August 2025 – History… the interesting bits!

Wordly Women: Elizabeth Chadwick

30/08/202530/07/2025Sharon Bennett Connolly2 Comments

Throughout my writing career, I have been very lucky to have enjoyed the friendship of Elizabeth Chadwick. A truly generous person, Elizabeth and I shared a stage at the Newark Book Festival in July 2018. I had only published my first book, Heroines of the Medieval World the previous September, and I was a nervous wreck. Elizabeth was the star of the show, I was the newcomer, and she could have easily dominated the conversation – no one would have blamed her. Everyone was there to see her, not me. But Elizabeth was calm, encouraging and made sure I had my say. I will never forget that.

So, it is an honour and a pleasure to welcome Elizabeth to History … the Interesting Bits as part of my Wordly Women series, to discuss her writing career and her love of history – and William Marshal, of course!

Sharon: Hi, Elizabeth. So, what got you into writing?

Elizabeth: I came into the world as a storyteller. I can remember very clearly telling myself stories with beginnings, middles and ends at the age of three. Throughout my childhood I made up stories, inspired from illustrations I liked in books. I’d invent whole tales around pieces of artwork, say from the wonderful pages of Ladybird books. Even at a young age I was asking myself ‘What if this happened?’ Who, where, what why? I learned the art of story telling just by having fun – and reading a lot obviously. I didn’t write anything down until my mid-teens by which time I decided that I wanted to bring some posterity to my verbal stories and so began writing them down. I was fifteen when I wrote my first historical novel, purely for fun, and enjoyed the experience so much that I decided that I wanted to do this for my career. Eight unpublished novels later I finally got there.

Sharon: Tell us about your books.

Elizabeth: I write historical fiction set in the Middle Ages, mostly covering England and France with a bit of the Middle East thrown in. I began writing my stories with imaginary protagonists but then moved on to biographical fiction. They are character-driven stories of the life and times of the people, focussing on their family lives interwoven with political and emotional drama. I research the period meticulously and blend fact and fiction with an emphasis on telling an engrossing story without depriving the facts of their integrity. I have award winning novels and New York Times bestsellers among my published novels to date.

Sharon: What attracts you to the medieval period?

Elizabeth: It was actually chance that brought me to the Middle Ages. As I’ve mentioned above, I told myself stories throughout my childhood. I enjoyed historical TV dramas and became quite hooked on The Six Wives of Henry VIII starring Keith Michell. That led me to write down my first ever story over the summer holidays when I was fourteen. I enjoyed the exercise, but ran out of steam, however, I’d laid the groundwork. I became very enamoured of a knight in a children’s TV program put out by the BBC and dubbed from the French. It was called Desert Crusader, In French it was Thibaud ou les Croisades. My weekly doses of Desert Crusader led me to take up my pen again, and this time I didn’t run out of steam. This time I wrote a whole novel. It started out as a piece of fan fiction I guess, but within two chapters had taken on a life of its own – rather like me making up brand new stories to the Ladybird books of my childhood. Once I had the basic visual inspiration I was off. Since I knew nothing about the Holy Land and very little about the Middle Ages I had to begin researching because I wanted my story to have veracity and feel real. However if I hadn’t fallen for actor Andre Lawrence as Thibaud, ‘Le Chevalier Blanc’ I might never have taken to the Medieval period the way I did. Such are moments of chance in our lives.

Sharon: Who is your favourite medieval character and why?

Elizabeth: It would have to be the great William Marshal. You don’t get many of his kind to the pound. He had an amazing life and great integrity. He rose from the ranks of the ordinary jobbing nobility and a life in the military, and by using his charisma, intelligence, physical abilities and sheer personality, came to the attention of the Angevin royal family. Having saved the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, he was taken into royal service. He was a champion of the tourneys, a far-travelled pilgrim, a counsellor of kings. He had his ups and downs and he wasn’t perfect by any manner of means, but the Angevins trusted him enough to give him a fantastic marriage to a great heiress (and they appear to have been very compatible despite a more than 20 year age gap). He became earl of Pembroke under King John and involved in the development of Magna Carta. When King John died, William took over the rule of England on behalf of John’s 9 year old son Henry III. He dealt with the volatile political situation in a way that showed he had a firm grasp of the politics and a practical knowledge of what to do. And at the battle of Lincoln in 1217, aged approx. 71, he saw off the French and got the country back on an even keel.

Sharon: Who is your least favourite medieval character and why?

Elizabeth: I don’t have a least favourite. Even the villains are interesting. I have some very least favourite modern politicians, but that’s because they’re in my face and I am having to deal with emotions engendered as consequences of their actions rather than being more objective. I do find it fascinating how people almost come to blows over Richard III and Henry VII and hold such passionate loyalties over a pair of men who are now bones. The War of the Roses is fought over and over and over again all day online! Having said that, I do admit I have a huge fondness for William Marshal which is certainly not dispassionate. I don’t however, get in a lather about King John!

Sharon: How do you approach researching your topic?

Elizabeth: I’ve been studying the Middle Ages since I was fifteen years old and I am a few decades older now, so I have a good grounding in the general research of the period. I don’t have to start from scratch. I research using academic and specialist books of which I have a wide-ranging library – in several rooms of my house! I research online these days – when I began my career that wasn’t an option, but now it is, and it’s more a case of limiting the information and knowing which are the bona fide sites. While there’s a great deal of marvellous research resources out there, it has to be said that sadly copious amounts of rubbish exist too and one has to become an expert at sifting. I might do bits of experimental living history. I used to re-enact before I ran out of time and I still have all the kit and friends in the business toward whom I can direct questions. I also have friends in the academic community who are very helpful.

Sharon: Tell us your ‘favourite’ medieval story you have come across in your research.

Elizabeth: I think that would have to be the great William Marshal who attended a tournament with his lord the Young King, eldest son of Henry II. During the tournament they captured another knight for ransom and brought him back to their own camp sitting on his horse with a lead rein. However, on the way there they had to pass some buildings and the captured knight lifted himself off his horse and shimmied up a gutter pipe and clambered onto a house gallery (upstairs veranda sort of thing). Meanwhile, William Marshal was riding along, holding the reins of a riderless horse and not realising his captive had absconded until the Young King, doubled up with laughter, let him know – he’d been in on the joke for a while!

Sharon: Tell us your least ‘favourite’ medieval story you have come across in your research.

Elizabeth: There are quite a few, but here’s a typical one. It would be in a work I was reading on criminal cases in Medieval Coventry. Someone stole a horse and was put in the stocks for it by the bailiff. But it was a very, very cold night and the criminal got frost bite which resulted in his lower legs perishing and then dropping off! He died, and the bailiff was arrested for murder – pretty gruesome!

Sharon: Are there any other eras you would like to write about?

Elizabeth: Arthurian might be interesting, although I’d need to do a lot of reading up because history has changed a lot since I became a fan of that era via various novels. When I first began writing as a teen, I almost wrote a Regency novel, but Medieval pipped Regency at the post. It might still be interesting to do, but again, I’d need to get stuck into the research so probably not.

Sharon: What are you working on now?

Elizabeth: I’ve just completed The Uncrowned Queen, the second part of Joan of Kent’s amazing story and I am now working on an untitled novel about Katherine Swynford and her two husbands – Hugh Swynford and John of Gaunt. I am finding it fascinating, especially the way research has moved on and changed datelines, nuances and our understanding of the period and the protagonists. It goes to show that so much of the time what we think we know is actually what we don’t know. Actually, if we are prepared to swallow long-cherished beliefs and re-learn, it’s immensely exciting and rewarding!

Sharon: And finally, what is the best thing about being a writer?

Elizabeth: Being your own boss to an extent. As long as I put in the word count, I can get up as I please and go to bed as I please. Equal with that are the many good friends I have made over my career, both the readers and the historians – and I’ve learned a lot of cool things too!

About the Author:

Elizabeth Chadwick is a UK million selling historical novelist whose works are based in the medieval period. She won a Betty Trask award for her first published novel The Wild Hunt and the RNA prize for Historical fiction in 2011 with To Defy A King. Her novel The Greatest Knight is a New York Times bestseller and has been optioned for film and TV together with several others in the same series. Specialising in the Middle Ages, with a particular interest in the life and times of William Marshal and the Angevin court, she occasionally lectures on the academic circuit and gives talks on historical tours. Elizabeth is also a member of The Royal Historical Society. When not writing, Elizabeth enjoys chatting to readers on all sorts of subjects but with a strong emphasis on reading and medieval history.

My books

Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Scotland’s history is dramatic, violent and bloody. Being England’s northern neighbour has never been easy. Scotland’s queens have had to deal with war, murder, imprisonment, political rivalries and open betrayal. They have loved and lost, raised kings and queens, ruled and died for Scotland. From St Margaret, who became one of the patron saints of Scotland, to Elizabeth de Burgh and the dramatic story of the Scottish Wars of Independence, to the love story and tragedy of Joan Beaufort, to Margaret of Denmark and the dawn of the Renaissance, Scotland’s Medieval Queens have seen it all. This is the story of Scotland through their eyes.

‘Scotland’s Medieval Queens gives a thorough grounding in the history of the women who ruled Scotland at the side of its kings, often in the shadows, but just as interesting in their lives beyond the spotlight. It’s not a subject that has been widely covered, and Sharon is a pioneer in bringing that information into accessible history.’ Elizabeth Chadwick (New York Times bestselling author)

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available for pre-order from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.

Defenders of the Norman Crown: The Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III. Available from Pen & Sword Books, Amazon in the UK and US, and Bookshop.org. Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England looks into the relationships of the various noble families of the 13th century, and how they were affected by the Barons’ Wars, Magna Carta and its aftermath; the bonds that were formed and those that were broken. It is now available in paperback and hardback from Pen & Sword, Amazon, and Bookshop.org. Heroines of the Medieval World tells the stories of some of the most remarkable women from Medieval history, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Julian of Norwich. Available now from Amberley Publishing and Amazon, and Bookshop.org. Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest traces the fortunes of the women who had a significant role to play in the momentous events of 1066. Available now from Amazon, Amberley Publishing, and Bookshop.org.

Alternate Endings: An anthology of historical fiction short stories including Long Live the King… which is my take what might have happened had King John not died in October 1216. Available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.

Podcast:

Have a listen to the A Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Elizabeth Chadwick and Bernard Cornwell and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

Don’t forget! Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.

For forthcoming online and in-person talks, please check out my Events Page.

You can be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter, Threads, Bluesky and Instagram.

Sybilla of Normandy, Queen of Scots

23/08/202523/08/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

Alexander I was the second-to-youngest son of Malcolm III Canmore and his sainted wife Margaret of Wessex. Born around 1077 or 1078, he was thirty-or-so when he ascended the throne in 1107, ‘as the King Henry granted him.’¹Like his brother Edgar before him, Alexander succeeded to the throne as a vassal of the English crown. He had probably spent the years between his father’s death and Edgar’s accession in exile in England, with Edgar and their younger brother, David. John of Fordun provides a largely flattering assessment of Alexander I as king:

‘Now the king was a lettered and godly man ; very humble and amiable towards the clerics and regulars, but terrible beyond measure to the rest of his subjects; a man of large heart, exerting himself in all things beyond his strength. He was most zealous in building churches, in searching for relics of saints, in providing and arranging priestly vestments and sacred books; most open-handed, even beyond his means, to all newcomers; and so devoted to the poor, that he seemed to delight in nothing so much as in supporting them, washing, nourishing, and clothing them.’²

One of the primary duties of a king is to marry and produce heirs; at least one son, preferably two – the heir and the spare. This guarantees the succession and offers stability to a country. Even daughters were useful to a king, their marriages cementing alliances with friends and enemies alike. Alexander I was married shortly after his accession to the throne. His bride was offered to him by his brother-in-law, King Henry I of England. She was Sybilla, also known as Sybilla of Normandy, one of the King of England’s many illegitimate offspring.

King Henry had more than twenty illegitimate children and as many as five were by the same mother, his mistress, or concubine, Sybilla Corbet. Orderic Vitalis refers to Sybilla of Normandy as ‘the daughter of King Henry by a concubine’.³ It is highly likely that Sybilla Corbet was Sybilla’s mother, one indication being their shared Christian name. She was the daughter of a Shropshire landowner named Robert Corbet. Her children with the king included Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, and a young man named William, who was described as the queen’s brother when he accompanied the younger Sybilla to Scotland. Sybilla Corbet is also reputed to have been the mother of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, Henry I’s oldest son and the stalwart supporter of his legitimate sister, Empress Matilda, during the Anarchy. After the end of her relationship with the king, Sybilla Corbet would go on to marry Herbert FitzHerbert, who held lands in Yorkshire and Gloucestershire, and have a further five children.

The date of Alexander’s marriage to Sybilla is unknown, though it is thought to have been shortly after his accession to the throne, possibly in 1107 or 1108, and before his involvement in the English campaign in Wales in 1114. It was in a charter dated to 1114 or 1115 that Alexander and Sybilla jointly refounded Scone Abbey, whereby they are referred to as ‘Alexander … King of Scots, son of King Malcolm and Queen Margaret and … Sybilla, Queen of Scots, daughter of King Henry of England.’⁴

Another unknown is Sybilla’s age at the time of her marriage as her birth was unrecorded. Alexander was in his 30s, while most historians agree that it is likely that Sybilla was born in the mid-to-late 1090s and probably in her mid-teens. Although born out of wedlock, as the acknowledged daughter of King Henry I of England, Sybilla was considered a suitable wife for King Alexander. Henry I’s illegitimate daughters played an important role in his foreign and domestic policies; no fewer than ten of them were married into the upper classes of the Norman-French nobility to cement political alliances. Sybilla’s illegitimate status was of less significance than the fact her father was the King of England.

The marriage was intended to bind Alexander even closer to England and to King Henry personally, who was already his brother-in-law, having married Alexander’s sister, Matilda of Scotland, shortly after becoming king. The union was also aimed at securing peace along the Anglo-Scottish border. In his chronicle, William of Malmesbury recorded the marriage, though did not name Sybilla and added ‘there was … some defect about the lady either in correctness of manners or elegance of person.’⁵ Malmesbury stated that Alexander ‘did not sigh much when she died before him, for the woman lacked, as is said, what was desired, either in modest manners, or in elegant body’.⁶ Unfortunately, William of Malmesbury does not elaborate further on this defect, nor on the reasons behind such an unflattering description of the Scottish queen. No other chronicler mentions any flaws in the queen. It is possible that Malmesbury was playing down the queen’s attributes, and the impact of her death on the king, in order to find favour with her brother-in-law David, Alexander I’s younger brother and heir.

Some historians have interpreted the childless marriage as also being loveless, perhaps drawing on Malmesbury’s depiction of Sybilla, most actually agree that, although there were no children, it was a happy and loving marriage. With this distance of time, it would be difficult to be certain either way. However, despite the lack of an heir, Alexander did not repudiate his wife, though that could always be as a result of who her father was. Rosalind Marshal suggests that Alexander loved Sybilla, and mourned her deeply when she died, founding a church in her memory.

Alexander and Sybilla’s court is said to have been one of splendour, with reference to Arab stallions and Turkish men-at-arms. They issued a number of charters together, including the one founding Scone Abbey, mentioned above. Scone was the ancient site for the installation and crowning of Scotland’s kings, it was the centre of royal power in Scotland. Sybilla’s inclusion in the foundation of the Augustinian priory there demonstrates how she had become an integral part of the Scottish ruling dynasty. She and Alexander also made a joint offering to the cathedral church of St Andrews.

Sybilla also made grants, as an ecclesiastical patron, in her own right. She granted the manor of Beath in Fife to Dunfermline Abbey, the monastery founded by her husband’s parents, Malcolm III and Queen Margaret, their final resting place. Sybilla attested one of the four surviving charters from Alexander I’s reign, demonstrating her presence at court and involvement in the affairs of state. Significantly, it may have been Sybilla who acted as peacemaker between the king and Eadmer, when he became Bishop of St Andrews. Due to the investiture controversy that was causing issues throughout Europe, with kings and bishops in disagreement over the validity of lay investiture, Eadmer accepted the ring of office from King Alexander, but not the staff. The staff had been placed on the altar at the cathedral of St Andrews and it seems likely that Sybilla was the one who broached the compromise whereby Eadmer would take the episcopal ring from the king, but the pastoral staff from the altar. When Eadmer arrived at the cathedral church of St Andrews to take up the pastoral staff, Queen Sybilla was there to greet him.

Queen Sybilla died suddenly on the Island of the Women at ‘Loch Tay, the cell of the canons of Scone’ on 12 or 13 July 1122 and was buried at Dunfermline Abbey. Afterwards, the king granted the island on Loch Tay, and its surrounding lands, to the canons at Scone, to pray for the soul of Queen Sybilla, and himself. Alexander did not remarry after Sybilla’s death, leaving the crown to his brother, David, on his own death in 1124.

Queen Sybilla has left little imprint on history, beyond her name as a witness on a surviving charter and the founding of Scone Abbey. That she did not bear children, and therefore an heir for Alexander I, means that she did not have living descendants to keep her memory alive and memorialise her life and deeds, as Queen Margaret had. Her significance is, perhaps, not in her impact on Scotland but rather the physical link that she represented between the kingdoms and dynasties of England and Scotland, and thus demonstrating Scottish acceptance of Norman rule in England.

***

Notes:

1. Manuscript E, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, edited and translated by Michael Swanton, p. 241; 2. John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish nation, pp. 217-218; 3. ‘filiam Henrici regis Anglorun ex concubine’ Orderic Vitalis cited in Danna Messer, Medieval Monarchs, Female Illegitimacy and Modern Genealogical Matters: Part 1: Sybilla, Queen of Scotland, c. 1090-1122, fmg.ac; 4. ‘Alexander…rex Scottorum filius regis Malcolmi et regine Margerete et…Sibilla regina Scottorum filia Henrici regis Anglie’ Scone, 1, p. 1. Quoted in fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTLAND; 5. William of Malmesbury, 400, p. 349, quoted in fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTLAND; 6. William of Malmesbury, quoted in Messer, Medieval Monarchs, Female Illegitimacy and Modern Genealogical Matters: Part 1: Sybilla, Queen of Scotland, c. 1090-1122

Images:

Sources:

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, edited and translated by Michael Swanton; John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish nation; Danna Messer, Medieval Monarchs, Female Illegitimacy and Modern Genealogical Matters: Part 1: Sybilla, Queen of Scotland, c. 1090-1122; fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTLAND; Jessica Nelson, Sybilla (d. 1122), queen of Scots and consort of Alexander I, Oxforddnb.com; Walter Bower, Scotichronicon; A.A.M. Duncan, Alexander I, Oxforddnb.com; Forester, The Chronicle of John Florence of Worcester with the two continuations; David Ross, Scotland, History of a Nation; Rosalind K. Marshall, Scottish Queens 1034-1714; Mike Ashley, A Brief History of British Kings & Queens; Richard Oram, editor, The Kings & Queens of Scotland

My books

Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.

Podcast:

Have a listen to the A Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Michael Jecks, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

Don’t forget! Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

For forthcoming online and in-person talks, please check out my Events Page.

You can be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter, Threads, Bluesky and Instagram.

Book Corner: The Queen’s Musician by Martha Jean Johnson

22/08/202520/08/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

For fans of Philippa Gregor, Alison Weir and Elizabeth Fremantle, an untold story about how the plot against Anne Boleyn entrapped a gifted young musician. A glamorous queen, a volatile king, a gifted musician concealing a forbidden romance.

Everyone knows Anne Boleyn’s story. No one knows Mark Smeaton’s. On May 17, 1536, a young court musician was executed, accused of adultery and treason with the queen. Most historians believe both he and Anne Boleyn were innocent – victims of Henry VIII’s rage.

Mark Smeaton was a talented performer who rose from poverty to become a royal favourite. He played for the king in private and entertained at sumptuous feasts. He witnessed Anne Boleyn’s astonishing rise and fall – her reign of a thousand days. History tells us little about him, other than noting his confession and execution. The Queen’s Musician imagines his story, as seen from his perspective and that of the young woman who loves him. It all takes place amid the spectacle and danger of the Tudor court.

What an interesting take on a well known story!

The Queen’s Musician by Martha Jean Johnson looks at the story of Anne Boleyn’s downfall through the eyes of her musician, Mark Smeaton. Smeaton was the lowliest, in terms of social standing, of the men accused of sleeping with Henry VIII’s second queen. You cannot fail to feel sympathy for the poor musician, drawn into a scandal created by his social superiors.

Young Mark Smeaton establishes himself in the reader’s affections from the very beginning. You find yourself invested in his life, enjoying his journey, his music and his success. But then, once in a while, you remember where the book is going, inexorably, to its tragic, dramatic end. The tension is palpable the closer you get to the dramatic events of 1536.

All to bring down a queen.

Poor Mark!

Even if he hadn’t been king, His Majesty would have been a commanding figure. He was vigorous, with masculine features, draped in white and gold. The rotund, graying cardinal hovered near him like a honeybee buzzing a flower. Recalling the scene later, I could see the rupture between them. More than once, the cardinal leaned close to His Majesty to begin a conversation, but the king turned his head away.

The room was still noisy, the diners talking among themselves. I waited for someone to call for quiet so the concert could begin. Several minutes passed, and I stood beside the stool uncertain what to do. I bowed to His Majesty and the others, but they took no notice. I began to worry that my great opportunity would turn out to be a humiliating disappointment. Then the king brought his goblet to his lips, drank slowly, paused, and raised his hand for silence. He said nothing, but his command was clear: I am ready now. You may begin.

Dressed like a prince and given this chance to entertain the king, I was pleased with my performance that night. I played six pieces, mostly English, before ending with the French love song. The king stood at his place and applauded. “Excellent, my boy, wonderful. Your songs bring me back to my younger days.”

I stood and bowed deeply. “Thank you, Your Majesty.” I glanced at the cardinal who looked only at the king.

“What is your name?”

“I am Mark Smeaton, Your Majesty.” I bowed again, elated by even this brief attention.

“The French song – it was perfection. I might want to sing it. Send me the music and the words.”

“With great pleasure, Your Majesty. I would be most honored to prepare a copy.”

“Be sure to get it from him.” The king motioned to one of his grooms who, like me, kept bowing his head.

The cardinal edged closer to the king and said, “It will be done before you leave, Your Majesty.” The king acted like he didn’t hear.

After my performance, I joined several other musicians playing light music to enhance what seemed like a festive mood. The cardinal approached and said, “Thank you, Mark – your songs have lifted His Majesty’s spirits. Please prepare the manuscript tomorrow morning.”

“You will have it before ten o’clock, Your Eminence.” In this moment, my excitement at playing for the king blended with my concern for the cardinal’s enterprise. “I hope I have helped you, sir,” I added. The old man’s nod of the head signaled his gratitude.

The next day after breakfast, I ran to the chapel to make the copy and tell Master Peter that the king had complimented my playing.

“The king has already left,” he said…

Although you know Anne Boleyn’s story, The Queen’s Musician by Martha Jean Johnson will catch you out and draw you in. The author does a wonderful job of depicting the Tudor court; its decadence, the political intrigues, the social strata and the dangerous undercurrents. The latent fear. In Tudor times, ability and intelligence could rise to the top – but it could also lead to one’s downfall.

The Queen’s Musician has all of this … with a little bit of forbidden love thrown into the mix!

Historically accurate, it gets you thinking, too. That you may have heard Smeaton’s music without even knowing it. That his music was attributed to others, or marked as anonymous in order to guarantee its survival following Smeaton’s downfall and execution. It makes you wonder…

Martha Jean Johnson has found a unique angle for telling a familiar story. But this is not Anne Boleyn’s tale. It’s the story of a man who fell victim to those determined to bring down a queen, at all costs. No matter the collateral damage it would take to do it. The tragedy is the poor boy was a pawn, drawn into the intrigues of the great and good, who stepped on him, destroyed him to gain for themselves more power, more influence…

I admit it, I cried.

I always think it is the sign of a good book if it can bring me to tears. The Queen’s Musician is a good book!

The Queen’s Musician by Martha Jean Johnson is beautifully written, thoughtful and deep.

To Buy the Book: The Queen’s Musician

About the author:

Martha Jean Johnson is a writer of fiction and non-fiction and the author of a series of books and articles on public opinion and public policy. The Queen’s Musician is her debut novel. She also reviews trends in historical fiction and discusses her own love of reading and writing in her biweekly blog, Historical Magic. She currently divides her time between writing and her work with the National Issues Forums Institute, an organization that encourages civil discourse and nonpartisan deliberation on national and local issues. During a long public policy career, she analyzed and reported on American public thinking, working with noted social analyst and public opinion pioneer, Daniel Yankelovich. She has published articles in USA Today and The Huffington Post and appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and PBS. She is the author of a series of nonfiction paperbacks on major political issues, co-authored with Scott Bittle and published by HarperCollins. She holds degrees from Mount Holyoke College, Brown University, and Simmons College. She lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.

My books

Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.

Podcast:

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

Don’t forget! Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

For forthcoming online and in-person talks, please check out my Events Page.

You can be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter, Threads, Bluesky and Instagram.

Book Corner: The Druid’s Prey by Steven A. McKay

20/08/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

A vicious attack. An enraged warrior-druid. A relentless hunt for vengeance!

Following a cowardly raid on Dun Breatann the Saxon attacker, Saksnot, rides back to rejoin his bretwalda, Hengist, in far-off Garrianum. Bellicus, outraged by the savage attack on his people and his closest friend, follows the perpetrator with just one thing on his mind: bloody justice!
As the towering druid hunts his prey across the summer fields and streams, Arthur, Bear of Britain, seeks to make a lasting peace with the new immigrants from across the sea. Hengist has no such plans however, instead working alongside his terrifying volva, Thorbjorg, to bring only blood, fire, and death to the embattled Britons.

As the brutal struggle for supremacy rages between the two warlords and their armies, Bellicus will find himself drawn into an adventure he could never have foreseen. An adventure that may seal the fate of Britain for generations to come.

Yes! Bellicus is back!

And better than ever! The Druid’s Prey by Steven A. McKay is the seventh book in Steven’s excellent Warrior Druid of Britain Chronicles. As regular readers will know, I have been reading this series since the first book, The Druid. The books follow the adventures of Bellicus the druid, his family and his Roman friend, Duro, as the defend their home, Dun Breatann, and the rest of Britain from the invading Saxons, led by Hengist and Horsa. Well, its just Hengist now, thanks to The Vengeance of Merlin. A sucker for anything Arthurian, Steven A. McKay also draws in the legendary Arthur, Lancelot and his loyal knights. And I love how Arthur is drawn into Bellicus’ story, but never fully takes over.

It’s a perfect combination and partnership.

In The Druid’s Prey, Bellicus is set on revenge, traveling the length of Britain to find the man who had tried to kill him and hurt his friend. Further south, Arthur is trying to take the war to Hengist, to strike a blow that will hurt the Saxon leader’s forces, and to find a friend of his own who has been captured by the enemy. Oh, and while Bellicus is away, his wife and daughter, Narina and Catia, work to strengthen Dun Breatann’s position and stave off the influence of the hated Hengist. Three missions that the reader can’t help but hope they collide…

The bear stopped moving, taking in the sight of the boar which was peering at it in return. And then the bear looked up at Bellicus and their eyes met. The druid swallowed, knowing for certain that he had come across this very animal before – it had attacked them some years prior, not far from where they were now, badly injuring King Coroticus and Gavo and killing one warrior and three dogs. It had eventually decided to give up the fight but only once it had a spear stuck in its back and a number of arrows from the Damnonii hunters’ bows. Bellicus examined its hairy pelt for evidence of those earlier wounds but it seemed to have healed well in the intervening years.

As if it recalled the battle the bear suddenly stood up on its hind legs and let out an enormous roar. Bellicus gazed at it in awe – the animal was not just enormous, it was majestic, and the thought of trying to kill it again was truly terrifying.

It seemed the boar had similar thoughts, for instead of charging at the bear, it turned and hurried off into the trees, the spear that Duro had planted in its side clattering noisily against tree trunks until, at last, it must have snapped off for there was a last, distant squeal and then only the low growling of the bear was left to fill the clearing.

“Mithras protect us, we’re in for it now,” Duro said, doing his best to draw his spatha while still gripping the trunk of his tree for dear life. “At least the boar couldn’t get up here.”

“Don’t do anything,”Bellicus ordered in a low voice. “Do you not recognise it?”

“Aye,” the centurion nodded. “It’s the same bear that almost killed us all before. You told us to let it go back then for some mad reason.”

“The Bear of Britain,” Bellicus said, so softly Duro could not hear him. “That’s what the Merlin had called Arthur.” Memories of the previous encounter with the bear were filling his mind and he remembered being in a shocked stupor as he’d stared at the bear bristling with missiles like a hedgehog. The animal had lost the will to fight that day and Bellicus had commanded those with him to let it go, a decision he’d never really understood himself. For some reason he’d seen the beast as connected to Arthur, or perhaps he just didn’t want any more people – or Cai, for the mastiff had been involved in the fighting too – getting injured or killed.

Whatever his motives had been, the bear stared up at him now, its round, dark eyes fixing on his own. There seemed an intelligence behind that gaze that Bellicus had not expected. Did it recognise him? Did it understand that he’d been the one that called off the attack on it and most likely saved its life after their previous encounter? Maybe. The druid knew that bears had an even more developed sense of smell than dogs, so it was possible the beast, which had dropped back to all fours now, recognised his scent if not his face.

The bear made a strange, ululating, guttural grunting sound and then simply wandered off into the trees, quickly disappearing from sight.

“Is… Is it over?” Duro gasped, sword still glinting in the last of the sunshine as he lowered himself down, hanging from a branch by one arm as he tried to see through the foliage and make sure the bear had really gone.

Hengist is on the road to revenge, taking any opportunity he can to punish his brother’s killers, whilst at the same time increasing his hold on Britain, extending his influence and grabbing more land. He sends an assassin north to Dun Breatann, captures one of Arthur’s leading men and seeks allies among the enemies of Bellicus and Queen Narina. The Druid’s Prey by Steven A. McKay has more than one story within its pages – and more than one hero!

It is a rollercoaster journey through post-Roman Britain as the lead characters fight to hold onto their lands, their friends and their family. Their are more than a few heart-in-the-mouth moments along the way. And, if you are reading at night, beware! “Just one more chapter…” will lead to 3 or 4 more!

As we are at book no. 7 in the Warrior Druid of Britain series, Steven A. McKay’s characters are well developed and very familiar to us. We know how Bellicus will react to his family and friends being attacked. We know that his daughter, Catia, now 12 years old, is not a little girl to whom things happen-she is a pre-teen, trained in warfare, experienced beyond her years but still needing the guidance of parents to keep her out of the worst trouble. And Arthur, everyone’s hero and Bellicus’ friend. Well, his adventures never fail to inspire and entertain. And each of these characters have to make choices and decisions that affect, not only themselves but also their people. Agonising decisions will lead to more danger, adventure and not a little swordplay.

I won’t tell you any more – I do not want to ruin it for anyone.

All I will say is, The Druid’s Prey by Steven A. McKay is the 7th book in a series and yet is as fresh and original as the first. If you have not yet read this excellent series, you are missing a treat – but I envy the fact you have 7 books to read, one after the other. What a treat you have instore.

To Buy the Book: The Druid’s Prey

About the author:

Steven A. McKay was born in Scotland in 1977 and always enjoyed studying history. He decided to write his Forest Lord novels after seeing a house called “Sherwood” when he was out at work one day. Since then he’s started a new series, the Warrior Druid of Britain Chronicles, and just completed a trilogy about Alfred the Great.

In 2021 the Xbox game HOOD: Outlaws and Legends was released, featuring Steven’s writing.

He used to be in a heavy metal band although he tends to just play guitar in his study these days. He did use those guitars to write the theme song for the podcast he co-hosted, Rock, Paper, Swords! with Matthew Harffy, though. Give it a listen, they’ve interviewed great guests like Diana Gabaldon, Simon Scarrow, Bernard Cornwell, Dan Jones and more!

My books

Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available from Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. Women of the Anarchy demonstrates how Empress Matilda and Matilda of Boulogne, unable to wield a sword themselves, were prime movers in this time of conflict and lawlessness. It shows how their strengths, weaknesses, and personal ambitions swung the fortunes of war one way – and then the other. Available from Bookshop.org, Amberley Publishing and Amazon UK. King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye is the story of a truly remarkable lady, the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle and the first woman in England to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Available from all good bookshops Pen & Sword Books, bookshop.org and Amazon.

Podcast:

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

Don’t forget! Signed and dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online store.

For forthcoming online and in-person talks, please check out my Events Page.

You can be the first to read new articles by clicking the ‘Follow’ button, liking our Facebook page or joining me on Twitter, Threads, Bluesky and Instagram.

Wordly Women: Kathryn Warner

16/08/202502/07/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

I am very happy today to welcome historian Kathryn Warner to History…the Interesting Bits in a new instalment of my Author Spotlight series, Wordly Women. Kathryn is the ‘go to’ person for all-things Edward II. She has also written about John of Gaunt, the Beaumont kings of Jerusalem, the Clare sisters and her latest book is The Black Death in England: Journal of the Plague Years in the Fourteenth Century. Her books are always well research and enjoyable reads. And when we get together to chat on A Slice of Medieval, it is always a fabulous discussion and a pleasure.

So, over to Kathryn…

Sharon: Hi Kathryn, I would love to know what got you into writing?

Kathryn: In a nutshell, my passion for Edward II and his era! It was strange, because during my time at university studying medieval history, I’d never been that interested in him, but my fascination developed some years after I graduated. I started writing stories about him, then started a blog about him and his reign as well, because my passion was so overwhelming that I just had to get it down on paper or on a screen and share it with people. Some years later, I wrote some academic articles about him, then went on to write a full-length biography of Edward and his life and reign, which became my first published book.

Sharon: Tell us about your books.

Kathryn: I’ve written at least twenty non-fiction books now. My earlier ones are biographies and joint biographies, including Edward II’s queen Isabella of France, their daughter-in-law Philippa of Hainault, their grandson John of Gaunt, Edward II’s last and most powerful favourite Hugh Despenser the Younger, Edward’s nieces the de Clare sisters, and Edward III’s granddaughters. These days, I’m massively getting into social history too, and have written a book about aspects of life in London between 1300 and 1350, one about the victims and survivors of the fourteenth-century pandemics of the Black Death, and one called Life in a Medieval Town.

Sharon: What attracts you to the 14th century?

Kathryn: It was such an astonishingly dramatic and turbulent era. As well as the chaos of Edward II’s reign early in the century – battles, rebellions, executions, betrayals, changes of fortune, hatreds and passions, Edward’s forced abdication, and much else – there were natural disasters too. The pandemics of the Black Death are well known, especially the first one in 1348/49, but there was also a massive famine in England in the 1310s. Edward III began what we know as the Hundred Years War against France in the 1330s, his grandson Richard II witnessed the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381, and so on. I really don’t think I’d have liked to live in the fourteenth century, haha, but it’s an endlessly fascinating era to research and write about.

Sharon: Who is your favourite 14th century person and why?

Kathryn: To the surprise of absolutely no one who knows me, Edward II! Without question, he’s one of England’s most unsuccessful kings in history, and was the first one who suffered the fate of deposition or forced abdication in 1327. His reign of just under 20 years is dramatic almost beyond the telling of it, as Edward lurched constantly from one crisis to the next, crises almost entirely of his own making. He was completely unsuited to the position he’d been born into, and was a deeply unconventional man by the standards of his era. I feel that he makes much more sense to us than he did to his contemporaries: he openly loved men, he enjoyed the company of his common subjects and even went on holiday with them, he enjoyed being outdoors and doing hard physical labour. Edward II, born in 1284, is exactly 700 years older than Prince Harry the Duke of Sussex, born in 1984, and I often think that Edward would have been much happier and more successful if he’d been born into the royal family of the late twentieth century than he was in his own lifetime.

Sharon: Who is your least favourite 14th century person and why?

Kathryn: That’s a tricky question to answer, really, as even the people I instinctively don’t tend to like all that much intrigue me and led fascinating lives that I want to delve into. Someone like Roger Mortimer, the first earl of March, for example. He played a massive role in Edward II’s downfall in 1326/27, and as such is someone I feel I should dislike, but I really don’t, because he’s such a complex fascinating person. It’s not Roger that I dislike, it’s the way he’s often been written in modern times, in this absurdly over-romanticised way as the adored lover and saviour of Edward II’s queen, Isabella of France. It flattens his character and turns him into a caricature that has very little to do with the person he actually was. So I can’t say that I have a least favourite fourteenth-century person, but I do often profoundly dislike the simplistic, one-dimensional ways in which many fourteenth-century people are depicted nowadays.

Sharon: How do you approach researching your topic?

Kathryn: I think a lot of people might be surprised at just at how many sources we have from the fourteenth century, and how much information there actually is once you start delving into them. In the period I write about, pretty well all the sources are written in Latin or French, and though many have been transcribed and translated, many have not. Looking at original documents in the National Archives is such a joy! I’ve found lots of wonderful details about Edward II and his life and household from his extant accounts, for example. I often fall down a rabbit-hole of research and emerge blinking hours later, and oddly enough, some of my best finds are things I stumbled upon by accident while researching something else.

Sharon: Tell us your ‘favourite’ 14th century story you have come across in your research.

Kathryn: While I was researching a book about London between 1300 and 1350, I came across this fab story. The rector of the church of St Margaret Lothbury in London around the year 1300, whose name was William (his last name was not recorded), had an insatiable curiosity about a disease he called Le Lou. This means ‘The Wolf’ in medieval French, and probably referred to the condition we now call lupus, which means ‘wolf’ in Latin. Believing that wolf flesh could cure the disease, William ordered a cask of four dead wolves from abroad (where exactly was not specified) to be sent to his church. By the time the dead animals arrived in London, however, their corpses had become ‘putrid’, and William was hauled before the court of the mayor of London, Elias Russel, on 5 January 1300, and ordered to explain himself. To me, this situation reveals several things that are worth knowing about the early fourteenth century. Firstly, that a man in England somehow managed to contact a person on the Continent who was willing and able to send him dead wolves; secondly, that officials around the year 1300 were aware that the welfare of the general public in a crowded city might be worsened by the presence of decaying animal corpses; and thirdly, that a person was deeply interested in a particular disease and cared about its victims, and attempted, albeit in a comically misguided way, to find a cure for it.

Sharon: Tell us your least ‘favourite’ 14th century story you have come across in your research.

Kathryn: It’s one that breaks my heart. At the start of the year 1349, Agnes Stokwell was living on Whitecross Street in London with her family, who consisted of her father Walter, a painter; her mother Joan; her older brother Laurence; and her three older sisters, Christine, Imania, and Alice. She also had an aunt named Isabel and an uncle named William, her father’s siblings, and her father’s apprentice Thomas Bournham lived in the household as well. The Stokwell family were pretty well-off and thriving, but by the end of 1349, all of them were dead in the first massive pandemic of the Black Death, except only Agnes. She was just seven years old, and within a few months had lost her entire family, every living relative; her parents, her four older siblings, and her aunt and uncle. Thankfully, her late father’s apprentice Thomas Bournham also lived through the plague, the only other survivor of the household, and was given custody of Agnes at the end of 1349. They both disappear from written record after that, or at least I’ve never been able to find them again, but I hope they lived long and thrived.

Sharon: Are there any other eras you would like to write about?

Kathryn: My second favourite era after the fourteenth century is the eleventh century. I did a few courses on Old English language, literature, history and culture at university, and loved it. I’m particularly interested in the first few decades of the 1000s – the end of Aethelred’s reign, the brief reign of his son Edmund Ironside, King Cnut and his son, and Emma of Normandy, who married both Aethelred and Cnut.

Sharon: What are you working on now?

Kathryn: My current project is provisionally titled Murder and Mayhem, and is about some of the violence, homicide, gangs and feuds in fourteenth-century England. There’s a wealth of material, almost too much, in fact! The book after that is about the royal English household in the late Middle Ages, which is a subject I’ve been wanting to write about for ages.

Sharon: Now that, I want to read!

Sharon: And finally, what is the best thing about being a writer?

Kathryn: For me, it’s the chance to immerse myself in the fourteenth century, to discover fascinating stories and to share them with readers. I also love that my time is unstructured, and I can write whenever I like and take breaks whenever I like, which suits me very well. And finally, it’s simply amazing that I’ve been able to turn my passion for fourteenth-century history into a job!