The Dragon and the Raven

The Dragon and the Raven was a fascinating book about the Medeval culture. We are often taken by the tales of this time period as men were faced with the protection of their homes and families. In this story the young earl name Edmund is faced with taking up leadership of a group of people at a very yound age. His heroism protected the way of life for many Saxons from Christians homes.

The most striking feature of this story is the contrast between the barbarism of the Northmen and the Christian values of the Saxon Christians. There is an interesting dialogue about halfway through the book when Edmund has a chance to kill one of the leaders of the invading armies. He spares the life of this man and his daughter is forever grateful to him but also confused by the act mercy. To heroism was to be sought after in a man but mercy was equated with weakness. For the first time she saw mercy in this act of compassion for her father and she is changed by the experience. Later in the story we find that Edmund is captured by the enemy and the man he had spared worked a deal to save his life.

In the end what we see from this story is one barbaric nation seeking to take over another, but through the interactions of the barbaric culture with Christianity, their barbaric ways begin to be conquered. All throughout Medeval culture we see this theme as it repeats. The gospel has gone forth to bring peace to many nations and brings civilization with it. The Christian values of the people allow them to form civilized mankind that is based on the universal moral laws. This will be a major theme throughout our study in Omnibus II.