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c279719
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Haesten. If this world ever contained one worthless, treacherous slime-coated piece of human dung then it was Haesten.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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5030ecc
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An archbishop is important to the Christians, he knows more sorcery than ordinary priests, even more than the bishops, and he has more authority. I have met several archbishops over the years and there was not one of them I would trust to run a market stall selling carrots.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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0d16fb0
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Alfred was obsessed by order, obsessed by the task of marshaling life's chaos into something that could be controlled. He would do it by the church and by the law, which are much the same thing, but I wanted to see a pattern in the strands of life. In the end I found one, and it had nothing to do with any god, but with people. With the people we love.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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bc1c91c
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Christianity is not a religion that offers the solace of revenge to its adherents. For that you must go to the old women who know which herbs to pluck and what charms to say under a waning moon.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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254f669
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Cnut Longsword had near killed me with his blade Ice-Spite and it was small consolation that Serpent-Breath had sliced his throat in the same heartbeat that his sword had broken a rib and pierced my lung.
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cnut
uhtred
cornwell
saxon-stories
the-empty-throne
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Bernard Cornwell |
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f3466ba
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He's a boy who must learn to be a warrior and a king,' I said, 'and death is his destiny. He must learn to give it.' I patted AEthelstan's shoulder. 'Make it quick, boy,' I told him. 'He deserves a slow death, but this is your first killing. Make it easy for yourself.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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ca614e3
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Madness has a purpose! It's a gift from the Gods, and like all their gifts it comes with a price,
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Bernard Cornwell |
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8eea79c
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The only purpose a Council serves is to make you all feel important.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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848947b
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You're a Christian?" "Of course!" "You believe in miracles?" I asked, and he nodded. "Then you'd better fetch your five loaves and two fishes," I went on, "and pray that your wretched god provides the rest."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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8cbf052
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I will never understand Christians. I have seen men and women whip themselves till their backs were nothing but strips of flesh hanging from exposed ribs, watched pilgrims limp on bleeding broken feet to worship the tooth of the whale that swallowed Jonah, and seen a man hammer nails through his own feet. What god wants such nonsense? And why prefer a god who wants you to torture yourself instead of worshipping Eostre who wants you to take ..
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Bernard Cornwell |
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8bdf4d9
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Hengall the Warrior hated war. The business of life, he liked to say, is to plant grain, not blades.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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6256285
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God offers his protection to sinners," Ceolnoth said unctuously. "Especially to sinners," Ceolberht said. "I'll remember that," I said, "when I've finished sinning."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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466ed5f
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I don't fight old men," he said. That was strange. No one had ever called me old before. I remember laughing, but there was shock behind my laughter. Weeks before, talking with AEthelflaed, I had mocked her because she was staring at her face in a great silver platter. She was worried because she had lines about her eyes and she had responded to my mockery by thrusting the plate at me, and I had looked at my reflection and seen that my bear..
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Bernard Cornwell |
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a67f667
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Stow all the world's evils behind a door and tell men that they must never, ever, open the door, and it will be opened because there is pure joy in destruction.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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62f6af1
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The monks had murdered Danes and Ragnar had punished them, though these days the story is always told that the monks were innocently at prayer and died as spotless martyrs. In truth they were malevolent killers of women and children, but what chance does truth have when priests tell tales?
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Bernard Cornwell |
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d10a786
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Voce nunca, nunca deve contar seus crimes aos outros, a nao ser que sejam tao grandes a ponto de nao poderem ficar escondidos, e nesse caso descreva-os como politica ou acao de Estado.
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politics
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Bernard Cornwell |
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159e111
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There is no number so unlucky as thirteen. Once, in Valhalla, there was a feast for twelve gods, but Loki, the trickster god, went uninvited and he played his evil games, persuading Hod the Blind to throw a sprig of mistletoe at his brother, Baldur. Baldur was the favorite god, the good one, but he could be killed by mistletoe and so his blind brother threw the sprig and Baldur died and Loki laughed, and ever since we have known that thirte..
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Bernard Cornwell |
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1f53792
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Because I'm tired of Wessex," I said, "tired of priests, tired of being told what your god's will is, tired of being told that I'm a sinner, tired of your endless damned nonsense, tired of that nailed tyrant you call god who only wants us to be miserable. And I refused to give the oath because my ambition is to go back north, to Bebbanburg, and to kill the men who hold it, and I cannot do that if I am sworn to Edward and he wants something ..
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Bernard Cornwell |
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19420dd
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Esse e o verdadeiro dom das mulheres, ser sabias, e nao sao muitos os homens que o tem.
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sabedoria
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Bernard Cornwell |
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cf238b2
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It is hard to force obedience," he said, "without encouraging resentment."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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57bfa7e
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Thousands!" Appah Rao's tone mocked the claim. "You may have thousands, Colonel, but the Tippoo has tigers."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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bf77cb5
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I had not liked him. I had struggled against him and for him, I had cursed him and thanked him, despised him and admired him. I hated his religion and its cold disapproving gaze, its malevolence that cloaked itself in pretended kindness, and its allegiance to a god who would drain the joy from the world by naming it sin, but Alfred's religion had made him a good man and a good king. And Alfred's joyless soul had proved a rock against which ..
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death-of-kings
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Bernard Cornwell |
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45a0a85
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Put a cat to watch a flock and the wolves eat well.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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1156f47
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Dizem que este Deus (deus cristao) e do perdao. Melhor ofender um desses do que qualquer outro.
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ofensas
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Bernard Cornwell |
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6a2067c
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So now I shall write the tale's ending with my sword beside me and I shall hope that I am given time to finish this tale of Arthur, my Lord, who was betrayed, reviled and, after his departure, missed like no other man was ever missed in all of Britain's history.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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a315a09
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Men fear wanderers for they have no rules. The Danes came as strangers, rootless and violent, and that, I thought, was why I was always happier in their company.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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35533b2
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The Gods play games with us, but if we open ourselves then we can become a part of the game instead of its victims.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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8f45c86
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Wyrd bid ful araed," I said, and that is true. Fate is inexorable. Destiny is all. We make oaths, we make choices, but fate makes our decisions."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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28a0994
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The god had to be nailed to a cross if he was to become their saviour, and then the Christians blame the man who made that death possible. I thought they should worship him as a saint, but instead they revile him as a betrayer.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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e84d540
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I hated his religion and its cold disapproving gaze, its malevolence that cloaked itself in pretended kindness, and its allegiance to a god who would drain the joy from the world by naming it sin,
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Bernard Cornwell |
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afb2d54
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It'll be an honour to serve you, sir," he added. "In a French battalion?" Gudin teased him. "If you don't flog, sir, and you don't carve up pricks, then it'll be more than an honour."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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8b69e91
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It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.' Napoleon
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Bernard Cornwell |
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89e0712
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Pyrlig laughed. "Being alive is bad in a Christian! We say people are saints if they're good, but how few of us become saints? We're all bad! Some of us just try to be good."
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Bernard Cornwell |
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7a394b6
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Thou shalt not kill, they preached, then screamed at us warriors to slaughter the pagans. Thou shalt not steal, they preached, and forged charters to take men's lands. Thou shalt not commit adultery, they preached, and rutted other men's wives like besotted hares in springtime.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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2604a29
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We make oaths, we make choices, but fate makes our decisions.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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e5c8a86
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I suspect most copies were used to wipe arses or light fires.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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9abfa0a
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I just gazed at the smoke haze above Lundene, the darkness darkening a summer sky, and wished I were a bird, high in that nothingness, vanishing. Haesten
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Bernard Cornwell |
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169d94c
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Guinefort had been a dog and, so far as Thomas's father knew, the only animal ever to be canonized. The beast had saved a baby from a wolf, then been martyred by his owner, who thought the dog had eaten the baby when in truth he had hidden it beneath the cot.
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Bernard Cornwell |
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6fae1fb
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I am not sure,' Mordecai told Thomas, 'whether omens can be trusted.' 'Of course they can.' 'I should like to hear your reasons. But show me your urine first.' 'You said I was cured,' Thomas protested. 'Eternal vigilance, dear Thomas, is the price of health. Piss for me.
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medicine
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Bernard Cornwell |
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ba5584e
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It was while he was on the tower that Robbie came to the rampart beneath. 'I want you to look at this,' Robbie called up to him, and flourished a newly painted shield. 'You like it?' Thomas peered down and, in the moonlight, saw something red. 'What is it?' he asked. 'A blood smear?' 'You blind English bastard,' Robbie said, 'it's the red heart of Douglas!' 'Ah. From up here it looks like something died on the shield.
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warriors
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Bernard Cornwell |
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c361110
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Men do not relish the shield wall. They do not rush to death's embrace. You look ahead and see the overlapping shields, the helmets, the glint of axes and spears and swords, and you know you must go into the reach of those blades, into the place of death, and it takes time to summon the courage, to heat the blood, to let the madness overtake caution.
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war
uhtred
shield-wall
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Bernard Cornwell |
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8748152
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I have kept the faith, Planchard." -"Then you are the only man who has" Planchard said, "and it is an heretical faith." -"They crucified Christ for heresy" Vexille said, "so to be named a heretic is to be one with Him."
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faith
grail
heretic
church
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Bernard Cornwell |
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e6a7250
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I was born a Saxon, but raised by Danes, my daughter had married a Norseman, my dearest friend was Irish, my woman was a Saxon, the mother of my children had been Danish, my gods were pagan, and my oath was sworn to AEthelflaed, a Christian. Whose side was I on?
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Bernard Cornwell |
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b9f3b64
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different ways. Some to Spain, others to
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Bernard Cornwell |