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Bretwalda. Bretwalda was created by Philip Ketchum (John Morgan, Captain John Murdock) and appeared in sixteen stories in Argosy in 1939 and 1940, beginning with “The Axe Bites Deep” (Argosy, Feb. 25, 1939); the stories were collected in The Great Axe Bretwalda (1955).

In England, in the 9^th century, the blacksmith Caedmon labors for six days, following a vision. His creation is an enormous axe on which is written the name “Bretwalda.” Everyone thinks that, because “Bretwalda” is the name traditionally given to England’s rulers, the axe should therefore go to King Alfred, but Wilton, a Briton stolen by the hated Danes and raised by them, arrives and claims the axe. Battles against the Vikings and general adventure follow for Wilton and Bretwalda.

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