Shieldmaiden Rouwennë: Nordic Heroes, #7

By Christopher Webster

The story of Rouwennë, Hengest's daughter. As a tomboyish girl, fond of stories of shieldmaidens, she gets involved in a Viking raid led by her older brother. The raid goes wrong and her stepmother tries to teach her that her 'womanly weapons' have more power. She uses those weapons to bring down two kings of Britannia and to win her lover—a handsome dreng named Wulf.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Blitz
• Release date: Jun 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224241026

Christopher Webster

In Conisbrough, in the West Riding, I spent most of my childhood, where there's an old castle, presiding over the local neighbourhood. The castle teased me with its mystery and got me interested in history. Later, at University, I took a Literature degree, choosing an option on Jane Austen and Regency Society, and also one on poetry: worlds which I loved to get lost in – and now I show appreciation by trying my hand at narration.

Book preview

A RECONSTRUCTION

This book is based on an imaginary find of an old manuscript in the archives of of my former college library—the old library, which has been sealed off for general use and can only be accessed through the organ loft. I imagined that I translated the manuscript using my undergraduate Anglo-Saxon, and then presented it to the world as a newly-discovered Anglo-Saxon saga of a similar type to Beowulf. As my intended audience was the general reader, most of the text is in prose, with a facsimile sample of the original and epigraphs to each chapter in Anglo-Saxon.

The subject is Rouwennë, who makes an appearance in the early sources (mainly Nennius, c. 9th c.) as Hengest’s daughter. Though her name is not given. Geoffrey of Monmouth (Historia, 1136) calls her Renwein which is similar to the name given in the Welsh Triads (c. 13th c.), Ronwenn. Layamon (Brut, c. 1180) spells her name Rouwenne (the final syllable was probably pronounced) and sometimes Rouwen when the metre needs two syllables. It is possible that the name was derived from the Anglo-Saxon Hrothwynn, meaning fame and joy. The name was later modernised to Rowena, probably by Sir Walter Scott who uses the name for a beautiful Saxon lady in his novel, Ivanhoe (1819).

Rouwennë may have been a kind of Dark Age Marilyn Monroe, but she was tough enough to seduce one king of Britannia and poison another. I therefore imagined her as a shieldmaiden. Shieldmaidens are common enough in Viking lore, for example, Hervor, who is mentioned in this lay, and who is the subject of another book in the Nordic Heroes series. The lore is supported by archaeological evidence. To take just one example: In 1889 a grave of a Viking warrior was discovered in Birka (present day Sweden). The skeletal remains were surrounded by weaponry of all kinds: swords, axes, arrows, spears, and even the bones of two horses.

So with this in mind, and a few scraps of evidence from old sources, I wove my saga, following her through her different phases: tomboy, seductress, shieldmaiden, temptress... but I am giving the plot away! Just read on to find out how she develops.

Finally, in case the manuscript page and Anglo-Saxon epigraphs have bamboozled you, let me repeat the title of this introduction again—it is A RECONSTRUCTION. The manuscript is a product of Pixlr, an Anglo-Saxon font and my rather clumsy attempt to write Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse (with the help of online tools).

This story is developed from my first attempt to write about Hrothwynn/Rouwennë. I recently took it much further, enlarging it into a full length novel, which is Volume 3, Warrior Woman, of my masterpiece pentalogy, English Dawn.

LIKE A GODDESS

Rouwennë wæs wundorlic,

Æfter ealdum Anglisce,

Mid gefletum loccum,

Blondum, fægerum,

Ond mid wundrum smyle.

Hire heorot wæs hwit, ac getint

Mid rosum on hyre ceaflum,

Hyre eagan wæron blawe swa deawdropas,

Hyre lic wæs swiðe smeþe.

Hire cyrtel, æsed leacum,

Getacnað twa ripiende wæstmas,

Hyre stefn wæs swegigende on lyfte,

Swa sweg swete geleosudu.

And on hire festlicum gewǣdum,

Heo līcode swa goddis;

Ne Venus, ne þa Wælcyrigian,

Ne Frigg mihton swa ondrædan.

ROUWENNË, ADORNED IN the fashion of old Angeln, possessed a captivating beauty. Her hair, intricately braided, flowed like fine strands of gold. A bewitching smile graced her lips, and her skin, pale yet touched with a rosy hue, held an ethereal quality. Her eyes, the colour of dew-kissed bluebells, sparkled with mystery.