Unlike Kingdom of Ashes, where most of the story takes place in the future, a large part of Men and Monsters is practically historical fiction. I’ve tried to keep Prince Vladimir’s story as historically accurate as possible, but sometimes I had to make assumptions or even take liberties with known timelines, and I feel I should clarify these.
I’m dividing my notes into three parts—timelines, people, and history vs. mythology. In the next section, you’ll also find a Glossary of potentially unfamiliar terms appearing in the book.
Timelines
I’ve slightly played with the historical timeline at a couple of points, namely:
Prince Vladimir’s human life: The story opens with the death of Khan Presian—852 AD. Then we jump to the Christianization—864-866. In particular, the rebellion of the fifty-two noblemen that results in the execution of their entire families happens in real life in the summer of 865. The gap is thirteen years, but I’ve referred to the passage of time as “a decade” since I wanted Erniké to be four in the first scene and fourteen at the time of the uprising. I’ve also taken some liberties with Vladimir-Rasate’s age—while his year of birth is unknown, there is evidence that he was already leading a military campaign around 853-854, which suggests he was probably at least ten years older than in my story.
Prince Vladimir’s early vampire years: A more major change here. Vlad becomes a vampire in 865. After that, he spends a few decades mourning his family and only travels to Constantinople after Vladimir-Rasate’s fall from power and imprisonment—893. Then he travels to Scandinavia to join the Great Heathen Army and the invasions on the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms… which in real life start in 865. I considered making him join the Vikings right after he becomes a vampire (that would have matched exactly!), but it didn’t seem right to me that he’d jump straight into adventure right after he loses everyone.
People
Vlad interacts with a mixture of historical figures and fictional characters. For the fictional characters, I have tried to use names that are accurate for the specific time and place. The biggest challenge was finding proto-Bulgar female names. Finally, I found all I needed and more thanks to the brilliant Ph.D thesis “Zeugnisse der Kunst und Kultur der Protobulgaren aus der heidnischen Periode des Ersten Bulgarischen Reiches (7 bis 9 Jh.) Wesen. Ursprung. Parallelen” by Dr. Velina Dimitrova. Thanks to the University Library of Freie Universität Berlin for making it publicly available! Most of the names I ended up using—Roxana, Asmara, Kalina, Bisera, Savera—are accurate, with one possible exception: Erniké.
You have probably noticed that Erniké’s name seems different. It follows a pattern very common in several languages in the Turkic family: a female name ending in a stressed “e” (pronounced like the e in “let.”) The name might or might not be accurate—I couldn’t find strong evidence either way. I named Erniké after a character in the novel Foretold by Pagane by Vera Mutafchieva, which is also the source material for the movie 681 AD: The Glory of the Khan. I read it as a kid, and it’s been one of my inspirations when writing Vlad’s story, so I wanted to make this small nod to the book.
When it comes to the historical figures, not everything is known, and I had to make a few assumptions:
Ivar the Boneless: It is unclear what kind of disability he had, or if he had a disability at all. Some sagas mention he was born with no bones as a punishment for Ragnar disregarding Aslaug’s prophecy, but the descriptions of his condition contradict each other across sources, and some sources mention nothing unusual at all. The one single element all stories have in common is Ivar’s wisdom and cunning. Here, I have assumed he suffers from a severe form of arthrochalasia Ehlers–Danlos syndrome.
Ragnar Lodbrok: Sometimes transliterated as Lothbrok. He is a prominent character in the sagas and Old Norse poetry, but it is unknown if he ever really existed. Characters who appear in the sagas as the sons of Ragnar—Björn, Ivar, Halfdan, etc.—are well-documented historical figures, but Ragnar himself could be an amalgamation of different people, a historical figure with fictional deeds attributed to him, or a completely fictional character. According to the sagas, he dies when King Ælla throws him into a pit of snakes, and the Great Heathen Army assembles to avenge his death. While the invasion of the Great Heathen Army is a real event, there is no historical proof it happened as a reaction to Ragnar’s death.
Lagertha: She appears in the sagas as a legendary shieldmaiden and the first wife of Ragnar. Historians are debating whether she really existed or not, and while many believe she is purely fictional, there is some evidence she might have been based on a woman named Thorgerd, who appears in chronicles from the sixth century. Even if that’s the case, the timelines wouldn’t match, and Lagertha probably never existed in the way she appears in the sagas. Still, in this book I have assumed she is a real person, just like Ragnar. And while she herself might be fictional, there is historical evidence outside of the sagas that shieldmaidens like her did exist.
History vs. Mythology
While the events around Prince Vladimir’s human life are reasonably well-documented, once he joins the Vikings, fact and fiction become blurry. A lot of information comes from the sagas, and I had to make some assumptions about what is historically accurate.
Blood Eagle: There is a debate among historians whether this execution method was practiced in real life. It appears twice in the sagas: the second time is when Ivar captures King Ælla after the battle of York, and the sons of Ragnar perform the ritual as a punishment for Ælla killing their father. In the “Tale of Ragnar's Sons” the scene is described as follows: “They caused the bloody eagle to be carved on the back of Ælla, and they cut away all of the ribs from the spine, and then they ripped out his lungs.” Some historians believe the ritual was indeed practiced and was not only a method of execution, but also a sacrifice to Odin at the same time. Others, however, argue that the practice is fictional, or that early versions of the sagas were misunderstood or mistranslated. Some even believe it was Christian propaganda, designed to demonize the Vikings. Naturally, I’ve gone with the most dramatic theory and assumed it’s real.
Ivar and the cow skin: This one is obviously not historically accurate, but it’s a fun little story, and I’ve decided to include a modified version. One of the sagas claims that Ivar initially wants to make peace with King Ælla and promises to leave him alone if the King gives him as much land as an ox’s hide can cover. Ivar cuts the hide into very thin strips, so that it’s enough to encircle a large fortress. In spite of the promise of peace, Ivar returns a couple of years later and proceeds with the whole Blood Eagle business.
As you’ve seen in the book, I’ve made two major changes to the story. First, it didn’t make sense to me that Ivar would have civil interactions with Ælla and then return for the Blood Eagle. The Blood Eagle comes from a desire for revenge and makes sense to be executed while Ivar’s anger is still hot. Thus, I made Ivar have the ox’s hide exchange with Björn instead. Second, asking for land as big as a single ox’s hide seems a bit cartoonish outside of legends, so I had Ivar ask for fifty cows’ hides.