Britons and Celts

Dreams of Merlin

“The Fox will devour its mother and then put on an Ass’s head. Once it has assumed this monstrous guide, it will terrify its brothers and drive them away to Normandy. In that country they will in their turn stir up the tusky Boar. Back they will come in a boat and in that way, they will meet the Fox once more.” […]

Violence

Let God Guide the Sword of the Righteous

“Thierry sees he is wounded in the face – bright blood is falling on the grassy plain – hits Pinabel upon his smooth steel casque and cracks it, splits it open to the nasal, and busts his skull, so brains come spilling out, then wrenches free and lets him fall down dead.” […]

Orient

Fates Worse Than Death

“The rebellious nobles who had revolted against me and whose skins I had stripped off, I made into a trophy: some in the middle of the pile I left to decay; some on the top of the pile on stakes I impaled.” […]

Eastern Europe

Law of the Rich, Laws of the Poor

“. If a Russ commits assault with a sword, spear, or any other weapon, he who has committed this crime shall pay five pounds of silver according to the Russian law, but if he is poor, all his available property shall be sold, even to the garments he walks in, and those too shall be taken from him.” […]

Supernatural

A Fateful Encounter

“About this time Hother chanced, while hunting, to be led astray by a mist, and he came on a certain lodge in which were wood-maidens; and when they greeted him by his own name, he asked who they were. They declared that it was their guidance and government that mainly determined the fortunes of war. ” […]

Britons and Celts

A Noble and Ignoble Outlaw

“It is asserted by the credible relation of many persons, the walls of the church which he had seized and of the adjoining cloister exuded real blood, by which, as it afterwards appeared, was signified, as well the heinousness of his crime as its impending punishment.” […]

Human Affairs

Love and Marriage in the Viking World

“So Thorgerd married Herjolf and went with him to his home, and they came to love one another dearly. Thorgerd quickly proved what an exceptionally capable woman she was, and Herjolf was considered to have enhanced his prestige and standing greatly by winning such a wife as Thorgerd.” […]