Blog
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Bits & Pieces on King John
King John is best known for signing the Magna Carta, a document that established the principle that the king was subject to the law and limited his power. His initial reaction to the Magna Carta, which also granted certain liberties to his feudal barons, was one of anger and resistance. He reneged on the agreement […]
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Guest post – M.K. Tod: Weaving fashion into The Admiral’s Wife
I am thrilled to have M.K. Tod on my blog today to talk about her new novel, The Admiral’s Wife. Take it away, Mary!
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Guest post – Annie Whitehead: When Research Means Leaving Well Enough Alone
Welcome to Annie Whitehead, well-known author and historian. Annie’s works of fiction and non-fiction center on pre-conquest England. I’m delighted to have Annie writing today about historical research…
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Research snippets – King John
King John didn’t wait long after agreeing to the provisions of Magna Carta to begin plotting revenge on his rebellious barons. Magna Carta was signed at Runnymede in June 1215, and shortly thereafter, King John “sent letters to all the governors of his castles throughout England, ordering them each and all to furnish their castles […]
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Special guest post – M.K. Tod: Inspiration comes in many flavors
I am delighted to welcome M.K. Tod to my blog today to celebrate the release of Paris in Ruins. Mary and I met at the Historical Novel Society Conference in Denver in 2015 and have been running into each other and hanging out on social media for at least that long. Welcome, Mary, and thank […]
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Month 5 of Dispatches from the home coffee shop
This retirement life is busy! I published Echoes of the Storm last month, and have to thank members of my Launch Team and others who have posted some positive reviews. It is always a huge thrill – and a relief – to hear readers enjoyed my novel. I know it won’t be everybody’s cup-of-tea, but […]
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Richard I, the Lionheart, died #OTD 6 April 1199
Richard was born in Oxford in 1157, the third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He became King of England in July 1189 on the death of his father, with whom he’d been fighting, and not for the first time. He inherited an empire that stretched from the Scottish border across the English […]
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Richard the Lionheart wounded at Châlus-Chabrol – an excerpt from Swords of the King
#OTD 26 March 1199 Châlus-Chabrol was bleak and cold that twenty-sixth day of March. Days of nasty weather and the recalcitrant traitors inside the castle were trying the king’s patience. Hammers beat steadily throughout the day, and siege machines loosed one barrage after another. While the sappers dug ever closer to the walls, messengers from […]
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Richard the Lionheart and the Siege of Nottingham, 1194
25 March 1194The chronicler Roger de Hoveden tells us “that those who were in the [Nottingham] castle…were astonished, and were confounded and alarmed, and trembling came upon them; but still they could not believe that the king had come, and supposed that the whole of this was done by the chiefs of the army for the […]