Beer and ale (both words known to the Anglo Saxons) were regular table beverages in Northern Europe in the high Middle Ages. Physicians viewed the drinks as better than consuming plain water, even spring water, but not as good as wine (see footnote). The Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum says that beer must be drunk in moderation […]
Find out moreThere is a myth sadly still doing the rounds (for example you will find Alison Weir stating in her biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine on the section about medieval life. ‘Stuffings, marinades and rich sauces often flavoured with garlic were used to disguise the taste and smell of rancid meat which had in many cases […]
Find out moreThe lovely people at my publishers asked me what I would give William Marshal for Christmas dinner should he suddenly find himself capable of time travel and turn up on my doorstep on Christmas Day. In His own time William Marshal was known as ‘Gaste Viande’ which basically means ‘Greedy Guts’. This nickname, however, was […]
Find out moreThat’s a question that frequently gets asked on various forums and everyone has their own ideas and then long discussions ensue! I am often asked about my personal thought regarding his appearance. William’s biography, the Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal, written in rhyming verse and completed about 6 years after his death, gives us a […]
Find out moreI was eating breakfast on Wednesday morning (26th October 2016) when the phone rang. Glancing at the number at first I thought it was my oldest son – it began with the same digits. But when I answered, it was Isobel Dixon, agent at Blake Friedmann and a friend of long standing. She gave me […]
Find out moreAt the Historical Novel Society Conference 1216, I was asked to take part in a panel on Medieval women and their relevance in today’s society. My third novel in my trilogy about Eleanor of Aquitaine, THE AUTUMN THRONE has just been published, and so my given 10 minutes was on Eleanor of Aquitaine. Here are […]
Find out moreAt this year’s Historical Novel Society Conference in Oxford over the weekend of 2nd-4th September, I was asked to be a panelist on a discussion titled ‘Heroes V Heroines – Mine’s Better than Yours!’ Which I guess was just a fun controversial title to sell it to the audience! :-) I was on the […]
Find out moreMahelt (Matilda) Marshal, William Marshal’s eldest daughter does not have the fame or resonance in history that falls to her illustrious father but that does not make her any less fascinating and I made her the subject of my novel TO DEFY A KING, the story of two families, the Marshals and the Bigods, and […]
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