Icel, orphaned youth living in Tamworth, his mother was Ceolburh
Brute, Icel’s horse
Edwin, Icel’s childhood friend, although they have been separated
Cenfrith, Icel’s uncle, brother of Ceolburh and one of the Mercian king’s warriors, dies in Son of Mercia
Wine, Cenfrith’s horse, now Icel’s alongside Brute
Wynflæd, an old herbwoman at the Mercian king’s court at Tamworth
The Kings of Mercia
Coelwulf, King of Mercia, r.821–825 (deposed)
Beornwulf, King of Mercia, r.825–826 (killed)
Lady Cynehild, Beornwulf’s wife
Wiglaf, King of Mercia, r.827–829 (deposed) r.830–
Lady Cynethryth, Wiglaf’s wife
Wigmund, Wiglaf’s son
Ecgberht, King of Wessex, r.829 in Mercia as well
The Ealdormen of Mercia
Ælfstan, one of King Wiglaf’s supporters, an ally to Icel
Beornoth, one of King Wiglaf’s ealdormen
Muca, one of King Wiglaf’s ealdormen
Sigered, a long-standing ealdorman, who’s survived the troubled years of the 820s
Tidwulf, an old ally of King Wiglaf
Æthelweald, Bishop of Lichfield
Bealdred, Lord of Kent, dead
The Ealdormen of Wessex
Wassa of the South Saxons, holds Londinium for King Ecgberht of Wessex
Eata of Hampshire and Wassa’s brother
Wilfhardi, inside Lundenwic
Ælfhere, from Canterbury
Rulers of Other Kingdoms
Athelstan, King of the East Angles
Ecgberht, King of Wessex
Lord Æthelwulf – Ecgberht’s son, designated King of Kent by his father after the battle of Ellendun
People of Wessex
Æsc, an ally of Ecgred
Brihtwold, a youth like Icel
Dealwine, Wessex warrior
Ecgred, a healer inside Londinium
Theodore, slave man with a talent for healing
Gaya, slave woman with a talent for healing
Tyrhtil, seasoned Wessex warrior
Æthelred, a warrior
Mercians
Æthelmod, Mercian warrior
Cenred, Mercian warrior
Cuthred, inhabitant of Tamworth
Eahric, commander of the king’s household warriors
Frithwine, young Mercian warrior
Garwulf, young Mercian warrior
Go∂eman, Mercian warrior
Kyre, Mercian warrior
Landwine, Mercian warrior
Maneca, Mercian warrior
Ordlaf, Mercian warrior
Osmod, Mercian warrior
Oswald, at Kingsholm
Oswy, one of Wiglaf’s warriors
Uor, Mercian warrior
Waldhere, Mercian warrior
Wulfgar, Mercian warrior
Wulfheard, a Mercian warrior, Ealdorman Ælfstan’s oathsworn man
Bada, Wulfheard’s horse
Places
Kingsholm, associated with the ruling family of King Coelwulf, close to Gloucester
Londonia, combining the ruins of Roman Londinium and Saxon Lundenwic
Tamworth, the capital of the Mercian kingdom
Kingdom of the East Angles, part of Mercia at the end of the 700s but reclaimed its freedom under King Beornwulf of Mercia, Athelstan now rules there
Kingdom of Wessex, the area south of the River Thames, including Kent at this time, but not Dumnonia (Cornwall and Devon)