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Quiz about Medieval Melodramatics
Quiz about Medieval Melodramatics

Medieval Melodramatics Trivia Quiz


This is a quiz based on Bernard Cornwell's "The Last Kingdom," which is set in the Ninth Century, during the medieval period of European History. It is loaded with dramatic action. Have fun.

A multiple-choice quiz by shvdotr. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
shvdotr
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
364,595
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
225
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Who is the Danish warrior who spares Uhtred and raises him like a son? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. In "The Last Kingdom," Uhtred, using records kept by his father, lays claim to what Saxon kingdom? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Toward the end of the novel, what does Uhtred reveal in his mind to be the most important qualification for one to be a "proper man"? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. How does Alfred finally secure Uhtred's commitment as his subject, thus ensuring that he rejects ever being a Dane again? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. How does Uhtred say one knows when the Danes are raiding in England, and not just bringing settlers? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Which brother does Uhtred kill in the great shield wall battle at Cynwit, thus helping to defeat the Danes in their attempt to conquer Wessex? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Although he does not take part, Uhtred is present when Ivar and the Danes take over East Anglia. During negotiations for a truce, when the East Anglian king attempts to show God's power by referring to a Christian saint who survived being riddled with arrows by the Romans, Ivar orders his warriors to do the same to the East Anglian ruler. Who is the Saxon and who is the saint? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. After Ragnar the Fearless kills Uhtred's brother early on in the story, Ragnar also later kills Uhtred's father during the battle for control of what English city? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. One night before the fall of Mercia, Uhtred sneaks into the Saxon camp looking for ladders that might indicate that the Saxons would attack the stronger Danish position. While there Uhtred witnesses a conversation between which Saxon leader and his priest? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Several women appear in "The Last Kingdom" and affect Uhtred's life. Which of the following does NOT show the correct relationship of the woman with Uhtred? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Who is the Danish warrior who spares Uhtred and raises him like a son?

Answer: Ragnar the Fearless

Although Ragnar has killed both Uhtred's brother and his father, he enjoys Uhtred's futile attempt at avenging their deaths and takes the child as a foster son and raises Uhtred as a Dane. Willibald is a Saxon priest, while Ivar is one of three Danish brothers who attempt to conquer Wessex.

Historically, Ivar, Ubba, and Halfdan are sons of Ragnar Lodbrok. In "The Last Kingdom," the brothers attempt to conquer Wessex and bring all of England under Danish control. The Norse explorer Eric the Red is not in the book.
2. In "The Last Kingdom," Uhtred, using records kept by his father, lays claim to what Saxon kingdom?

Answer: Northumberland

At the age of ten, Uhtred sees his father, also named Uhtred, killed by Ragnar, who captures the boy. While under the control of the Danes, Uhtred then loses control of Bebbanburg and Northumbria to his uncle Ælfric.
3. Toward the end of the novel, what does Uhtred reveal in his mind to be the most important qualification for one to be a "proper man"?

Answer: fighting in a great shield wall

As a hostage of Guthrum the Unlucky, Uhtred once again meets up with Brida, a former companion and lover. Enjoying the news that Uhtred is going to become a father, she tells him that when his son is born, Uhtred will be a "proper man." But in reaction to that comment, Uhtred reveals to himself his inner conviction that becoming a father would still leave "one thing lacking," which is being in a great shield wall.

He had "never endured the long bloodletting, the terrible fights when thirst and weariness weaken a man and the enemy, no matter how many you kill, keeps on coming. Only when I had done that, I thought, could I call myself a proper man."
4. How does Alfred finally secure Uhtred's commitment as his subject, thus ensuring that he rejects ever being a Dane again?

Answer: his marriage to a land-holding Wessex woman

Once Uhtred marries Mildrith he becomes a landholder in Wessex as well as acquiring a huge debt to the Church attached to the land he gains from the marriage. This assures his role as a subject of Alfred and as a warrior for Wessex against the Danes in the rest of Cornwell's Saxon Series.
5. How does Uhtred say one knows when the Danes are raiding in England, and not just bringing settlers?

Answer: They would mount dragon heads on the prows of their ships.

In his Saxon Series, Cornwell makes a clear distinction between Vikings on the one hand and Danes and/or Norsemen on the other. In "The Last Kingdom," the invaders of England are most often described as Danes or pagans, but rarely as Vikings. The former are groups of people, while "viking", as Cornwell says in his "Historical Note" at the end of the story, "describes an activity, rather than a people or a tribe. To go viking meant to go raiding..." And, while the Danes spent a good deal of time raiding in England, they also meant to conquer and to settle. Thus the Danes in the story put "beast heads" on the prows and rears of their raiding vessels while viking.

Otherwise, as Ragnar tells the young Uhtred, "we lift the beast heads off so they don't frighten the spirits [of the land]" which the settlers need around so their settlements won't fail.
6. Which brother does Uhtred kill in the great shield wall battle at Cynwit, thus helping to defeat the Danes in their attempt to conquer Wessex?

Answer: Ubba

When the ten-year-old Uhtred first meets the brothers Ubba and Ivar, at Eoferwic, the boy's blind adoptive grandfather Ravn warns him to fear Ubba. Ravn says, "If I give you one piece of advice, young Uhtred, it is never, never, to fight Ubba. Even Ragnar would fear to do that, and my son fears little." Yet Uhtred's face-to-face battle with Ubba at the shield wall is the climax of the novel.

The historical brothers are mentioned in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," but little is said of Ubba except that he died at Cynwit.

His name is also rendered as Ubbe or Hubba.
7. Although he does not take part, Uhtred is present when Ivar and the Danes take over East Anglia. During negotiations for a truce, when the East Anglian king attempts to show God's power by referring to a Christian saint who survived being riddled with arrows by the Romans, Ivar orders his warriors to do the same to the East Anglian ruler. Who is the Saxon and who is the saint?

Answer: Saint Edmund and Saint Sebastian

The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" mentions the death of Edmund at the hands of the Danes, but the exact nature of his death is unknown. According to Wikipedia, one story says "In 869...the Danes...shot him with arrows and then beheaded him, on the orders of Ivar the Boneless and his brother Ubbe Ragnarsson." Cornwell uses this account in his novel after Edmund relates to the Danes the story of Saint Sebastian's miraculous survival of the same treatment at the hands of the Romans. Edmund also gained sainthood, and is also known as Edmund the Martyr.
8. After Ragnar the Fearless kills Uhtred's brother early on in the story, Ragnar also later kills Uhtred's father during the battle for control of what English city?

Answer: Eoferwic (York, or Jorvik to the Vikings)

Eoferwic falls to the Danes, and this corresponds to the historic establishment of the Danelaw on English soil in the Ninth Century. From 886 to 954, the Danelaw is an area bounded by Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex. In Cornwell's Saxon Series, Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia, although nominally ruled by Saxon kings, are also under control of the Danes, leaving Wessex as the only free Anglo-Saxon ruled kingdom.
9. One night before the fall of Mercia, Uhtred sneaks into the Saxon camp looking for ladders that might indicate that the Saxons would attack the stronger Danish position. While there Uhtred witnesses a conversation between which Saxon leader and his priest?

Answer: Alfred

Cornwell uses this incident to introduce two characteristics of Alfred the Great which carry important weight in the story: his frequent ill health and his piety. Both threads run strong throughout the Saxon Series and are borne out in the historical record. One explanation of his health problems is that he may have suffered from Crohn's Disease.
10. Several women appear in "The Last Kingdom" and affect Uhtred's life. Which of the following does NOT show the correct relationship of the woman with Uhtred?

Answer: Ælswith - Uhtred's birth mother

Ælswith is actually Alfred's wife and the only historical person of the four. Her name is also given as Eahlswith or Ealswitha, and she is described by some accounts as the daughter of a queen of Mercia. Alfred's biographer Asser, however, does not mention her. She and Alfred had five or six children, one of whom was Edward, who succeeded Alfred as King of Wessex.
Source: Author shvdotr

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