The King Liveth

by Jeffery Farnol

First published 1943

Amazon

4.0(1)

In 878, with Wessex apparently close to collapse under Danish attack, Alfred the Great works to rally a defeated people and rebuild the force capable of resisting Guthrum. Farnol follows the king through concealment, recruitment, raids and preparations for renewed battle while the fictional Earl Ranulf and Lady Morwenna provide a parallel story of loyalty, danger and courtship.

The action culminates at Ethandune, the battle now generally known as Edington, where Alfred’s victory becomes the turning point in the survival of Wessex. Farnol presents the king as both warrior and organiser, stressing the labour required to turn scattered resistance into political recovery. The romance is therefore embedded in a major ninth-century struggle whose outcome helped shape the later unification of England.