Setting Information
| Travel back in time to a farm in Wessex, in September in the Year of Our Lord 932. | |
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The farm of Ćdingstowe (“Meeting Place of the People of Ćdward”) is a fairly prosperous affair. It is the gathering spot for folk moots and weapontakes for the local hundred. |
Drawing from the Regia website |
| Near to hand is London Way, one of the king's highways. To the southeast is the estate of Whitchurch (Hwitcyrcan), owned by the monks in Winchester. It features a church made from the chalk and flint of the nearby hills. To the southwest is Andover (Andeferas), a settlement of perhaps 100 souls. | |
Photograph © 1997, 2004 Chris Boyce |
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| Flowing away to the south is the Test (Terstan). Here and there the hills rise a few hundred feet above the rolling countryside of heath and meadow. Crops can fare poorly here in the thin, dry, chalky soil, but pasture is plentiful. Sheep are plentiful, and horses grow strong. Red deer and hares are both creatures of some sport; likewise the boar, though more dangerous. Wolves and foxes remain a nuisance. | |
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Photograph © 1997, 2004 Chris Boyce |
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| A day or more’s ride to the south lies the great burh of Winchester (Witanceaster). With a population of nearly 4,000, it is the closest thing the kingdom has to a capital city. There are no less than six moneyers minting coins for the king here. Furthermore, the see ranks third in importance after Canterbury and York. A New Mynster has been completed, and contains the graves of Kings Edward the Elder and Alfred the Great which lie near the great alter. By the path between the New Mynster and the Old Mynster lies the grave of St. Swithin, who it is said made his disapproval quite clear when they tried to move his bones to an indoor shrine. Also here is the small shrine of St. Birinus. | |
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| Many fields have been stripped of their grain, and now the apple and pear trees are giving up their fruit. In a few weeks more, the workers will reap a bloodier harvest as animals are slaughtered in preparation of the cold winter. | |
Climate |
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| The weather is a little warmer than it will be 1000 years hence. | |
Important People |
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| Ađelstan Cyning has ruled since 924. He is a just ruler, a strong protector and conqueror, generous with wealth and praise, and a friend to the Church and to scholars. To be sure, there are some grumbles in Wessex, for he was raised in Mercia; others point to the untimely death of his brother who would have contended for the throne. If there is anything that concerns the populace in general, however, it is that he has taken no bride nor claimed an heir. | |
| The bishop of Winchester is Byrnstan, who took over when Friđestan resigned in May of last year. Friđestan died on the tenth of September. | |
| Ćlfwold is the Ealdorman for central Wessex. | |
The State of England |
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| The Kingdom of the Angles and the Saxons is prosperous and relatively quiet. The Danes have been subdued, with those in the realm swearing their loyalty. Though Northumbria has been perpetually disgruntled in the seven years since submitting to the English king, it is relatively peaceful at the moment. The lands to the west are likewise at peace, with the Welsh kingdoms of Glyysing, Gwent, Deheubarth and Gwynedd having submitted to Athelstan's overlordship. Morgan Hen, Hywel Dda, and Idwal Foel attend the king's court as it travels the country -- a sign of the king's strong command. It is not known whether the king will be in the shire in November to meet with the Witan. | |
