Wulf the Saxon: A Story of the Norman Conquest

Henty, G. A. (George Alfred), 1832-1902Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.5
Word count
696K words
Chapters
70

Tags

English Originals Historical Fiction Historical ReappraisalHistorical TurbulenceMilitary StrategyBritish HistoryAdventure SagaPower GameHeroismGrowing UpNorman ConquestYouth Reading

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Wulf the Saxon: A Story of the Norman Conquest by G. A. HentyAuthor: Henty, G. A. (George Alfred), 1832-1902,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Aug 1, 2005

Editor's review

This is a historical adventure novel by the British author G. A. Henty set against the Norman Conquest, with the Saxon youth Wulf as its protagonist. Henty's works of this kind consistently interweave real historical events with a fictional hero's coming-of-age, letting readers experience through a young man's eyes the political maneuvering and battles before and after Stamford Bridge and Hastings, and giving an intuitive grasp of eleventh-century England's royal succession and the shifting fortunes of Normans and Saxons. As a free Project Gutenberg ebook it is easily accessible, suitable as an entry point to English historical fiction and convenient for teachers selecting excerpts for class. Note that the work carries the narrative tastes and stance of Victorian historical fiction and should not be treated as strict historiography. Reading it alongside basic facts about the Norman Conquest helps clarify the boundary between fiction and history.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Spend ten minutes on the English succession struggle around 1066 before starting; the relationships will be clearer.
  2. Mark each battle on a map and trace march routes as you read to strengthen spatial sense.
  3. Do not look up every archaic expression; grasp the plot first, then compile high-frequency vocabulary.
  4. After reading, distinguish fictional from historical figures with a simple comparison table.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70

FAQ

Is this book suitable for English beginners to read directly? Not really for absolute beginners. The original targets Victorian young readers, with long sentences and dense historical names and places. Try it after reaching intermediate English, or start with a simplified edition or a Chinese translation alongside the original.
Is the history in the book reliable? Henty did some historical preparation, and the framework of major events broadly follows the Norman Conquest, but characterization and detail are fictionalized and carry the biases of his era. Treat it as an entry to historical atmosphere, not as a source of fact; consult professional histories for key conclusions.
Why recommend reading with a map? The novel involves battles such as Stamford Bridge and Hastings and marches across many places; names and directions can hinder readers unfamiliar with English geography. A map greatly lowers comprehension costs and makes the strategic situation's role in the plot easier to grasp.

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About the author

Henty, G. A. (George Alfred), 1832-1902 Author

George Alfred Henty (1832–1902) was a well-known British writer of historical adventure novels for young readers in the nineteenth century. The collection here contains 107 of his works, most of them drawn from major historical events in Europe and the Americas: By Right of Conquest is set during Cortez's conquest of Mexico, Under Wellington's Command takes the Peninsular War as its background, and For the Temple deals with the fall of Jerusalem. He typically placed a young hero at the centre of real historical scenes, weaving military campaigns and political struggles together with personal adventure. The plots are tightly paced and rich in detail, and they reflect a distinctly British outlook and the moral tastes of the Victorian age. His output was considerable, and his books had a lasting influence on later historical adventure fiction. Public information about his family, education and career is limited, so no speculation is offered here.