This year I’ve noted the books I have read in my leisure time – 64 in total, so that’s just over one a week. This doesn’t include my research books for work, so I’m pleased with that kind of level. I’ve read quite a bit of non-fiction this year too. I’ve discovered I read quite […]
Find out moreAs mentioned in the post before this one, I wrote my first novel in my mid-teens. Originally it was titled ‘Tiger’s Eye’ after the stones in my hero’s sword hilt – I was being fanciful. Currently I’ve titled it ‘The Knight’s Road.’ Several decades and well over 20 published novels later, I had a couple […]
Find out moreIn the summer of 1972, I sat down to watch a children’s TV program on the BBC titled “Desert Crusader” never knowing it would change my life forever. I fell desperately in love. His name was Thibaud (pronounced Tee-bow), the ‘Chevalier Blanche’, the ‘White Knight.’ In the story he was half-French, half-Arabic, and his life […]
Find out moreTHE WITCH OF BERKELEY I thought in the spirit of the season, I’d post a witchy story told in The Deeds of the Kings of England (De Gestis Regum Anglorum) by William of Malmsbury circa 1125. (The monk responsible for the Historia Novela, dedicated to Robert of Gloucester and a chronicle pro the Angevin cause […]
Find out moreFollowing on from my blog on first names mentioned in the Curia Regis Rolls for the reign of King John between the years 1211-1214, here now are a list of ‘surnames’ of the people imentioned. The surname as we know it today had yet to evolve, but people were identified beyond their William, or John, […]
Find out moreAmong my research books, I have a copy of the Curia Regis rolls for the reign of King John such as they exist for the 11th to 14th years of his reign. 1210-1212. Basically, it’s a list of pleas and cases heard in the King’s court. I thought it would be interesting and useful for […]
Find out moreI had long wanted to write the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine as I felt that despite numerous biographies and novels about her, there was still plenty to be said that had been overlooked. As I began researching in depth, for The Summer Queen, The Winter Crown and The Autumn Throne, I came across the […]
Find out moreWhen King John died in 1216, he left a wife and 5 children, his heir nine-year-old Henry, his brother Richard, and three girls, Eleanor, Isabelle and Joan. The country was in turmoil and the youngsters grew up in a difficult political situation. Their mother, Isabelle of Angouleme, left the country and married Hugh de Lusignan, […]
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