If you were to find the book “Saxon Wars: Battle Tales” (by author: Nipun Shukla) on Amazon, you would find the following description:
“You have heard tales of the Saxons who migrated over the seas to England. But few are the tales of those who stayed back in Old Saxony (Northern Germany). In the late 8th. century, they struggled through the Saxon Wars of Frankish King Charlemagne. All we know of these Saxons is from the partial accounts of Christian monks. Here is a long overdue retelling of the Saxon Wars as seen through the eyes of a pagan – a Dark Ages tale, of magic, compassion, heroic courage, and the generalship of kings. Ekbert of Eresburg, a resourceful but impetuous Saxon nobleman must fight for his lands, secure his family, save his country's threatened religious heritage, and become a hero in the process. But he cannot do this while his loyalties are torn between the ambitious Saxon Duke Widukind, and the zealot Frankish King Charlemagne, who are locked in eternal battle. Courage and sacrifice define the indomitable Saxon spirit, but treacherous times entail first being loyal to oneself.”
This is a compelling description, and I completely agree that authors, TV shows, and movies have ignored the Saxons in Saxony, which were the majority of the Saxons. This is sad, as the Saxons have an amazing history, with a Heathen religion that long outlived any Heathenry in England. England was sending missionaries to Saxony for a couple hundred years to convert the Saxons. I think people prefer Christian stories (as the world is more christian than Heathen), and that the English are famous for defeating Heathens, and the Saxons are famous for being Heathen and fighting the christians to remain Heathen, which is a story that appeals far less to our modern world. I understand many in Asatru will not agree with my conclusion here, Asatruar would believe our more secular world would be interested in Heathenry, but the secular world is more used to a christian mindset, even if it is becoming more secular. The modern world relates more to a christian Xmas than holidays like Winter Nights or Sigrblot, and terms like Yule have no pagan meaning to the modern world as Yule is associated with Christmas. Nonetheless, the novel is well written, and shows the Saxon Wars from the Heathen Saxon perspective. I believe this is why the novel is not overly popular or even well known. Unlike Uhtred of Bebbanburg (historical Uhtred of Bamburgh) in the book series that the TV Show “The Last Kingdom” is based on, Ekbert, the main character in this book, behaves like a heathen, remains fully Heathen, and fights with the Heathens. I know, Asatruar will be mad at me for saying this, but I am 100% correct, the Uhtred of the Last Kingdom betrays his Heathen family and fights for the Christians. Uhtred does this over and over and over and lives his entire life fighting for the christians. Uhtred is portrayed as one who believes family land is more important that family. Ekbert understands that while land is holy, the people of the Saxons are more important. I understand many now will defend the Uhtred of the Last Kingdom saying Uhtred was really adopted by Heathens, and his blood was English and christian. However, Uhtred did not respect his biological father, and loved Earl Ragnar as his father, yes, the Heathen Earl Ragnar. No true Heathen would turn on his Heathen family to fight with christians against Heathens and Heathenry. Ekbert is a Heathen, and the story still shows the Heathens losing, without Ekbert fighting on the side of the christians against his own people.
Old Saxon scholar Dr. Prisca Augustyn of Berkeley states in her book The Semiotics of Fate, Death, and the Soul in Germanic Culture: The Christianization of Old Saxon p.27 "The human being exists and acts only as a member of the sib, not as an independent individual. The importance of the sib is reflected in manifold acts of vengeance in the old sagas and epics, where it is not the specific individual that is sought out for revenge, but any member of that sib. The individual gains identity by belonging to the sib, everything on the outside is considered hostile. Not only is membership in the sib the fundamental requirement for legitimate existence in Germanic society, but to be excluded is equivalent to death. The significance of the sib as a source of protection, peace, and rightful existence transcends the visible world, and by a unifying principle the sib includes the dead and the unborn."
Things I find excellent in the historical fiction novel:
1. It is a good story. And it is nice to have a story (historical fiction) of the Saxon Wars and Widukind. The story also quotes historical sources at the end of each chapter. The Royal Frankish Annals are quoted, so are the Lex Saxonum. The novel accurately reflects the Franks exacting laws of death for not keeping the Christian religion and remaining pagan, and lists many of the laws word for word, even the worst ones.
2. The author correctly shows historical events at Marklo, the site of the Saxon AllThing and shows knowledge of the Thing of the Saxons. 3. The novel shows Uuoden (Woden) is a son of Mannus in the Germanic perspective. I believe this is correct for the Germanic tribes on the continent. (Hence, per point 3 below in my frustrations section, why is Uuoden not equated with Irmin? Tacitus says Mannus fathered Irmin, not Uuoden. Surprised this line is not drawn by the author who passes Irmin and Odin as two different Gods.) 4. The Saxon names in the book are all excellent. They all fit into the Old Saxon language very well. 5. In 773 CE, the Saxons retook the Irminsul site that fell in 772 CE. The Franks do not record the Saxons restoring the Irminsul. However, this novel shows that the Saxon priest Wodensrad (a fictional character) did indeed wish to rebuild the site. I cannot imagine the Saxons not doing this, and I believe that they must have. I believe that the Franks did not record the Saxons burning down the church built on the Irminsul site, and the Saxon rebuilding of the holy site, because at times the Frankish sources were propaganda. The (christian) god doesn’t lose in christian sources. I think it is awesome that the book addresses this.
6. The book often quotes the Royal Frankish Annals, the Frankish records of the Saxon Wars written by the Frankish kingly court of Charlemagne, during the times of the Saxon Wars themselves. For example, it quotes the destruction of the Irminsul from the Royal Frankish Annals in the year 772 CE. What is interesting, is that it says “It was the year 1010 of the Saxons, 772 of the Christians.” Now, I totally disagree that the Saxons felt that they were a tribal confederation back to 300 or so BCE (Before the Common Era). These tribes were not called “Saxons” when they were fighting with Arminius (Herman) to defeat the Romans in the early first century. But this book implies the Saxons felt their history went back to then, but they came somewhere from Nordic lands and committed genocide of the native Germanic tribes that fought with Arminius. I appreciate greatly that the book shows different thoughts of Christians and Heathens, but I think scholars are right that the Germanic tribes in Northern Germany consolidated into the Saxon Confederation of Tribes, and were not conquerors of the natives. This is why the Cherusker, Marsi, Fosi, and other tribes disappeared from the history books, because they became the Saxons.
7. The christian Franks are shown raping Saxon women. I think this is historically accurate. There is no fear by the author to portray christians as they were.
8. The author has a clear and correct understanding of the three classes in Saxon Heathen society: nobles, freemen, and peasants.
9. FINALLY, someone seems to understand that taking wood from a holy tree to build a church was NOT a comforting thing to the Heathens or even former Heathens. I am so sick of Asatruar telling me that building churches from holy wood (wood from the Irminsul, or wood from Donar’s Oak, or from sacred groves) used to build churches would make new christians comfortable. I have always disagreed. Few Heathens seem to understand how painful and detestable this would be for people experiencing a new religion. Forcing Heathens (or even former Heathens who held the Irminsul once holy) to bow to a giant cross made from wood of the Irminsul would not bring comfort to new converts, but a reminder that this religion was forced on them, and it would be bitter. So tired of the constant “christianity is Heathen” line of crap, and the church constantly borrowed Heathen things. The novel shows that this made Saxons angry, Heathen or non-Heathen. Finally, someone showing that all Saxons found these actions sacrilege and disrespectful of a people and culture. The novel shows the Saxon “high priest” Wodensrad making all the Saxons come to the former Irminsul site, to witness how the Franks used the wood of the Irminsul to build a giant cross. This was done to show the Saxons that the Franks had become a very depraved people under christianity. Again, nice to see an author understanding how Heathens actually would have felt about forced conversion and about Heathen objects used as building blocks for christian-whore shrines would have been viewed.
10. The author shows the Saxon disdain for the chopping down of Donar’s Oak in Fritzlar.
11. The Saxons are correctly depicted as separated into four regions, and 100 gau.
Errors or frustrations in the historical fiction novel:
1. The book mistakenly thinks Paderborn (the city) existed before the Irminsul was destroyed. Paderborn was founded by Charlemange in 777 CE, five years after the Irminsul was chopped down. On p.183 (Kindle version) Paderborn was named the place of the Saxon Allthing when Marklohe was impossible (for some reason) to meet at.
2. The author does not accept that most scholars today dismiss that the Saxons came to Saxony from Daneland by ship entering Saxony by the North Sea shore. I agree with scholars the Saxons grew out of the Germanic tribes who had long lived in the region even before Arminius’ time. The Westphalians for example were descendants of the Cheruski, Marsi, Fosi, and other Germanic tribes that lived in the area, and later formed the “Saxon Confederation.”
3. The book assumes Irmin was a different God than Uuoden. I think Irmin is cognate to “Jormun” which is a byname of Uuoden (Woden, Odin).
4. The author incorrectly shows that the Saxons in Saxony had the same moon names as the English. (I do not agree, I think some of the moon names were the same and some were different, per the Essen Necrology, an Old Saxon source showing Old Saxon moon names). The author doesn’t seem to understand that more tribal peoples moved to England than just Saxons, and that more Angles moved to England than Saxons, which is why England is named after the Angles and that the Anglish (English) language became the language of England, and Old Saxon did not become the language of England.
5. I believe the Saxons knew Fri (Frigge) but not Freyja. Gosh, so many modern books and modern Heathens place Freyja everywhere, and Frigge is rarely mentioned. I find this annoying. Fri (Frigge) should get more attention. She was the wife of Woden!
6. “The Irminsul Festival” was the Saxon holiday mentioned over and over in the novel. No mention of historical holy days of Yule, Sigrblot, or Winter Nights, the actual holidays of the Saxons.
7. The author shows that the Saxons had “flags.” And not just one flag for the Saxons, but four other flags, one for Albingia, one for Westphalia, one for Engern, and one for Ostfallen. I believe this is an anachronism.
8. The author shows that Saxons drank mead, and the Franks drank wine. Historically, the Saxons drank far more wine than mead. The Saxons also drank ale. The Old Saxon Heliand, shows that the Saxons had “wine halls” and not “mead halls.” I think it is not accurate that many Asatruar believe mead was a Heathen drink and other forms of alcohol were less important than mead. I think the Vikings drank plenty of ale as well, and they certainly also had wine. The book buys into mead being for Heathens and wine for christians, which is not historically accurate.
9. I got my bachelor’s degree in music, and I had to take a year of music history. Violins did not exist in 773, so reading in the novel that the Saxons played violins to me is “odd.”
10. Extremely frustrated that the novel portrayed the Saxons in 773 attacking the church at Fritzlar with different motives than what they historically had. Historically the Saxons attacked the church at Fritzlar because after taking the Irminsul site back, the Saxons wanted the Hessian Thor’s Oak (Donar’s Oak) to also be back in Heathen hands, and the church was built on the site of Donar’s Oak from the wood of Donar’s Oak. The novel has the Saxons attacking the church in Fritzlar because they found out the Irminsul treasure was taken there, which is not historically accurate. The Saxons were trying to reinstitute Heathenry and Heathen sites. Also, the novel does mock the miracle recorded in the Frankish sources. While I do not believe Angels intervened and helped the christians against the Heathens, the story was changed to Heathen Hessians going to the Saxons begging not to burn the church down because it was made with wood from Donar’s Oak. It is clear, historically, the Saxons tried to burn the church down, but the Frankish armies won the battle in Frankish controlled lands south of Saxony. The novel claims the Saxons got all the treasure stolen from the Irminsul back, but I strongly doubt Charlemagne did not use the funds to pay his soldiers who attacked the Irminsul. Charlemagne needed these soldiers well paid because he next had them march from Northern Germany (Saxony) to Spain to expand Charlemagne’s Reich, and an army would not do that unless they were well paid. I do not think the Franks would have just stored all the gold and silver from the Irminsul in an unguarded church in Fritzlar, around 50 kilometers south of where the Irminsul stood.
11. The portrayal of Widukind not taking part in the defense of the Irminsul, not taking part in retaking Eresburg and the Irminsul site, and not going to Fritzlar to burn down the church on the site of Donar’s Oak, is not historically accurate. The novel shows Widukind working with Desiderius, the Lombard king, to keep Charlemagne’s armies occupied in secret to all Saxony. This is false, Widukind was always working with the Heathen Danes, not the not christian Lombards. Widukind absolutely took part in those Saxon battles, and was not away in Italy, no historical source ever puts Widukind anywhere but in Saxony and Nordmannia (Denmark). The novel says Widukind refused to show up when a new Irminsul was re-setup, and missed the religious festivities after the Irminsul’s restoration. I really disagree that the historical Widukind would not have been there. He would have been there and a part of these battles. I find this historically impossible. Widukind is portrayed throughout the entire novel as a backstabbing Saxon, never a good Heathen. I wish that the novel was written through the eyes of Widukind, and not through a fictional character who does several things Widukind did historically, while Widukind is constantly put down as a Heathen out for himself, not a Heathen out for all Saxony and the Old Ways of the Saxons.
12. Widukind was “leader of the black cavalry” in the novel. The Black Cavalry did questionable things, like destroying Heathen holy sites to confuse Charlemagne (Karl). I just do not see the historical Saxon Heathen Hero Widukind doing such things. 13. The novel shows confusion between the Anglish and Frankish Calendars. Lent is a moon on the Frankish Calendar, not the Old English nor the Saxon Calendar. The novel portrays the Saxons celebrating Lent and Eostre, two words not found in the Old Saxon corpus, clearly borrowed from Bede. Old Saxon writings consistently call the christian feast "Pascha" and never Eostre, which Bede does. It is also clear, from the written record, "Oster" was not a term recorded in Old Saxon lands until 1479 CE. This is clearly lack of research on the part of the author. 14. The ending, I struggle with. I strongly believe the historical Widukind was captured and killed. The end claiming Widukind would not murder and Karl had not murdered (forgetting about the murder of 4,500 at Verden), was disappointing. The book had to close with christian victory however, which is (sadly) historical fact.
Widukind had a Yule Tree. Yule Tree. Sigh...
Conclusion: Overall, I suggest this novel is worth the read, especially at the Amazon Kindle price. For us Old Saxon Heathens, there are no other novels to read about our Heathenry from the Old Saxon point of view. My biggest disappointment though, is that Widukind is not the main character, and a fictionalized one is. This forces the fictional character to be elevated, and Widukind downgraded. Therefore, while I am suggesting this novel, reading the actual history is more enlightening to me, even reading the Royal Frankish Annals (the Frankish historical source material on Widukind) to be more exciting reading. Therefore, I am suggesting the book, but I would suggest the historical source material on Widukind first and foremost. The actual story of Widukind, is my favorite historical story. Widukind to me is the most important Saxon Heathen Hero, and to downgrade him, is historically insulting. Just my humble opinion.
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