Tag Archives: history
From my blog...
Emma of Normandy: A Life
Emma of Normandy, Dowager Queen of England, died on 6 March, 1052, in Winchester. She was only the second woman to be crowned queen of all England, and the only woman ever to be crowned queen of England twice. For … Read More
Emma of Normandy & Bayeux
The charming town of Bayeux near the coast of Normandy is perhaps best known for its remarkable Tapestry, a very long length of embroidered linen that portrays events surrounding the Battle of Hastings in 1066. A few years ago I … Read More
The Death of Æthelred
Æthelred II, Anglo-Saxon king of England, died on 23 April, 1016. His passing was noted in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in an entry that was probably written within a decade of his death: He ended his days on St. George’s day; having held … Read More
A Story in Three Parts
My current work in progress is the third book of a trilogy about the 11th century queen of England, Emma of Normandy. Why write a trilogy, you may wonder. Why not put the entire story into one book? Maybe, you … Read More
The Great-Sea Flood
A.D. 1014 This year on the eve of St. Michael’s Day, came the great sea-flood, which spread wide over this land, and ran so far up as it never did before, overwhelming many towns, and an innumerable multitude of people. … Read More
What Happened at Bosham Church
What we think of as history is sometimes little more than legend or hearsay or speculation – especially when we look back one thousand years or more. A writer of historical fiction must look at legends as well as facts, … Read More
Guest Post: Bestselling Author Candace Robb
Have you ever wondered where an author’s ideas come from? How they develop from an image or idea and grow into story? My guest today, historical mystery novelist Candace Robb, is about to enlighten you. Candace Robb is the bestselling author … Read More
England’s First City, circa A.D. 1000
For centuries the city of London has been the cultural, political and financial center of the United Kingdom. Turn back the clock some 1200 years though, and you will find that the royal and religious center of England was farther … Read More
Those Brutal Middle Ages
I read a scholarly article recently which suggested that medieval warriors suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome, just as modern soldiers do. It also proposed that the fighting men of the middle ages were not the brutal savages that we … Read More
Falling Stars, Bloody Moons and Dragons
Tonight we will be able to witness a total lunar eclipse – the last in this year’s rare series of four such eclipses, which astronomers call a tetrad. This time round we have a harvest moon and a supermoon in … Read More