Will Bowman, now fully entangled in Richard Lionheart’s crusade, has reached the Holy Land. However, just as he and his crew are about to touch down in Acre, they are drawn into an intense battle at sea, where they are faced with the dreaded Byzantine weapon: Greek Fire.
Barely escaping with his life, Will gains the trust of Richard Lionheart, moving into his service. But as the siege of Acre continues, and Richard’s campaign grows ever more brutal and barbaric, Will begins to wonder just how safe his new position is.
And when the King sends him on a seemingly doomed mission, Will must ask himself: who exactly is he fighting for?
Well, Scott Mariani has taken to historical fiction like a duck to water. He has a flare for it. But then, he did draw me in with his Ben Hope novels, all of which had a historical mystery at the heart of the the story. With his second full, historical fiction, The Knight’s Pledge, he draws the reader into the action from the very first pages as his hero, Will Bowman, arrives at Acre to take part in the Third Crusade.
And an added bonus is that a quote from my review of the first book,The Pilgrim’s Revenge, is among the endorsements on the first pages!
And what an adventure we are treated to. Scott Mariani expertly blends fact with fiction and tells a story that will keep you hooked.
The story is gripping and full of suspense – you are never quite sure whether the heroes are going to succeed – or even make it out alive!
Will had personally come face to face with King Richard only once, and then for only a few brief moments. But he had seen his monarch flying fearlessly into the thick of battle enough times to know how he would respond.
Sure enough, almost within a heartbeat the flagship had diverted course and was steering straight at the enemy vessel, all oars manned and powering as hard as they could go. The captain of Will’s ship instantly followed suit, with a clamour of shouted orders and the frenzied activity of the sailors all around them. Every crewman aboard knew his duty as well as he knew his own name, and they needed little encouragement as they rushed to their stations and flung themselves behind the oars. Amid the rapid pounding of the drum and hoarse cries of ‘Heave ho, boys,’ and ‘We’ll have at those bastards,’ the ship picked up pace and curved sharply around. As they leaned hard into the turn, the deck sloped like a pitched roof and the bows threw up a white wave that smothered the nearside rail with foam.
One by one, every other ship of the fleet was veering off their course to engage this new enemy. Will sprinted back across the sloping deck to where he and his companions had been sitting earlier and snatched up the weapons that he kept stowed next to his habitual sleeping place. With hands trembling in anticipation of the fight that would very soon be on them he buckled up his sword belt, then quickly tensioned and strung his bow stave, an action that was second nature to him. He had been an expert with the bow for such a large part of his life that it had become the name he was known by. His leather quiver contained a sheaf of arrows carefully fashioned by his own hand, made to fly straight and true and each fitted with an iron-pointed bodkin head capable of piercing a coat of chain mail like the one he was wearing under his leather jerkin.
Gabriel came running hot on his heels, and disregarding his precious chessmen that were strewn and rolling all about the deck he grabbed the curved falchion sword he favoured over the more conventional straight-bladed variety. Samson’s preference was for his short-handled war axe, a gift to him from Will, which had hammered and split the heads of many a foe in the battles they had fought en route.
But this new enemy was like no other they had faced before. As the deck levelled itself after their steep turn, Will glanced forward and saw the Saracen ship suddenly much closer, partly wreathed behind the curtain of roiling black smoke that was pouring from the burning galley. ‘Godspeed,’ he yelled at Gabriel and Samson, then ran for the laddered companionway that led up to the elevated section of the forecastle. It was already teeming with his fellow archers, mostly equipped with crossbows and only a minority who used the more old-fashioned but further-shooting and more accurate – when properly handled – longbow.
Scott Mariani’s meticulous research and attention to detail helps to recreate the Holy Land of 1191. The sights, the smells, the spiders! Oh, and the insults! I have a new favourite insult; ‘scobberlotcher’.
Will Bowman proves how fearless and brave he can be. Though he is still young and has a naivety about him which I think will be increasingly challenged as his war goes on. It is fascinating to watch the evolution of this young man, from grieving farmer to warrior. And expert archer, he’s strong, courageous and loyal. He is quick-witted, intelligent, even, a natural leader of men, but still in possession of a sense of chivalry that will get him into trouble.
In the first half of the story, we follow the experiences of the army during the Siege of Acre, and its aftermath. Ever a writer with a sense of adventure, Scott Mariani then sends our hero on a near-suicidal mission in search of lost treasure. While it may not be in the historical record, the quest is certainly plausible – as is the outcome! (but no spoilers!)
All in all, The Knight’s Pledge is an absolute joy to read – or, rather, devour. Scott Mariani has lost none of his legendary storytelling skills in his transition from the thriller genre to historical fiction. And I like to think I can see a little of Ben Hope in this new hero, Will Bowman. I think Ben would certainly have approved of Will.
At least I know what I’m getting my dad for Christmas – he’s gonna love The Knight’s Pledge!
Scott Mariani is the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the multi-million-selling Ben Hope thrillers. From 2025 he is launching into a new historical adventure series featuring medieval English hero Will Bowman, who is forced from his home to join King Richard ‘the Lionheart’ on the Third Crusade and rises up to become a knight. Book 1,THE PILGRIM’S REVENGE, is available from April 2025 and is published by Hodder & Stoughton.
Scott lives and writes in west Wales, UK. You can find out more about his work by visiting his official website.
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My Books:
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available, please get in touch by completing the contact me form or through my online bookshop.
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)
Daughters of kings were often used to seal treaty alliances and forge peace with England’s enemies. Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters from the Conquest and Princesses of the Later Middle Ages: Royal Daughters of the Plantagenets will explore the lives of these young women, demonstrating how they followed the stereotype, and how they sometimes managed to escape it. It will look at the world they lived in, and how their lives and marriages were affected by political necessity and the events of the time.
Were they political pawns? Or, were they able to control their own lives and fates? What impact did they have on the world in which they lived?
Their stories are touching, inspiring and, at times, heartbreaking.
Princesses of the Early Middle Ages: Royal Daughters from the Conquest is now available for pre-order from Amazon and bookshop.org.
Also by me:
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.
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.
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Podcast:
Have a listen to theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Matilda of Scotland was the daughter of Malcolm III Canmore, King of Scots, and his wife, the saintly Queen Margaret. With Margaret’s descent from Alfred the Great, Matilda not only had the blood of Scottish kings flowing through her veins but also that of England’s Anglo-Saxon rulers. Born in the second half of 1080, Matilda was named Edith at her baptism, her name being changed to Matilda at the time of her marriage, most likely to make it more acceptable to the Norman barons. To avoid confusion, we will call her Matilda for the whole article.
The baby princess’s godfather was none other than Robert Curthose, who was visiting Scotland at the time of her birth. Her godmother was England’s queen, Matilda of Flanders. She and her younger sister, Mary, who was born in 1082, were sent to England to be educated by their maternal aunt Christina, at Romsey Abbey in 1086. A nun who spent time at both Romsey and Wilton abbeys, Christina was said to have treated Matilda harshly, the young princess constantly ‘in fear of the rod of my aunt’.1 Christina’s treatment of Matilda was made public during a church inquiry into whether or not Matilda had, in fact, been professed as a nun, at which point Matilda made her striking references to the ‘rage and hatred … that boiled up in me’.2
Before 1093 the two Scottish princesses, now approaching their teens, had moved on to Wilton Abbey to continue their education, away from the harsh discipline of their aunt. Like Romsey, Wilton was a renowned centre for women’s education and learning. It could accommodate between eighty and ninety women, and was once patronised by Edward the Confessor’s wife, Edith of Wessex. The abbey had a reputation for educating women from the highest echelons of the nobility and the royal family itself; the girls’ mother, Queen Margaret, had also been sent to Wilton to be educated after arriving in England in the late 1050s. The abbey was a popular destination for pilgrims, housing among its relics ‘a nail from the True Cross, a portion of the Venerable Bede and the body of St Edith’.3 Matilda’s first language was English, but she is known to have spoken French at Wilton. She also learned some Latin, read both the old and new testaments of the Bible, ‘the books of the Church fathers and some of the major Latin writers’.4
Malcolm IV and St Margaret
By 1093, thoughts were turning to Matilda’s future, but politics intervened. King Malcolm had a disagreement with King William II Rufus after which ‘they parted with great discord, and the king Malcolm returned home to Scotland.’5 On his way home, Malcolm stopped at Wilton to collect his daughters. On his arrival, he found Matilda wearing a veil. The Scots king ripped the offending item from his daughter’s head, tearing it to pieces before trampling the garment into the earth.
Malcolm III insisted that the two girls were not destined for the religious life.
Father and daughters then returned to Scotland, only to find Queen Margaret was ailing, her health had been deteriorating gradually for some time. Despite the queen’s illness, King Malcolm took two of his sons and an army into England, raiding Northumberland. Malcolm and his eldest son, Edward, were killed. Queen Margaret was told the news just a few days later and died shortly after. Having lost both parents in such a short space of time, the two princesses were taken back south by their uncle Edgar the Ӕtheling, though whether they stayed at a convent or resided at court is unclear. Mary would eventually be married to Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, and was the mother of Matilda of Boulogne, wife of King Stephen.
Matilda herself was not short of suitors, who included Alan the Red, Count of Richmond and William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey. Orderic Vitalis explains:
Alain the Red, Count of Brittany, asked William Rufus for permission to marry Matilda, who was first called Edith, but was refused. Afterwards, William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, asked for this princess; but reserved for another by God’s permission, she made a more illustrious marriage. Henry, having ascended the English throne, married Matilda.6
Christina of Wessex
As events unfolded, Matilda was caught up in accusations and scandal surrounding her erstwhile nunnery at Wilton. She refused to return to the convent and insisted that she had never intended to dedicate herself to the church. When Archbishop Anselm ordered Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury to retrieve this ‘prodigal daughter of the king of Scots whom the devil made to cast off the veil’, the princess stood firm and defied him.’7
William II Rufus was famously killed in a hunting accident in the New Forest on 2 August 1100, shot by an arrow loosed by Walter Tirel. William II’s youngest brother, Henry, who was among the hunting party, wasted no time grieving his brother’s death. Leaving the dead king’s body to be looked after by others, he rode fast for Winchester. He seized control of the royal treasury before heading to London and his coronation, which took place on 5 August, just three days after William II’s death. Henry’s surviving older brother, Robert, was still on his way home from the Crusades, unable to take advantage of William’s death to claim the English crown for himself. The newly crowned King Henry I now needed a wife and settled on Matilda of Scotland.
The marriage was not without controversy, however, and before it could take place the church conducted an inquiry into the suggestion that Matilda was a runaway nun. Although Matilda vehemently rejected the claim that she had been professed as a nun, the fact witnesses had seen her wearing a veil on multiple occasions counted against her. Matilda appealed to Archbishop Anselm to look into the matter. The archbishop was appalled at the thought a religious vow may have been broken and declared that he ‘would not be induced by any pleading to take from God his bride and join her to any earthly husband’.8 After meeting with Matilda personally, and hearing her side of the story, the archbishop was persuaded to call an ecclesiastical council to decide the matter. Using Archbishop Lanfranc’s previous ruling that Anglo-Saxon women who had sought refuge in a convent after the Norman Conquest ‘could not be held as sworn nuns when they emerged from hiding’, the council ruled in Matilda’s favour.9 The council determined that ‘under the circumstances of the matter, the girl could not rightly be bound by any decision to prevent her from being free to dispose of her person in whatever way she legally wished’.10
Henry I, King of England in Lincoln Cathedral’s Gallery of Kings
When the wedding finally went ahead, Archbishop Anselm related the controversy over Matilda’s status to the gathered congregation and asked if there were any objections. According to Eadmer, ‘The crowd cried out in one voice that the affair had been rightly decided and that there was no ground on which anyone … could possibly raise any scandal.’11
Henry I married Matilda of Scotland on 11 November 1100, at Westminster Abbey, her name officially and permanently changed from Edith. Marriage between Henry and Matilda represented a continuity of the old Anglo-Saxon royal line; an heir produced by the royal couple would be heir to both the Norman royal house and the ancient royal house of Wessex, creating a genuine unifying force within England. The marriage was also a union between the royal houses of England and Scotland. Offering the promise of peace on England’s troublesome northern border, it would allow Henry to look to his interests on the continent and watch for the return of his older brother, Robert, from crusade.
The honeymoon period for the royal couple was was short-lived and in 1101, Robert had returned and heard of King William’s death and Henry’s seizure of the crown. The duke sent messengers to Henry, asking him to hand over the kingdom. Henry refused. It probably came as no surprise to Henry, then, when Robert invaded England on 20 July 1101. One chronicler claimed that Matilda was in childbed at this time; if she was, the child did not survive. More likely given the timing is that the queen was having a difficult early pregnancy with Matilda, who was born seven months later.
Neither side, however, was keen on all-out war, especially a civil war, and peace talks began almost immediately as the two armies of the royal brothers came face to face at Alton. In the subsequent Treaty of Alton, the duke accepted an annuity of 3,000 marks, drawn from the revenues of England, to abandon his invasion and renounce his claims to the throne. In return, King Henry renounced his lands in Normandy save for Domfront, where he had made a solemn vow to the inhabitants that he would never relinquish control. The brothers agreed to support each other should either be attacked by a third party, and to be each other’s heir if neither sired a son.
William the Ætheling
Robert returned to Normandy but would soon be pulled back to England by a sense of chivalric duty to his barons. The agreement at Alton between the brothers had left Earl William II de Warenne isolated and at Henry’s mercy. For violating his oath of homage to the king, and for violence perpetrated by his men in Norfolk, Earl Warenne’s English estates were declared forfeit and he was effectively forced to cross the English Channel into exile. Earl William complained to Duke Robert of his sufferings and losses on the duke’s behalf. The duke obviously felt some responsibility, as he set out for England to intercede with his brother on the earl’s behalf. Robert arrived at Henry’s court, uninvited and unwelcome, in 1103. Threatened with imprisonment by an angry brother, he was persuaded by Queen Matilda, to relinquish his annuity of 3,000 marks in return for the reinstatement of Earl William’s English estates and titles.
The primary duty of a queen was to secure the succession by producing an heir as soon as she possibly could. Henry still had his older brother, Robert, to contend with and an heir would certainly strengthen his position. By September 1103, Matilda of Scotland had fulfilled this duty by giving birth to a daughter, Matilda, in February 1102, and the much-desired son and heir, William, known as William Ætheling in an allusion to his descent from the Anglo-Saxon royal line, in September 1103. It is possible third child was either stillborn or short-lived. After the births of the royal children, the king and queen appear to have lived separately, with Queen Matilda establishing herself at Westminster. It was rumoured that the queen had chosen a life of celibacy once her duties of producing an heir had been fulfilled.
The family of Henry I
Disputes with Normandy were to be a feature of the first half of Henry’s reign, even after the capture of his brother, Robert at the Battle of Tinchebrai in 1106. Robert would spend the rest of his life imprisoned in England, but his son, William Clito, would later take up the fight. And while Henry subjugated Normandy, Queen Matilda remained in England, often chairing meetings of the king’s council during his absence. The queen had her own seal, which she appended to her charters and which depicted her ‘standing, crowned and wearing a long embroidered robe which falls in folds over her feet. Over this is a seamless mantle which has an embroidered border and is draped over her head. It is fastened at her throat by a brooch, and falls in folds over her arms. In her right hand she holds a sceptre surmounted by a dove, and in her left an orb surmounted by a cross.’.12
As queen, Matilda had received a generous dower settlement, which had been granted from those lands once held by Edith, Edward the Confessor’s queen. Surviving charters issued by Matilda show that she controlled the abbeys of Waltham, Barking and Malmesbury. She held further territory in Rutland and property in London including the wharf later known as Queenhithe, and she also received the tolls of Exeter. Her staff included two clerks who would eventually become bishops. The queen appears to have had a personal interest in managing her estates. In the charter granting Waltham Abbey to his wife, Henry mentions the ‘queen’s court’ held there. Among the queen’s many good works were the building of bridges in Surrey and Essex and the construction of a public bathhouse at Queenhithe. Working with Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, Queen Matilda founded a house for the Augustinian canons, Holy Trinity, at Aldgate in London. She also founded a leper hospital at St Giles, funded by sixty shillings a year from dock revenues at her wharf.
Leprosy and the care of lepers was of great concern to the queen. In addition to St Giles, she was the benefactress of a leper hospital at Chichester. Indeed, the queen’s brother David – later David I, King of Scots – told a tale in which he witnessed his sister administering to lepers in her own apartments in Westminster:
David I, King of Scots
The place was full of lepers and there was the Queen standing in the middle of them. And taking off a linen cloth she had wrapped around her waist, she put it into a water basin and began to wash and dry their feet and kiss them most devotedly while she was bathing them and drying them with her hands. And I said to her ‘My Lady! What are you doing? Surely if the King knew about this he would never deign to kiss you with his lips after you had been polluted by the putrefied feet of lepers!’ Then she, under a smile, said ‘Who does not know that the feet of the Eternal King are to be preferred over the lips of a King who is going to die? Surely for that reason I called you, dearest brother, so that you might learn such works from my example.13
While this story may not be an exact recollection of the siblings’ conversation, it does serve to demonstrate the extent of Matilda’s piety, something she inherited from her sainted mother, Queen Margaret. The queen’s piety and interest in religion are evidenced in her surviving correspondence, which involved not only Archbishop Anselm but also leading church figures such as Pope Paschal II, Hildebert of Lavardin, Archbishop of Tours, Herbert of Losinga, Bishop of Norwich and Ivo, Bishop of Chartres. Though written by a clerk rather than in her own hand, these letters are the earliest surviving examples from an English queen.
Matilda and Anselm appear to have had a good working relationship, which is evidenced by her actions as mediator during the Investiture Controversy, which sought to clarify the rules of investiture within the church. In their correspondence, the archbishop wrote to Matilda as his ‘dearest Lady and daughter Matilda, Queen of the English’.14 Likewise, Matilda witnessed a charter at Rochester, prior to Anselm’s exile, as ‘Matildis reginae et filiae Anselmi archiepiscopi’ (Queen Matilda and daughter of Archbishop Anselm).15 And when Anselm was exiled from England from 1103, Queen Matilda acted as mediator between the archbishop, the king and the pope, Paschal II.
Empress Matilda depicted in an image from the Gospels of Henry the Lion.
The queen appears to have been well aware of her influence over the king, and its limitations. When Henry appropriated the revenues of Canterbury for himself, claiming it was a vacant see with the archbishop in exile, Matilda persuaded him to set aside a personal allowance for Anselm. However, when she was asked to intervene with the king a few years later, when he was attempting to extract more money from the clergy, Matilda ‘wept and insisted she could do nothing’.16 In 1104, Matilda even approached Pope Paschal II, asking for his intervention in the disagreement between Henry and Anselm.
Henry saw the investiture crisis as an erosion of his royal prerogative, and he was determined to cede no ground. But, with the pope threatening excommunication and Matilda voicing her own pleas to her husband, a compromise was eventually reached by which Henry would relinquish his powers to invest prelates but retain the right to receive homage for ‘temporalities’; this latter concession by the church would augment the secular powers of the crown. When Anselm was finally able to return home to England, in 1106, Matilda was there to personally welcome him back from his three-year exile. She then rode in advance of the archbishop, to ensure accommodation and welcoming ceremonies were in place along his route.
The Investiture Controversy served to demonstrate the extent to which Matilda’s influence could be exerted, not only on the king but internationally, through her correspondence with the church’s most powerful prelates. Matilda also acted as regent for Henry when he was away in Normandy, which was more than half of the time. A woman fulfilling such a role in her lord’s absence was far from unusual and indeed was accepted by the barony of the kingdom; Matilda’s daughter, Empress Matilda, would discover that a woman fulfilling this role on her own behalf faced far more resistance. Queen Matilda acted as regent for months at a time, most notably for ten-month spells from September 1114 and from April 1116. In her final regency Matilda was assisted by her only son, the teenage William Ætheling, who was now earnestly in training for his future role as King of England. He would later join his father in Normandy to continue his apprenticeship, fighting in his first battle there in 1119.
Another notable element of queenship was patronage. Queen Matilda commissioned William of Malmesbury to write the Gesta Regum Anglorum, a genealogical history of the royal house of Wessex which was finished after her death and presented to her daughter, Empress Matilda. She also commissioned a biography of her mother, The Life of St Margaret Queen of Scotland by Turgot, Prior of Durham and later Bishop of St Andrew’s, who had been her mother’s confessor. In 1111 the queen attended the ceremony for the translation of St Æthelwold’s relics at Winchester, and the following year she was in Gloucester to witness the presentation of gifts to the monks there.
Seal of Queen Matilda
Matilda was also concerned with justice and in 1116 ordered the release of Bricstan of Chatteris, a prisoner who had apparently been unjustly condemned. Bricstan, who had intended to take holy orders before his arrest – the reason for which is unknown – called upon St Benedict and St Etheldreda for assistance. The two saints are said to have torn his chains from him. The shocked guards immediately turned to Queen Matilda, who ordered an investigation into the events. Satisfied that a miracle had occurred, the queen ordered Bricstans’s immediate release. She also ordered that special masses should be heard, and the bells of London should be rung in celebration.
Matilda of Scotland died on 1 May 1118 at Westminster, at the age of thirty-seven. King Henry was in Normandy at the time and Matilda was acting as regent, which suggests that her death was unexpected, though we do not know the cause. The canons of her foundation of Holy Trinity at Aldgate and the monks at Westminster both claimed the right to bury her. She was buried in Westminster Abbey, much to the chagrin of the monks of Aldgate who lodged a complaint with Henry on his return. Henry compensated the order with a gift of relics from the Byzantine emperor. He also confirmed his queen’s donations to Holy Trinity, Aldgate. The king gave money so that a perpetual light could be maintained at her tomb; this was still being paid in the reign of Henry III, Matilda’s great-great-grandson.
Matilda died a beloved queen, and was remembered as ‘Mold the Good Queen’ or ‘Good Queen Maud’. Praise for the queen is almost universal, although William of Malmesbury criticised her for patronising foreigners and reported that she ‘fell into the error of prodigal givers; bringing many claims to her tenantry, exposing them to injuries and taking away their property, but since she became known as a liberal benefactress, she scarcely regarded their outrage’.17
The Warenne Chronicle recorded her death with a fitting epitaph:
Matilda of Scotland
So then, almost all of England’s bishops, magnates, abbots, priors, and indeed the innumerable common masses assembled with great sadness for her crowded funeral, and with many tears they attended her burial … I can sum up her praise in this brief declaration that from the time when England was first subject to kings, of all queens none was found like her, nor will a similar queen be found in coming ages whose memory will be held in praise and whose name will be blessed for centuries. So great was the sorrow at her absence and so great a devotion filled everyone, that several of the noblest clerics, whom she had much esteemed in life, stayed at her tomb for thirty days in vigils, prayers and fasting, and they kept mournful and devoted watch…18
A woman of proven ability in governing the kingdom, Queen Matilda served as an example of what a woman could do, and the power she could wield, albeit in her husband’s name.
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Notes:
1. Lisa Hilton, Queens Consort: England’s Medieval Queens; 2. Eadmer of Canterbury, Historia Novorum in Anglia; 3. Hilton, Queens Consort; 4. ibid; 5. Michael Swanton (ed.), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles; 6. Ordericus Vitalis, Histoire de Normandie, quatrième partie (my translation); 7. Anselm, quoted in Hilton, Queens Consort; 8. Eadmer, Historia Novorum in Anglia; 9. Hilton, Queens Consort; 10. Eadmer, Historia Novorum in Anglia; 11. ibid; 12. Susan M. Johns, Noblewomen, Aristocracy and Power in the Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Realm; 13. Ailred of Rievaulx, quoted in Hilton, Queens Consort; 14. epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu; 15. Hilton, Queens Consort; 16. ibid; 17. William of Malmesbury, quoted in Hilton, Queens Consort; 18. Van Houts and Love, The Warenne (Hyde) Chronicle
Lisa Hilton, Queens Consort: England’s Medieval Queens; Eadmer of Canterbury, Historia Novorum in Anglia; Michael Swanton (ed.), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles; Ordericus Vitalis, Histoire de Normandie; Susan M. Johns, Noblewomen, Aristocracy and Power in the Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Realm; epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu; Teresa Cole, After the Conquest: The Divided Realm; Jeffrey James, The Bastard’s Sons: Robert, William and Henry of Normandy; Henry of Huntingdon, The History of the English People 1000-1154; Charles Spencer, The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream; E. Norton, England’s Queens: From Boudicca to Elizabeth of York; Nigel Tranter, The Story of Scotland; Elisabeth Van Houts, and Rosalind C. Love (eds and trans), The Warenne (Hyde) Chronicle; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Ordericus Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 1075-1143; J. F. Andrews, Lost Heirs of the Medieval Crown: The Kings and Queens Who Never Were; Anne Crawford (ed.), Letters of the Queens of England; Elizabeth Norton, England’s Queens: From Boudicca to Elizabeth of York; Lida Sophia Townsley, ‘Twelfth-century English queens: charters and authority’, academia.edu;
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My Books
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
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)
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.
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 theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
When writing non-fiction biographies, you can tell the life of a person. You can say what happened to them, how they affected events and how they were perceived by others. But there are gaps. If you do not have the evidence, you cannot just make it up. If you are looking for reasons, you can offer different scenarios. It is hard to get to the heart of a person, though. You cannot put words in their mouths, or attribute feelings and emotions. Fiction can go where non fiction cannot tread. It can give you a vivid retelling of a fabulous story. It is not always historically accurate, there are some things we cannot know, but fiction can fill in the gaps. It can bring the past to life and give you a sense of the era that no other medium can.
And that is what Terri Lewis has achieved with remarkable skill in her novel if Isabelle d’Angoulême, Behold the Bird in Flight. And it is a pleasure to welcome Terri to History…the Interesting Bits to talk a little about her research behind her novel.
Finding Isabelle, a Mother and a Queen
by Terri Lewis
A birthing stool
I was in high school when I first asked my history teacher, “Where are the women?” An unsatisfactory answer gave impetus to what became a need to find forgotten women. Eventually I became obsessed with Isabelle d’Angoulême, King John’s second wife, and decided to resurrect her by writing a novel.
There are a few documented facts about her life: Historians think she was about twelve years old when John abducted her from her French fiancé, took her to England, and crowned her queen. The chronicles, when they bothered to mention her, were not kind; Matthew Paris called her a “Jezebel” and “slut” who kept John in bed until noon, an assessment most likely reflecting John’s reputation, not the reality of his wife. Isabelle apparently didn’t receive the normal queen’s gold—a percentage of John’s income—or the rents from lands given to her at the time of their marriage; John kept the monies for himself. In “history,” I found only men – fighting, amassing money and enemies, riding off to conquer unknown lands, signing writs, allowing fairs, courting and dancing and always fighting. Isabelle’s life, like the lives of most medieval women, was mainly blank.
But. . . she bore John five children.
My research on medieval childbirth uncovered dire statistics: 20% to 33% of medieval women died from childbearing. The mortality rate per single birth was only slightly higher than in modern times, but multiple pregnancies compounded the risk. Birth control was forbidden by the all-powerful Church so basically a fertile woman had children until menopause or until she died. Because kings had to have sons, as did counts and dukes and other lords—a child to inherit land and carry on the family name. Daughters were less important. An only-child daughter could inherit a kingdom , but not for herself, for her husband. Girls who had brothers would serve as bargaining chips in marriages that formed diplomatic alliances or enlarged territory for their fathers.
In another statistic, infants were uncertain to live to inheritance. Nicholas Orme wrote, “It has been suggested that 25% of [medieval children] may have died in their first year, half as many (12.5%) between one and four, and a quarter as many (6%) between five and nine.” Danger was everywhere. A cut could become infected and penicillin was years in the future. Children fell into wells and down stone stairs, or into the fire that burned in the middle of the great hall, the main source of heat. Many died of illnesses for which bleeding or herbal concoctions were the only cure. Multiple pregnancies mitigated this danger. I note that Isabelle, in addition to the five children with John, had nine more children with her second husband. But two of her own daughters died in childbirth.
Isabelle in her innocence
Isabelle wouldn’t have gone to a hospital. She’d have had a lying-in chamber removed from the main keep and furnished with a birthing stool, a midwife with practical experience but not a doctor because childbirth was a woman’s domain and doctors were men, and a room full of ladies-in-waiting who watched and prayed with her. If the birth was difficult, window shutters would be opened to release the new soul into life. If that failed, an arrow could be shot heavenward to waken God to the peril and ask for his help.
Since history decreed that Isabelle would live through childbirth, I decided to have her observe the suffering of her best friend. That scene became an important milestone in Isabelle’s growing up.
What kind of mother would Isabelle have been? I’d never read about a medieval mother. Women in 1200 who appeared in the chronicles were queens, royalty, or religious. Motherhood was important only for the child, preferable a boy, a gift to the father. The woman was just a bearing body.
I decided that Isabelle learned from her own mother, Alice de Courtney, the granddaughter of Louis le Gros of France. Alice would have been familiar with expectations for noble daughters. And she was married three times. I tried to imagine the experience of being handed to various husbands like a package—the decisions being made by fathers and kings. Perhaps she had grounded herself in her new household with a new husband by following the rules. The first “courtesy book” setting forth standards of behavior— Liber Urbani or the book of civilized man— appeared in England late in the 12th century. Written in Latin, the long poem contained general advice such as honor your parents, hold your tongue, don’t mount your horse in the great hall, and such gems as “when you pick up food with a spoon, do not shovel it on board with your thumb.”
Midwife swaddling the child
I needed to imagine a relationship between Isabelle and her mother. When I was twelve, my mother was the center of everything; I’d come home from school and stand in the kitchen to tell stories about my friends or things the teacher said. But Isi’s mother wouldn’t be in the kitchen. She was a countess; she’d have cooks and laundresses and maids. I couldn’t imagine that she was anything to Isabelle but a rule-maker. And Isabelle’s position required rules. When she was of age, she would be married – handed off in essence – to another count. The marriage would presumably involve a castle and her husband would go off to war or crusade or to visit a king, and Isabelle would be required to manage the vast operation of the castle while he was gone. Even when he was home, she would oversee household tasks, her belt laden with keys to various chests of fabric or spices, to rooms holding barrels of wine and other supplies. So I made her mother strict, set Isabelle chafing against her, then allowed her to escape, grow up a bit, marry John, and have her children.
Two boys first. Then three girls. Today one can find numerous mothers writing how overpowering love when their baby was laid on their breast changed their lives. But as queen of an itinerant court, Isabelle lived on the road with John who visited barons, trying to bring them to heel. So breastfeeding was impractical. It also acted as a form of contraception and Isabelle’s job was to conceive as often as possible and give John heirs. This meant that her babies would be handed over at birth to a wet-nurse, a hired woman who’d breast feed them as if her own. So the first attachment of mother to child was cut off and understandably, wet nurses often developed close relationships with their charges, particularly as children were generally breastfed for longer than they are today – boys often up to the age of two.
13th century depiction of John’s children (Isabelle not included)
At age seven, the boys would have sent to other noble castles for education. Perhaps the idea was that those other educators would have less attachment to the children and thus they would supply a strict upbringing without coddling. Isabelle’s girls would have remained with her as the kingdom fell deeper into chaos. The Barons were revolting, the Pope had excommunicated John, the French were threatening to invade and conquer. With a growing sense that the throne would be gone before her ten-year-old son Henry could assume it, Isabelle would have known the French would kill him along with the rest of her children, leaving no pretenders. How best to save them? I’ll leave that inside the novel and just say she managed as best she could. History has condemned her ultimate decision, but I understand how she came to it.
About the book:
Romantic and stubborn, eleven-year-old Isi plans to marry for love and be mistress of her own castle. But life in 1198 is full of threat and a series of tragic events teaches her growing up is hard. When Isi falls for Hugh, a French nobleman, he consents to marry her, but only for her dowry. She longs for more. Hoping a jealous man will fall in love, she flirts with a king. The flirtation backfires: King John abducts and marries her. Now trapped in cold, warring England with a malicious husband, Isi must hide her yearning for Hugh and find her own power. If she fails, she won’t live to return to her beloved. Inspired by real historical figures—Isabelle d’Angoulême, Hugh de Lusignan, and King John of Magna Carta fame—Behold the Bird in Flight is set in a period that valued women only for their dowries and childbearing. Isabelle’s story has been mainly erased by men, but the medieval chronicles suggest a woman who developed her own power and wielded it. And as the woman behind the throne, who’s to say she didn’t influence history?
About the Author:
Terri Lewis fell in love with medieval history in college. Not the dates or wars, but the mysterious daily lives of the people. Finally two sentences in a book bought at Windsor Castle led her to write her debut novel, Behold the Bird in Flight, A Novel of an Abducted Queen.
Published in Denver Quarterly, Blue Mesa Review, and Chicago Quarterly Review among others, and accepted to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, she has worked with Laura van den Berg, Jill McCorkle, and Rebecca Makkai. Shortlisted for LitMag’s Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction, she won the 2025 Miami University Press Novella Prize. She reviews for The Washington Independent Review of Books.
Before she was an author, she had career as a ballet dancer in Denver and Germany, ran a dance company in Arkansas, earned a B.A. in history and education, and an M.A. in theater, not necessarily in that order. She lives with her husband and two lively dogs in Denver, Colorado.
Where to find Terri:
Website: Substack: Instagram: terri.lewis1: Facebook: terri lewis author
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
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)
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.
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 theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Time for another edition of Wordly Women! It has been great fun, meeting all these amazing authors. I do hope everyone is enjoying it as much as I am. Today, I want to introduce you to a very dear friend, historical novelist Cathie Dunn. Cathie and I have known each other a good few years on Facebook, so much so that the first time we met in real life, there was no awkwardness. I love that about social media!
So, let me introduce you to Cathie!
Sharon: Hi, Cathie, first things first, what got you into writing?
Cathie: Ooh, that takes me back decades! It was the romantic historical novels by the likes of M.M. Kaye, Victoria Holt / Philippa Carr (Eleanor Burford’s pseudonyms), in my late teens that got me hooked. I loved Ms Holt’s gothic romance novels in particular, at the time. They were so atmospheric, and – growing up in Germany – I loved the vision of historic and haunted English manors. During the late 1990s and 2000s, after my move to the UK, I learnt a lot about how to create a compelling plot, within a realistic historical setting, by devouring novels by Helen Hollick, Elizabeth Chadwick, and Barbara Wood, amongst others. It was enough to make me embark on HE Certificate in Creative Writing (online) at Lancaster University (though at the time, I was the only one on the course who wrote historical fiction). But at least, it provided me with deeper insights into the writing craft.
Sharon: Tell us about your books.
Cathie: I started off with a project which went from romance to murder mystery to spy novel to (supposedly) a series of events set during the Anarchy – one of my favourite eras. To date, Dark Deceit is an undefined mix, which I’ll need to untangle at some point in time.
Sharon: Yes please! I want to read it!
Cathie: In 2009, I took part in NaNoWriMo, working on a Scottish romance set after the 1715 Jacobite rebellion. I used real locations and studied the background history in depth – too much for traditional romance publishers, who duly rejected it. Fortunately, Highland Arms was picked up by a fabulous US indie press, and my path was clear! I later wrote a second Scottish romance, A Highland Captive, set during the Wars of Independence.
After my move from Scotland to France, my focus changed to medieval French history, with a dual-timeline mystery inspired by my surroundings. Love Lost in Time delves into the distant past of the county of Carcassonne. And the novel immortalised a young cat I lost too soon, Shadow.
Next, I wrote a novel set at the court of Louis XIV. The Shadows of Versailles deals with a dark side of the otherwise glittering court: the Affair of the Poisons. It may be too dark for some readers, as it contains disturbing scenes of child abductions and black masses. Tragically, it’s all based on real, credible accounts of the time. Researching history can be revolting, at times.
After that serious topic, I needed a more positive distraction, and I promptly delved into the foundation years of Normandy, a county I love. Ascent tells the forgotten story of Poppa of Bayeux. Everyone with a TV now knows her more danico husband – Rollo – but who was the mother of his children? Sadly, she was overlooked in the recent series, Vikings. Ascent tells her (fictionalised) story.
Sharon: What attracts you to the early medieval period?
Cathie: It was an era of great change, all across the British Isles and the European continent. The old ways and beliefs had been discarded, to make way for a Church growing in political influence, and it all makes for fascinating research. New hierarchies were formed amidst a continuing power struggle between different families. As the appointments of ‘nobility’ grew into fashion, so did the influence of favourites and allies on rulers. It was a fascinating time.
Sharon: Who is your favourite early medieval character and why?
Image of the statue of Poppa of Bayeux, Bayeux – Photochrom Print Collection
Cathie: Ooh, that’s a tricky one. There are so many real people we know little about, especially women.
(So, a big *Thank You* to you for shining a light on them with your brilliant books!)
I do think Poppa of Bayeux deserves a lot more credit. She had to deal with so many challenges – married to a marauding stranger who was likely a decade or two older, and a Pagan; bearing his children; fleeing with him to Anglia; returning to see his power increase, while she is quietly forgotten. I quite like her to be my favourite early medieval character.
Charles Martel is another. He was a fascinating man, paving the way for a greater Frankish kingdom with his conquests across what is now France. Whilst most people know his grandson, Charlemagne, without Charles, Charlemagne’s ascent in the political sphere of central Europe would not have been possible. Was Charles likeable? Hm, I’m not sure. We know he was ruthless, efficient, and a capable leader of men. Did he have time to be nice? Perhaps that’s a question for another writing project…
Sharon: Who is your least favourite early medieval character and why?
Cathie: That would probably be Charles the Fat, Carolingian King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor for a few years in the 880s. He was ineffective, and hopeless at controlling different sections of his empire. He was deposed and died in early 888, and the crown went to Odo of Paris. The Carolingian dynasty was restored after Odo’s reign, though the crown of Frankia went back and forth for a while. This is the era Ascent is set in, and it made for intriguing research.
The real Rollo surely had his work cut out, having to deal with all these changing rulers and their agendas.
Sharon: How do you approach researching your topic?
Cathie: I love history books. I think by now I own more history books than novels! Usually, I start with checking online resources. Jstor is a useful site, where you can read a number of articles for free each month; Medievalists.net is another helpful resource.
But most online sites just give you only an overview, so you need to check books that focus on the relevant era. I have an array of history books on early, high & late medieval England, Tudor England, and medieval & Jacobite Scotland on my shelves. For my France-based novels, I consult non-fiction books in French, many of which I find (handily!) in second-hand bookshops. I also use German resources, where needed.
I find that having a range of resources from different countries to consult is the best way to get a fair overview of historic events. We know that original sources were often (though not always) based on what rulers wanted the rest of the world to know – that being not necessarily the full truth. The winner records history in his favour. So, drawing from sources in different languages adds to the experience in discovering the past.
Sharon: That is so true!
Sharon: Tell us your ‘favourite’ medieval story you have come across in your research.
Image of Albrecht Dürer’s painting of Charlemagne
Cathie: Unfortunately, it is difficult to find credible stories about early medieval characters, unless they were major players like Charlemagne, due to the loss (or deliberate omission) of references for lesser-known individuals.
Therefore, I’ve chosen Charlemagne’s wives and concubines as a story I find entertaining, and enlightening! I mean – how on earth did the man have the time to marry four times, have several concubines after the death of his last wife (and possibly before) – and father an estimated twenty (20!) children? His court was always travelling across his ever-expanding realm (and later, his empire), though it is said that his main seat at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) became his favourite.
He insisted his illegitimate children were raised alongside his legitimate offspring, ensuring they all received an education deserving of their Royal bloodline. After his son Pepin’s untimely death, he even took his grandchildren in to be educated with the others.
This is a fact I recently discovered, and now I’m curious to find out more! With daughters, and especially illegitimate ones, usually being swept off into marriage or convents, his insistence that they are all educated is telling. Clearly, here was a man who valued learning – be that in practical skills or reading and writing.
For a man who ruthlessly expanded his territories, responsible for subjugation of peoples and a great number of deaths ranging from Germanic Saxony to the Iberian Peninsula, this shows an entirely different side of the ‘great Charles’.
Sharon: Tell us your least ‘favourite’ medieval story you have come across in your research.
Cathie: That has to be Charlemagne’s darkest episode – the subjugation of Germanic Pagan tribes in Saxony. The wars lasted – on and off – for three decades, and they were brutal. The Saxons did not give in easily, much to Charlemagne’s frustration, and their conversion to Christianity was slow. Their skirmishes into his territory vexed him immensely.
Eventually, according to the Royal Frankish Annals, the infamous ‘Blood Court’ massacre at Verden, in October 882, saw the execution of approx. 4,500 Saxon ‘rebels’ captured after recent battles. Their leader, Widukind, had managed to flee north.
Although later historians disputed the figure quoted in the annals, with several trying to make ridiculous excuses for Charlemagne’s actions, there seems to have been a great slaughter of thousands of prisoners, regardless. Charlemagne wanted to set an example, an effective deterrent.
Warfare continued for three more years, then it was all over for the Saxons, especially after Widukind converted to Christianity. But it was the massacre at Verden that remained like a blood stain on his otherwise pristine reputation.
Sharon: Are there any other eras you would like to write about?
Cathie: I do love different eras, as you know. The Anarchy is definitely high on my list, and I’ll have to revisit Dark Deceit to see where it takes me. (Sharon: Do it! Please!)
But I also love the court of Louis XIV of France, with all its superficial splendour and dark secret plots. The Affair of the Poisons is such an intriguing event, with many prolific nobles implicated in trying to influence the king’s opinion through nefarious deeds. Deeply disturbing, and utterly fascinating.
And then, of course, is the time of the Scottish Wars of Independence. It wasn’t easy to mess with a remarkable, power-hungry king like Edward I! (Sharon: Ooh, yes!)
But, ultimately, it’s the late Dark Ages (do we still call it that, as they weren’t really that dark?) and early Middle Ages that keep me hooked. Oh, to travel to Frankia for one day only…
Sharon: What are you working on now?
Cathie: My current WIP is called Treachery, and it’s the story of Sprota the Breton, handfasted wife of William Longsword – Poppa’s and Rollo’s son. Like his father and his two wives, William married Sprota in more danico (in the Danish custom), and Luitgarde of Vermandois in a proper Church blessing, for political reasons.
Even less is known of Sprota than of Poppa; mainly that she was mother to William’s only son, Richard, likely the first Duke of Normandy. (Rollo and William never were dukes.) I introduced her towards the end of Ascent, when she had to flee to Bayeux as William’s enemies closed in on him at his fortress in Fécamp. Following William’s assassination by Count Arnulf of Flanders in 842, Sprota had to remarry to keep her young son’s inheritance secure. And to ensure his safety!
Her responsibility as the mother of William’s heir, and her struggles for them to survive, make for an intriguing story. So many powerful men had set their sights on Normandy, wanting Richard out of the way. I hope to do Sprota justice, as, again, she has been forgotten in time.
The third and final instalment of my House of Normandy trilogy about the early ladies of Normandy will conclude in Reign, about Richard’s second wife (and previous lover), Gunnora.
Then there’s Poppa’s daughter Adela, married to the Count of Poitou. Perhaps a companion novel? 😉 Sigh…
Sharon: And finally, what is the best thing about being a writer?
Cathie: Exploring past histories is utterly fascinating, and I can only recommend it. That goes for the good and the bad we discover in our research.
Reliving the distant past is fun, but also a great responsibility, as we should stay as close to the few known facts as possible. An ogre can’t just turn into a Prince Charming, although looking at Charlemagne, he definitely had two sides to his character – the caring father interested in learning and culture, and ruthless ruler chopping off heads of his prisoners. A man of his times. But what about his women? (Cathie, behave! One novel at a time…)
And though my earlier works focused more on events and fictional characters, I now find it far more rewarding to bring forgotten women from the distant past back to life, even ‘just’ in fictionalised format. Their stories must be told.
Thank you again for letting me ramble on about my research and writing. It’s been fabulous revisiting my stories, and the real characters involved in them, and I hope your readers enjoy my interview.
Sharon: Cathie, thank you so much! It has been a pleasure! No wonder you and I get on so well!
About the Author:
Cathie Dunn is an Amazon-bestselling author of historical fiction, dual-timeline, mystery, and romance. She loves to infuse her stories with a strong sense of place and time, combined with a dark secret or mystery – and a touch of romance. Often, you can find her deep down the rabbit hole of historical research…
In addition, she is also a historical fiction book promoter with The Coffee Pot Book Club, a novel-writing tutor, and a keen book reviewer on her blog, Ruins & Reading.
After having lived in Scotland for almost two decades, Cathie is now enjoying the sunshine in the south of France with her husband, and her rescued pets, Ellie Dog & Charlie Cat.
She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, the Richard III Society, the Alliance of Independent Authors, and the Romantic Novelists’ Association.
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
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)
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.
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 theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Unusually for a king in medieval times, by 1185 William the Lion, King of Scots had been on the throne for 20 years, was past 40 and was still unmarried, despite having several illegitimate children. Until he married, William’s heir was his younger brother, David. Ironically, William’s mother, Ada de Warenne, who had been so keen to find a bride for her oldest son Malcolm IV that she was not above putting suitable girls in his bed, does not seem to have had the same sense of urgency with William. There’s no evidence that she pressured him to marry as she had his older brother. Though, I suppose, at least William had shown an interest in women and had the bastards to prove it.
And William was looking for a bride. Henry II, always happy to remind William that he was the Scots king’s overlord, exercised his right to choose William’s wife.
In May 1186, during a council at Woodstock, King Henry suggested Ermengarde de Beaumont as a bride for William. Ermengarde was the daughter of Richard, Vicomte de Beaumont-sur- Sarthe, who was himself the son of Constance, one of the many illegitimate daughters of King Henry I of England. With such diluted royal blood, she was hardly a prestigious match for the king of Scots. William felt slighted but he reluctantly accepted the marriage after consulting his advisers, the offer sweetened by a generous payment for the wedding celebrations and the return of two forfeited Scottish castles, as a wedding present.
Henry II, King of England, Lincoln Cathedral
We have, of course, no record of Ermengarde’s thoughts on the marriage, nor of whether she was aware of the fact it was seen as an insult to the Scots king. The wedding was celebrated at Woodstock, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, on 5 September 1186,
‘with great magnificence, on the nones of September [5th Sept.] (being the sixth day of the week [Friday], the moon being in her eighteenth day), in the royal chapel in the park at Woodstock, in the presence of the king himself.’1
Following the ceremony, King Henry hosted 4 days of festivities. Although we do not know Ermengarde’s birth date, at the time of the marriage, she was described as ‘a girl’, suggesting that she may have only just reached the age of 12, the minimum legal age girls could marry. It has been suggested that Ermengarde’s tender age may also have been the reason for William’s reluctance to marry her.
We do not know the year of birth of Ermengarde’s first child, a daughter named Margaret, but it was sometime between 1187 and 1195. Another daughter, Isabella, was born a year or two later. If Ermengarde gave birth to Margaret the year after her marriage, it seems highly likely that she was at least fourteen or fifteen years old at the time of her wedding. However, a later birthdate, in the 1190s would suggest that Ermengarde was younger at the time of her marriage and was given time to mature before bearing children. The king’s growing need for an heir would, perhaps, indicate that Ermengarde was old enough to bear children at the time of their marriage, and that describing the bride as ‘a girl’ was alluding to her youth, but not her actual age. Unfortunately, the vagaries of chroniclers means that we cannot say for certain
In the spring of 1195 King William fell gravely ill at Clackmannan, causing a succession crisis, the sum of his legitimate children being one, possibly two, daughters at this time – and no son. The Scottish barons deliberated a number of options, such as recognising William’s oldest legitimate daughter, Margaret, as his heir. They also considered marrying Margaret to Otto, Duke of Saxony, grandson of Henry II, and allowing Otto to succeed to the throne. The earl of Dunbar led a faction who claimed that both solutions were contrary to the custom of the land, so long as the king had a brother who could succeed him. Traditionally, the Scots throne had passed to the oldest, legitimate, male member of the royal family, rather than by primogeniture.
This must have been a worrying time for Ermengarde, not only for the health of her husband, but for her own status in Scotland, should her daughter be disinherited. Not to mention the concern that Margaret, then aged only 8 at the most, might be married at such a young age to secure the succession. In the event, the discussion was moot as the king recovered from his illness and three years later the queen gave birth to Alexander, the much-desired son and heir.
Alexander II, King of Scots
Chronicler John of Fordun described the relief and celebration felt throughout the country at the birth of the heir to the Scots throne:
‘Now this most fortunate king of Scotland, William, had, nearly twelve years ago, with great splendour and rejoicings, taken to wife Ermyngarde, daughter of the Viscount of Beaumont… By her he had a son, named Alexander, — to the great gladness of his people, and the refreshment of the whole kingdom of the Scots, as the after course of these annals will show forth. He was born at Haddington, on Saint Bartholomew’s Day, in the year 1198. In every place in the whole country, the common folk used to forsake their menial work on this day, wherein they first heard tidings of his birth, and spend it in joy; while priests and churchmen donned the alb, and walked in procession, with loud voice glorifying God in hymns and canticles, and humbly praising Him.’
Although she does not act as a witness on any of King William’s extant charters, Queen Ermengarde appears to have played an active role in Scotland, with William allowing her an increasingly influential part in public affairs. One disgruntled canon, in 1207, complained that Walter, a royal chaplain, had obtained the bishopric of Glasgow by not only bribing the king’s chamberlain, but also Queen Ermengarde. The queen may also have offered patronage to relatives, including one Richard de Beaumont, perhaps a brother or cousin, who received substantial lands in Crail. As the king’s health declined in old age – he was already 46 when he married Ermengarde – the queen took on more responsibilities, especially where her children were concerned.
Relations with England had changed in 1199, with the accession of King John, the youngest son of Henry II. During the reign of King Richard, William had agreed with the justiciar, William Longchamp, and supported Arthur of Brittany as the king’s heir. However, it was John who succeeded Richard and he may well have remembered William’s stance. Soon after John’s accession, King William asked for the return of Northumberland. The two kings met at Lincoln in 1200, with William doing homage for his English lands but getting no satisfaction in his claim to Northumberland. In subsequent meetings, John continued to prevaricate, leaving the dispute unresolved.
In the meantime, the death of the bishop of Durham meant John took over the vacant see and set about building a castle at Tweedmouth. The Scots, saw this as a direct threat to Berwick and destroyed the building works. Matters reached a crisis point in 1209.
King John of England
After many threats, and with both sides building up their armies, the two kings met at Norham, Northumberland, in the last week of July and first week of August 1209. The Scots were in a desperate position, with an ailing and ageing king, and a 10-year-old boy as heir, whilst the English, with their Welsh allies and foreign mercenaries, had an army big enough to force a Scottish submission. Queen Ermengarde appears to have acted as a mediator between the two kings, although the subsequent treaty, agreed at Norham on 7 August, was humiliating for the Scots it did, at least, prevent a war. The Scots agreed to pay 15,000 marks for peace and to surrender hostages, including the king’s two oldest legitimate daughters, Margaret and Isabella. As a sweetener, John promised to marry the Margaret to one of his sons; although Henry was only 2 years old at the time and Richard was just 8 months, whilst the girls were already in their mid teens, at least. It was agreed that Isabella would be married to an English noble of suitable rank, an earl at least.
The king’s daughters and the other Scottish hostages were handed into the custody of England’s justiciar, at Carlisle on 16 August.
How the girls, or their parents, thought about this turn of events, we know not. Given John’s proven record of prevarication and perfidy, King William may have hoped that the promised marriages would occur in good time but may also have expected that John would find a way out of the pledges he had made. William and John met again at Durham in February 1212, a meeting in which ‘The queen of Scotland was present and acted as mediator, an extraordinary woman, gifted with a charming and witty eloquence.’3 The queen’s efforts bore fruit and peace between the two countries was renewed, as ‘There in the presence of the nobles of both kingdoms and the revered lady the queen of the Scots a formula for achieving peace and love, to be observed between the kingdoms and their kings for ever, was worked out anew and confirmed by charters given by both parties.’4
It was also agreed that the Scottish prince, Alexander, should be given an English wife. With at least one of the prince’s older sisters already intended for a son of King John, marrying Alexander to one of John’s daughters would further bind the Scots to the Plantagenet cause. Prince Alexander, now aged 14, would be knighted by King John, the ceremony taking place at Clerkenwell on 4 March 1212.
Ermengarde may have taken a more prominent role in the negotiations of 1212 as King William’s health began to fail. Their son, Alexander, was still only a teenager and so it would have fallen to the queen to take the lead in the talks. William was a physically active king almost to the very last moment. In January and February 1213, when both the Scots and English kings were close to the border, a meeting was proposed, but William resisted and could not be persuaded to meet with John. In his 70th year, he was probably already very ill.
18th century image of William I the Lion
As William’s health failed, Queen Ermengarde appears to have taken on more responsibilities and exerted her influence on the court. The king rallied in 1214, so that he was well enough to travel to Elgin in the summer, where he came to an accord with John, the new earl of Caithness, and received the earl’s unnamed daughter as a hostage. The journey took its toll on the king, and he suffered some sort of collapse. He was taken, in easy stages, to the royal castle at Stirling, where he saw his lords for the last time. With the queen in attendance, William urged his barons and bishops to accept Alexander, now 16 years old, as king. King William I, later known as William the Lion, died on 4 December 1214, aged about seventy-one, having reigned for a total of forty-nine years, almost to the day.
On the morning after her husband’s death, Queen Ermengarde was ‘in a state of extreme mourning and worn out with grief.’5 The prelates and nobles attempted to rouse the queen from her melancholy by asking that she arrange the late king’s funeral, but the queen would not be moved. They left Ermengarde with her grief and took the young king to Scone, where he was crowned as King Alexander II on 6 December. King William was then buried at Arbroath on 10 December. The new king and his mother then presided over the royal Christmas feast at Forfar but returned to Stirling in January 1215, before visiting Arbroath, to see the tomb of King William.
Queen Ermengarde had been much younger than her husband, possibly by as much as thirty years. She would, therefore, continue to live for many years into her son’s reign.
Magna Carta
King Alexander II sided with the English barons in their struggle against the tyranny of King John, making an alliance with the northern barons, who agreed to press for a decision on the future of Alexander’s sisters, and a resolution of the lordship of the northern counties. He raided the northern English earldoms, exploiting the unrest in England to renew Scottish claims to these counties, besieging Norham in October 1215 and receiving the homage of the leading men of Northumberland. And when a French force joined the fight on the side of the rebels, the papal legate pronounced a sentence of excommunication on the rebels and their French and Scottish allies; it even extended to Queen Ermengarde. Scotland put under interdict. Following John’s death in October 1216 and the defeat of the French rebel army at Lincoln in May 1217, Alexander’s position in England became precarious.
The Scots king surrendered Carlisle Castle at Berwick on 1 December 1217 and submitted to England’s boy-king Henry III at Northampton later in the same month. Alexander’s sentence of excommunication was lifted by the archbishop of York, while the bishop of Durham absolved his mother, Queen Ermengarde.
With King Alexander’s submission, there followed an unprecedented almost 80 years of unbroken peace between England and Scotland, sealed by his marriage – in York – with Joan, Henry III’s sister in June 1221. Another marriage soon followed, when, in London on 30 October, Alexander’s oldest sister, Margaret, was married to Hubert de Burgh.
Joan of England, Queen of Scots
Queen Ermengarde must have felt relief that her son had found a bride, and hoped that an heir would soon follow. She may also have been satisfied that her eldest daughter, Margaret, once thought of as the heir to the Scots throne, was also finally settled in matrimony. Though there was complaint from some sides that Margaret had been pressed into a disparaging marriage when she had been promised a prince as a bridegroom. Hubert de Burgh was King Henry III’s justiciar, but was of minor nobility. He only receive his earldom of Kent after his marriage to Margaret. As for Margaret’s sister Isabella, she returned to Scotland, still unmarried. She eventually married Roger Bigod, the young Earl of Norfolk, in 1225. The wedding took place at Alnwick, in Northumberland, which may mean that Queen Ermengarde was able to attend.
Queen Ermengarde devoted her later years to founding an abbey at Balmerino, with the help of Alexander. A parish in the district of Cupar in county of Fife, it was an area she regularly visited for the benefit of her health. The dowager queen raised the money to found the Cistercian abbey, paying 1,000 merks to purchase the land and acting as overseer to the building project. The abbey was built in red stone, quarried locally. Dedicated to Saint Edward the Confessor, Balmerino was populated by monks from Melrose Abbey. Queen Ermengarde appears to have had a particular veneration for the sainted English king as the only other religious gift we can attribute to her was to the hospital of St Edward at Berwick.
The queen had lived long enough to see three of her four children settled in marriage, and may have met her first grandchild, a daughter born to Princess Margaret in 1227, also named Margaret. In the same year, Henry III’s brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, arrived in Scotland to speak with Queen Ermengarde. The object of the discussions was his possible marriage to the queen’s youngest daughter, Marjory. The earl’s proposals were attractive to neither the Scots nor his brother and negotiations came to naught, but the fact that it was Ermengarde that Richard approached, rather than the king, clearly demonstrates the queen’s continuing influence on her family. Her youngest daughter was not married until August 1235, when she married Gilbert Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, at Berwick.
Balmerino Abbey with Queen Ermengarde’s Cross in the foreground
The queen did not live to see the wedding as in February 1233 Ermengarde de Beaumont died. She was buried before the high altar of the abbey to which she had dedicated her years of widowhood, Balmerino. Although the surviving records hint at the queen enjoying substantial authority in Scotland, especially where her family were concerned, we have few specifics. That she was entrusted with negotiating with the English emissaries, in 1209 and again in 1212, suggests that she possessed impressive diplomatic skills, and that King William had considerable confidence in his wife’s abilities. Furthermore, the queen’s evident grief at her husband’s death attests to a deep affection within the union, an affection that not only defined the marriage, but also the whole family, with the queen continuing to exert her influence on the relationships of her children in the years after her husband’s death.
Having served Scotland as queen for 28 years and as its dowager queen for a further 19 years, Ermengarde de Beaumont defined the role of Queen of Scots for subsequent royal consorts. Her memory cast a long shadow.
1. Mediaeval chronicles of Scotland, translated by Joseph Stephenson; 2. John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish Nation; 3. Walter Bower, Scotichronicon, V 4; 4. ibid; 5. Rosalind K. Marshall, Scottish Queens 1034–1714
Bibliography:
Walter Bower, Scotichronicon, V 4; Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history, edited by W. F. Skene; fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTLAND; John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, edited by W. F. Skene, Edinburgh, Edmonston and Douglas; Rosalind K. Marshall, Scottish Queens 1034–1714; Mediaeval chronicles of Scotland: the chronicles of Melrose and Holyrood, translated by Joseph Stephenson; Richard Oram, editor, The Kings and Queens of Scotland; The annals of Roger de Hoveden. Comprising the history of England and of other countries of Europe from A.D. 732 to A.D. 1201, edited by Henry T. Riley; David Ross, Scotland, History of a Nation; W.W. Scott, Ermengarde [Ermengarde de Beaumont], oxforddnb.com; W.W. Scott, William I [known as William the Lion] (c. 1142–1214), oxforddnb.com
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My Books:
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
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)
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.
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 theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Elizabeth Chadwick, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved.
Elizabeth Chadwick and I at Newark Book Festival, 2018
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?
William Marshal
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?
Just some of Elizabeth’s research books
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.
The Gallery of Kings, Lincoln Cathedral
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?
Joan of Kent
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.
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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)
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.
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 theA 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.
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.’1 Like 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.
Henry I, Lincoln Cathedral
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.
Matilda of Scotland, Queen 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.
Arms of Scotland
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.
Saint Margaret, Queen of Scots
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.
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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
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
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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)
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.
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 theA 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.
The time commonly referred to as the Anarchy is one of the most violent and unstable periods of English history. Lasting almost the entirety of the reign of King Stephen, it truly was a Cousin’s War. The two main protagonists, King Stephen and Empress Matilda, were first cousins, both being grandchildren of William the Conqueror and his queen, Matilda of Flanders. What is perhaps less well known is that Empress Matilda was also first cousin to Stephen’s wife and queen, Matilda of Boulogne. The two Matilda’s were both granddaughters of Margaret of Wessex, Queen of Scots as the wife of Malcolm III Canmore. And later St Margaret. It is through Margaret that the namesake cousins could claim descent from Alfred the Great.
The origins to the Anarchy can be traced back to one dramatic and tragic event: the sinking of the White Ship in 1120. This saw the drowning of the only legitimate son and heir of King Henry I, William Ætheling (or Adelin). The young man was 17 years old at the time, recently married, and his father’s pride and joy. His death gave rise to a constitutional crisis which the widowed Henry I sought to resolve by his speedy marriage to the teenage Adeliza of Louvain, in the hope of begetting yet more sons. Although he was getting on in years at roughly fifty-two, and had only two legitimate children, his brood of more than twenty illegitimate, but acknowledged, offspring gave him cause for optimism.
However, as the years progressed and no children were born, Henry had to look to other ways of resolving the succession crisis. In the years since the death of his son, the king had taken his nephew Stephen of Blois under his wing, showering him with gifts and land, and arranging the young man’s marriage. Stephen was the son of Henry’s highly capable sister Adela of Normandy, Countess of Blois and Stephen, Count of Blois, who had been killed on Crusade. The younger Stephen was created Count of Mortain and married to Matilda of Boulogne, the only child and heiress of Eustace of Boulogne and Mary of Scotland. It is possible that Henry was showing Stephen such favouritism in anticipation of not producing an heir by his new wife and was grooming Stephen to succeed him.
Empress Matilda depicted in an image from the Gospels of Henry the Lion.
However, the death of his daughter’s husband, Emperor Henry V, in faraway Germany offered Henry an alternative to his nephew. Better still, here was an opportunity to put his own blood on the throne. Shortly after the German emperor’s death in 1125, Henry recalled Empress Matilda to England. She had been sent to Germany at the age of seven, to be raised at the court of the emperor in anticipation of their marriage when she came of age. Matilda had married Henry in 1114, a month before her twelfth birthday. Although she and Henry were married for eleven years, they remained childless. When Henry died in 1125, Henry I of England therefore saw an opportunity to resolve his succession problem by recalling Matilda and making her his heir.
There was one problem with this plan: Matilda was a woman. Henry knew his barons would not be happy with the idea of being ruled by a woman, but by a process of coercion and persuasion he managed to get all his barons to swear to accept her as their next monarch. Following Matilda’s arrival in England in 1126, Henry proceeded to extract oaths of allegiance to her from all the bishops and magnates present at his Christmas court. Notably, this included Stephen of Blois, Count of Mortain, King Henry’s nephew and the empress’s cousin. One of the concessions made to the barons was that they would have a say in Matilda’s choice of husband. After all, as a woman, Matilda would need a husband to rule in her name. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reported:
David the king of Scots was there, and all the head [men], clerical and lay, that were in England; and there he [Henry] had archbishops, and bishops, and abbots, and earls, and all those thegns who were there, swear England and Normandy after his day into the hand of his daughter Æthelic [Matilda], who was earlier wife of the emperor of Saxony; and afterwards sent her to Normandy (and with her travelled her brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and Brian, son of the earl Alan Fergant), and had her wedded to the son of the Earl of Anjou, [who] was called Geoffrey Martel [Plantagenet]. Despite the fact that it offended all the French and English, the king did it in order to have peace from the Earl of Anjou and in order to have help against William his nephew.1
Matilda of Boulogne
In trying to resolve the issue of who would rule after him, Henry had inadvertently created a problem that ensured the succession would be anything but smooth. He had created two rivals for the throne. His daughter had the claim that she was Henry’s successor by blood, but she was a woman. Though his blood claim was weaker, Stephen was Henry’s closest living male relative, and in the days when a king not only had to rule but had to lead his men into battle, the prospect of a female ruler struck fear into the hearts of the barons.
Empress Matilda’s actual abilities mattered less than the fact of her gender. Raised at the German imperial court, Matilda was an experienced politician who had acted as regent for her first husband on several occasions. She was confident. She knew, beyond doubt, that she was capable of ruling in her own right. This confidence was her strength but also her weakness; the barons would surely baulk at the idea of a woman who was unwilling to take instruction from them. In contrast, King Stephen was a magnate who was experienced in war and had enjoyed the favour of King Henry I.
Stephen’s wife, Matilda of Boulogne, was a stalwart supporter of her husband. She was arguably more capable than Stephen and often took the initiative in diplomatic negotiations. Acting as Stephen’s queen, she offered a stark contrast to the independence and authority of Empress Matilda that so infuriated the barons. Matilda of Boulogne was a little more subtle than her imperious counterpart, only ever acting in her husband’s name, not her own. Even later, when she held the command of Stephen’s forces during his captivity in 1141, she claimed to act only on behalf of her husband and sons.
King Stephen, Lincoln Cathedral
Matilda of Boulogne was an example of how a woman was expected to act and comport herself: strong and confident, but subject to her husband’s will. On this last, Empress Matilda failed in the eyes of the barons; she was acting for herself. In the event, the barons of England and Normandy despised her second husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, so they would have been even less receptive to Matilda had her husband tried to assert his authority. It was a conundrum that Matilda was never able to resolve, though she would not give up trying.
And the empress was, ultimately, the winner. With Stephen’s death in 1154, the last flickers of conflict also died. The empress’s oldest son succeeded as Henry II, peacefully and largely unopposed, despite the continued presence of Stephen’s son, William of Blois. Support for William was non-existent, and the war-weary barons were more than happy with the settlement. For Empress Matilda, it must have been a bittersweet moment. She had spent most of the past nineteen years fighting for her birthright and that of her son. While she had never worn the crown, Henry now did. The line of succession had finally passed into the hands of the descendants of Henry I.
Her bloodline had prevailed, but King Stephen had denied Empress Matilda her inheritance, her titles and her due. The irony of this struggle is that, in order to claim the throne, Stephen overruled the same laws of inheritance that saw him become Count of Boulogne. While it was difficult for a woman to manage her own lands and titles, they descended through her to her husband or son. So, as the county of Boulogne was inherited by Queen Matilda, so Stephen held those titles by right of his wife. And this was the dilemma for the Anglo-Norman nobility, and the reason they largely chose to support Stephen: they were suspicious and distrusting of the husband chosen for Empress Matilda. Just like Stephen, Geoffrey of Anjou had every right to claim Matilda’s lands as his own. Not the Geoffrey showed any interest in England; his sights were firmly set on Normandy, which he had conquered by 1144 and handed to his son, Henry in 1150.
The similarities between Empress and Queen are more noticeable than their differences. Both women demonstrated a level of piety which can only have come from their family connection, namely their mutual descent from Margaret of Wessex, Queen of Scots and later saint. Each Matilda was willing to do whatever it took to protect the interests of her children. Queen Matilda appealed to the empress to protect her son Eustace’s inheritance, while the empress invaded England. It is easy to see the empress’s struggle as an expression of her personal ambition to recover the inheritance stolen from her.
Henry II, Lincoln Cathedral
Yet it is necessary to look deeper and acknowledge that she was also motivated to see her son achieve his birthright. When Stephen usurped her throne, he stole it not just from Matilda but also from Henry. Calling himself Henry Fitz Empress when he joined his mother’s struggle, Henry was the grandson and eventual heir of Henry I. He had been raised to believe that England and Normandy were his destiny, and with the knowledge that his mother was absent for much of his formative years because she was fighting for his inheritance as much as hers.
Both empress and queen were adept at negotiating to achieve their aims, demonstrating impressive diplomatic skills in the most difficult of circumstances. Neither was prepared to sit on the sidelines and let others fight their battles for them. Although they could not wield a sword, nor participate in warfare, neither did they sit and wait in the safety of their ivory towers. They travelled with the armies and participated in councils of war, advising, directing and commanding their forces.
Empress Matilda and Queen Matilda had so much more in common than a name. Indeed, there was more to uniting them than pitting them against one another, be it family ties, abilities or aspirations for their children. What really differentiated them was the way they went about achieving their aims.
Dynastic ambition was a fine line for a woman to walk…
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The story of Empress Matilda and Queen Matilda of Boulogne is examined in greater detail in my book, Women of the Anarchy.
Notes:
1. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, edited by Michael Swanton
Sources:
Gesta Stephani, translated by K. R. Potter; Henry of Huntingdon, The History of the English People 1000-1154; Marjorie Chibnall, The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English; Teresa Cole, The Anarchy: The Darkest Days of Medieval England; Catherine Hanley, Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior; Helen Castor, She-Wolves: The Women who Ruled England before Elizabeth; Robert Bartlett, England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings; J. Sharpe (trans.), The History of the Kings of England and of his Own Times by William Malmesbury; Orderici Vitalis, Historiae ecclesiasticae libri tredecem, translated by Auguste Le Prévost; Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I; Edmund King, King Stephen; Donald Matthew, King Stephen; Matthew Lewis, Stephen and Matilda’s Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy.
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
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)
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.
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 theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved. Our first ever episode was a discussion on The Anarchy Every episode is also now available on YouTube.
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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.
It is a pleasure to welcome my good friend Rosanna McGlone to History … the Interesting Bits to chat about her new book, Feisty Females, a series of short stories inspired by The Great Cowcher Book. Although Feisty Females is Rosanna’s ‘baby’, I feel like its Godmother as we have chatted frequently, over coffee, about the women she included, included Nicholaa de la Haye, Alice de Lacey, Blanche of Lancaster and Gwenllian of Wales – women my readers, I know, are well acquainted with!
Rosanna would meet me, armed with questions about the history of these women and the world they lived in. Then she went away and came back having put her own mark on their stories. And what a fascinating collection of stories it is!
It is a joy to see this project come to fruition. So, over to Rosanna to tell you a little about the process of researching and writing Feisty Females: Old Bolingbroke through our Imaginations.
Feisty Females: Writing Lincolnshire’s Medieval Women by Rosanna McGlone
Henry IV, Canterbury Cathedral
You’ve heard of the Domesday Book, right? But do you know the second most important medieval record book? If you don’t, let me reassure you. Until I received this commission, neither did I. According to staff at the National Archives it’s The Great Cowcher Book, a medieval land registry commissioned by Henry IV to provide a record of lands within the Duchy of Lancaster. Receiver General John Leventhorpe was assigned to visit the 18,000 hectares of rural estates in England and Wales including Cheshire and Lancashire in the West and The Honor of Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire in the East which make up the Duchy of Lancaster. In doing so, he gathered a total of 161 folios and 2,433 charters written in either Latin or medieval French.
What exactly do the two volumes of The Great Cowcher Book contain? As well as including transactions such as the bestowing of Old Bolingbroke Castle to John of Gaunt and his wife Blanche of Lancaster, the book also covers more minor land transactions between people of much lower status.
Additionally, the Great Cowcher Book provides a record of disputes which had been brought before the court seeking resolution.
I was commissioned, and funded, by a number of organisations including the Arts Council, Lincoln County Council, the community of Old Bolingbroke and others to write a creative response to this unique material. Thus, it is from this medieval register that my book of short stories, Feisty Females: Old Bolingbroke through our Imaginations was crafted.
The beautiful medieval manuscripts have recently been translated into English and I received the information on a rather less romanticised, Excel spreadsheet! The columns display the following headings, however not all of them have been populated for each of the more than 5,000 entries: regnal year, name of vendor, name of buyer, land to be purchased; witnesses to the contract; any special conditions, the original language of the manuscript.
As I poured over in excess of 1,200 entries pertaining to The Honor of Bolingbroke, my key focus, I was struck by the names: Walter son of Andrew; Adam, Hugh, Odo Galle of Saltfletby; Gilbert, Ranulf, Clement Prior of Spaldying, William de Rusmar, Henry de Lascy, Simon le Bret, God and his church.
Where were all of the women? As I note in the introduction to my book, His-tory is so often that, a record of the past through the male lens. For me, it was important to offer a different perspective. Out of the more than 5,000 entries within the Great Cowcher Book there are few female landowners. Yet, I was mindful that any females who did appear would have something remarkable about them to succeed in the male dominated medieval world.
Tomb effigy of Nicholaa de la Haye
Women such as Nicholaa de la Haye, the first female Sheriff of Lincoln and Castellan of Lincoln Castle who withstood not one, but three separate sieges on the castle and earned the respect of King John himself.
Another feisty female for whom I have particular affection is Alice de Lacy, a woman whose story is too incredible to be true, at least that’s what I thought when I read it. Kidnappings, rape, imprisonment by the king, threats of being burnt to death, really how could I possibly capture all of Alice’s turbulent life in a mere 3,000 words? The answer is, I couldn’t. Therefore, I focused upon the catalyst for her troubles, her inheritance. Two bizarre childhood accidents occurred to her brothers which, in my opinion, determined the course of Alice’s life. Firstly, her young brother Edmund fell down a well at Denbigh Castle and died. Then, barely six months later, her other brother, John fell off the battlements at Pontefract Castle. He too perished leaving Alice- still a child herself- as sole heir to her parents, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, and Margaret Longespee, Countess of Salisbury.
Whilst all of the other stories are set in medieval times, for Alice’s story I use the framework of a police interview in which she is pushed to reveal the truth of those inciting incidents.
The women with the most charters in the Great Cowcher Book is Hawise de Quincy, first Countess of Lincoln, who has a remarkable 40 entries. Whilst the vast majority of these relate to land acquisitions, the one upon which my tale focuses concerns a dispute was between Hawise and Philip de Kyma. To quote the Great Cowcher, this disagreement was
‘…concerning a certain obstruction of a certain watercourse made by the said Philip in Torp to the nuisance of the port of the said Hawise in Weynfled. Because it was then clear the land of both sides of that watercourse towards the port of Weynfled is of the said Philip…’
And so on… In essence, Philip de Kyma was preventing Hawise de Quincy from accessing her port and, therefore, the valuable port fees. So, what was she to do? This is what my story explores. Does pragmatism work, or must Hawise resort to womanly wiles?
Memorial to Gwenllian, Sempringham Priory
An incredibly wronged female in Feisty Females is Gwenllian, the last Princess of Wales who was incarcerated in a Lincolnshire Priory from which there was little chance of escape, unless she had inside help…
In all cases, bar one, the women come from the Great Cowcher book, however in Matilda’s case my desire to write on the specific topic of that story arose first, based on a certain building referenced in The Great Cowcher. Matilda’s Story begins thus:
It was the day after Candlemas that we held my brother’s funeral. There was just one problem: he wasn’t dead.
It has been a pleasure to learn more about these characters and to bring them to life for readers, giving them voices after 800 years, or more, of silence. The book is a celebration of the female power which was understood by Chaucer who, himself, makes an appearance in Blanche’s Story. In the epigraph to my book Chaucer describes women thus:
‘And what is better than wisedoom? Womman.
And what is better than a good woman? Nothyng.’1
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Notes: 1. Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Tale of Melibee’ The Canterbury Tales.
Rosanna McGlone is a writer and journalist. Her book, The Process of Poetry -which explores the development of early drafts of poems by some of the country’s leading poets- was number 1 on Amazon and featured on Radio 4’s Front Row. The sequel, The Making of a Poem, focuses on the work of Australian foremost poets. She has written more than 100 features for the national press, including: The Guardian, The Independent, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian. Rosanna has written memoirs, community plays and collected oral histories. Feisty Females, a creative response to The Great Cowcher Book, a medieval book, is out on June 8th 2025.
To find out more follow Rosanna at @rosannamcglone.bsky.social
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My Books:
Signed, dedicated copies of all my books are available through my online bookshop.
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)
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.
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 theA 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.
Today in my Wordly Women, author spotlight series, I have a chat with Carol McGrath. Carol is one of those people I can spend a day with, just discussing history from dawn to dusk. Indeed, we have done on a couple of occasions.
So, it was wonderful to get the chance to talk with Carol about her writing, both fiction and non-fiction.
Over to Carol…
Sharon: Carol, what got you into writing?
Carol: I loved writing as a child and even made my own little books, mostly mysteries. Originally loving art, I wanted to be a book illustrator. However, I came to be passionate about the stories of the past and, as a child, was very influenced by writers such as Rosemary Sutcliff and Geoffrey Treece. Later, of course, Jean Plaidy took over and, after her, Anya Seton. It was an honour when at the age of thirteen I was asked to present my own story about the Children’s Crusade to an English inspector at my school. I wrote poetry as well. So, I guess my own reading and interest in History inspired me to write. As it can do, life got in the way and I became a teacher and loved it. I was even Head of a History Department for a time so there was no time to pursue writing. In those days teaching was a wonderful career and all consuming. Family, too, was all consuming. From the 1990s onwards, I began to take evening courses to keep up my interest in writing. There was a two year certificate in creative writing at Oxford, an MA in creative writing from Queens University Belfast and finally a Phd programme at Royal Holloway. It’s not for everyone to go an academic route but it was wonderful for me and helped me find my voice as well as specific writing interests and genres. The MA and Phd courses focused me. They enhanced what I hope was always there, the ability and love of writing.
Sharon: You write both fiction and non-fiction-is one harder than the other?
Carol: That’s a great question. I studied English, Medieval History and interestingly Russian History and politics at University, Q.U.B. I enjoy both kinds of writing. They are different disciplines. I feel the Phd programme helped me with writing non-fiction because of thesis work. When I research and write it’s all consuming for me, whether for fiction or non-fiction. What I do find hard is to research and write both disciplines at the same time. I am currently in contract for Headline for two Tudor novels. After this, maybe another non-fiction. Pen & Sword still approach me with wonderful suggestions but since these books do take time, a lot of time, the non-fiction is on hold. To answer your question, I guess for me fiction is easier although I like writing both. I adore the research and am a member of the Bodleian Library Oxford which is fabulous.
Sharon: Tell us about your books
St Sophia, Kyiv
Carol: I write both Medieval and Tudor novels currently. I wrote my debut novel that was easily published on the PhD programme. The Handfasted Wife was inspired by the Bayeaux Tapestry, specifically the image of The Burning House. I believe it represents Edith Swan-Neck and her son fleeing from the Normans probably from Harold’s estate at Crowhurst. Some Historians think this too. This novel is about Edith Swanneck and what happened to her after the Battle of Hastings. It was followed by novels about Harold’s daughters, The Swan-Daughter and The Betrothed Sister. I researched them carefully but for The Betrothed Sister about his elder daughter , Gytha, I had much knowledge about the medieval Rus, Kyiv and life in the region of Rus lands now known as Ukraine. I have spent time seeking Gytha out in Kyiv, especially The Church of St Sophia. The Swan-Daughter about Gunnhild, Harold’s second daughter is my favourite of all my books. Creatively, I linked it to the story of Tristram and Iseult. Gunnhild eloped from Wilton Abbey with Alan of Richmond, a cousin of William of Normandy. Talk about ‘sleeping with the enemy’. Again, these books were closely researched and they all follow the Historical record where it exists. The Hastings Trilogy was followed by a Tudor novel Mistress Cromwell, looking at Thomas Cromwell through his wife’s eyes. By the way, it’s on an Amazon kindle offer for April. I am currently writing the sequel, The Queen’s Sister, to be published May 2026. I have also written The Rose Trilogy about three high medieval queens and a novel called The Stolen Crown about Stephen and Matilda but really it is mostly Matilda’s story. In non-fiction Tudor Sex and Sexuality is my great debut. It’s published by Pen & Sword. It’s simply a great fun look at this topic.
Sharon: What Attracts you to the Period?
Harold’s daughter’s burial place in St Sophia Kyiv
Carol: I studied Medieval History and enjoy researching it. It’s not as brutal a time as one might think. I find I can lose myself in this era especially the twelfth century. As for the Tudors, they are absolutely fascinating with many interesting female stories to write. Besides, it’s an excuse to visit great Tudor houses such as Hever Castle. I love the portraiture from this era. Holbein is a character in my current work. As for Henry VIII, he’s larger than life. I am interested in Historical landscape and attracted to a less populated time with its villages and towns. The crafts from both eras are fabulous. I love to include crafts persons in my medieval novels.
Sharon: Who is your favourite Tudor and Why?
Carol: I am about to write Margaret Douglas’s story. It will be called The Tudor Rebel. At the moment she is my favourite Tudor because she had a clandestine love affair and was involved with fascinating Devonshire Manuscript. Ladies of Queen Anne Bullen’s court wrote poems and shared them in a similar way as we did with Twitter now X. They commented and added to each other’s verses. Meg Douglas was right in the thick of it , as was her suitor, young Tom Howard. What’s not to love about a Courtly Romance and clandestine love affair that caused terrible consequences for this pair of love birds. I studied Renaissance poetry so another favourite Tudor of mine is Sir Thomas Wyatt. He, too, has an interesting story.
Sharon: Who is your least favourite Tudor
Hever Castle
Carol: My least favourite Tudor is the sleezy, snobbish Duke of Norfolk. He was incredibly underhand to get what he wanted. And the mean, creepy Duke was an infamous wife beater although not alone in that. Very ambitious and manipulative. I’m not too keen on Stephen Gardiner either. However, I need to research that particular man further. Motivation always interests me, that and the atmosphere in which these people lived.
Sharon: How do you approach researching your topic
Carol: I read everything I can find on it in primary and secondary source material. I love notebooks so I am a great pen and paper writer. I adore burying myself in the Bodleian Library. I find great original source material there. Mind you I occasionally wonder about translations. When you come across boats that serviced King Richard’s march south from Acre on the third crusade translated as ‘snacks’ you have to smile. A misprint? I have never found out. I visit houses and castles, museums and enactments. When writing about stone masons, I learned how to carve in stone myself. I work hard at understanding an Historical mindset but I do believe a writer of fiction is always there in her novels too. It’s all about point of views and voice.
Sharon: What is your favourite Medieval or Tudor Story found in Research
Carol: Has to be the fact that Harold’s youngest son Ulf, a young hostage at the time of The Norman Conquest who was raised at the Norman Court by Robert Curthose and as a knight he likely went on the First Crusade. I found a reference in a chronicle (John of Worcester) to Ulf’s fate. I am going to write his story someday in fiction. I like the Crusades and I love tidbits about personalities that can inspire elaboration.
Sharon: What is your least Favourite Story
Carol: I could say it is how Thomas Cromwell set up Anne Bullen. When you examine this closely it has to have been a ghastly, rather complete conspiracy. Thomas Cromwell is a mixed bag as a character. He’s redeemed by Hilary Mantel and to some extent by Dermot McCullagh whose book on Cromwell is excellent. However, even if sincere, Cromwell’s reformist opinions grew completely suspect when he fell out with Anne Bullen over what to do with monastic lands. He, himself, by the way, benefited greatly. You will find out more about this in The Queen’s Sister when it is published. So, the story of Anne Bullen’s downfall is utterly horrendous. Even worse, were the accusations against the men who died with her. By the way, she was no paragon of virtue either. She was hideous to Catherine of Aragon and Lady Mary, motivated, I believe, by fear of their supporters undoing her.
Sharon: Are there any other eras you would like to write about?
Carol: Absolutely The English Civil War. I have a novel that’s unfinished called The Queen’s Tulip so watch this space. I also have a bottom drawer novel I may polish up that’s set in Edwardian Ireland. To my credit, Andrew Motion, my MA outside examiner, praised the first five chapters of The Damask Maker and it won me, along with short stories, a distinction on my MA.
Sharon: What are you working on now?
Carol: I am editing The Queen’s Sister about Elizabeth Seymour who married Gregory Cromwell. It’s her story but also covers Thomas Cromwell’s downfall. It’s due in to my editor at Headline on May 1st. My agent beta read it and says she loves it so that’s encouraging. I am now researching and planning The Tudor Rebel about Meg Douglas, Henry VIII’s errant niece.
Sharon: What do you love most about being a writer
Carol: It is the opportunity to express myself creatively. I feel very privileged to be busily doing something I thoroughly love. I never expected to be published and I am fortunate because it just happened for me, initially with a small publisher who was bought out by Headline in 2019.
About the Author
Following a first degree in English and History, Carol McGrath completed an MA in Creative Writing from The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University Belfast, followed by an MPhil in English from University of London. She is published by Headline. The Handfasted Wife, first in a trilogy about the royal women of 1066 was shortlisted for the RoNAS in 2014. The Swan-Daughter and The Betrothed Sister complete this highly acclaimed trilogy. Mistress Cromwell, a best-selling historical novel about Elizabeth Cromwell, wife of Henry VIII’s statesman, Thomas Cromwell, was republished by Headline in 2020. The Silken Rose, first in a Medieval She-Wolf Queens Trilogy, featuring Ailenor of Provence, saw publication in April 2020. This was followed by The Damask Rose. The Stone Rose was published April 2022. The Stolen Crown 2023 and July 2024 The Lost Queen about Berengaria of Navarre and The Third Crusade. Carol writes Historical non-fiction as well as fiction. Sex and Sexuality in Tudor England was published in February 2022 by Pen & Sword. She speaks at Conferences and gives interviews. Her new novel The Queen’s Sister will be published in May 2026. She lives in Oxfordshire and in the Mani, Greece.
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)
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.
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 theA Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved. In episode #43, Derek and I chat with Carol about Berengaria of Navarre and The Lost Queen.
History... the interesting bits! 