Do you read historical fiction books? I like reading books that are based on true stories because then I feel like I'm learning something while still goofing off.

These books are my private escape from reality. while thoroughly enjoying myself, and relaxing my mind from my business. So I seek these texts in bookstores - I will walk right to the historical section and scan the shelves for the authors that I know and trust. One such name is Bernard Cornwell.

Uhtred of Bebbanburg is the protagonist and main character of the best selling Saxon Stories novel series by Bernard Cornwell. I'm loving this series. I'm halfway through book three Lords of the North, but have missed book two and already devoured book four, Sword Song. Cornwell is the same author who wrote the Sharpe books, about a rise-from-the-ranks Captain in the Napoleonic era British Army fighting under Wellington in the Peninsular War which happened right about the same time as Canadians had their American War, or what we call The War of 1812. I loved those books too because they were so detailed and full of historical anecdotes. The real Uhtred of Bebbanburg was a man called Uhtred the Bold (of Bebbanburg) who lived two centuries later and also had an incredible life, but his real life story is being lost to the fictionalized account of Nothumbria's history as told by Cornwell, and that's okay. More people will come to know Uhtred the Bold's real story on Wikipedia after they read the fiction books and marvel at his adventures.

Amazon Lists 49 Books by Bernard Cornwell

In the Saxon Stories, Uhtred of Bebbanburg is born into Saxon nobility but raised by Danish lords - he treads a path through both religions, the Norse Gods and Christianity, in a tale that unites the four main kingdoms Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia and Wessex. And Uhtred loves to do battle. He writes this about himself '...Beware the man who loves battle. Ravn had told me that only one man in three or perhaps one man in four is a real warrior and the rest are reluctant fighters, but I was to learn that only one man in twenty is a lover of battle. Such men were the most dangerous, the most skillful, the ones who reaped the souls, and the ones to fear. I was such a man.' That line really explains a lot about Uhtred who seems to have no fear of attacking three or four warriors at once. He usually has better sense than to charge a body of five or more opposing warriors but in the end of book three he risks himself and eleven most trusted me in a bold match where they are outnumbered twenty to one (the capture of Dunholme).

Summon the Courage To Stand in The Shield Wall

At the very beginning of the book series, Uhtred's father died in a shield wall when he was a boy. This conversation between Uhtred and his father is recorded in Book#1, "...He stared balefully across the encampment where men were drinking. “Do you know who wins battles, boy?” “We do, Father.” “The side that is least drunk,” he said, and then, after a pause, “but it helps to be drunk.” “Why?” “Because a shield wall is an awful place.” In each and every one of the Saxon Stories, Bernard Cornwell write about at least one Viking battle of course, and by and large somewhere in that account there's at least one reference to a shield wall. What is a shield wall? That's when the warriors would overlap their shields and advance under its protection into the ranks of opposing men, who would also form a shield wall for defense. Shields - round and traditionally made of linden (lime) wood (although the available evidence suggests that in fact most were made of more common woods, such as larch, beech, oak, or even pine), most shields would be relatively thin, lasting no more than one battle. Although it is thought that metal rims were used to add to the protection a shield gave, no evidence has been found for this. However, the use of leather or rawhide as either a reinforcing rim or as a full cover for a shield would have been common. Ranging from 60cm to 120cm, the shield was the single item of equipment which changed the most during the Viking Age.

Urban Warrior Run Is As Uncivilized as We Get Today

Man still needs to prove himself, and the Urban Warrior run in Toronto tests unusual athletic skills in many diverse exercises. I'll be there, climbing walls, crawling under long obstacles, running and sprinting with thoughts of Uhtred of Bebbanburg in my heart. Will you be there? Do you have a warrior's heart?