (#u6f5869af-822f-5f55-b9ff-8546f0b6bdfe)

Chapter Four (#ud5859b93-992d-5b09-b360-cde4e50b5aa8)

Chapter Five (#u7396c62f-3935-52be-ae90-ceff28feadc5)

Chapter Six (#u041caccd-9c72-5356-b920-3bb7e2e988cb)

Part Two: THE LAST KINGDOM (#ua162d0ca-9187-540c-beab-b60d6bcd3f80)

Chapter Seven (#u03919b6c-895d-5ca9-a5ee-967317c2d760)

Chapter Eight (#u00414d25-050d-57cf-8900-debd7a59f69f)

Chapter Nine (#uaa58b90e-83f3-5660-b005-cc27fa36baef)

Part Three: THE SHIELD WALL (#u59058d17-fad0-5ab7-9df4-0ecd2949d754)

Chapter Ten (#u108b707c-f14e-5b2d-8fda-74847e61a6a4)

Chapter Eleven (#uf1b67d3e-3ea8-5933-842f-ada7cb36ded1)

Historical Note (#udf94307d-2208-5ec9-8525-a9916af8bdd9)

Copyright (#uc3f88f36-dac0-51f6-b5c5-deddd13424ed)

PLACE NAMES (#ulink_6593a12c-da69-5348-bc61-7bc7e512d1af)

The spelling of Place Names in Anglo-Saxon England was an uncertain business, with no consistency and no agreement even about the name itself. Thus London was variously rendered as Lundonia, Lundenberg, Lundenne, Lundene, Lundenwic, Lundenceaster and Lundres. Doubtless some readers will prefer other versions of the names listed below, but I have usually employed whatever spelling is cited in the Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names for the years nearest or contained within Alfred’s reign, 871–899 AD, but even that solution is not foolproof. Hayling Island, in 956, was written as both Heilincigae and Hæglingaiggæ. Nor have I been consistent myself; I have preferred the modern England to Englaland and, instead of Norðhymbralond, have used Northumbria to avoid the suggestion that the boundaries of the ancient kingdom coincide with those of the modern county. So this list, like the spellings themselves, is capricious: