I was just wondering how familiar you are with your family connection to Bamburgh Castle? I know I had in the past read an article where you mentioned when your family’s possession of the Castle ended, but I don’t remember what it was. I have just today finished Marc Morris’ excellent book “The Norman Conquest”. At the beginning of the book he covers some of the events that lead up to the Conquest, including how Edward the Confessor came to be King of England. In this vein, he covers the story of Uhtred of House Bamburgh, also known as Uhtred the Bold, the final Anglo Saxon Earl of Northumbria and the murder of his son and usurpation of Bamburgh Castle by Siward Digri. I thought this little nugget fit perfectly in my current reading, as I am also rereading the Saxon Stories in anticipation of the American release of “Flame Bearer”.  I was wondering if you knew where exactly your particular branch of the family fit into this snippet of time in history. It is highly interesting, and would make your familiy connection to the Saxon Stories, and especially to “The Last Kingdom” possibly much deeper than you might have thought as it could also make you a lineal descendant of not only the real Uhtred the Bold, but of Bjorn Ironside, son of Ragnar Lothbrok and brother of Ivar the Boneless, Halfdan, Sigrud Snake in the Eye and, of course, Ubba. I won’t post the breakdown of my reasoning, as I have a few more questions and don’t want to create an even larger wall of text than I had already planned on.

I have also began reading “The Plantagenets ” by Dan Jones. I apologize if this a time period in history that you don’t get to study much, as you haven’t written about it, but if I understand the geneology of Henry the II correctly, is he the lineal descendant of not only Rollo of Normandy and William the Conqueror, but also a number of characters in the Saxon Stories like Alfred, and Edward, but also of Kings Duncan and Malcom of “Macbeth”, thus making him an ancestor of the real Macbeth?

Lastly, when you orignially wrote “the Warlord Chronicles”, did you already envision writing a series involving Alfred the Great? I only ask because Your description of him looking like a Preist or Clerk are almost identical to your descriptions of Cerdic. So I was wondering if the Saxon Stories were in your head when you wrote that, or if you just used your description of Cerdic as a basis for Alfred. Sorry for the wall of text, and I can’t wait to read Flame Bearer.

Thanks,

Luke