Historical Setting: 793 C.E. Francia
With the good fortune of finding a ship and fair winds I am a passenger on a trade vessel. It is less arduous than was the clandestine journey to Lindisfarne on the Longship — catching only storm winds, and rowing much of the way. Now, fully into the summer season a good wind still blows. We land in the lowlands where I spent my last days with my son, Greg, and his partner so many years ago. At that time this place was a newly rising market, now it is a city with established buildings, steeples and houses. It has accommodations for travelers with abundant stables and the custom of providing travel advice.
I’ve been told, the King’s palace has returned to the ancient city of Aachen now, north and east of my old homeland near Metz. Bishop Higbald knows this wise man from Northumbria, Alcuin, who is now a teacher in the King’s court here in Francia. And Alcuin is the man who is to receive this letter from the bishop informing the world of the Lindisfarne raid. It isn’t a spy’s secret. I’m free to speak all I know of the desecration, telling it to every cook and stable-hand and fellow traveler along the way. It is truth to spread.
A horse will be ready for me at first light. So, this afternoon I walk through the marketplace wondering if I will see the reliquaries and fabrics stolen from Lindisfarne already on sale here. But not so. There are lots of other stories among the merchants about raids by the Norsemen but only a few survivors have witnessed these things. And no one before Bishop Higbald ever wrote of it. The bishop’s letter I carry now will help those who must protect Francia know the threat is real and not simply made of rumors among commoners. I know it was more than a century ago that the King of the Franks sent his spies to learn of this.
Those spies, Greg and Gaillard, did not get the warning of it sent off. And I still grieve for them and for the others who are gone who were once my family.
This morning, here is a good horse already fed and bridled ready to take me on to the King’s palace.
Dear God, thank you for fair winds and beautiful creatures and for people I find along this way who remember ancient kindness despite the fears and worries we have this day. Amen.
(Continues Tuesday, July 29, 2025)
Lazarus Ink 