The Dahrg Chronicle Wisdom, good luck and the favour of the Gods to all who appear here...
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902 Vikings
expelled from Dublin.
911 Normandy founded
by Viking chieftain Rollo
917 Viking Dublin
refounded.
925 Athelstan becomes
King of Wessex & Mercia.
927 Athelstan becomes
overlord King.
930 Althing founded
at Thingvellir, Iceland.
933 Edwin, brother of
Athelstan, is drowned after a false accusation of conspiracy against his family.
937 Danish Invasion
of Northumbria by Olaf, Owen of Cumberland and Constantine, King of the Scots.
Athelstan's army marches swiftly north to defeat the invasion and a fierce battle at Brunanburh results in the deaths of many Danish kings and jarls.
939 Olaf Guthfrithson
becomes King of Jorvik.
In October, Edmund succeeds his brother Athelstan as King.
940 Olaf Guthfrithson
takes Northampton, Tamworth and Leicester.
942 Edmund retakes
the 5 Boroughs.
944 Edmund drives the Norse
Kings from Jorvik.
946 King Edmund dies,
murdered by the outlaw Leofa at Pucklechurch. Eadred succeeds him.
948 Eadred ravages
Northampton and Ripon. York independent under Anlaf Sihtricson and later Eric
Bloodaxe.
948 Bishops appointed
to Hedeby, Ribe and Arhus, Denmark.
902 Olaf, son of
Harold, later to become Jarl of Dahrg de Belne, is born in Mercia.
912 Thorfinn, son of
Gunnar, is born at Reykjavik, Iceland.
931 Thorfinn
Gunnarsson is forced to leave Iceland in his knarr 'Thorr's Lady', following a feud
in which his wife is murdered and he slays her murderer and burns down his farmstead.
932 Thorfinn
Gunnarsson bases himself at Jorvik as a shipmaster and trader, visiting all the major
Scandinavian and English coastal trading centres. He begins a long-standing trading
relationship with Jarl Olaf Haroldson of Dahrg de Belne from Tamworth in Mercia, who is
famed for his cloth and clothing - especially his shaggy cloaks, which he is keen to
export to Scandinavia.
935 Thorfinn meets
Hrolf Arnisson, a skilled leatherworker. Hrolf is greatly interested in the world
beyond Jorvik and as staunch pagans they become fast friends. Hrolf's father and his uncle
Tostig are partners in the family business in Jorvik. Tostig wishes to force Hrolf to
become a Christian and a monk to get him out of the way, before he can inherit the family
business, but Hrolf refuses to convert and insists on continuing his craft. Hrolf is soon
to come into his inheritance as the turbulent events of 937 approach...
937 Hrolf's father is
murdered by his uncle Tostig, who takes advantage of the confusion of the Danish invasion
and tries to have Hrolf killed also. It seems that Tostig is a traitor and has been
gathering intelligence for the Danish invasion in return for promises of much gold and
property.
Seizing the better part of valour (plus his tools and the better part of uncle Tostig's silver!) Hrolf flees Jorvik and escapes with Thorfinn Gunnarsson who had been about to set out on a trade run in his fully laden knarr.
They spend the next few years trading, fighting off pirates and indulging in a little piracy themselves, vowing to return to Jorvik after things have settled down...
937 Sven
Einarsson, a fierce Norwegian pirate turned mercenary, having made his way down from
Northumbria, and fighting valiantly on the losing side at the battle of Brunanburh,
decides it's time to settle down and seeks gainful employment at Tamworth. Rallying
to the defence of a pretty young jeweller in the market at Tamworth one day, he saves her
from the unwanted advances of a brutish Saxon warrior, whom he slays. A grateful
Elswith, for it is she, introduces Sven to her employer, Jarl Olaf Haroldson, who offers
him a job on the spot, replacing the treacherous warrior he has slain, as Captain of
Olaf's personal guard. Six months later, Sven marries the fair Elswith and becomes a
Christian. Hot-tempered when on the mushrooms, he soon gains himself a reputation amongst
local warriors as one of the last of the berserks...
939 Sigurd, a
Norwegian mercenary who travelled from Ireland as part of Olaf Guthfrithson's warband,
settles in Jorvik, taking over a local pottery business 'vacated' by a former Saxon
tradesman. Marrying Fearn, Sigurd becomes a skilled potter himself, and soon amasses a
comfortable personal fortune to add to his mercenary booty!
942 Returning from a
trading run to Birka, Thorfinn Gunnarsson and his crew meet up at Bewdley with his old
friend Jarl Olaf Haroldson, who had shifted his trading south after the trouble at Jorvik.
Business has not been good lately, so Olaf is holding a sale on the wharfside. As he is being introduced to Hrolf, he and his workers are attacked by a rowdy crowd, determined to run off with his goods. Thorfinn, Hrolf and their crew of sailor/mercenaries wade in on the side of Olaf and reduce the opposition to a red smear. Hrolf is wounded in the belly by a cowardly blow, but survives...read on!
Olaf invites Thorfinn to join him and handle the overseas trade of Dahrg de Belne on a permanent basis. Thorfinn accepts, and Hrolf decides to return to his skilled leatherwork on dry land when outside the trading season. No small factor in this is his new-found love of Rowena, the local wise-woman and apothecary, who treats him and nurses him back to health with herbs and other skills after he is wounded in the fight. They marry at Bewdley.
Jarl Olaf offers the services of his personal guard and the skilled fighters of Thorfinn's crew to Edmund to help in his retaking of the Five Boroughs. As a reward, Olaf is appointed Royal Clothier to King Edmund and his successors.
944 Sigurd departs Jorvik in
haste and transfers his business to Tamworth, where he meets up with Jarl Olaf and joins
Dahrg de Belne as a skilled potter and warrior.
944 Trading from
Jorvik resumes under Edmund's rule and Jarl Olaf's company begin exporting from there once
more.
948 Jarl Olaf Haroldson's
crew are called upon once more to take the field by a King - this time Eadred. In the
fray, Dahrg de Belne's skilled hunter and warrior Ulf Johansson is killed, and his wife
Ali and son Leif leave to live with her parents. Thorfinn and Hrolf set up a rune stone to
Ulf in honour of a brave comrade in arms.
950 Jarl Olaf is
granted permission to mint coins by King Eadred.
PRESENT DAY: 950 AD ~