Paul Bernardi

Paul Bernardi is a British historical novelist who specialises in Anglo-Saxon and Norman England. He studied Anglo-Saxon and medieval history at the University of Leeds, completing a master’s degree before beginning a career in the financial sector. His fiction reflects a long-standing interest in the political and military upheavals surrounding the Norman Conquest, particularly the experiences of English warriors attempting to survive the replacement of the Anglo-Saxon ruling order by William the Conqueror and his followers. Bernardi combines fictional protagonists with real rulers, battles and rebellions, concentrating on warfare, loyalty, revenge and the disruption of local communities during conquest.

His Huscarl Chronicles—Thurkill’s Revenge, Thurkill’s Battle and Thurkill’s Rebellion—follow the warrior Thurkill through the Norman Conquest and its aftermath, beginning amid the upheavals of 1066. His later Rebellion trilogy moves into the continuing English resistance to Norman rule: Blood Feud begins in 1067 with the northern thegn Oslac, Uprising follows the growing rebellion, and The Reckoning carries the story into 1069 and William’s campaigns in the north. Bernardi has also written Blood Price, a standalone novel set in 1024 about Freya and the veteran warrior Sihtric. Together these novels concentrate particularly strongly on late Anglo-Saxon England, the Norman Conquest and the rebellions against William I, making Bernardi’s work closely connected with the events that culminated in the Harrying of the North.