Hi Bernard, I’ve just finished reading the third in your ‘Saxon Stories’. I’ve learned more about this period in our history than I ever did from all my history lessons at school! My problem is that I fail to see how Uhtred can escape the vengeance of the Church (or Alfred, for that matter)after slitting the throat of a defenceless priest in a church in front of a Bishop and King! Even by the standards of the dark ages, that takes some nerve. Given that you have already indicated that he lives to be over 80 (that would be 120 by todays values), you must have some exceptionally devious plot to keep him alive that long. Regards, John Stevenson. Salisbury. Wilts. PS. I’m off to visit the battlefield site at Ethandun tomorrow.