England's Martyr (The Ironside Trilogy, #1)

1010AD: England is dying, its people brutalised and its lands ravaged after wave after wave of Norse invaders. King Ethelred does little but sit on his throne, haunted by his troubled past and easy prey for his manipulative advisors, leaving his subjects to fend for themselves. Unwilling to stand by and do nothing, a famous Ealdorman, Ulfcytel of Eastengle, has gathered an army, ready to fight and die rather than capitulate to the latest invader: a brutal "Jomsviking" warlord known as Thorkell the Tall. To Ulfcytel's surprise, his army is soon joined by a stranger from the south, Alaric, who has rushed to assist him in the hope that England might finally prevail. Unbeknownst to Alaric and Ulfcytel, their efforts to save their people have gained the attention of their disturbed and ill-advised king, setting in motion a chain of events that they, and all England, can only hope to endure.