Historical Setting: sailing at the mouth of a river, 794 C.E. We are following a wide river from its mouth at the sea, upstream to a place Cloothar believes will be an established market in an old Roman city — Ludenwic — it has a name. This river does seem more marked with houses andContinue reading “#80.3 Thursday, May 7, 2026”
Category Archives: Historical Fiction
#80.2 Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Historical Setting: London, 794 C.E. These weeks are mostly spent rowing, rarely sailing along the wooded coast of Anglia. This journey seems to yield little in new markets for Cloothar. Yet we make our stops on land wherever he catches a glimpse of fishing buoys or a whaft of smoke rising, marking the presence ofContinue reading “#80.2 Wednesday, May 6, 2026”
#79.14 Thursday, April 30, 2026
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 794 C.E. I’m not sure I need a merchant to fill my emptiness. My spiritual need isn’t like a cloak or a hat. I am missing the thin places, or the beautiful window where I meet God. It’s Cloothar who tells me of Iona, a monastery founded by the Irish that isContinue reading “#79.14 Thursday, April 30, 2026”
#79.13 Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 794 C.E. Weaponry and wars make no happy endings, because there are no endings, just changes in populations and power structures. But, of course, mortals, by the very nature of mortality, draw conclusions, set goals of completion, grope after legacy and prepare for whatever afterlife their religion dictates. No mortal person hasContinue reading “#79.13 Wednesday, April 29, 2026”
#79.12 Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 794 C.E. The Viking raid on Jarrow was swift and the tragedy was mostly on the Vikings’ side. All of the preparations for attack worked: the rocks across the river at the place of the tidal rise; the guards hidden in monk’s clothes; the swords and daggers sprinkled throughout Jarrow. Lindisfarne’s painfulContinue reading “#79.12 Tuesday, April 28, 2026”
#79.11 Thursday, April 23, 2026
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 794 C.E. At matins I chanted with the monks. Now in the full light of dawn, I walk with the monk-clad guards from the river to their posts at the sea. The tide is high and the river into the sea is roiling and deep. The heap of rocks that become theContinue reading “#79.11 Thursday, April 23, 2026”
#79.10 Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 794 C.E. I’ve been listening to the talk of the old fellows who gather here in the mornings to consider the state of all things. Some come disgruntled, regardless of the events of life. But Tam comes with a resilient, joyful spirit despite his losses. It is the simple allegory of Job.Continue reading “#79.10 Wednesday, April 22, 2026”
#79.9 Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 794 C.E. Comparing the things in our lives with others is always a false gauge for happiness. Envy and greed are closely linked to each other. It seems all these seven dwarves of “deadly sins” are false paths to love for self and neighbor, and these things leave us spiritually hollow, notContinue reading “#79.9 Tuesday, April 21, 2026”
#79.8 Thursday, April 16, 2026
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 794 C.E. He asked about the infant, and I asked the question back to the three old fellows gathered on the benches here. “Why would an ealdorman keep a baby here?” The man with no teeth answers first. “He thaid it were hith own thun.” The owner of cows, Tam,Continue reading “#79.8 Thursday, April 16, 2026”
#79.7 Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Historical Setting: Jarrow, 794 C.E. At the ealdorman’s house, Ousbert left the desk and the chair, the empty shelves and the sleeping mat which I have washed in lye soap and refilled with fresh straw. And in the first room are also some benches lining the outer wall. I thought the benches were for peopleContinue reading “#79.7 Wednesday, April 15, 2026”
Lazarus Ink 