Plantagenets – Page 2 – History… the interesting bits!

Book Corner: Return of the Wolf by Steven A. McKay

07/11/202507/11/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

England’s greatest ever hero is back, but for how long?

AD 1331 – Wakefield, England
It’s been five long years since Robin Hood’s heart-breaking funeral. Since then, his friends have moved on with their lives, having adventures of their own, and becoming respected figures in the local community. But, as Christmas bells rang out last December, to everyone’s shock, Robin returned home to Wakefield, alive and well.

He believes all his old enemies are dead and gone, and is looking forward to living a peaceful life with his wife and young children. Things rarely work out as we plan them though, and it’s not long before a deadly new threat raises its head.

The Coterel gang are notorious throughout England, committing all kinds of heinous crimes including extortion, prostitution, kidnapping, and even murder. They appear untouchable, with noblemen and even Members of Parliament amongst their members. When Robin and his friends attack a cruel extortionist in nearby Notton they find themselves on the wrong side of the Coterels, and it seems Robin will be forced to live either as an outlaw again, or be viciously hunted down like an animal.

Although his choices are limited, one – seemingly mad – option presents itself and, before long Robin takes sail for the first time ever, on the trail of the legendary lost treasure of King John.
With John Little, Will Scaflock, Friar Tuck, and two loyal Hospitallers in tow, Robin travels across Europe to Flanders, Aachen, and finally the mythical, legend-haunted mountain known as the Untersberg. Will he find England’s lost crown jewels there, or will he find only danger and death?

I do love a good legend!

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a soft spot for the legendary hero, Robin Hood. Living just a half hour drive from Sherwood Forest, how could I not? When my son was about 6, I once almost told one of his school friends that Santa didn’t exist – because she had had the audacity to tell Lewis that Robin Hood wasn’t real!

I am having a very Robin Hood-y day!

Only this morning, I was at the Sherwood Forest Moot – the first one in over 100 years, to start planning the new, annual Sherwood Forest day. The first one will be 20 February 2026. Exciting!

Anyway, back to Robin Hood!

So, when Steven A. McKay said he was writing another Robin Hood story, I was sooooo excited! Last year, after five years of ‘playing dead’, Robin Hood reappeared at the end of the short story, The Heretic of Haltemprice Priory.

But Robin has a big problem; he is still, technically, an outlaw – a Wolf’s Head.

And I started Return of the Wolf on the 809th anniversary of the events in the prologue, on 12 October 1216. This was the day King John’s baggage train got caught by a high tide in the Wash, as they were crossing from Norfolk to Lincolnshire, and the royal treasure was lost, never to be seen again.

One hundred years later, in Return of the Wolf, Robin Hood and his loyal friends, Friar Tuck, Little John and Will Scarlet, embark on a treasure hunt, in search of some remnants of John’s baggage train that may have survived. It leads to a fascinating adventure that takes Robin and his friends on a journey beyond England’s shores, through Belgium and into Germany.

In search of a great treasure.

And maybe, just maybe, a pardon for Robin.

“Christs’ bones, it stinks in here!” John had led the way into the tannery but he pulled up, almost gagging as the fumes accosted them.

“Pull up your tunic,” Robin advised. “Come on.” He drew his sword for it was clear the tanner had no intentions of co-operating without a fight, and moved past the bailiff, eyes scanning the gloomy interior of the room.

The shouting had intensified when they first stormed into the building, but it had died away and now a sinister, forbidding silence fell across the place. Robin had instinctively taken charge, and John did not complain. As the pair moved forward, past more wooden frames and towards the back of the chamber, the years seemed to fall away and the near-telepathy they had once shared as outlaws returned.

A scream of rage suddenly split the air and a dark figure appeared from behind one of the wooden frames. Robin saw a knife, designed for scraping animal hides but just as useful as a weapon, scything through the gloom towards Little John’s back. In one fluid motion Robin’s sword flashed out, parrying the tanning knife, and then he brutally kicked the attacker in the side. There was a grunt of pain as the man slammed into a barrel with vile smelling liquid, and then Robin’s right fist hammered into his jaw and he slumped to the ground.

Little John had a second enemy to deal with, a rat-faced, slim man with a wispy beard and barely a tooth in the mouth that opened to issue a war cry as he swung at the bailiff with his tanning knife. The tool had two handles, one at either end, so – lacking a point – it was no use as a thrusting weapon, but the blade itself was sharp and heavy enough that it could likely sever a limb and John dodged away from it desperately.

The attacker stumbled forward and John brought up his staff, catching the man beneath the chin. It was a lucky strike but it smashed the enemy’s mouth shut and he reeled back, grasping his jaw, eye screwed shut in pain. They did not open again, as John’s staff came around once more, this time cracking against the thin man’s head.

“That the lot?” Robin wondered.

“Can’t be,” John said, eyeing the unconscious tanners. “Neither of these two are the one we met outside. He’s still around somewhere.”

I have to say, Steven A. McKay’s Return of the Wolf is definitely up to his usual standard. This may be his best Robin Hood book yet. He weaves a wonderful story incorporating the legend of Robin Hood, with the mysteries of lost treasure, and a road trip with friends. Of course, there are dangers along the way, pirates, duplicitous noblemen, a vicious gang of thugs, and the elements themselves.

Travelling amidst a heatwave, the thunder storms are legendary – so much louder on the continent than we are used to in England (when I was working at Disneyland, Paris, there was a thunderstorm so loud that I thought someone had blown up the park!)

Return of the Wolf takes you back to the 14th century. You are immersed in the sights, sounds and smells of the era: from the loud and rowdy taverns, to the peace of a Hospitaller commandery, from the swell of the open sea, to the dark of the forests. I can even forgive Steven A. McKay for setting Robin Hood in Barnsdale Forest and Wakefield, rather than Sherwood and Nottingham (but don’t tell Steven!)

Success or failure – and Robin’s very freedom – depends on the survival skills of Robin and his friends. It is a tense, sometimes frightening, adventure. The fight scenes are frantic, failure is only one misstep away and enemies are stalking them in the dark.

What a fabulous story!

And, hopefully, the first of many more!

Buy Return of the Wolf

About the author:

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

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

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

My books

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

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

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

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

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

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

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

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

Podcast:

Have a listen to the A Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and Michael Jecks, and discuss a wide range of topics in medieval history, from significant events to the personalities involved. There’s even an episode where we chat with Steven A. McKay about Robin Hood!

There are now over 75 episodes to listen to!

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

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

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

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

Guest Post: Finding Isabelle, a Mother and a Queen by Terri Lewis

18/10/202515/10/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

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

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 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.”

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.

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

Buy the book at Amazon.com (in $), Amazon.co.uk (in £), and Amazon.Fr (in €)

My Books:

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

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available 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.

Podcast:

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

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

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

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

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

Ermengarde de Beaumont, Queen of Scots

04/10/202503/10/2025Sharon Bennett Connolly4 Comments

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Images:

Notes:

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

My Books:

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

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available 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.

Podcast:

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

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

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Wordly Women: Elizabeth Chadwick

30/08/202530/07/2025Sharon Bennett Connolly3 Comments

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

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

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

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

Sharon: Tell us about your books.

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

Sharon: What attracts you to the medieval period?

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

Sharon: Who is your favourite medieval character and why?

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

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

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

Sharon: How do you approach researching your topic?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sharon: What are you working on now?

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

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

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

About the Author:

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

My books

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

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

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

Podcast:

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

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

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

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

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

Wordly Women: Kathryn Warner

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

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

So, over to Kathryn…

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

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

Sharon: Tell us about your books.

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

Sharon: What attracts you to the 14th century?

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

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

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

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

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

Sharon: How do you approach researching your topic?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sharon: What are you working on now?

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

Sharon: Now that, I want to read!

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

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

About the Author:

Kathryn Warner holds two degrees in medieval history from the University of Manchester. She is considered a foremost expert on Edward II and an article from her on the subject was published in the English Historical Review. She has run a website about him since 2005 and a Facebook page about him since 2010 and has carved out a strong online presence as an expert on Edward II and the fourteenth century in general. Kathryn teaches Business English as a foreign language and lives between Dusseldorf and Cumbria.

To buy: Kathryn’s books

My books

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

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Podcast:

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

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

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

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

Guest Post: Othon and the Templars by John Marshall

23/07/202525/07/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

Today, it is a pleasure to welcome John Marshall to History…the Interesting Bits with an article about a very intriguing chap, Othon de Grandson. Othon was a very good friend of Edward I and one who could arguably challenge William Marshal for the title, Greatest Knight. John’s new book is a biography of this remarkable man.

So, over to John…

Othon and the Templars

A question I asked myself in writing Othon de Grandson: Edward I’s Loyal Knight of Renown was exactly what was the Savoyard knight’s relationship with the Knights Templar? The relationship of Edward’s friend and envoy with the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon is a long one and indeed began over a century before he was born.

Othon’s ancestor Barthélémy de Jura, treasurer of Reims, then Bishop of Laon in Picardy, was there at the very beginning of the crusader order. Barthélémy was at the 1128 Council of Troyes, chaired by Bernard of Clairvaulx which ratified the rule of the the Templars. He was a kinsman, through his mother, of Bernard of Clairvaulx, and would later retire as a monk to the Cistercian abbey he helped found at Foigny. Another ancestor was another Barthélémy who took up the cross and joined the Second Crusade. He is reported to have departed this life in Jerusalem in 1158.

So, when Othon de Grandson accompanied his liege the Lord Edward on the ninth crusade in 1271 his family was no stranger to crusading.

But the story of Othon de Grandson’s close association with the Templars begins in earnest with his flight from Acre accompanying Templar knight Jacques de Molay in 1291. Grandson had likely been sent to Acre in 1290 as preparation for a crusade by King Edward I that never came to pass. They were all overtaken by Al Ashraf Khalil, the sultan of Egypt who successfully led a Mamluk assault on the last crusader outpost in Outremer. King Henry II of Cyprus, the gravely wounded Master of the Hospitallers Jean de Villiers, the soon-to-be Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay and Othon de Grandson washed up on the shore of Cyprus as refugees from Acre. The Templars were in need of a new Grand Master, and it is said that Othon de Grandson was “involved” in the election of Jacques de Molay.

*The former Templar Commanderie at Épailly in Burgundy which passed to Othon on the Templars suppression.*

The idea of being ‘involved’ came from a declaration given later during the suppression of the order; a Templar, Hugh de Fauro, gave testimony that Jacques de Molay had sworn before the Master of the Hospital and ‘coram domino Odone de Grandisono milite’ that is ‘before the knight Sir Othon de Grandson.’ We then hear from Hethum of Corycus that Grandson and Jacques de Molay, had had a hand in affairs and the better reordering of the kingdom of Cillician Armenia to meet the Mamluk threat and preserve it as a base for ongoing crusading ventures. Grandson’s relationship with Molay and the Templars does seem to stem from this time at Acre, on Cyprus and in Armenian Cilicia between 1291 and 1294.

We then meet the financial entanglement of grandson with the Templars. Evidence of this comes not only from payments from the Templars to Grandson but also grants in the other direction. When both Molay and Grandson were back in the west, on 14 July 1296, Othon would grant the Templars 200 Livres from his salt revenues at Salins-les-Bains in the Franche Comté, a source of revenue he had used to similarly grant the monks of Saint-Jean Baptiste in Grandson before he had left for the

Holy Land. The first grant was in essence for prayers of safe return; the second grant looks like thanks for a safe return. The great salt works of Salins belonged to the Count of Burgundy; they were also known as the Seigneurs de Salins, and the works and its grander enlightenment era equivalent today enjoy UNESCO-listed status. The grant to the Templars was in consideration of the great help Othon had received from ‘mes chiers amis en dieu freres Jaques de Molai’, that is, ‘my dear friend in God brother Jacques de Molay’ and he referred to the help which ‘li freres du celle meismes Relegion ont fait a mes accessors, e a moi deca mer et de la mer en la sainte terre e ne cesse encore de faire’ or ‘the brethren of that same order have given to my ancestors and to myself in the West and in the East in the Holy Land, and still continue to give’. His reference to his anccessurs is likely to mean Barthélémy de Grandson who had, as we saw, died in 1158 in Jerusalem.

The reverse Templar ongoing and enormous financial commitment to Grandson is confirmed to us in a papal confirmation of 17 August 1308 by Pope Clement V. Upon suppression of the order Grandson was keen, obviously, that Templar payments continue, since they were the tremendous annual sum of 2,000 Livres Tournois, equating to £500 at the time, and over £350,000 in today’s money. The pension arrangement was made by a Grand Master, named as Jacques de Molay, and variously dated to 1277, 1287 or 1296–97. French Templar historian Alain Demurger wrote: ‘Fault lay with the editor of Clement V’s records … The editor put the date 1277, while M. L. Bulst-Thiele transcribed it as 1297, whereas the original, very clearly and without abbreviations or deletions says 1287.’ In his notes to this assertion, he cites the Vatican Archives date as ‘Anno millesimo duecentesimo octuagesimo septimo’ or ‘In the year one thousand two hundred and eighty-seven.’

Now of course Molay did not succeed Beaujeu until 1292, which renders the dating of the award problematic. Demurger suggested that it was not Molay who made the award despite specific reference to him ‘Jacobus de Mollay’, but his predecessor Beaujeu – in short, that the date was correct but the master’s name incorrect. Alan Forey argued the contrary, writing that it was: ‘more likely that the grant was made by James of Molay and that the date was wrongly copied’. Given, Molay’s 1292 election as Grand Master this would suggest 1296–97 – in short, the date was incorrect, but the master’s name correct. Demurger acknowledged in his notes that ‘a new problem arose … Grandson and the Temple were already connected in 1287: where, how and for what reason?’ Indeed, Demurger’s dating would create such questions, while Forey’s dating would place them squarely in the context of the Fall of Acre and his time in the east with Molay. This ‘compensare’ was given by the The Templars for ‘operibus virtuosis’ or ‘virtuous actions’ rendered by Othon in support of the order, but surely more likely post-Fall of Acre than before.

*Templar Commanderie at Épailly in Burgundy*

In confirmation of the pension, Clement V granted Othon three former Templar houses in France as a part of the continuing settlement, those at Thors, Épailly and Coulours, an act unlikely to have been undertaken at the time in favour of a knight of the order. And so, the ‘virtuous works’ referred to by Pope Clement would appear to date from Grandson’s time in Acre in 1291. So, the date of 1277 attached to the payments by the transcription of them is certainly mistaken, and for the 1287 dating of the original 1308 manuscript we should read 1296–97. Demurger gives 1296 clearly as the date for Molay meeting with Grandson in Paris and the Salins grant. Othon de Grandson’s intimate links with the Templars continue to intrigue, but in Cyprus and Armenia 1292-4, as at Acre in 1291, and here with his pension payments they point to a significant and close ally in matters Outremer rather than a member of the order itself, of which there is no mention.

Grandson, was a close friend of the Templars, having fought alongside them at Acre in 1291, been there in Cyprus as a part of Molay’s election as Grand Master, and in receipt of a handsome annual pension from the order. So, at Philippe ke Bel’s suppression of the order and Molay’s arrest and the rumours swirling around France, the scandal would have touched directly upon him. But at no point can we find Grandson implicated in events, other than petitioning Pope Clement for the maintenance of his pension. But nowhere too can we find him leaping to the defence of Molay, his former friend and ally, at least not in a way that has left any trace. As Demurger said in conversation with the author of this book, Grandson did not try to defend Molay. A character flaw? Demurger went to affirm that one cannot speculate about possible motives, Grandson was by now seventy years of age, had discretion become the greater part of valour?

It is because of his avoidance of implication in the suppression of the Templars, that despite his Templar connections, we can be as certain as certain can be that Othon de Grandson was a friend, ally, indeed fellow traveller of the Templars, but not actually a member of the doomed order, As Alain Demurger said unequivocally to the question, was Grandson a Templar? – Non. What were the enormous payments from the Templars to Othon de Grandson for? What were the “operibus virtuosis”? It’s only speculation but what did Grandson have that might be valuable to the Order? – access better than anyone to Edward I’s ear and access to the English court.

About the Book:

There were once two little boys – they met when they were both quite young; one was born in what’s now Switzerland, by Lake de Neuchâtel, his name Othon de Grandson, and the other was born in London, his name Prince Edward, son of King Henry the third of that name. Othon was probably born in 1238, and Edward, we know, in June 1239. These two little boys grew up and had adventures together. They took the cross together, the ninth crusade in 1271 and 1272. Othon reputedly sucking poison from Edward when the latter was attacked by an assassin. In 1277 and 1278, they fought the First Welsh War against the House of Gwynedd, Othon doing much to negotiate the Treaty of Aberconwy in 1278, which ended hostilities. When war broke out again in 1282 they fought the Second Welsh War together. Othon led Edward’s army across the Bridge of Boats from Anglesey and was the first to sight the future sites of castles at Caernarfon and Harlech. Edward made his friend the first Justiciar (Viceroy) of North Wales. When Edward and Othon went to Gascony in 1287, Othon stayed in Zaragoza as a hostage for Edward’s good intentions between Gascony and Castille. Later, in 1291, when Acre was threatened by the Mamluks, Edward sent Othon as head of the English delegation of knights. When Acre finally fell to the Mamluks bringing the Crusades to a close, who was the last knight onto the boats? Othon de Grandson, helping his old friend, the wounded Jean de Grailly onto the boat. When Othon returned from the East, he found England at war with Scotland and France; he would spend his last years in Edward’s service building alliances and negotiating peace before retiring to his home in what is now Switzerland after the king’s death in 1307. Grandson lived in the time of Marco Polo, Giotto, Dante, Robert the Bruce, and the last Templars. He was right there at the centre of the action in two crusades: war with Wales, Scotland, and France, the Sicilian Vespers, and suppression of the Templars; he walked with a succession of kings and popes, a knight of great renown. This is his story.

Othon de Grandson: Edward I’s Loyal Knight of Renown is available now from Amazon.

About the Author:

Having moved to Switzerland, and qualified as a historian (Masters, Northumbria University, 2016), the author came across the story of the Savoyards in England and engaged in this important history research project. He founded the Association pour l’histoire médiévale Anglo Savoyards. Writer of Welsh Castle Builders: The Savoyard Style and Peter of Savoy: The Little Charlemagne both available from Pen and Sword Books Ltd. Member of the Henry III Roundtable with Darren Baker, Huw Ridgeway and Michael Ray.

My Books

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

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available 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.

Podcast:

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

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

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

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Author Spotlight: John Marshall

16/07/202515/07/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

Today, it is a pleasure to welcome historian John Marshall to History…the Interesting Bits to chat about his writing and what attracts him to History. John’s third book, Othon de Grandson: Edward I’s Loyal Knight of Renown, has just hit the shops. A close rival to William Marshal for the Greatest Knight accolade, I’m looking forward to reading Othon’s story. But first, a chat with John about what inspires his writing…

Sharon: How did you start your writing career?

John: A midlife career change, some would say a midlife crisis, but an increasing dissatisfaction and boredom surrounding my career of thirty years within the corporate travel business. In short it was not fun anymore, nor was it in anyway stimulating intellectually. I had had a lifelong interest in history, so the first step was a master’s in history. More than anything, this taught me how to organise my thoughts and conduct research professionally, especially that in reading the most interesting stuff was usually in the footnotes. A relocation for personal reasons brought a move from England to Switzerland. There, I kind of fell down the rabbit hole of the relations between Savoy and England in the thirteenth century, I was looking for a writing project as a historian and within a week of arriving in Switzerland my partner and I visited the castle at Yverdon in the Canton of Vaud. Hidden away in the small print of a panel was the throw away line that the castle had been built by Maître Jacques de Saint George. I had recently visited Conwy castle before leaving the UK and for some reason the name immediately registered as the man who had built Conwy. “Do you know who this is?” I asked my partner, receiving a puzzled look. I then emailed the castle to be given an erroneous answer. I then discovered the works of the late Arnold Taylor, and the more recent criticism which I thought unfair. So, the research for my first book, Welsh Castle Builders began.

Sharon: What is the best thing about being a writer?

John: We all write to understand something better, we all read for the same reason. We also, as was the case with me, write a book we would have wanted to read ourselves. In beginning the research for Welsh Castle Builders I was frustrated that the available evidence, the story, did not seem to be in one place. I also felt that the people I wanted to write about in the distant past had not had their story told well enough. So, the best thing about being a writer is being able to write books you would want to read yourself and to tell the stories of forgotten people.

Sharon: What is the worst thing about being a writer?

John: For a history writer the worst thing is the sheer volume of detail, and the ease with which you can make mistakes by saying castle x is in county y when it’s now in county z. My previous career had involved a whole lot of data analysis, so this helped, but the sheer volume of detail can be daunting. I would also add that the hours involved in research can also be daunting.

Sharon: What got you into history?

John: My dad was the one who got me into history, it was very much a father and son thing. He had a real passion for history; we covered many miles visiting castles and battlefields. Indeed, my earliest childhood memory is a vague one of walking by an enormous castle by a river and wondering who built that. As a five-year-old boy a medieval castle had a “wow” response that never left me. We were on holiday in Rhyl, I now know the castle has a name, Rhuddlan Castle.

Sharon: What drew you to Othon de Grandson’s story?

John: Days after visiting the castle at Yverdon my partner and I visited the cathedral at Lausanne. My partner is from Lausanne, and she was and is very proud of the cathedral. Just by the altar is the tomb of a knight, with no reference to who the knight is. Asking my partner she replied, “Oh that’s Othon de Grandson” But she was not able to add much more. Reading Arnold Taylor, in connection to the Yverdon visit the name Othon de Grandson kept coming up time and time again. So, I began to learn Othon’s story and realised quickly that without Othon there would have been no Maître Jacques de Saint George in Britain. More research told the story of a boy who came to England, a crusading knight, a top-level diplomat, someone at the very heart of European affairs. Perhaps it was the little boy in me, but this had all the hallmarks of a Boy’s Own adventure story. So, once I had done with Maître Jacques and Pierre de Savoie, Othon’s story had to be told. There was an excellent book written in the sixties, but this story needed to be told again, maybe one day the Swiss will even put a marker on the tomb to say who it is.

Sharon: How influential was Othon to Edward I’s reign?

John: I think it comes down to one word – loyalty. The book is called Othon de Grandson: Edward I’s Loyal Knight of Renown. Edward I could inspire incredible lifelong loyalty in those around him. It is remarkable to see how loyal these band of brothers; Edward, Edmund, Othon de Grandson, Henry de Lacy, Jean de Vesci et al were to one another. The epithet that seems to come up time after time in their regard is loyalty. Edward in March 1278 described Othon as someone who could ‘do his will … better and more advantageously’ than ‘others about him’, as well as ‘if he himself were to attend to the matters in person’. Delegation, even in our own day is an art, and Edward chose wisely those around him. Being a monarch in the Middle Ages was no easy task, and having people you could trust to do something exactly as you would do it yourself was like gold dust. Loyalty was foundational to medieval ideas of knighthood. It was not just important it was central to their identity, purpose, and honour. What stands out about these band of brothers is that their bonds were formed through shared hardships: crusades, rebellion, foreign war, and dynastic tension. Loyalty was more than service—it was a mark of faith, honour, brotherhood, and identity. French historian Charles-Victor Langlois wrote of Edward:

“We cannot admire the activity of the English king too much; he was both in the breach on the side of the Rhône valley and of Wales; the threads of all European intrigues, in Castile, in Aragon, in Italy, were connected in his hands; and he still found the leisure to watch over his interests on the continent as Duke of Aquitaine.”

How could Edward do this? He had an Othon.

Sharon: How do you conduct your research?

John: The answer is reading, reading, and reading. But more than that paying especial attention to primary sources and more that that especial attention to sources in other countries. The subjects of these histories, especially Othon de Grandson, lived their lives across the whole of the European theatre, and so their story is to be found everywhere. But I would sound a note of caution, to be careful in handling medieval chroniclers, like writers today they usually politically span stories, omitted things they didn’t like, only including things they liked. We should use medieval chronicles very carefully. A good case in point is the conduct of Othon de Grandson’s conduct in the Fall of Acre in 1292. Some chroniclers praise him, others are very critical, some even accuse him of cowardice. But by giving greater weight to eyewitness accounts and especially those like the Templar of Tyre who seems to have been with the English knights at the end, we can arrive at the truest picture. Spoiler alert, he was not a coward.

I would also add that it is vital to get out from a book and walk in the steps of those you are writing about. To this end my partner and son have spent many hours under a hot sun in the deep undergrowth of the French countryside looking for castles that are today nothing more than a few stones on top of a steep hill. But it is crucial in understanding the people of the past to visualise the landscape in which they moved.

Sharon: What attracts you to the thirteenth century?

John: The thirteenth century is foundational in many ways to the world we know today. In Othon’s time we see the beginnings of the clashes between church and state. We also see knights like Othon who were of their day, the feudal system, that is loyalty to a suzerain not a nation state. Whereas we see at the French court of Philippe le Bel the likes of Nogaret who are outlining nascent ideas of nation as primary identity. It is the century where we begin to move from the Middle Ages to the modern. In Britain, the relationships between England, Scotland, and Wales are beginning to be set. Indeed, why Wales employs the English legal system and Scotland does not are founded in the thirteenth-century. We also saw in my previous book to this, Pierre de Savoie, the beginnings of our parliamentary system and sadly xenophobia too.

Sharon: The 13th century is just the best! But,are there any other eras you would like to write about?

John: I became a medieval historian on my arrival in Switzerland, but prior to that my university concentration and dissertation was the American colonial period. I might return to that at some point, but I may by typecast.

Sharon: What comes next? Are you working on a new book?

John: My fourth book, the story of Edmund, 1st Earl of Lancaster has just been written, the task of editing, especially on the part of my long-suffering partner, now begins. There has been a journal article written of Edmund, but it was written a century ago. During 2026 we plan to return from Switzerland to England, and in particular my hometown of Lancaster, so the subject of Edmund appeared like a bridge back to Lancaster – although he seems to almost never to have been there. The story of Edmund in many ways parallels that of Othon de Grandson. But Edmund’s story is one that fits into a brief period when it was not considered unusual for a Plantagenet prince to marry a Capetian queen and to rule French counties ((Champagne and Brie) that were so close to Paris. Edmund is the ancestor of our royalty today, both through his stepdaughter Jeanne I de Navarre but also in bloodline through his second son Henry. Edmund of Lancaster emerges as a very Anglo-French character, one that could only have existed in the rapprochement between the 1259 Treaty of Paris and the 1294 Gascon War. He is in many ways a model of a future that was not to be, where Plantagenets and Capetians happily coexisted, the road not traveled.

Sharon: Ooh, I like the idea of a book on Edmund. Good luck with that John and thank you so much for speaking with me today.

About the book:

Othon de Grandson: Edward I’s Loyal Knight of Renown is available now from Amazon.

About the Author:

My Books

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

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available 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.

Podcast:

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

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

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

Wordly Women: Gemma Hollman

05/07/202503/06/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

Today I am continuing my Wordly Women series with a historian who, just like me, concentrates on bringing the women to the fore. Gemma Hollman has written about Royal Witches, queens and mistresses. Her last book, Women in the Middle Ages: Illuminating the World of Peasants, Nuns, and Queens came out at the end of 2024, and is gorgeous! It was lovely to get the chance to have a chat with Gemma about her writing journey.

Sharon: So, Gemma, what got you into writing?

Gemma: It’s kind of a mix of completely by accident, and something I’ve always enjoyed doing. Whilst at school and university I would write bits of fiction for fun, never for anyone to look at, so I’ve always had a bit of a writing bug. But when I finished university, it felt so weird to go from four years of researching and writing history to quitting cold turkey. At this time, it seemed like everyone was making blogs, including loads of my friends, so I decided to join the trend and establish my blog, Just History Posts.

I loved writing there, and by the second year I was gathering a load of steam. One of my most popular posts was about Joan of Navarre, a fifteenth-century Queen of England who was accused of using witchcraft against the king – and one of the focuses of my Masters dissertation. That, combined with lots of people I knew in real life saying my dissertation would make an amazing book, made me think maybe people would like to learn about these women and their stories which are not that well-known. I pitched the book to The History Press and it eventually turned into my debut non-fiction book, Royal Witches. The rest, as they say, is history.

Sharon: Tell us about your books.

Gemma: Well, I already gave you a little bit of a taster about Royal Witches (the other three women, beyond Joan, are Eleanor Cobham, Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Elizabeth Woodville), about fifteenth-century women in the English Royal Family who were all accused of witchcraft. My second book goes back to the previous century and the court of Edward III of England, and is a dual biography of the two women who dominated his court and his heart – his queen, Philippa of Hainault, and his mistress, Alice Perrers. Both women are absolutely fascinating in their own right, but by looking at them together I think you can understand them, Edward, and the fourteenth century a lot better.

My final book came out at the end of last year, and is called Women in the Middle Ages. A slight departure from my first two books, which were both focused biographies, this is a much broader look at women across much of Europe from roughly 1000-1500. The best thing about it, though, is that it is an illustrated history, featuring just shy of 200 images of artwork and artefacts from the medieval period. I explore how these objects can illuminate the real lives of these women in far more detail than written records alone. It is a beautiful, full-colour experience which was so special to pull together.

Sharon: What attracts you to the medieval period?

Gemma: I’ve always loved all periods of history, and studied a huge range of history at university, but I found that I enjoyed writing medieval history much more than I did modern history. I enjoyed acting almost like a detective and trying to extract bits about people’s lives and personalities with such limited sources. And the more I researched and wrote it, the more I fell in love with it. The medieval world was so incredibly different from today in every aspect, that it can sometimes feel like another world. But, at the same time, people themselves are so similar to today. I always love reading stories that connects us through the centuries, feeling that human connection to someone so far removed from myself today. Although it was a time of huge strife, poverty, and difficulty, there is something intrinsically magical about it – it’s no coincidence so much of our fantasy media today has medieval vibes!

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

Gemma: Oh gosh, that is such a difficult question! Of course there is no one favourite, as that would be impossible, but someone who has grabbed my attention ever since I first learnt about her is Isabella of France, the queen of Edward II of England. She was so self-assured of her lineage, her rights, the respect due to her by virtue of her position, and she was not going to let anyone tell her otherwise. She was loved and sympathised with whilst the neglected spouse, then inspired the entire country to stand with her and overthrow her husband, and went on to pretty much rule England with her lover for several years. Even after her son, Edward III, forcibly took control of the kingdom again, she continued to wield significant influence at court. I think she is just so utterly fascinating – and she of course perfectly sets the scene for the start of my second book, The Queen and the Mistress!

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

Gemma: Ooh. I don’t know that there’s really anyone I actively dislike, but for playfulness I will put forward Thomas Walsingham, chronicler and monk at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire. His chronicles are invaluable for our knowledge of the late fourteenth century, but he is a bit of a villain in my second book for his treatment of Alice Perrers. As a religious man, Alice’s position as a mistress at the heart of the court was unconscionable (and it didn’t help that she was embroiled in legal conflicts with his abbey for many years). He is responsible for a lot of the negative propaganda against Alice which lasted for centuries, including the baseless accusation that she stole the rings from Edward’s fingers after he died. Even today, the way he spoke about her is the main way people approach her and assume how she really was. Talk about negative PR.

Sharon: How do you approach researching your topic?

Gemma: Mostly I already have a theme or a person in mind for what I want to research, and generally I already have an amount of knowledge about the topic. But I always find it most helpful to start with secondary sources, ie by reading a load of books and journal articles on the subject. I write copious notes, start creating timelines where necessary, and jot down the names of other books and sources from the footnotes. I then go to the original sources and make a load of notes on those, too, and I then dive in to writing. I always find once I start writing I then become aware of areas where my notes might be lacking, like missing any information about what someone was doing in a particular year of their life, and so I then go back to the sources and secondary material to fill in these gaps. I also find that it’s only by starting to write do I truly know which direction my piece is going in, and thus am able to tailor my research much more specifically, rather than reading about anything in the hope it might be useful, but finding that I don’t use it at all (as happens with much of my early research).

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

Gemma: One of my favourites definitely comes from a story I read in a chronicle at university, and which I recounted in one of my very first blog posts. This is a story from the court of Henry II of England, and is one that very much exemplifies what I said earlier about people never changing. The king’s steward, a man named Thurston, came to him and complained that another man, Adam of Yarmouth, refused to seal a writ for him free of charge (something which was to be expected amongst people working in the government). After some investigation, it was revealed that Adam was upset at Thurstan because at a party Thurstan had been hosting, he refused to allow Adam to eat two cakes! Such a petty squabble had disrupted the king’s business, and he settled the squabble by having Adam seal the writ in return for Thurstan serving him two cakes on bended knee. It sounds like something out of fiction rather than reality!

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

Gemma: I definitely have found my comfort zone in the medieval era, but I do think from time to time about writing about other periods, as I think is only natural. I know of some amazing women from the Georgian and Victorian periods that I’ve been drawn to writing about several times, so maybe that’s something I can set my sights on one day.

Sharon: What are you working on now?

Gemma: At the moment, I am in the midst of my fourth book which is set in the court of Richard II. The book is largely a biography about Richard, but it also aims to take a look at his wider court, too, particularly some of the other large and important figures – and, particularly, women. It’s due next year, so wish me luck with getting it done in time!

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

Gemma: This question is definitely easy for me – spreading the knowledge I have and seeing people enjoy it and learn something new. Every time I get a review, or speak to a person at a talk I am giving, where the person said they’ve loved what I’ve written/how I’ve spoken, and that they’ve learnt something is just as special as the last. I love writing, and I love that I get to learn so many interesting things myself in the process, but the whole point of me writing is to share all the things I’ve learnt with other people. Each time I hear that I’ve done that, and done it well, makes all of the late nights researching after a full day’s work, or the times I can’t see my friends and family because I have a deadline worth it.

About the author:

Author bio: Gemma Hollman is a historian and author who specialises in late medieval English history. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, she has a particular interest in the plethora of strong, intriguing and complicated women from the medieval period, a time she had always been taught was dominated by men. Gemma also works full-time in the heritage industry whilst running her historical blog, Just History Posts, which explores all periods of history in more depth. Gemma’s first book, Royal Witches, was a bestseller, and two more books have since followed: The Queen and the Mistress, and Women in the Middle Ages.

Where to find Gemma:

Website: https://justhistoryposts.com/; Link for books: https://lnk.bio/GemmaHAuthor; Social media: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/gemmahauthor.bsky.social.

My books

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

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Podcast:

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Guest Post: Feisty Females: Writing Lincolnshire’s Medieval Women by Rosanna McGlone

14/06/202516/06/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

The great Cowcher Book — *The Great Cowcher Book*

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 effigy — *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.

Nicholaa de la Haye effigy — *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?

Gwenllian of Wales — *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

*

Notes: 1. Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Tale of Melibee’ The Canterbury Tales.

Images: The Great Cowcher Book (DL 42/2, fol. 231r, the property of His Majesty The King in Right of His Duchy of Lancaster and is reproduced by permission of the Chancellor and Council of the Duchy of Lancaster.); Photos of Henry IV, Nicholaa de la Haye and Gwenllian of Wales are ©Sharon Bennett Connolly FRHistS.

To Buy the Book:

Just click on the link to buy: Feisty Females

About the Author:

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 8^th 2025.

To find out more follow Rosanna at @rosannamcglone.bsky.social

My Books:

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

Out Now! Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are the women who ruled, the women who founded dynasties, the women who fought for religious freedom, their families and love. Heroines of the Tudor World is now available 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.

Podcast:

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

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

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

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

Wordly Women: Carol McGrath

07/06/202507/06/2025Sharon Bennett ConnollyLeave a comment

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

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

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.

Where to find Carol

Website (Subscribe to her newsletter via the drop down menu on the web-site Home Page); Amazon; The Stolen Crown

My books

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

Out now: Scotland’s Medieval Queens

Available now from Amazon and Pen and Sword Books

Also by Sharon Bennett Connolly:

Podcast:

Have a listen the A Slice of Medieval podcast, which I co-host with Historical fiction novelist Derek Birks. Derek and I welcome guests, such as Bernard Cornwell and 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.

Every episode is also now available on YouTube.

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

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

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

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Finding Isabelle, a Mother and a Queen

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Othon and the Templars

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Feisty Females: Writing Lincolnshire’s Medieval Women by Rosanna McGlone

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