by Colin Patten
The creek of the oars, the wind rustling the reeds and the lapping of dark water on the prows of the mastless longships as they made their way silently down the river making their way to a settlement they new well. They had not come to raid and plunder, they had come for land and they meant to stay. They were not going home…they had found their home!!
Welcome to Wuffa !
This is part one of our The Englisc invasion of Briton kickstarter.
Set around 650 AD, the Roman legions have departed in a vain attempt to save Rome from the Barbarian invasions. The Britons have been told to look to their own defence as the now emboldened Picts and Scots strike down from the North in increasing force and ferocity. At the same time, from the east come the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. It is the time of the legendary Dux Bellorum King Arthur of the Britons!
The kingdom of the Angles is named Anglia or Englaland and it is the mighty Wuffa who establishes his dynasty there. These are the kin of Hrothgar king of the Danes and it is these folk who we hear of in the epic poem Beowulf.
We have a mighty 6 point Angle (early Anglo Saxon) warband along with a couple of packs of Wuffingas Heroic types including King Raedwald himself!
In keeping with the Danish Anglian theme we also have an armoured Beowulf and another of himself in his bedtime manner ready for Troll wrestling. Talking of Trolls we have a Grendel and his sweet ma the Sea Hag!
The Wuffingas, meaning “Kin of the Wolf”, were the ruling dynasty of East Anglia from the late 6th century to the mid 7th centuary and is of the same clan as the “Wulfings” recorded in the epic Anglo Saxon poem Beowulf!
Another similarity found in this poem is the record of a fantastic treasure ship where the body of a Danish Folk king (Scyld) was laid in the Ships ‘waist’ along with a mound of treasures from far off countries, with weapons of a warrior, war accoutrements, swords, body armour and on his breast were set treasures and trappings.
In the 1930’s in Suffolk, near the small Town of Woodbridge just a few miles from the site of the royal palace of the Wuffingas a fantastic treasure ship was unearthed from a burial mound overlooking the river Deben that flows out to the North Sea. In the centre (waist) of this ship was found an incredible treasure horde consisting of gilded helmet, shield and sword and many golden and ornamented artifacts. A claim can be made, with much justification that the Anglo Saxon poem “Beowulf” which is set in 6th century Denmark and was passed down orally for many centuries before being recorded in writing around the 10th century in Anglo Saxon England was first heard under the roof of the thatched mead hall of Redwald King of Anglia !
