''The Warlord Chronicles'' or ''The Warlord Trilogy'' is a series of three novels about

Arthurian King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

written by

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...

. The story is written as a mixture of

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other t ...

and

Arthurian legend The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...

. The books were originally published between 1995 and 1997 by

Penguin Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adap ...

and Michael Joseph in the United Kingdom and by St. Martin's Press in the United States, in hardcover and paperback editions, each with different ISBNs. It is currently being adapted for television as '' The Winter King''.

Books in the trilogy

* '' The Winter King'' (1995) * '' Enemy of God'' (1996) * ''

Excalibur Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...

'' (1997)

Treatment of legend and history

The story is written as if it took place in Dark Age Britain as described in the original Welsh legends, with appropriate types of technology, culture, warfare, and attitudes. Cornwell also weaves later additions such as

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and leg ...

and

Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...

into the plot. Like other "historical" takes on the Arthurian legends, the series postulates that Post-

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

was a difficult time for the native Britons, being threatened by invasion from the

Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened ...

in the East and raids from the Irish in the West. At the same time, they suffered internal power struggles between their petty kingdoms. Like

Marion Zimmer Bradley Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley (June 3, 1930 – September 25, 1999) was an American author of fantasy, historical fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy novels, and is best known for the Arthurian fiction novel ''The Mists of Avalon'' an ...

in her novel ''

The Mists of Avalon ''The Mists of Avalon'' is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American writer Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which the author relates the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters. The book follows the trajectory of Morgaine (M ...

'', Cornwell also presumes friction occurred between the old

Druidic A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

religion and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

. The

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the series is Derfel Cadarn (pronounced Derv-el), based on the part-legendary Saint Derfel and on

Bedivere Bedivere ( or ; cy, Bedwyr; la, Beduerus; french: link=no, Bédoier, also Bedevere and other spellings) is one of the earliest characters to be featured in the legend of King Arthur, originally described in several Welsh texts as the one-hand ...

. Cornwell's Derfel is a Saxon brought up as a Briton by

, the greatest of all Druids. In the course of the story, he becomes a great warrior and one of Arthur's warlords in his war against the Saxons. Derfel is one of Arthur's closest advisers and friends, is one-handed, and casts

into the sea after the

Battle of Camlann The Battle of Camlann ( cy, Gwaith Camlan or ''Brwydr Camlan'') is the legendary final battle of King Arthur, in which Arthur either died or was fatally wounded while fighting either with or against Mordred, who also perished. The original le ...

. Merlin, meanwhile, concerns himself with trying to restore the old gods of Britain. Other characters from the Arthurian mythos are given significant twists. For example, Lancelot, always portrayed as the most virtuous and the mightiest of Arthur's knights, here is depicted as an arrogant, cowardly, and self-serving petty prince, whose legendary feats and martial prowess are crafted through the songs of the bards and a fictional reputation that he himself carefully cultivates.

Sagramor Sir Sagramore (also known as Sagremor and many other variations) is a Knight of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He appears in standalone and cyclical chivalric romances and other works, including some where he is the titular protagonist. ...

is a Hungarian prince in the

Lancelot-Grail The ''Lancelot-Grail'', also known as the Vulgate Cycle or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is an early 13th-century French Arthurian literary cycle consisting of interconnected prose episodes of chivalric romance in Old French. The cycle of unknown author ...

Cycle, but is depicted here as a

Numidian Numidia (Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisi ...

veteran of the old Roman Army who joined Arthur's service after the collapse of the Empire. Cornwell portrays Merlin as a lecherous, driven, mischievous, and irreverent druid. His solution to the problem of integrating the magic of the Arthurian mythos in the context of historical fiction is to leave room for the reader to take the "magic" depicted in the story at face value or to interpret it as a mixture of coincidence, psychology, primitive technology, and illusion, which preys on the superstitions, religious fundamentalism, and intolerance of the time.

Reception

''The Warlord Chronicles'' has been acclaimed for both its storytelling qualities and its accuracy in portraying contemporary life. Cornwell himself has said, "I have to confess that of all the books I have written these three are my favourites."

Audiobooks

Isis Audio Books and

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

have published unabridged audiobook recordings of all three novels, read by Edmund Dehn and Jonathan Keeble respectively. Penguin Audiobooks have also published abridged versions of the three novels, read by

Tim Pigott-Smith Timothy Peter Pigott-Smith, (13 May 1946 – 7 April 2017) was an English film and television actor and author. He was best known for his leading role as Ronald Merrick in the television drama series '' The Jewel in the Crown'', for which he wo ...

Television adaptation

In 2020,

Epix Epix (pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as P) is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the Epix Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a subsidiary of Amazon's MGM Holdings, Inc. The channel's ...

announced that a live-action television adaptation of the series, entitled ''The Winter King'', was in development with One Big Picture and

Bad Wolf "Bad Wolf" is the twelfth episode of the revived first series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. The episode was first broadcast on BBC One on 11 June 2005. It is the first of a two-part story. The concluding episo ...

. On April 4, 2022, Bad Wolf announced that

Kate Brooke Kate Brooke, Lady Lovegrove is a British screenwriter. Origins, education and early career Brooke is the daughter of the late Timothy Sergison-Brooke and the Hon. Mary Anne Hare (b. 9 April 1936), eldest daughter of John Hare, 1st Viscount Blake ...

and

Ed Whitmore Ed Whitmore is a British screenwriter. He has written for a number of successful British TV series such as '' Waking the Dead'' and ''Silent Witness''. Whitmore is an alumnus of Westfield College. Career In 2003 he wrote the ''Waking The Dead'' ...

would be the showrunners of the series, that filming would begin in late 2022 in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, and that the series would no longer air on Epix. It will be premiere on ITV's new streaming platform

ITVX ITVX (formerly ITV Hub) is a British online video-on-demand service operated by ITV. The service offers predominantly features content from ITV1, as well as ITV Digital channels and some licensed content. The service was known as ITV Player fr ...

in the United Kingdom.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warlord Chronicles Book series introduced in 1995 Fantasy novel series Historical novels by series Modern Arthurian fiction Novels set in sub-Roman Britain Works by Bernard Cornwell Michael Joseph books