Havelok the Dane: A Legend of Old Grimsby and Lincoln

Charles Watts Whistler (1856 - 1913)

Troy, Athens, Rome... each has its founding legend. So too does the Lincolnshire town of Grimsby, once the largest fishing port in the world.

Havelok the Dane probably derives from a folk-tale, orally passed down before assuming written form - first in Anglo-Norman French, later in Middle English verse (c. 1280-1300). It tells of the rescue of the Danish prince from a wicked regent, who has tried to procure Havelok's murder. Grim the fisher, the appointed hit-man, thwarts the plan by spiriting the lad to England, where Grim settles with his family on the coast, adopting Havelok as his foster-son and naming the new community after himself.

C.W. Whistler's clever adaptation of the tale (published in 1899) draws on the various medieval sources. The English poem is particularly suited to 'novelisation'. It abounds in homely detail, and the hero's progress from half-dead waif to the triumphant fulfillment of his strength and kingly destiny makes a satisfying arc for the development of plot and character. At the same time, the legend's origins in oral performance are suggested through the choice of a first-person narrator, namely Grim's sober-sided son Radbard, whose plain-spoken account conveys something of the older saga tradition.

Our reader, the gifted Tony Foster, has worked and travelled in Scandinavia. His subtly-inflected narration brings a truly Nordic flavour to this re-creation of life in sixth-century Britain.

Since Charles Whistler published his novel, both Grimsby and its local heroes have been celebrated from time to time - by Elton John in his album Caribou (1974) and recently in a folk rock musical by local band Merlin's Keep (2014). (Introductory summary by Martin Geeson)

Genre(s): Action & Adventure Fiction, Culture & Heritage Fiction, Historical Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 PREFACE Tony Foster
00:09:46
Play 01 CHAPTER I - GRIM THE FISHER AND HIS SONS Tony Foster
00:22:43
Play 02 CHAPTER II - KING HODULF'S SECRET Tony Foster
00:17:40
Play 03 CHAPTER III - HAVELOK, SON OF GUNNAR Tony Foster
00:27:19
Play 04 CHAPTER IV - ACROSS THE SWAN'S PATH Tony Foster
00:18:22
Play 05 CHAPTER V - STORM AND SHIPWRECK Tony Foster
00:21:44
Play 06 CHAPTER VI - THE BEGINNING OF GRIMSBY TOWN Tony Foster
00:17:26
Play 07 CHAPTER VII - BROTHERHOOD Tony Foster
00:25:53
Play 08 CHAPTER VIII - BERTHUN THE COOK Tony Foster
00:22:30
Play 09 CHAPTER IX - CURAN THE PORTER Tony Foster
00:20:03
Play 10 CHAPTER X - KING ALSI OF LINDSEY Tony Foster
00:22:43
Play 11 CHAPTER XI - THE COMING OF THE PRINCESS Tony Foster
00:21:44
Play 12 CHAPTER XII - IN LINCOLN MARKETPLACE Tony Foster
00:20:08
Play 13 CHAPTER XIII - THE WITAN'S FEASTING Tony Foster
00:23:40
Play 14 CHAPTER XIV - THE CRAFT OF ALSI THE KING Tony Foster
00:24:01
Play 15 CHAPTER XV - THE FORTUNE OF CURAN THE PORTER Tony Foster
00:20:33
Play 16 CHAPTER XVI - A STRANGEST WEDDING Tony Foster
00:24:04
Play 17 CHAPTER XVII - HOW THE BRIDE WENT HOME Tony Foster
00:22:41
Play 18 CHAPTER XVIII - JARL SIGURD OF DENMARK Tony Foster
00:20:37
Play 19 CHAPTER XIX - THE LAST OF GRIFFIN OF WALES Tony Foster
00:25:26
Play 20 CHAPTER XX - THE OWNING OF THE HEIR Tony Foster
00:18:27
Play 21 CHAPTER XXI - THE TOKEN OF SACK AND ANCHOR Tony Foster
00:28:18
Play 22 CHAPTER XXII - KING ALSI'S WELCOME Tony Foster
00:21:53
Play 23 CHAPTER XXIII - BY TETFORD STREAM Tony Foster
00:26:27
Play 24 CHAPTER XXIV - PEACE, AND FAREWELL Tony Foster
00:11:56