The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell 

The book is The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell. It was originally published in Great Britain in 2004 by Harper Collins. I read the 2006 paperback edition. I read it in February of 2023.  

The title refers to the kingdom of Wessex which is the southernmost kingdom in medieval England. It was the ultimate goal for the Danes to conquer.  

I read this book because I watched the show on Netflix. It’s a great show.  

Cornwell does a great job in putting the reader in the historical context. It’s a novel but it’s historically accurate. The book is more historical than the show.  

It was interesting to see the battle between the pagan Danes and Christians. The medieval Christians have a more spiritual, heavenly minded view of life. The Danes and their gods care about the here and now. What’s funny is that the Danes have a more biblical view of how God is involvement with the world. Christ is ruling and reigning on Earth now. He cares about what happens here and how we steward this world now.  

What blew my hair back is Alfred the Great’s singular vision of a united England. He had this goal to unite all the Saxon kingdoms into one country. And it actually happened. He didn’t live to see it but it’s amazing to see the drive towards such an incredible goal.  

The names got a little confusing. So many names start with aethel.  

The tone was dark and gloomy for most of the book. I mean it’s the dark ages so…shit was sad and dark.  

Alfred is definitely an historical hero to emulate. The main character Uhtred is fictional but a man who is true to his word.  

I’d recommend this to history buffs and fans of the show. It’s a great historical and entertaining look into the middle ages.  

**************************** 

Notable Quotables 

men who embraced battle like a lover. If the Danes could not fight an enemy they fought among themselves. Most had nothing but monstrous pride, battle scars, and well-sharpened weapons, and with those things they would take whatever they wanted, (p65) 

“A leader leads,” Ragnar said, “and you can’t ask men to risk death if you’re not willing to risk it yourself.” (p74) 

It is only by obedience to God that we can hope to defeat the Danes.” 

“Only by obedience?” I asked. I thought swords might help. (p91) 

I wondered why I had ever wanted to go back to the English side. To exchange Ragnar’s freedom for Alfred’s earnest piety seemed a miserable fate to me. Besides, I was learning to despise to fight, they prayed the English. They would not instead of sharpening their swords, and it was no wonder the Danes were taking their land. (p96) 

I called her Wasp-Sting because she was short and I could not wait to try her out on an enemy, which Ealdwulf said was foolishness. “Enemies come soon enough in a man’s life,” he told me. ‘You don’t need to seek them out.” (p193) 

The young are fools and I was young. But I was good. (p211) 

it was then that the battle calm came. Suddenly there was no more sourness in my bowels, no dry mouth, no shaking muscles, but only the magical battle calm. I was happy. I was tired, too. I had not slept. was soaking wet. I was cold, yet suddenly felt invincible. It is a wondrous thing, that battle calm. (p319) 

Laughter in battle. That was what Ragnar had taught me, to take joy from the fight. Joy in the morning, for the sun was touching the east now, filling the sky with light, driving darkness beyond the world’s western rim, (p321)