The Western Rise of Empire

As the Roman Empires power began to decline after 400AD, in the North rose Kingdoms, born of clans that had fought with each other and pressures from the south. These kingdoms traded and raided southwards and brought back gold that had been looted from Rome by the Germanic tribes and innovations not seen before. Fine horses, second only to Thuringia, stirrups, and immense amounts of riches flowed into the Vendel and Uppsala areas. As the raids continued, kingdoms were merged by right of conquest, then lost again to others. This time inspired the chronicles and sagas, much which are lost today. Only remnants like Beowulf survive.

Towards the end of this period, mighty kings, true heroes, began to arise and unite kingdom after kingdom into larger and larger territories that knew peace. They began to push the berserkergang and others with extreme violent tendencies to the fringes of the now settled kingdoms. This eventually resulted in the start of the Viking Era in the 790's, and the formation of the Hanseatic League founded in Luebeck in the late 1300's, along with all of the fierce and gory raids of the Vikings along the shores of Germany, France, England, and Ireland.

Our POD is in the 6-700's. An event occurs that easily changes the face of the earth, and most of everything that we know.

Please be advised that this is an open timeline, and I will ask for ideas from time to time as to a) plausibility and b) what might happen elsewhere. The OTL I'm using for timeline notes is largely posted in another thread "A Native American Wank?" if you want to see the discussion that led to the below.
If you have further comments, or suggestions/advice/ideas.
Please PM them to me? I'll quote you here if I need a wider opinion.

And so it begins...


Through A Slave's Eyes:

The brightly glaring sunrise blinded my eyes from sun and wave as I tried to peer ahead to make out the ships I'd just been told of. None of the accounts of this far north, not even Strabos', had prepared me for the sun. The cold that ate at our bones I'd known of and thought I'd prepared for, though I had underestimated it. Now, I feared I might have underestimated the natives as well. I had been told they were savage primitives, willing to trade furs, iron, and other valuables for very small sums of gold. What I was seeing made me disbelieve this. Easily twenty ships were sailing directly for my small group of five, each was identical in the outline I could see against the glaring sun. A tall sail, a long form, perhaps holding twenty to thirty, and a high carved prow that resembled a dragon. More glare came from the shields alongside, large round brass things that reminded me of the shield used to defeat the Medusa.
Just then, the sun was clouded over by a stray cloud and shock froze me worse than the cold. My heart yammered as I realized glare and distance had confused my eyes. The lead ships had easily fifty men on the decks, all pulling back on bows. Their arrows were in the sky before I could even scream a warning.

We had been marched for days long since lost in the counting. I could barely feel my feet below from the cold and abuse, but the fear of death drove me on. Last night - was it last night? one of my precious few countrymen, Lyksos who had come away from the academy with me, had asked me where we were being taken, but I had seen what happened to others who spoke, so I kept my mouth shut. I had no desire to be cut open and my entrails fed to fire or myself, as our captors whims took them.
I longed for the days back in the Academy on Cyprus, before my father and his friends had brought me forth and sent me here, to the frozen wilderness to help open new trade routes. I cursed the day I had obeyed my father rather than rebel. I was becoming more convinced that I should have just died when our ships were attacked rather than be tortured to death walking this harsh land in circles and circles, or so it seemed.
Yet, when we found ourselves cresting a ridge, I found myself bemused by the fact I could still wonder at the world. Ahead of us, the land and tress fell away and down to a coastline of small, rugged hills. Every hill was burdened with houses and farms covering an area of surprising portions. In the back of the city, away from the coast, stood a great hall of stone, like a monarch surveying his lands. I chuckled slightly and got some very confused stares from the last of my countrymen and colleagues. The looks reminded me that we had set forth to find adventure. Well, here I had found it. In muck, mud, bondage, and rough trail abuse, after seeing more than half of those with us slain outright and more slain on the trail when they could no longer walk.
As we drew closer, I found my wonderment turning to honest confusion. We walked in streets cobbled in stone, yet clean. Mounted and armed men rode by us with sword and spear, and their mounts! Clothed in silver bridles and gilded, flashing, harnesses and saddles. I felt like I had slipped into a momentary glimpse of heaven. The buildings brought me back, crude assemblies of mud, wood, thatch, and hopeful prayers. Nothing like at home, nor even the trading cities I had seen.
We marched through the streets to that grand hall and presented before such a giant of a man that I felt my stomach tighten and bowels loosen just to gaze upon him briefly. In a horned helmet and swaddled in bear furs, I had never seen such a fierce looking individual in all my days. I could only keep drawing similarities to the ancient heroic tales I'd read in the academy.
 
Correction to prior post: POD is late 400's to early 500's.
It was misread from my notes and mistyped :) the names below should help in clarification.
Feedback and Criticisms welcome - this is only my first EVER timeline! :)

Three youths were summoned forth, two boys and a girl, to choose from amongst the enslaved. By their own whimsy, they selected some two each of us for each of them. At this, the non chosen slaves were removed, and we chosen few taken to a different room where we were amazed at the immense hot water pool and the cleanliness demanded of us by our captors. Lyksos and I both were amazed that such primitives would actually have recognizable soap and even more amazed at the cleanliness they demanded. We would discover that the cleanliness they demanded was many times over that of what we were accustomed to at home. I must also admit my own surprise at how much communication is possible between peoples who do not share a language. The amount of gestures, grunts, shoves and axe waving threats I cannot begin to describe, but the meanings were quite clear in the 'go there' 'grab that' and even 'cleaner!' kinds of simplicities.
Once scrubbed to their satisfaction, we emerged and were dressed in heavy cloths and furs as ward against the chill, then delivered to the rooms of the youths. I, and Lyksos, had been chosen by the girl and so we found ourselves being instructed in simplistic gestures and grunts as to how to be personal man-servants to a woman. While we weren't allowed into her bedchambers, we were posted just outside with access to her outerclothing. In the first few days, we had a fellow slave with us who showed us how to behave, and what to do in response to certain requests. Her name, never to be used by us, was Hrethelsdotter, sister to Hygelac, Haethcyn, and Herebeald. I discovered later that Herebeald had been absent on a raid for more than three months at time we had been presented to King Hrethel, who was, again, the single biggest man I had ever seen, and had this missed selecting his own slaves from the captives. I would certainly use the term 'giant' to describe her fathers stature as my head barely come to his stomach. Hrethel was hailed as king of the Geats, a term unfamiliar to even my own educated self, but was the name of these peoples.
We were what they called thralls, but back home we would just be slaves. They treated us better than we would slaves, however, so long as we stayed within their customs and traditions. We were given more food than we could eat - mostly seabased food - and a daily ritual bathing. The last was the hardest for some of us to adjust to, even beyond being slaves in such a primitive society. We were required to sleep on furs over hard stone in Hrethelsdotter's rooms, which was initially quite uncomfortable, but I found that I was more adaptable than I thought when the alternatives were death.
After a few months of captivity, however, I overheard Hrethelsdotter speaking in Latin. Crude, badly pronounced, and with truly atrocious grammar, but Latin! We were forbidden to speak to her without being spoken to, but I began to answer any and all queries in Latin in her presence. I encouraged Lyksos to speak it as well. It only took two days before she recognized the language, and the look of shock on her face when it registered was truly epic.
The ensuing, in painfully slaughtered Latin, conversation revealed some very important facts, at least to me. First, I could indeed communicate with our 'owner' for the first time. Second, that she had as keen of an intellect as any scholar I'd ever met, possibly even rivaling the ancients in wisdom. Third, her education had been started under a Christian Missionary, now deceased, who had awakened in her a thirst for learning that was second to none, not even my own. He had started her on a Latin primer, intended for children, but she had not been able to progress into the bible he had left behind after his death. It was the constant attempt to do so that alerted me to her thirst for learning. I later discovered that this thirst had been awakened in her brothers as well, who were constantly trying new ideas although they could only do so when they weren't busy fueding, raiding, and leading hunts.
It was her brother Herebeald that chased down the chests of books that had been captured with my countrymen, upon the promise of teaching him how to write in Latin. Given the books, I, and Lyksos to some extent, were able to hold actual classes wherein we would teach reading and writing (Latin AND Greek), the epics of old (Homer, the Iliad, etc), and the classical teachings of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Upon discovering this, their father, the king, at first was aghast. Some of his advisers were apparently telling him we were poisoning his children in their rooms. Summarily drawn out the rooms by warriors, we were almost killed until Hygelac leapt into the fray with a berserkers strength and cut down most of the warriors. His father, having never seen Hygelac fight so mightily before, immediately named him heir, and his thralls his own property to do with as he would.
Of course, that meant more time spent on lessons and less on raiding fueding for Hygelac and his brothers Herbeald, Haethcyn. This initially caused some strife between them and their fellow Geats, as they called themselves, as their level of respect was normally based upon strength of arms as displayed in the raids and hunt. However, once properly armed in the skills of logic that they developed in the lessons, they were able to stand their own, not only in the boasting that all partook of at meals, but also in combat, by studying their opponents and adjusting their own tactics accordingly.
After the first few such bouts, I reluctantly introduced them to the stories of Alexander the Great. To that study & lesson I attribute all the following actions of the next few years.
 
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Hope it's not too big an update :)

Love or hate, tell me what you think...


Stories of ancient wise scholars who were also fierce in battle were indeed their favorite topics. I had spoken of Socrates and the wrestling competition that he had handily won, and of Ptolemy's highly respected athletic prowess. When I spoke of the ancient Olympic games, they at once decided that such a thing should come to pass here in the North as well. Stories of Alexanders great conquests were like candy to young children, quickly and easily gobbled up and then more demanded without ceasing. I spoke of all his conquests, military and diplomatic, and of the region he had conquered. This led to a discussion of maps and many a rude map of the known world etched out in the dirt. They didn't want to believe in the sheer size of Europe and Asia, but I demonstrated the concept of scale and convinced them, if not of the veracity of the maps, then at least, of my lack of motivation for tricking them. I used the Roman expansions as further evidence of the size of the known world, and promptly found their second favorite topic - Roman Military. They even often demanded such discussions as bedtime stories, to relax their bodies and woo their mind into sleep.These lessons on geography began to flow in both directions as they began to show me of their land, and their sea. The land, as Ptolemy had said, was in the shape of a Juniper leaf, and they lived in the furthest south of the island of Scandza that Tacitus had mentioned. For Tacitus' remarks, I was forced into relying upon my own memory as I had no copies of his writings. However, I managed to impress my pupils by my quoting, at considerable length, from his works in describing this region. More rude maps drawn in snow and dirt showed a great peninsula that drew down from the north, and a smaller peninsula that rose from the south which, in combination, seperated a great sea from the surrounding Oceans. They were, however, quite unsurprised to see me add the islands of Hibernia and Albion to the west, but still north of Europe proper. They nodded, and told me their Skalds kept ancient legends as well, and promptly reached further westward and drew in another, smaller, island. They quarreled over the exact name, but it's location excited me, being a near match for Pytheas' description of Thule.The geography shifted into a discussion of the inner workings of Rome, particularly the military, and how they were able to project such large forces so far beyond their home cities.

When I explained the concept of the Roman roads, and, in passing, Aristotles method of measuring those roads, they fell silent for a time, then began to question me as to how they could make these roads here, in the near frozen north. By this time, I had been their tutor and teach, along with my companion Lyksos and our few precious books, for several years and I knew when they had ulterior motives. Close questioning revealed that in recent years, Hrethelsdotter was receiving courting requests and was being considered for marriage by several surrounding tribes. Her father had told her that she must marry, as his small kingdom could not withstand everyone else, and they must have allies, which would best be procured by a marriage. Hrethelsdotter could not bear the thought, as none of the suitable potential allies were of any sort that she was willing to marry. She was strongly considering becoming what they called a 'volva' or a 'Woman of the Wand'. These were woman who performed somewhat similarly to a combination priest and oracle, but who were able to remain single and even accrue considerable power and prestie. Her only other options was to declare herself a shieldmaiden, and forswear all men for combat.Neither option sounded particularly wise to me, as I was sure to be blamed, and executed, if she were to not do as her father, the king, bade her. However, shortly after a general discussion relating local building materials and roman style roads, a new stir fluttered the town. I was fortunate enough to be in the grand hall, attending Hrethelsdotter, when the shouts and yells of the town echoed in through the open doors.

Flustered looking men, and highly excited women, of the town plunged through the door to the sides of the chamber (as it was always open to the residents, to come whenever they wished), shortly to be followed by a woman, the likes of which I had never seen nor heard of. She was dressed in blue cloak so dark as to almost be black, but shimmered in purple, so covered was it in purple glittering amethysts all the way down to its hem, with a hood of black leather that glistened with oils, trimmed in a white fur. Under it she wore a simple looking white flowing dress, a glass bead necklace that flashed in the light of the fires that burned within the hall, and a belt of amadou around her waist. Her feet were well protected by boots of calfskin with bronze buckles, and her hands by gloves of cat skin, black on the outside and white on the inside. In her left hand she held a rod of iron, with a gem encrusted brass tip. In her right, she held a walking staff shod in brass and topped with a large amethyst. Byond all of that however, it was the color of her hair that shocked me to my core. Red hair I'd seen amongst these Geats, and even the Sueones that came to visit, but none had had the hair the color of burning fire like she did. It gleamed in the firelight and sparkled almost as if it were burning itself.Of not much less shock was the reaction of those in the hall to her appearance. King Hrethel himself stood, greeting her with reverence and removed his bearskin and feather down lined robes, bundling them onto his throne and guiding her to take his seat. Others were scrambling for better views, and yells echoed from hallways of cooks berating thralls to to cook a feast while others raced to set feasting tables to accomodate the throne as a central seat. Almost unobserved, a Sueone warrior walked behind her, and bemusedly took a seat she pointed to after the tables had been set. All three children of the king arrived, and were similarly treated, a pointed finger and an indicated seat. The King was sat immediately to her right, with his eldest to his right, and his youngest across the table from him. His daughter was sat next to her brother on the left, which was to the right of the Sueone warrior.

When the food was presented, in record time I noted, she was served first, then the king, then his children, then all the other warriors. I was told then, as I was recruited into helping serve, that this was a volva of the highest stature.Special food was served to her, a sweet porridge of blood and organs from all the animals. It smelled rank to me as it passed by me, and I could not see how anyone could eat it. It was served only to her, all others being served as befitted a feast by a minor king - pig, poultry, beef and horse. It was during this course of serving the warriors of the Hall that she began to speak in a low voice, but one that carried so well that all in the Hall could hear it clearly. She spoke of portents and omens of the future, and how the land of the Geats was doomed unless exact and painstaking measures were taken, some of them immediately.

The first great tasking she proclaimed, would be that Hrethelsdotter would forever more be named Svea, and would be married to Ecgtheow immediately. She would then depart to take up residence in the kingdom of the Sueones to the north, under King Ongenthow. Her first son, to be named Bear, would be a great hero that would save both kingdoms. The second great tasking would be that Haethcyn, middle son of King Hrethel, would no longer be allowed to ascend to the Geatish kings throne, even should his older brother die under odd circumstances. Hygelac, youngest son, was to be heir should Herebeald be found to be dead.

Great uproar met these taskings, first from the King, then his daughter interrupting, then all the sons at once. The volva merely pointed with her wand and instantly silence fell again. She spoke sternly, as one might to children, saying that this was the way it would be, or the kingdom of the Geats would fall, never to arise again, and the house of Hrethel would fail, and no sons would every carry on the great name. She then pointed her wand directly at me, standing quiet in a corner, and, more softly, almost lovingly, called me the agent of the fates that had wrought this change upon the futures of these lands, and that which I wrought with the mind would outlast all the kingdoms of the land, and echo down through history, even beyond the death of the gods themselves. As every eye turned upon me, she continued, now pointing at Svea, stating that she was the beginning of the greatest achievement the Geats would ever know, and, pointing at young Ecgtheow, that he, though only a swordthane to Ongentheow now, would become the greatest king the world would ever know, save only his son, Bear, who would become even more great in the fullness of time, and whose name would echo down through the ages on the lips of skalds from lands not yet even peopled.


Author's Note: Please observe that 'Bear' is a translation from an old Norse term for Bear -- Beewolf. In other words, Beowulf.
 
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Very interesting, but please add realistic bits about bad smells and shouting

point taken :)

Although, from what I can find (admittedly a) scarce and b) internet biased), the culture was, in general, amazingly clean. They even had designated areas for human waste that were maintained at least once a week (buried/etc) to prevent overwhelming smells.

Althoug, even with their ritual cleansing and washing almost daily, if you live with a horse in the same room, you're gonna smell like horse :)
 
just joking on 185X german attitude to idealize half starven teutonic tribes, no offence meant on your timeline (I am sorry if it did sound so, teach me not to attempt a pun in a foreign language :) ).
Go no, we are eager to read more! :D

Ahhh! Joke understood - but, have no fear of another Tuetonic aggrandizement:)

The Scadzia/Geats/Goths/Tuetons are just a stepping stone to where I want to get to... A North American Empire that greets European visitors when they arrive :)
 
The next few days were extremely eventful. The newly named Svea was wed to Ecgtheow the next, and a wedding feast held that night. Preparations for her departure to King Ongentheows court were to start the following day. However, during the wedding feast, Svea kept insisting that she was going as the bride of a sword-thane, not as a Princess to the Sueonese court. Her bride Ecgtheow had no issues with this, but her fater, with the reluctant support of her brothers, kept insisting that she travel 'in state' as befitted her station. These discussions were interrupted by the arrival of a surprise visitor to the wedding feast.

King Heareth, king of the southern Geats, had sent his only child, his daughter Hygd to attend the wedding of Svea and Ecgtheow. Her escort, and her, had been delayed by weather, but had arrived as an amicable gesture from Haereth. King Hrethel was overjoyed, having faced several years of strained relations, and ordered that the feast be extended by a day in honor of her visit. Hygelac found himself immediately taken in by Hygd's beaty, as she was the first girl he'd seen that could match his sister for looks and intelligence. Hygd, in turn, found a common soul in Hygelac's humor and wit. There was considerable scandal when, with both missing, a search for Hygelac found him in the arms of Hygyd in the back of a stable. To defend her honor, Hygd demanded to married immediately to Hygelac. Since they were already holding a royal wedding feast, King Hrethel agreed and extended the feast yet another day in honor of the second royal wedding.

On the second evening of the extended wedding feast, Hygd and Hygelac being married now, I found myself in a discussion formed of equal parts mead, loud voices, and history lectures by me. Everyone at the wedding feast were delighted by Hygelac and Hygd, but still very concerned about sending Svea north to the Sueonese court. Primarily, they were concerned that the Suoenese might form some claim to the Geatish throne through Svea. The volva declared that it would not happen, that all the laws and traditions ordered descent through the male blood, and with three sons there was no need for concern for the Geatish throne. However, such discussion, so well lubricated by mead, began to veer wildly through topics, much like an enraged bull through a thin forest. As always, Alexanders conquests were of great interest to all, but Hygd, whom I found to be more intelligent than most, inquired about Roman history, as her people had sagas describing initial contact with Romans at the far end of rivers in the south. Hygelac, well tutored by me, fielded most of the answers, until it became a large point of debate, with much yelling and waving of swords, as to whether a kingdom could suffice on internal trade alone, or needed external trade. So I lectured until my head fell off from mead on the economies of Rome, and their successor state, Byzantine. I found being a merchants son of almost more worth now than that of being a scholar as I fended question after question regarding trade, surplus, and what constituted commercial trade as opposed to private trade.

The only thing I remembered the next morning as I awoke was the hungry looks in the womens eyes turning to thoughtful as I described first eastern silk then the local amber, which I admired for it's plentitude here as compared to its scarcity back home. I had a troubled feeling the next morning, beyond the mead head I had so rightfully earned. I had learned, in my few years here, that those thoughtful looks often were harbringers of great change. Indeed, the volva, who had not been imbibing, had additional questions for me, through which I perceived she was trying to find a way to bring trade more directly to these lands from my home area in the Mediterranean. Her intensity disturbed me at first, but when I mentioned Egypt, and the afterlife they believed in there, her intensity turned to vast amusement as she pursued the religious beliefs of the ancient pharoah's with the vigor of a young man in a field full of nymphs. Her laughter scared the Geats around us to the point where they all gave us a wide, wide berth - none of them remembered a laughing volva, and it profoundly worried them.

That evening, at the third night of the wedding feast, after explaining that a near fatality in the woods on the days hunt had changed their lives entirely, Herebeald and Haethcyn renounced the throne of King Hrethel in favor of their younger brother, Hygelac, and his new wife, Hygd. There were immediate outcries and protests, as just the night before we'd been discussing traditions of the eldest son inheriting all. They countered this with the opportunity to unite Geatland under a single king by uniting the ruling families and that such an opportunity, with the streangth of the Sueonese to the North and the growing strength of the Danes to the south, should not by passed by. Even so, they may have eventually given way under the weight of the outcries and the traditionalists had not the volva spoken on their behalf. She praised their good sense in uniting the land, promising riches under such a plan, but added a further curse on top of it. In order to prevent any chance of a civil war, Hygelac should try for sons as quickly as possible, and both older brothers would depart when there were more than two sons to take up the throne. They would travel to the East as far as the water could carry their boats, then for a day further, and there they would dwell for such time as their wyrd had decreed them. This was met with the silence that always accompanied Geatish acceptance, then with another round of mead and full meat for all.

In the morning, all preparations for Svea's departure having been completed by thralls the day before, there was a teary farewell to Svea and Ecgtheow, and many wishes of well being. The weather was bright and promising, a new day dawning for the people of the Geatish kingdoms. Such a glorious day that lifted everyones spirits, except for Svea and me. Svea, too distracted by thoughts of her arrival in Uppsala, throne of the Sueonese, and me, with my new found constant companion, the volva, who continued to pump for details of life to the south. Of all the students I had had in this cold land, she was not only the most intelligent, but also the most frightful in how she could elicit incredibly minute details from me, details I often hadn't known I knew. One comment of hers, in an offhand fashion, truly roused such disbelief in me as to cause speechlessness. Her comment, speaking of a distant tribe of kinsmen called 'AkRhus, Of the Red' in latin, claimed they knew of a river route from these cold lands east and south to a place, that though she did not name it, could only be Constantinople, gleaming jewel of the Byzantine Empire. As such, she wondered if Amber would be rare enough there to form a trade route, much like what I had described.
 
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Upon arrival at the Sueonese court, Svea made quite a stir when she announced her to desire to live among them solely as Ecgtheow's wife, and not as a visiting princess. After considerable heated debate between them, Ecgtheow eventually acquired a small cottage from a widower who was glad to move back to her daughters farm, and Svea settled into being the wife of a sword thane.

However, her one visit to the court apparently quite inflamed the son of the King with a desire for her company. Almost everyday they could be heard discussing many wide topics from Geatish political concerns to the breeding of horses in the nearby stables. King Ongentheow eventually took matters in his own hands and imported a daughter of Healfdene to marry his son, creating a marriage alliance with the Danes of Schyld Scefing's House. That he did so before there was scandal was only by fortune, as I had begun to suspect that Svea was falling for the prince and Ecgtheow's presence was constantly required at the barracks or with the raiding parties - leaving much time for Onela to consort with her.

Only a short time after Onela married the Healfdene, Svea realized she was pregnant and received news of her fathers death on the same day. Her brother, Hygelac, had ascended to the throne and sent her the ill tidings along with a small group of emissaries to King Ongentheow to discuss peace between their kingdoms and the formulation of trade to enrich them both. However, two days after the emissaries arrived with the news, King Ongentheow died of chest pains himself. His oldest son, Ohthere, ascended the throne and dismissed the emissaries under suspicion of their involvement with his fathers death.

From Svea, I learned that Ohthere had a strong hatred of all things Geatish, including herself. Indeed, the first few weeks of his rule, he heaped such condemnation upon them as to invite the ridicule of first, his warriors, then even his own peoples and skjalds. Over the course of the year, this ridicule increased in maliciousness and outright disgust with King Ohthere.

During this year, Svea gave birth to a son, whom she named Bear as per the volva that stood midwife suggested. Shortly thereafter, Svea was noticed again by the local Skjalds, who began composing songs of her beauty and punning about her love for the beast Bear, her child. These songs served to remind many that she was a Geatish Princess living in their midst, as a common sword thanes wife.

The skjalds, enamored of her and disillusioned by their king, began to compose more songs contrasting her stateliness and success in bring forth a son, as well as her humility, against King Ohtheres excessiveness, his grandiose lifestyle, and his lack of a wife, much less an heir.

By the time bear was 3 years old, a rebellion against King Ohthere had deposed the king, murdered his wife, and pushed Onela to the throne. From his wife, he had gathered that the Danes considered his people to be quite inferior (her base, insisten carping was likely a clue) and he had grave concerns over the alliance with Danes. He sent forth messengers and inquired of King Hygelac if he would still consider discussions of peace and alliance. In month it took for the emissaries to return, news from the south came to warn of massive Danish raids on Geats and Sueonese alike. His wife decamped in the middle of one stormy night after this news and was last seen setting sail to the south on a boat with a Danish retinue and his only son. He sent Ecgtheow and a small fleet of ships after her, but the emissaries arrived before any news returned.





 
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