Uhtred of Bebbanburg is a son of the Saxon Ealdorman Uhtred, Lord of Bebbanburg, and was born in Northumbria. He lived during the era of Alfred the Great in the late 9th century, when Britain was divided between warring kingdoms, each one ruled by it's own king. The Danes had already landed, conquering large parts of Britain. As a child, Uhtred learned that the Danes, and the kingdoms of Scotland, Mercia, East Anglia and Wessex were his enemy, and the enemy of his kingdom.