Time Frame

The chapters Sunrise on Talford Hill and The Sword of Kings happen in the early 9th century, considerably after the body of the novel – this is hinted at several times. For example, it occurs after the writings of the 7th century Anglo-Saxon historian, The Venerable Bede, whereas the body of the story takes place in the late 6th century before Bede is born. The time frame of the novel was carefully researched from Talymar’s great, great, great, great, Grandfather Ambrosius Aurelius, called the Elder and his son Constantine [both historic Romano-British personages] through the likely date of the Sutton Hoo Ship burial (626-7 CE). Then the timeline is purposefully ‘muddied’ by the author. This was done for two reasons. First, the common Briton or Anglo-Saxon would not have kept track of years the way we do, ex. 577 CE. Time was referenced back to important events. Take Talymar’s birth described in Chapter III as an example:

The boy was born on Midsummer’s day, under a sign star-watchers called the ‘twins’ It was in the reign of old King Caninus, twenty winters after the years of no summer, when the crops failed, when famine came, when the stars fell from the heavens, and firedrakes rode the skies. And it was eleven winters (the Saxons measured time by winters) after the great plague, that was named for the Roman-man Justinian, had swept over the land and killed many of the folk therein. (Book I, Chapter 3)

All of these are historic and meteorological events and thus the actual date of his birth can be puzzled out by those with ‘eyes to see.’ Other signposts along the time continuum are the Battle of Badon Hill and the Battle of Deorham. Since these occurrences are ‘historic’, once the modern dating form for an event is pinpointed, the reader can trace backward or forward to determine all the modern dates for the story’s timeline. The Epilogue in the final book brings the story full circle [‘the dragon bites its own tail”] and ends with historic events in 1939 and 1949.

The second reason for the muddied timeline is the ‘puzzle’ already referred to. Anglo-Saxons loved riddles and puzzles. Many such riddles and puzzles are layered into The White Hart; to explain them all in footnotes would ruin the fun – “Let those with eyes to see… see, and those with ears to hear… hear, and let all the rest… simply enjoy.” Those who do not like puzzles and riddles can simply enjoy the story.