[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theherewardtrilogy.jpg]]

''The Hereward Trilogy'', by Marcus Pitcaithly (author of ''Literature/TheRealmOfAlbion''), is a series of [[HistoricalFiction historical novels]] about the semi-legendary English rebel leader Hereward the Wake. The novels in the series are:

* ''Hereward: Sons of the White Dragon'' (2008)
* ''Hereward: The Fury of the Northmen'' (2009)
* ''Hereward: Doom of Battle'' (2012)

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!!These books provide examples of:
%%* AbductionIsLove: [[spoiler:Thormod]] seems to think so. He's severely deluded.
%%* ActionHero: Hereward.
* AdiposeRex: By the middle of the second book King William is growing stout; the Afterword to the third mentions (accurately) that he was obese by the time he died.
* AerithAndBob: The setting pretty much dictates this one. Norman cultural dominance over the centuries after the Conquest means that many Norman names became and remained commonplace while most Anglo-Saxon ones all but disappeared. There aren't many Herewards around now, but his enemies include multiple Williams and Roberts (history doesn't respect the OneSteveLimit).
* TheAlcoholic: Prince Godwin in the first book.
* AnnoyingArrows: Pretty much averted. An arrow wound is always very nasty - even if it typically takes more than one to finish off a major character.
* ArcWords: "Wyrd goes ever as she will"; "That was [endured / overcome]; so may this be". (Both come from Old English poetry.)
* AristocratsAreEvil: most of them. Unsurprising, since the largely Norman aristocracy installed after the Conquest were the natural enemies of an Anglo-Saxon rebel. With the exception of Starkad and Gunnhild, all the main antagonists are of knightly class or above.
* TheBadGuysWin
* BadBoss: Ivo Taillebois is the outstanding example, but most of the bad guys are this - King William being an exception.
* BadassBoast: Pretty much paraphrased from Charles Kingsley's Hereward novel, with a nod back to the Norse sagas: "Behold the Lord of Bourne! I am Hereward! Hereward the outlaw, the champion, the berserker and the viking! I am the fattener of ravens, the darling of wolves and the curse of the widow! I am the land-thief and the sea-thief, slayer of bears and giants, ravager of the world!"
** Edric: "I am Herne, I am Arthur, I am Woden. I am the Lord of the Wildwood..."
** Ulric: "Come on then, you bastards! Come on, and I'll teach you how to die!"
* BearsAreBadNews: Harek the polar bear. Though it's easy to pity the imprisoned beast, and Hereward does [[spoiler: deeply regret having to kill him]].
* TheBigBad: King William. Many of the lesser antagonists are worse people, and appear more often, but most of them work for him and he is the heroes' ultimate opponent.
* BigDamnHeroes: Lots and lots of rescues. The attack on Spalding Keep (Book 1); the Danes rescuing [[spoiler: Christian and Zainab]] (Book 2); the rescue of [[spoiler: Mariana]] (Book 2); and of [[spoiler: Simeon]] (book 3), just for starters.
* BloodKnight: Edric, in a big way.
* BoisterousBruiser: Ulric Grogan.
* BreakingTheFellowship: This has happened offstage to [[spoiler: Edric's Wish Hounds]] by the end of Book 2, and [[spoiler: happens to Hereward's own gang in the later chapters of Book 3.]]
* BurnTheWitch: Played with. It's accurately pointed out that the eleventh century Church didn't recognise maleficent magic as possible, but the suspicion of witchcraft against Kolfrosta, Torfrida, and Gunnhild is a serious matter nonetheless.
%%* TheCareTaker: Zainab. To a lesser extent, Torfrida.
%%* CharacterTitle: Obviously.
%%* CombatByChampion: Hereward vs. Holbert de Guines.
%%* CoolSword: Brainbiter.
* CorruptChurch: Prior Herluin, Abbot Thorold, every single bishop who appears.
* TheDogBitesBack: Martin, when he [[spoiler: kills his father in revenge for the abuse he and his mother suffered twenty years earlier]] in the first book.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Three of them! The first book ends with the main rebel army defeated and Hereward fleeing back to the Fens; the second, with his Danish allies being bought off and abandoning him; and he dies in the third.]]
* TheDragon: Offstage, Red Alan is King William's dragon; Abbot Thorold's steward Waryn, and Ivo's second steward Hubert, are both brutal enforcers for their masters as well.
%%* DressingAsTheEnemy: A regular ploy.
%%* DualWielding: Lewine.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Grendel to Starkad: "Look after Mother."
* EvilChancellor: Bishop Odo. Also all three of Ivo's successive stewards: they struggle to be quite as nasty as their boss, but are much smarter.
* TheExile: Hereward at the beginning, with multiple flashbacks to this period of his life.
%%* EyepatchOfPower: Lysir; also Christian in Book 2.
%%* TheFaceless: The Guardian of Wandlebury.
* FeudalOverlord: It's early Norman England. The place is overrun with them.
* {{Foil}}: Edric and Hiccafrith to Hereward; Elfthryth to Torfrida.
* ForeignRulingClass: Obviously.
* FrenchJerk: Technically, most of the Normans. Although the fact that Normandy was at the time both culturally distinct and politically an enemy of the Kingdom of France is clearly laid out.
* FullBoarAction: The hunt for the Yule boar in Book 1.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Queen Mathilde may not go out of her way to be cruel, but she's utterly ruthless when necessary. (She may weep when having her former admirer Brihtric tortured to death, but she still does it.)
* GorgeousPeriodDress: Clothes tend to get more detailed descriptions than the people in them.
%%* HairTriggerTemper: Ivo Taillebois.
%%* HerHeartWillGoOn: [[spoiler: Torfrida]] at the end of Book 3.
%%* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Ulric]].
* HeterosexualLifePartner: Hereward and Martin; Winter and Gwynnog; Winter and Hereward before the latter's banishment.
* HistoricalCharactersFictionalRelative: Krakus is the brother of the real Prince Kruto of the Obodrites.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Hereward, King William, and scores of lesser known ones.
* HookHand: Gartnait Ironhook. Surprisingly enough.
* IDieFree
* InadequateInheritor: The sons of King Harold.
* KingIncognito: This is what [[spoiler: Christian]] claims to have spent the last three years as, before revealing himself in Book 2... but [[spoiler: we never find out if he really is Harold - and it's hinted that Lysir may be]].
* LaResistance: Hereward, his followers, and the Camp of Refuge.
* TheLadysFavour: A theme in the development of Hereward's relationship with Torfrida, and his enmity with her rejected suitor Ascelin.
%%%* LegacyImmortality: [[spoiler: The Guardian of Wandlebury.]]
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: All three. ''Sons of the White Dragon'' is a quote from ''Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}''; ''The Fury of the Northmen'' from the so-called "Fury Litany"; and ''Doom of Battle'' from ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}''.
* LittleMissBadass: Lucy.
* LoveDodecahedron: Oh boy. Ascelin jealously covets Torfrida. Torfrida loves, and marries, Hereward. Hereward loves Torfrida, but is attracted to, feels protective towards, and [[spoiler: temporarily ends up with]] Elfthryth. Elfthryth is married to Dolfin...
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: This happens a lot. Notably [[spoiler: Lysir]], who may actually be [[spoiler: Woden]]!
%%* MysteriousPast: Martin, initially; later, Christian.
%%* NamedWeapons: Brainbiter.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Gartnait Ironhook; the Wild Huntsman; Grendel (explicitly named after the one in ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}''). Also Brainbiter, though that's a sword.
%%* NomDeGuerre: Naemansson.
* OneSteveLimit: The Normans weren't very imaginative when it comes to naming conventions, and there are a lot of Williams and Roberts around; but the author tries to stick to this where possible, for instance using the different forms Turaud and Thorold for two of Hereward's enemies who ought by rights to have the same name.
* PeopleOfHairColour: Averted. This trope is very common when depicting the Norman v. Anglo-Saxon conflict, but here there's a wide variety on both sides.
* {{Pirate}}: Brunman of Skirbeck, though we only get one scene of actual piracy.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Ivo. His misogyny and snobbery are consistent throughout the books, and in the third he comes out with "Do you know why I allowed those Jews to sully my hall with their unclean presence?" (Mind you, there's anti-Semitism on the good guys' team as well, until the revelation that [[spoiler: Girolamo is Jewish]] shuts everyone up. This is, of course, accurate for the time period.)
* PublicDomainCharacter: Hiccafrith is the fairy-tale hero Tom Hickathrift; Thord, Girolamo, and Prior Herluin all come from Victorian novels about Hereward.
%%* RapePillageAndBurn: The Harrying of the North.
%%* RebelLeader: Hereward, obviously; also Edric.
* RedRightHand: Gartnait's hook; Grendel's deformed appearance, though there's an element of sympathy here, and his handsome brother Starkad proves even more dangerous.
* RedShirt: Lots of Norman soldiers, though one or two are given their own little backstory.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Well, it won't if Edric has anything to do with it. He and his Wish Hounds, however, are exceptional: Hereward, though he can be fairly ruthless himself, is disgusted by their barbarism.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: Hereward and his core group of companions are heroic rebels.
* RightfulKingReturns: Played with. Lots of people consider themselves the rightful King, and attempt to take "back" the Crown; and Hereward allies with pretty much all of them at different times, since his main concern is getting rid of William.
* RoaringRampageOfRescue: The storming of [[spoiler: Spalding Keep]] in Book 1.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Hereward's reaction to [[spoiler: Toli's]] death in Book 1; the chasing down of [[spoiler: Edwin's]] murderers in Book 3 (though the latter [[spoiler: kind of fizzles out]]).
%%* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething
* SaintlyChurch: Abbot Brand, Father Wulfwine, a few other sympathetic clerics; somewhat outnumbered by the CorruptChurch.
%%* SecretUndergroundPassage: How the outlaws get into [[spoiler: Thornbury.]]
* ShoutOut: Rowena's name is an homage to ''Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}'', which supplied the title of the first book.
* ShoutOutToShakespeare: Book 2's flashbacks to Hereward's time in Scotland reference ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', and occur in a chapter entitled "Daggers in Men's Smiles" - a quote from the play.
* ShownTheirWork: A lot. Plenty of obscure historical characters and real events crop up.
%%* SpoiledBrat: Mariana in Book 2 has more than a touch of this.
* TokenEnemyMinority: [[spoiler: Father Hugo]] is a Norman who ends up on Hereward's team.
* TokenMinority: Zainab could be called this. Also [[spoiler: Girolamo]]. Arguably, though, it's not really tokenism so much as realism: they both belong to groups whose numbers in Anglo-Norman England were tiny.
* TrialByCombat: Hereward vs. Gartnait in Book 1; d' Éda vs. Osbern in Book 3.
* TheUnsolvedMystery: Who is/are [[spoiler: the Guardian of Wandlebury]]?
* WarriorPrince: William; Diarmait; Svend; Malcolm; Macbeth in the flashback to his death. (Also [[spoiler: Christian, if he really is Harold...]])
* WhatMeasureIsAMook: Albert fitz Guy in Book 2 gets a potted biography, despite being essentially a RedShirt.
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