The Rood and the Torc Page 47
Brogus: a monk at Luxeuil, miraculously healed by Father Petrica.
Brytta: wife of the Danish chieftain Fjorgest, who died in childbirth.
Ceolac: a thane of Aelfin.
Charleson: Oldest son of Charletax.
Charlethax: A Frankish nobleman and landowner.
Chlotair: a (fictional) illegitimate son of the Frankish king Charibert. Becomes a monk a Luxeuil.
Daelga: The poet and bard of the mead hall Finnsburg during the days of Finn and HIldeburh, and a one-time tutor of Kristinge.
Deomaer: A jeweler and coin-maker at Finnsburg during the reigns of Folcwalda and Finn.
Deor: a legendary bard.
Dunnere: a Frisian peasant and goatherd at the village of Ezinge during the time of Aelfin.
Dyflines: an Irish bard in the service of the chieftain Aelfin at Ezinge; the name could mean “one from Dublin.”
Ecgwalda: a Frisian chieftain at Domburg during the reign of Folcwalda; the name could mean “sword-ruler” or “sword-might.”
Elfhild: daughter of Gundomer and Berta.
Eodan: a Frisian chieftain. The father of Eomaer and Aewin.
Eomaer, son of Eodan: A young Frisian chieftain during the days of Kristinge, and a brother of Aewin.
Eormanic: notoriously cruel Gothic king mentioned in Deor’s poem.
Finnlaf: the son of Frisian chieftain Finn, and the older brother of Kristinge. Killed at the first battle of Finnsburg.
Fjorgest: a Danish chieftain of the Hoclinges tribe.
Folcwalda: a famed Frisian chieftain, and father of Finn, who united Friesland and laid claim to being its first king. The name could mean “people’s ruler” or “strength of the people.”
Friesc: a legendary Frisian chieftain and hero of old, and a forefather of the Frisians.
Froda: a thane of Finn and the brother of Frotha. Died at the second battle of Finnsburg. His father was chieftain at Dorestad, but was overthrown by Radbod son of Réadban.
Frotha: a Frisian chieftain and the brother of Froda. His father was chieftain at Dorestad, but was overthrown by Radbod son of Réadban.
Gundomer: A Frankish nobleman and landowner. Husband of Berta.
Guthlaf: A Jutish warrior who died fighting on the side of the Danes in the battle of Finnsburg. A brother of Hunlaf and Oslaf. These brothers are believed to have started the fight at Finnsburg for personal motives.
Guthman: A thane of Finn and brother of Guthric. Died at the second battle of Finnsburg.
Guthric: A thane of Finn and brother of Guthman. Died at the second battle of Finnsburg.
Healfas: a Jutish chieftain, the brother-in-law of Aesher. Owes allegiance to the Hoclinges, a Danish tribe.
Herthor: a thane of Aldgisl.
Hildeburh, daughter of Hoc: a Danish princess who became the wife of the Frisian king Finn. The mother of Finnlaf and Kristinge, and the brother of Hnaef.
Hildegund: Daughter of Gundomer and Berta.
Hnaef, son of Hoc: a Danish chieftain, and the brother of Hildeburh. Died at the first battle of Finnsburg.
Hoc: a famed Danish chieftain, and the father of Hnaef and Hildeburh.
Hunlaf: a Jutish warrior who died fighting on the side of the Danes in the battle of Finnsburg. A brother of Guthlaf and Oslaf. These brothers are believed to have started the fight at Finnsburg for personal motives
Hyse: a thane of Eomaer and younger brother of Treothrym.
Isernfyst: a Saxon chieftain over the clan at Heorotburg, who pledged loyalty to Kristinge. The name means “iron fist.”
Kristinge: the son of Frisian chieftain Finn and his Danish wife Hildeburh, and the younger brother of Finnlaf. As a youth he was raised in Hwitstan by the monk Willimond and tutored by the bard Daelga with no knowledge of who his real parents were. He spent six years being trained as a monk at Luxeuil before learning of his heritage and returning to Friesland.
Lawyrke: a peasant fisherman in Hwistan during the reign of Finn,
a friend of Willimond, and the father of Lawyrklaf. He was drowned in a fishing accident. His name means “Lobster.” Father of Lawyrklaf.
Lopystre: a peasant fisherman in Hwistan during the reign of Finn, a friend of Willimond, the husband of Berigyldan, and the father of Lindlaf. His name means “Lobster.”
Maccus: a thane and cousin of Aelfin in the Frisian village of Ezinge.
Oslaf: A Jutish warrior who died fighting on the side of the Danes at Finnsburg. A brother of Hunlaf and Guthlaf. These brothers are believed to have started the fight at Finnsburg for personal motives
Petrica: a monk of Luxeuil.
Radbod the Young: the son of Réadban. He died childless.
Raeban: in a tale told by Dyflines, Raeban wa a Frisian warrior who unknowing offered hospitality to Odin and was given an enchanted (but cursed) sword. He becomes a great chieftain, but after killing his own kin he is an outcast and becomes one of Odin’s berserkers.
Réadban: the Frisian chieftain over both Dorestad and Utrecht, and the father of two sons, Ultar and Radbod, who both died in battle while Réadban is still alive.
Sceaptung: a Danish skald in the service of Fjorgest. He collaborates with the priests of the old gods in opposition to Christianity.
Theofor: a Frisian warrior during the days of Folcwalda, and the father of Theoman.
Theoman: the son of Theofor and a thane of Finn during his days of power at Hwitstan.
Tredswar: a thane of Eomaer and younger brother of Treothrym.
Treothrym: a thane of Eomaer; older brother of Tredswar and Hyse.
Ulestan: a loyal thane of Folcwalda and then Finn during their reigns. Was sent with Willimond to the monastery of Luxeuil to protect Kristinge, the heir to the Frisian torc. Died and was buried at Luxeuil.
Ulfgar: a Frankish wagon-master in the service of Gundomer.
Ultar: the son of Réadban, and the father (in this story) of Rathbod (a future king of Friesland).
Wigmaer, son of Wihtlaeg: the Frisian chieftain at Wieuwerd.
Wihtred, son of Wightlaeg: a Frisian chieftain of Aalsum.
Willimond: a Irish-Saxon monk from Lindisfarne who is sent as a missionary to Friesland becomes priest in Hwitstan during the reign of Finn son of Folcwalda. He becomes first the foster-father and then the step-father of Kristinge.
Wyndlaf: A Frisian trader and owner of a longboat.
Persons (Historical)
Adon: the founder of the monastery of Jouarre and a disciple of Columbanus.
Agilbert: a monk at Jouarre, and the brother of the abbess Telchild. Agilbert will later travel to England and play an important role in the Synod at Whitby, along with his disciple Wilfrid who will become one of the first known missionaries to Friesland.
Aidan: an Irish monk who becomes a missionary to the Saxons of Northumbria and the of the monastery at Lindisfarne. In this story he is also the spiritual father of the fictional character Willimond.
Aldgisl: a Frisian chieftain who has become king of Friesland by the end of the seventh century. He welcomes the Christian missionaries Wilfrid and Willibrord to Friesland.
Balthild: a former Saxon slave girl (possibly of noble birth), taken to wife by the Frankish king Clovis. She is the mother of Chlotar (also called Lothair III), Childeric, and Theoderic III. Balthild is the patron of a new monastery at Chelles (outside Paris). After Clovis’s death she abdicates her authority to live out her life in an abbey.
Brunhild: the grandmother of the Frankish king Theoderic, who later becomes an enemy of Columbanus.
Charibert II: Frankish king of Aquitaine, and the uncle of Clovis.
Chlotar: also called Lothair III, the son of king Clovis and queen Balthild, who is named a child king of the Franks in 656, and rules (in name) for five years.
Clovis II: the king of the Franks, the husband of Balthild, and the father of Chlotar, Childeric, and Theoderic III. He dies in 657 (not long after the visit from the fictional characters Willimond and Kristinge in this story.)
C
olumbanus: an Irish monk who becomes a missionary to the Franks and founds several monasteries including Luxeuil.
Dagobert II: the son of Sigibert. At the death of Sigibert in 656, he is sent away to Ireland by the ambitious Grimoald, Mayor of the Palace. In order to put his own son Childebert into power, Grimoald spreads the rumor that Dagobert II had died. In this story I have Clovis hear (and believe) that rumor. Eighteen years later Dagobert II will return to Austrasia and rule as king for four years.
Ebroin: a Mayor of the Palace, who effectively rules the Franks off and on for many years after the death of Clovis. Ebroin was notoriously ambitious, cruel and treacherous,
Grimoald: a Mayor of the Palace, who (at the death of the puppet king Sigibert) names his son Childebert king. Both Grimoald and Childebert are quickly captured and tortured to death by Clovis.
Osanne: an Irish princess who becomes a sister at the monastery at Jouarre.
Rathbod: a Frisian chieftain who had become king (following Aldgisl) by early in the eight century. He is believed to be a kin of Aldgisl. In this novel I have also made him the infant son of Ultar, and the grandson of Réadban.
Sigibert III: Frankish king of Austrasia, and father of Dagobert II. He dies in 656. After his death and the subsequent capture and death of Grimoald, Chlotar the son of Clovis and Balthild is named king of all the Franks.
Telchild: the abbess at Jouarre, and the brother of Agilbert.
Theoderic I: a son of Clovis I (the first Merovingian king of the Franks) who ruled the divided Frankish kingdom of Metz during the days of Columbanus.
Walbert: a former Frankish nobleman who in 628 become the abbot at the monastery of Luxeuil.
About the Author
Matthew T. Dickerson is an author, a professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, a scholar of the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and the fantastic fiction of C.S.Lewis, and an environmental journalist and outdoor writer. He books include works of fiction, biography, philosophy, and scholarship (including eco-critical work) on fantasy and mythopoeic literature.
As a fiction writer, Dickerson’s interests are in early medieval Europe and fantasy. When not writing or teaching, he is a Americana musician, a fly fisherman, and a caretaker of a hillside plot of Vermont land where he boils maple sugar, cuts firewood, and attempts to protect a beehive or two from marauding beethieves known as black bears. He has been married for 25 years and has three sons, all born in Vermont.
Dickerson received his A.B. from Dartmouth College (1985) and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University (1989)—where he also did graduate work in Old English language and literature. His computer science research has been primarily in computational geometry, though he has also worked in agent-based simulation and the modeling of killer whale behavior in southeast Alaska.
He is the author of numerous non-technical books, among them Following Gandalf: Epic Battles and Moral Victory in The Lord of the Rings (Brazos Press, 2003), recently reissued in a revised and expanded edition as A Hobbit Journey: Discovering the Enchantment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth (Brazos, 2012), which was shortlisted for the Mythopoeic Society’s Mythopoeic Scholarship Awards. He also co-wrote From Homer to Harry Potter: A Handbook on Myth and Fantasy (with David L. O’Hara, Brazos Press, 2006). Dickerson has introduced eco-criticism to the world of fantasy in his Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien (with Jonathan Evans, University Press of Kentucky, 2006) and Narnia and the Fields of Arbol: The Environmental Vision of C. S. Lewis (with David L. O’Hara, University Press of Kentucky, 2009). And he has contributed chapters or entries to several other volumes of Tolkien scholarship including The J.R.R.Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment (2006).
Dickerson’s first novel, The Finnsburg Encounter (Crossway Books, 1991), was translated into German as Licht uber Friesland (Verlag Schulte & Gerth, 1996). His new fantasy novel The Gifted, the first book of a trilogy titled The Daegmon War, is due out in late 2014.
Since 2002 Dickerson has been the director of the New England Young Writers Conference, an annual four-day conference for high school students in Bread Loaf, Vermont, that is associated with Middlebury College.
Wings Press was founded in 1975 by Joanie Whitebird and Joseph F. Lomax, both deceased, as “an informal association of artists and cultural mythologists dedicated to the preservation of the literature of the nation of Texas.” Publisher, editor and designer since 1995, Bryce Milligan is honored to carry on and expand that mission to include the finest in American writing—meaning all of the Americas, without commercial considerations clouding the decision to publish or not to publish.
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