A blog post by MJ Porter, author of Clash of Kings. Start reading now: https://mybook.to/clashkingssocial
Much of the middle portion of Clash of Kings takes place during the winter months, and not a mild winter, but rather one where snow lies deep on the ground, and yet the men must still fight to protect the kingdom from the advance of the Norse.
It’s often said that battles didn’t occur during the winter but only in the summer. As we don’t always have specific dates for battles, this might not necessarily be true, but most fighting took place in the summer. I wrote another battle scene in October in the NE of England and enjoyed making it suitably bleak, but with rain, not snow.
In Clash of Kings, our enemy attacks in the depths of winter, with snow lying on the ground, hampering the ability of the English to counter the attack because roads are blocked and also because who wants to fight in the winter? Many famous poems from Saxon England reveal a fascination with winter, almost a horror of its ravages, which we might not appreciate with our central heating, fleeces and ability to eat well.
The Menologium, a calendar poem from the period, states that winter ran from the 7th of November to the 6th of February.
‘After [All Saints’ Day] comes Winter’s Day, far and wide
Six nights later, and seizes sun-bright autumn
With its army of ice and snow,
Fettered with frost by the Lord’s command,
So that the green fields may no longer stay with us,
The ornaments of the earth.’ p41 from E Parker’s translation of The Menologium in Winters of the World
How might war in winter have been different from fighting in the summer? One notable problem would have been keeping everyone warm and fed before the battle. Cold, hungry men would not have been amenable to risking their lives. However, the warriors of Saxon England, like their nobility, would have been peripatetic. While they might have preferred being warm before a hearth, they would also have been experienced at travelling with the needed equipment. People are always a little surprised when I reference tents or canvases as I tend to term them, but they really did have tents, greased with pigs’ fat to make them watertight, and so they could have been assured of being able to get some shelter from the extreme weather. However, horses and men still needed food to keep them battle-ready.
I’m left feeling that while it might not have been pleasant, the English warriors would have been well-equipped to fight, no matter the weather. As a Formula 1 fan, it’s often said that British racers are the best in wet conditions – after all – they’ve spent all their lives racing in it thanks to the contrary nature of the weather. No doubt it would have been similar for our Saxon warriors forced to fight in the depths of Winter.