.Living the History

ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE - The Research books so far

2012-01-22T23:20:00.000Z

I said last time that I would blog about some of the research books I've been using to write the first of my 3 novels about Eleanor of Aquitaine. Some I have found more useful than others. Finding a decent biography of Eleanor has been difficult as many of Eleanor's biographers tend to wander off into fiction and speculation at the drop of a hat. I have also used articles from various journals and extensive internet research via JSTOR etc, but these are some of the works consulted on my shelves. I've put recommended against the best in my opinion

Not in any order but with comments as appropriate

Standard work but outdated now and some wrong details.

Interesting to see a French take on Louis VII. Suffers from
not having an index.

Excellent series of essay and insights into Eleanor's world Recommended

The best biography for Eleanor's early life - balanced on all sides.
and doesn't make any nasty mistakes. Recommended

Readable, but a little on the romanticised fiction side.

Several historical errors and opinions stated as fact
Read with a massive pinch of salt, but useful as an overview

Another excellent series of essays about Eleanor -
highly recommended

Beautifully, romantically written, but the research is now outdated
in many cases. Check against newer discoveries.

A romantic overview. Read with a large pinch of salt
but a decent general book on the subject. Some errors.

A good overall biography let down by a few glaring mistakes
Recommended with caveats. e.g. Geoffrey le Bel did not go on
the second crusade and die by drowning!

This one's out there and I put it up for your consideratio
but I haven't used it as such

Read for an overview - outdated

Interesting book, particularly covering the building of St Denis

Very useful for gaining an idea of what was what when
Eleanor arrived here.

Extremely useful maps for plotting the course of the 2nd
crusade. Recommended. May be out of print.

Useful again for incidents on the second crusade
Recommended

This and the below - general useful guidebooks on Eleanor's country.

This is John of Salisbury's Memoirs of the Papal Court
Recommended primary source for the Antioch incident
and information about Eleanor's sister Petronella

Excellent biography of Abbot Suger of St Dennis
Recommended

Might seem a bit weird to have Stephen's biography
here, but his deeds fit into the jigsaw of Capetian
politics. Excellent work. Recommended

Odo of Deuil's The Journey of Louis VII to the East
Primary source document of the 2nd crusade. Invaluable
Recommended - specialist buy.

Fabulous book on the architecture of Eleanor's homeland -
gives you a real feel for the place. Recommended - but it's in French

Pretty pictures. Of limited use for the campaigns of the 2nd
crusade. Better books out there, but it's okay to augment the others.

ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE'S BIRTH YEAR. (and why it matters to me the writer).

2011-12-31T13:10:00.007Z

For many years it was assumed and accepted that Eleanor of Aquitaine was born in 1122. Many of her biographers have stated it as her birth year, but her biographers tend to copy and cite each other's work, and where one makes an error or utilises their own opinion as fact, the others all follow into the abyss. For example, I found Ralph Turner citing Regine Pernoud that Geoffrey le Bel had gone on the second crusade (when it's proven in primary source that he didn't). Marion Meade and Alison Weir both give Eleanor a half brother called Joscelin that she never had.

Eleanor's birth date is another case in point, where circular arguments have been used to show that she was born in 1122. Alison Weir says that Eleanor "The first child, the daughter who became known to history as Eleanor of Aquitaine, was born in 1122. The exact date is not known, but the year can be determined from evidence of her age at death and from the fact that the Lords of Aquitaine swore fealty to her on her 14th birthday in 1136. Some chroniclers give 1120 as a date, but her parents cannot have been be married until 1121". Weir, unfortunately (but typically) does not cite the chroniclers who give 1120 as the birthdate. Nor does she cite the documents for her other statements concerning the fealty swearing.

Medieval scholar Elizabeth Brown states that she was born in 1124, the first daughter and the second child of William X of Aquitaine. So disagrees with Weir about the birth order and states that Eleanor's brother was the firstborn (no source). Rágena C. Dearagon says when Duke William X of Aquitaine died in April 1137, his 13-year-old daughter Eleanor had been his presumptive heir for some seven years. Elizabeth Brown is a specialist in medieval and early modern French history and professor emeritus of history at the City University of New York. Rágena C. Dearagon is associate professor of history at Gozanga University, Spokane, Washington.

The scholar who has unravelled the tangle of Eleanor's birth year is Andrew W. Lewis, Prof of history at Southwest Missouri State University. He says "For Eleanor of Aquitaine's age, most recent scholars have relied on Alfred Richard, the great modern specialist on the counts of Poitou. But details of this sort were not among Richard's strengths is a scholar. Moreover, he vacillated in his statements on the subject, and his argument is circular. Thus, when speaking of Eleanor's birth, he wrote that it was only from knowing that she was 82 years old when she died, in 1204, that one could place her birthday 1122. Yet when speaking of the death he gave her age as 'about 82 years', while citing no source to that effect." In other words, without sources, the evidence is doubtful and inadmissable. In fact there is only one source quoted in footnotes as giving her age, and when professor Lewis checked back to the primary for himself, he found that it didn't actually mention her age at her death at all! Lewis goes on to say that greater confidence can be placed in the genealogical text composed at Limoges in the late 13th century. This record is an early tradition that she was 13 years old at the time of her father's death in April 1137. Lewis says that not only would more people at that time, before the passing of generations, have been likely to have known her age, but by canon law of woman had to be at least 12 years old in order to marry, and the information would have had practical relevance. By contrast, Eleanor's exact age at her death had none.

The document Lewis cites is an early 14th century manuscript from St Martin of Limoges containing copies of early materials from St Martial of Limoges. It says that in "1136 on the fifth ides of April, which in that year was Good Friday, William Count Palatine of Poitou and the last Duke of Aquitaine died at St James in Galicia, leaving his only daughter, named Eleanor, aged 13 years, whom he had begotten of the sister of Viscount de Chatelleraut in the principality of Aquitaine to Louis King of the French…" Now that may seem partially wrong in itself because William X died on that date in 1137, but Lewis suggests that it is either a copying error by the cleric, or more likely caused because the reckoning of the years at that time was from Easter to Easter, and so would be correct.

It is interesting that Weir says that the nobles swore fealty to her on her 14th birthday in 1136. She gives no citation for this. However the age of consent at that time was 12 for a girl, and Eleanor would have turned 12 in 1136 if the birthdate of 1124 is correct. It seems far more likely to me that Eleanor's father would have the nobles swear to her the moment she came of age, rather than leaving it until she was 14. She would also have come of age around the time that her father was campaigning with Geoffrey Le Bel of Anjou. One has to wonder whether approaches were made by Geoffrey concerning his infant son Henry and the uniting of Anjou and Aquitaine through the marriage of the children. Certainly Geoffrey was intent throughout his life on pursuing such a unification. He approached Eleanor and Louis VII on the matter of a betrothal between Henry and their small daughter Marie, and as soon as Eleanor and Louis’ marriage was annulled, Eleanor and Henry were married. How much of that was set up before Geoffrey's death? Were approaches made in 1136 concerning the 12-year-old Eleanor and the three-year-old Henry? Was William X dismayed at the thought? Did he prefer to put his eggs in a bigger basket when he arranged for the French to care for his daughters when he went to Compostela? It's a point to ponder - and pure speculation on my behalf.

I do believe that the current scholarly thinking on Eleanor's age is correct. All the evidence points to her being in her 13^th year at the time of her marriage to the future Louis VII and makes so much more sense. It’s also interesting for me the writer. 13 is such a different prospect to 15. Eleanor is often imbued with power she just did not possess at that time in her life. She was a year out of childhood and a pawn in the power struggles of the men around her - a fact reflected and explored in the less sensationalist works of scholarship. Aristocratic medieval girls may have grown up swiftly, but 13 is still 13 and a perilously young and vulnerable age, and in terms of political clout, especially as a female, negligible, other than as a figurehead. It makes for a rather different angle when it comes to the story telling, and that's one of the reasons why that difference of two years is important to me the writer when others might be asking 'Does it really matter?'

Next time round I’ll post a selection of research books with comments.

A Medieval Winter Melange

2011-12-21T00:56:00.000Z

It's a month since I've blogged. There have been various reasons including a family bereavement, business visits to London and just keeping up with the writing. However, before it got any later, I thought I'd better drop in and wish all my readers Seasons greetings. I thought I'd post a compilation of winter images and writings.

Snowball fight circa 1400

Snowball fight excerpt from Shadows and Strongholds.

Fingers red with cold, Brunin moulded the snow in his hands into a compact ball and hurled it. Hugh ducked, but the edge of his cloak caught a starburst of white crystals.

‘You’ve got the aim and eyesight of a girl!’ Hugh jeered. His words were cut off in a splutter as a large snowball smacked him in the mouth.

‘No he hasn’t!’ Hawise cried with glee and sent a second snowball whirling after the first. One of her father’s dogs leaped up and intercepted the missile in its jaws, then capered around the ward, shaking its head and sneezing.

Hugh snatched up a fistful of snow and ran towards Hawise, furrowing through the ermine-whiteness like a plough. Shrieking with laughter, she fled. Marion clung to Brunin, hiding behind him, hampering his aim. ‘Don’t let him get me!’ she squealed. She floundered, lost her footing and fell, dragging Brunin down on her top of her.

‘Ouch!’ she cried. She wasn’t really hurt but she knew that big eyes and a quivering lip were sure ways of getting attention. If it was masculine attention and stolen from Hawise, so much the better. The dog flurried around them, barking and wagging furiously.

‘Are you all right?’ Brunin rolled over, and thrusting the dog aside with his forearm, scrambled to his feet. Glancing across at Hawise and Hugh, he grinned as the latter caught his prey and started stuffing snow inside her hood. Marion flashed him an upward glance, saw that his attention had wandered, and gave a gasp. ‘I don’t know.’ She screwed up her face.

Turning back to her, Brunin grasped her hand and helped her to her feet. Marion looked down at their linked fingers and imagined her own adorned with a betrothal ring. She would be Lady FitzWarin and have a castle of her own and a dozen different gowns to wear like the ladies in the troubadours’ stories.

‘Can we go within and get warm?’ she asked plaintively, leaning against him and fluttering her lashes. ‘I am so cold.’

Brunin didn’t want to go in. His hands were numb and tingling, but he was exhilarated and raring for more sport. Lady Sybilla had sent them out because she said she didn’t want them under her feet, and Lord Joscelin had given him and Hugh leave from their duties to hold a snow-fight. Indoor tasks could be left until darkness fell and with the snow this thick, it wouldn’t harm the horses to spend the day in their stalls.

Hugh helped Hawise to her feet. Removing her hood, she set about tipping the mountain of snow from inside it. Her braids had come loose, her hair streamed down her back in a curtain of garnet twists and she was red-lipped and laughing.

Icy fun in Medieval London 12th Century.

In winter on almost every feast day before dinner either foaming boars and hogs, armed with tusks lightning swift, themselves soon-to-be bacon, fight for their lives, or fat bulls with butting horns, or huge bears, do combat the death against hounds let loose upon them.

When the great marsh that washes the northern walls of the city is frozen, dense throngs of youths go forth to disport themselves upon the ice. Some gathering speed by a run, slide long, with feet set well apart, over a vast space of ice. Others make themselves seats of ice like millstones and are dragged along by a number who run before them holding hands. Sometimes they slip owing to the greatness of their speed and fall, every one of them, upon their faces. Others there are, more skilled to sport upon the ice, who fit to their feet the shin bones of beasts, lashing them beneath their ankles, and with Iron shod poles in their hands they strike ever and anon against the ice and are born along as swift as a bird in flight or a bolt shot from a mangonel. But sometimes by agreement they run one against the other from a great distance and raising their poles strike one another. One or both fall, not without bodily hurt, since in falling they are borne a long way in opposite directions by the force of their own motion; and whereever the ice touches the head, it scrapes the skins entirely. Often he that falls breaks his shin or arm. But youth is an age greedy of renown, yearning for victory, and exercises itself in mimic battles that it may bear itself more boldly in true combats.

Norman London by William FitzStephen - before 1183

shine bone ice skates: Museum of London

Empress Matilda escapes from Oxford Castle - excerpt from Lady of the English

As the dim winter afternoon darkened into dusk, everyone sat down to make a feast of the last of the stockfish, onions and barley, augmented with plenty of pepper from the spice cupboard to add increased heat. Matilda was not hungry, but forced down her portion, knowing this was her last meal before she went out into the biting cold. She tried not to think about what was to come, but her mind was locked onto a treadmill and she kept returning to the same place time and again. There was a postern door she could go out of, but it attracted too much scrutiny from Stephen’s guards. The more dangerous way physically, but which held much less chance of being seen, involved climbing down from the window of the domestic chambers by rope.

Her women dressed her in men’s woollen hose and three layers of gowns. One of the garrison donated his spare gambeson to her because of its stuffed, quilted warmth. Her ankle boots were lined with unwashed sheepskins, and the outers were slathered in rancid goose grease to try and waterproof them. Once clad in their white sheets and blankets the travellers resembled shapeless, living mounds of snow. One of the knights carried a stout rope, another a lantern, although it would be kept unlit so close to Oxford. Besides, there would be cold blue snowlight by which to navigate.

‘It is snowing again,’ said Ralph le Robeur, as he and Hugh Plucknet secured a stout rope around the central spar of the window arch.

Matilda peered out at the white flakes dancing in the dark blue. ‘The better to hide us,’ she said, but inside she was quaking with terror. ‘I am going to die,’ kept running through her head. ‘In God’s name, let us be about our business,’ she said harshly.

Ralph dropped the rope out of the window and slithered after it like an eel over a weir. He made it look so easy. Hand over hand down the knots. Fluid filled her mouth. Alexander de Bohun followed, more bulky and less agile than the messenger. His sword chap scraped on the sill with a loud rasp and she could hear him panting with effort. She began to shake her head. To say no, she could not do this thing, but still her feet carried her forwards and Hugh lifted her up. ‘Hold tightly,’ he said. ‘Let yourself down slowly and they will catch you. Have courage.’ She felt the gritty stone beneath her feet and the fierce grip of the rope under her hands. The bite of the wind. The frozen air burning in her nostrils. The soft white touch of snow on her face like the wing feathers of a plucked angel. Inside she was screaming in terror, but her jaws were locked and the sound stayed in her chest and throat as a solid ball of pain. She closed her eyes, committed her soul to God and started down the wall, hand over hand, legs sliding down the rope. Dear Christ, Dear Holy Virgin, Her arms burned with the effort of holding on and bearing her weight as she swung in the blackness.

Suddenly hands gripped her thighs and steadied her, and for a brief moment she was clasped breast to breast with Alexander de Bohun as he set her on her feet in the crunchy, powdery snow.

‘Domina, you have given me a memory to keep me warm throughout this journey,’ he said with a forced smile as she staggered and clung to him.

Matilda managed to laugh as she straightened up, but the sound seemed to come from far away and someone else because she was still locked into her terror and it was as if a part of her was still hanging against that outer wall in dark mid air. Hugh and the other knight shinned down the rope in turn, Hugh giving it a tug as he landed. The watchers at the top untied it and cast it down and the escapees knotted themselves together, so that should one fall through the ice, the others could pull him out. It also meant they would not lose each other if the weather worsened. Matilda strove to secure the rope around her waist but her hands were shaking so badly that de Bohun had to do it for her.

They set out with Matilda in the middle, protected from the elements by the men. The moat was the first obstacle and although they all knew it was frozen, still their steps were tentative. There was the fear of slipping and instinctively crying out, thus alerting the enemy. The worry too that they might be seen anyway by Stephen’s guards.

Matilda crunched ankle deep in the snow until her boot soles rested on ice. She took a tentative step and then another, her eyes wide with fear and the effort to see in this monochrome world that was absorbing her, her ears straining for a raised alarm. But there was nothing but snow whirling in the wind and darkness. They navigated the moat, shuffled their way off the ice and began trudging towards the greater stretch of the frozen Thames that lay between themselves and Abingdon. The drifts were knee deep and without a path to follow, they had to make one of their own. The knights took turns forging a way for the others to follow, lunging like horses on the rope. It was tiring, difficult work, but at least it kept their muscles warm and each step took them further from Oxford and closer to sanctuary. Matilda felt her scarf grow warm and wet from her exhaled breath as they snaked a route between Stephen’s picket posts. Her stomach clenched as they passed between two shelters but there was no sign of any guards. A fox crossed their path, stream-lined and swift despite the deep snow, and was gone. ‘Further north it would be wolves,’ Ralph said cheerfully.

After what seemed like hours of trudging, they arrived at the riverbank. Bits of tree branch were frozen in the water like skeletal hands adorned with icicles. The snow was silvery in places and opaque white in others. Birds had scribbled tracks amid the stiff sedges. Matilda stared out across the white swathe of the river, her breath clouding the air with pale vapour.

‘Well,’ said Ralph, pointing to the row of paw prints leading into the night. ‘If the fox came this way, then he must be our portent.’ He forayed gingerly onto the ice with de Bohun following, and as the rope paid out and Matilda felt the tug, she had no option but to follow them, terrified that she was going to hear the creak of strained ice, feel it shatter, and fall through a jagged crack into black, icy water, and drown as her brother had done when the White Ship went to her doom. Snow continued to twirl down as they stepped like clumsy dancers across the frozen water. Step after step sinking through the powdery surface until the snow compacted underfoot with a soft crumping sound, and each time that happened, she felt another surge of fear.

Then, suddenly they were once more amongst frozen sedges and willows and clambering through the tangle onto the opposite bank. Panting, Matilda turned to look over her shoulder. Their churned tracks were obvious, stretching away to the opposite side, but the way the snow was falling, all signs would be covered by dawn.

‘Drink,’ said de Bohun, offering her a flask. The wine had been hot when they set out and a residue of warmth remained, enhanced by added pepper and spices. Matilda felt it burn down her gullet. De Bohun produced bread and dripping from a cloth in his satchel. The bread was so hard he had to smash it into pieces with his sword hilt. Matilda pouched a morsel in her cheek and sucked on it until it softened. They still had seven miles to walk to reach Abingdon, and another fifteen to Wallingford. Climbing down from a castle window and crossing the frozen moat and river was only the start of their journey. As they set out once more, forcing a path through the snow, Matilda knew she would never again use the phrase ‘When hell freezes over,’ without remembering this night.

And what the Gesta Stephani said about the incident: an excerpt.

For when food and every means of sustaining life were almost exhausted in the castle and the king was toiling with spirit to reduce it by force and siege engines, were very hard-pressed as she was and altogether hopeless that help would come, she left the castle by night, with three knights of ripe judgement to accompany her, and went about 6 miles on foot, by very great exertions on the part of herself and her companions through the snow and ice - for all the ground was white with an extremely heavy fall of snow and there was a very thick crust of ice on the water.'

Geoffrey le Bel, Count of Anjou and a Christmas message:

Geoffrey le Bel, (father of Henry II) with a great train of attendants and guests was keeping Christmas at Le Mans. Leaving his private chapel where he had been attending the nocturnal services of the vigil he set out at the head of a procession to celebrate Christmas in the cathedral church. Near the door he met a poorly dressed young clerk whom he flippantly saluted with ‘Any news sir clerkling?’

‘Aye my Lord. The best of good news!’

‘What?’ cried Geoffrey all of his curiosity aroused. ‘Tell me quick!’

‘Unto us a child is born unto us a Son is given!’

Abashed Geoffrey asked the clerk his name and bade him join the other clergy and the choir and as soon as matters were over went straight to the Bishop and said ‘For the love of Him who was born this day, give me a prebend in your church.’ It was no sooner granted and taking his new acquaintance by the hand he begged leave to make him his substitute and added the further gift of a stall in his own chapel as a token of gratitude to the poor clerk, whose answer to Geoffrey’s thoughtless question had brought home to him the true meaning of Christmas morning.

Entertainment

At the court of Henry II, the Christmas festivities involved some interesting entertainments. Roland the Farter held his land in Norfolk for the service every Christmas of performing a 'leap, a whistle and a fart' in front of the King...
What Eleanor of Aquitaine thought of this form of entertainment hasn't been recorded!

Meanwhile - no winter underwear for these peasants warming their necessaries! An illustration in the calender for February in the Tres Riche Heures of Jean Duc de Berry.

Here's a medieval carol Adam Lay-y-Bounden. Given a medieval/modern treatment by the Medieval Baebes

LUDGERSHALL CASTLE:

2011-11-14T12:23:00.000Z

The ruins as they stand today and also see
the end of the post

The other day while nattering on Facebook, I got talking about Ludgershall Castle, and thought I’d blog about it.

It’s pretty much a crumbled ruin now and takes some strong imagination to flesh out, but at one time, while never being a top ranking castle, it was favoured by royalty and it had its part to play in the war between Stephen and Matilda.

The castle, situated on open chalkland towards the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain, stands on the main route from Andover to Devizes and Marlborough.

There has been a settlement at Ludgershall from Anglo Saxon times at least. In 1015 it appears as a three hide holding under the name of Lutegaresheale in the will of the Aethling Aethelstan. By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, it was in the hands of Edward of Salisbury, an Englishman who had (somehow) survived the Conquest and was the sheriff of the county. He was William Marshal’s great grandfather and perhaps the first person to build a fortified residence at this prosperous manor which was worth six pounds and ten shillings at Domesday - an increase on its value from Edward the Confessor's day when it had only been worth £5.00

On Edward’s death, the manor and possible fortifications passed into the administration of King Henry I who dated writs from there early in his reign. By 1138 it was in the hands of the senior royal Marshal John FitzGilbert (hero of my novel A PLACE BEYOND COURAGE) and in 1141 it was the overnight refuge for Empress Matilda as she fled her enemies following the loss of Winchester.

John was known as a castle builder par excellence. ‘he built castles designed with wondrous skill, in places that best suited him – from which he proceeded to terrorise the countryside.’ says the pro Stephen chronicle the Gesta Stephani. John was probably originally given Ludgershall by King Stephen together with the castle at Marlborough, which enabled John to dominate the Kennet Valley. His main rival in the area was Patrick of Salisbury whose family had once owned Ludgershall. Patrick set out to lay siege to Ludgershall and take it from John, but John got wind of the plot and pre-empted Patrick, ambushing him along the way and sending him packing in a vicious pitched battle. With the blades of their spears and lances they joined battle so savagely that neither side spared the other in the slightest. There were losses, there were gains, many a man killed and maimed, many a brain spilled from skull, and many a gut trailing on the ground...that day was a very bitter one: Patrick of Salisbury lost his best companions.

In the end, Patrick and John came to an agreement whereby John divorced his wife, married Patrick’s sister, and got to keep Ludgershall. Patrick was made an earl and the men became allies.

One gets a glimpse of the time of John Marshal from the finds report for the North Enclosure where the first tower was built. Finds include scabbard chapes (the protective metal fitting on the base of a scabbard), arrow heads, spurs and javelin heads, knives and horseshoes. There was also a stylus, decorated boxes, a pottery alembic, a book clasp, and a bone playing piece.

Drawing of the top of a box - bone on wood from the time of John Marshal's occupation

Following the death of John Marshal, the castle was taken over once more by the crown and held by Henry II, and then in 1189 was given to his son John, at that time Count of Mortain. When Richard returned from crusade, Ludgershall was removed from John and taken into Richard’s care until his death from an arrow wound at the siege of Chalus. John on becoming King, spent money on Ludgershall. He had the park repaired and two new kitchens built. Repairs were made to the King’s chamber and to the tower. In 1217-1222 it passed back into the hands of the Marshal family before being handed back to the crown. Henry III had considerable building work done to the castle. A writ of 30^th June 1241 states:

‘To the bailiff of Marlborough and Ludgershall, cause the queen’s chamber at Ludgershall over her bed, and the little wardrobe to be wainscoted; a porch to be made before the king’s chamber, to be 27 feet long and 18 feet deep. The chapel of St. Nicholas to be whitened and roofed with shingles, a step to be made before the king’s great chamber, the windows to be barred with iron, and a small porch to be made before the door, and 3 windows to be made in the queen’s chamber.’

If John Marshal was quite the fearsome castle builder, Henry III was more of an interior decorator and domestic architect. The above is only the tip of the iceberg! Here’s another example

‘to make a gallery before the door of the queen’s chamber, and a covered passage from that door to the door of the hall; to paint the posts to imitate marble, and the story of Dives and Lazarus in the gable opposite the dais…

Ludgershall Castle in its 13th century heyday

These were Ludgershall’s glory days!

The castle passed to successive queens Anne of Bohemia and Joan of Navarre – the gatehouse and tower were repaired during her ownership up to 1437. In 1453 it was in the hands of Edmund Tudor Earl of Richmond. 1464 saw it owned by George Duke of Clarence, but its upkeep was being neglected. It was no longer any use as even a minor defensive castle. By the visit of John Leland in the 1540's Ludgershall was reported on as being ruinous.
Today it is kept under watching brief by English Heritage, and it's free to visit. There's not much to see now, but English Heritage has produced a book detailing the findings of the archaeological dig conducted there between 1961 and 1972, complete with a short history of the castle in the context of the finds. It's published by the Wiltshire and Natural History Society Monograph Series 2 edited by Peter Ellis.isbn 0 947723072

THE WITCH OF BERKELEY: A 12th century shiver tale for Halloween

2011-10-30T19:59:00.000Z

mid 15thC witches
take to the air!

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 during the anarchy). It's an anecdotal account, but William presents it as being just as true as the details of the kings whose lives he is chronichling. It's fascinating to look at primary source beliefs, folk rituals, and political slants on matters - enjoy!

THE WITCH OF BERKELEY.

... At this time and event occurred in England which was not a celestial miracle, but an infernal wonder. I am sure none of my listeners will doubt the story, although they might in fact wonder at it. I heard of these events from a distinguished man who swore he had seen them for himself, and I will be ashamed not to believe him…

… In Berkeley there was a woman who, so it was later said, was accustomed to wickedness and to the practice of ancient methods of augury and soothsaying. She was a creature of immodesty, who indulged her appetites. She had taken no heed scandal throughout her life but she was beginning to grow old and fearful of the battering footsteps of death. One day, as she was dining, a little crow which she kept as a pet uttered a cry that sounded like human speech. This startled her so much that she dropped her knife. Groaning sorrowfully, her face suddenly grown pale, she said: ‘Today my plough has turned its final furrow. I am about to hear and undergo great sorrow.’ At that moment, a messenger arrived, and hesitantly gave her the news of the death of her son, and the catastrophic annihilation of all her family's hopes.

Wounded to the very heart, the woman took to her bed and, pained by a deadly sickness, summoned her remaining children, a monk and a nun. In a gasping voice, she said: ‘My children, I have enslaved myself to the artifice of the devil and have been the mistress of forbidden things. But despite my evil doings, I have always been accustomed to hope that my miserable soul might be eased in the end by the comforts of your religion. In my desperate straits, I always thought of you both as my champions against the demons, and my guardians against the most savage enemy. Now, as I end my life, I am likely to face the prospect of being tortured and punished by those very beings who used to be my advisers in sin. I implore you, therefore - I who brought you into the world and suckled you - to do all that you can from faith and pity to alleviate my coming torment. I do not expect that you can deflect the true judgement from my soul, but perhaps you can help me by attending to my body in the following way. Sew me up in the hide of a deer, and then place me face upwards in a stone sarcophagus, the lid sealed with lead and iron. Bind the stone with three heavy iron chains, and let there be 50 Psalms sung each night, and masses said each day to lessen the ferocious attacks of my enemies When I have lain secure in this way for three nights, bury me on the fourth day - although so grave are my sins, I fear the Earth itself might refuse to receive me to it's warming bosom.’

All was done as she directed, her children attending the matter with great zeal and affection. But such had been her wickedness that no amount of piety and prayer availed against the violence of the devil. On the first and second night in vigil when choirs of clerics had gathered to sing melodious psalms around her bier, demons pulled apart the outer edges of the door of the church, which had been bolted with an iron bar, although the central part of the door which was of a more elaborate construction held fast). On the third night, around cock-crow, the enemy arrived making the most terrible noise, and all of the monastery was shaken to its foundations. One demonic creature larger and more terrible than the others, threw down the entrance door which was shattered into fragments. The priests stood rigid with dread, hair on end and voices stopped in their throats as the creature approached the sarcophagus with an arrogant swagger. The creature called the woman by name and ordered her to rise up, to which the reply came she was unable to do so because of the chains that bound the sarcophagus. ‘By the power of your sins you will be unbound,’ said the demon, and at once pulled apart the iron chain as though it were no more than a cord of flax. The coffin lid was thrown off, and the woman was seized and dragged out of the church before the horrified gaze of the observers. Outside the portals of the church a fierce black horse stood neighing with iron barbs protruding from along the length of its back. Onto these hooks the woman was placed, and the entire demonic retinue quickly disappeared from sight, although their cries of triumph and the woman's pleas for mercy could be heard up to 4 miles away.

These events will not be thought incredible by anyone who has read the dialogues of the blessed Pope Gregory, who tells of the wicked man who was buried in a church and who was then passed out of it by demons. Among the French also the story is often told of Charles Martel, a man of such great prowess during his life that he forced the Saracens to retreat to Spain after their invasion of Gaul. Ending his days, he was buried in the church of St Denis, but because he had plundered the estates of almost all the monasteries of Gaul to pay his soldiers, his body was snatched from his tomb, and has never been seen since. This was later revealed by the Bishop of Orleans and the story has become widely known…

EDWARD OF SALISBURY: A look at an unknown player who survived 1066

2011-10-13T22:06:00.001Z

EDWARD OF SALISBURY

WHO?

That is what I would like to know too because he is a man almost completely overlooked by historians and novelists, and yet his unknown and untold story begs to be brought to light.

While researching my novels The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion about the great William Marshal, knight, courtier and regent extraordinaire of the Anglo Norman realm in the 12^th and 13^th centuries, I came across William’s great grandfather – Edward and discovered that he was an Englishman, not a Norman, and that prior to the Conquest he had held extensive territories in Wiltshire – 35 manors at a rough count as well as other in neighbouring counties including Somerset and Hampshire. He was high sheriff of Wiltshire during the reigns of William the Conqueror, William Rufus, and continued in office under Henry I until 1105, also serving as one of Henry’s chamberlains. He had the custody of what is now the site of Old Sarum castle where there was once an extensive royal palace.

We know very little about Edward’s background and what we do have is obscure and muddled. He was possibly the son of a woman who appears as Wulfwyn in the Domesday Book for Wiltshire but no one can say for certain. He was, however, of English extraction, and had held land of King Edward. He not only survived the takeover at the top, he flourished. It is thought that he married a Norman lady, but no one is sure of her name – possibly Matilda.

Whereas other English noblemen who survived the battle and the initial political upheaval, then went on to fall by the wayside ( Earl Waltheof of Huntingdon for example and the brothers Eadwin and Morcar of Mercia ), Edward of Salisbury enjoyed a full and rewarding career under his new Norman overlords, witnessing charters and being the man of the county. His son Walter in his turn prospered, further bonding with the Norman aristocracy when he married one Sybilla de Chaworth. Their daughter, also called Sybilla, married the royal marshal, John FitzGilbert and their second son William went on to rule England as Regent from 1216-1219. Among Walter and Sybilla’s other children, Hawise was to marry first a French count and then a French prince. Walter’s son Patrick was granted an Earldom by the Empress Matilda.

What particularly fascinates me about Edward is how he managed to survive those early conquest years. His lands lay in Godwin dominated territory. He would have been foolish not to toe the party line and surely would not have survived long if he had shown signs of dissent because the Godwins could be ruthless to their enemies. We don’t know if he fought at Stamford Bridge or at Hastings. However, if he did, (on the English side) it doesn’t seem to have put him at a disadvantage with his new overlords – a state of affairs that is almost unique as an English aristocratic experience at this time. If he fought for the Normans, then how did he manage to stay alive until it was safe to declare his interest? What kind of man would have the ability to wind his way through the changing and treacherous politics of this period, hold onto his lands and prosper when all around him his countrymen were falling? He’s an unknown and his story is not helped by Victorian historians who have mixed up his family tree with a totally different Norman one.

One of these days I would love to go and do some proper digging and find out just how he managed to survive and prosper. It certainly seems to me that he passed his amazing ability to ride the waves, down the genes to his rather better known great grandson!

Photo of Josh Beaumont of the Conroi de Vey by Rosemary Watson

HANDSOME IS AS HANDSOME DOES :Geoffrey le Bel: A short biography.

2011-09-18T14:24:00.004Z

Geoffrey le Bel Count of Anjou August 1113 – September 7^th 1151

Geoffrey Le Bel, Count of Anjou and briefly Duke of Normandy, has featured in several of my novels as a secondary character. Recently he had a strong supporting role in Lady of the English, and he will have his part to play in The Summer Queen, my work in progress about Eleanor of Aquitaine. Indeed, in a couple of highly suspect chronicles, his involvement in Eleanor's history is the source of shocking scandal, and has led certain 'popular biographers' to arrive at rather murky and sordid conclusions concerning his interaction with Eleanor, but we'll come to that in a while.

Geoffrey was born circa 1113, the first of the four children of Fulke V Count of Anjou and Erembourg of Maine. He had two dynamic sisters, Sybilla and Alais, and a brother Elias. Sybilla, after an eventful early life and two marriages, died in the holy land, where although a nun, she advised and helped her father's widowed wife Melisende to rule the kingdom of Jerusalem. Alais, having been widowed at a young age, eventually became an abbess at the Abbey of Fontevrault. Elias spent his time either rebelling against Geoffrey or being imprisoned by him and eventually died as a result of a spell of the latter.

Geoffrey was known as Geoffrey le Bel – meaning the good-looking. He is described as having ‘A fair and ruddy countenance lit up by the lightning glance of a pair of brilliant eyes, and a tall slender sinewy frame made for grace no less than for strength.’ He was also accounted to have ‘a gracious manner and a ready, pleasant speech.’ History has also left us the detail that he was red-haired. His tomb plaque shows us a dashing bronze-haired man dressed in the height of fashion and holding the blue shield with gold lioncels that was given to him at his knighting by his future father-in-law King Henry I of England.

Geoffrey was afforded the best education his father could arrange. He was quick-witted and intelligent and a fast learner. He was very interested in history, and could recount the battles fought and the deeds done by his ancestors and others. Not only did young Geoffrey absorb the necessary intellectual education, the skills of chivalry, etiquette and manners were honed until they shone in his public persona. Nor was his military education neglected and he learned all the warrior arts, both the practical and the theory.

Geoffrey is credited with being the founder of the Plantagenet line. The name comes from the yellow broom flower - the planta genista - that grows in abundance in Maine (France) and with which Geoffrey is supposed to have adorned his cap.

His life changed dramatically at the age of just 13 when Fulke V was offered the throne of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Around this time, Fulke and King Henry I of England began negotiating a marriage between Geoffrey, and Henry I’s 25 year old daughter Matilda. She had recently returned from Germany, a widow and her father had had his barons swear to honour her as the heir to England. Here was the chance of a lifetime for young Geoffrey. Even if he didn’t get to wear England’s crown and remained a consort to an eventually ruling queen, this was an ambitious hike up the ladder. There would be England and Normandy to govern in partnership with his wife, and the opportunity to sire future royalty.

What Geoffrey thought personally of marrying a woman 12 years older than himself and what the Empress thought of marrying a youth whose voice must scarcely have broken, is not recorded.

They married on the the 17^th of June 1128 when Geoffrey was 2 months short of his 15^th birthday and Matilda was 26. Soon afterwards they separated for 18 months. The reasons are not known. Some historians put it down to incompatibility, others say that Geoffrey was facing rebellions in his lands as his barons fought to dislodge their inexperienced young count and that it was prudent for Matilda to be out of the way. Whatever the reason, Matilda left Geoffrey in summer 1129 and did not return to him until September 1131. They were to be together for another 9 months before Matilda became pregnant. She bore their first son, the future Henry II in the March of 1133 when Geoffrey was just 19 years old.

The Empress was to bear Geoffrey two more sons. The birth of her second, Geoffrey, in Rouen in 1134 almost killed her. Having eventually recovered, she returned to Anjou and bore their third and last child William in 1136. Geoffrey also had at least two illegitimate children who were raised in his household - Hamelin, who was to become Earl of Surrey and Warenne and a staunch lifelong companion of Henry II, and Emma, who was to marry David, Prince of Gwynedd.

When King Henry I died, his lands were claimed by his nephew Stephen who was supported by the English and Norman barons, and Matilda was left out in the cold. She and Geoffrey swiftly set about attempting to reclaim her inheritance for themselves and their sons. Matilda’s arena was to be England while Geoffrey set about tackling Normandy. He was no longer the untried adolescent. Certainly he was still a young man, but a shrewd and battle-hardened one, and not a risk taker. He made mistakes, but he learned from them, and he was not afraid to cut his losses and try again if matters did not go his way the first time. He was dogged. His early attempts to make inroads into Normandy in 1136/7 were foiled when his army succumbed to dysentery and he was seriously injured in the foot. Geoffrey beat a retreat to Anjou, but like a tide, was only gone for a short while and returned each campaigning season and surge upon surge gradually brought Normandy under his rule. He was aided in this by the gradual defection of many of the Norman barons from Stephen. At one point Geoffrey did lay off activity, but only because Stephen agreed to pay him two thousand marks for three years to stay away. It was very likely money out of King Henry I’s quickly draining treasury and Geoffrey and Matilda would have viewed the sum not only as part of her inheritance from her father, but also as funds for their battle campaigin. Stephen wasn’t paying his enemies to stay away, rather he was funding their war chest for a later date.

Geoffrey eventually won Normandy and became its official duke in the summer of 1144. A couple of years after this, he began to consider an ambitious marriage alliance for his eldest son Henry. In 1145, the Queen of France, Eleanor Duchess of Aquitaine had borne a daughter, Marie. While the little girl could not inherit the French throne, she was heir to the vast and attractive lands of Aquitaine. Geoffrey proposed a marriage between Henry and little Marie, and Louis agreed to consider it. On the surface this might seem a little odd, since Louis’ sister Constance was married to King Stephen’s eldest son Eustace, but there is nothing like putting your eggs in more than one basket and Geoffrey, as Duke of Normandy was becoming increasingly powerful and a force to be reckoned with. As it happened, the proposal was nixed by the church who said that the degree of consanguinity was too great, but perhaps it was also a get out clause. Geoffrey, however, remained on cordial terms with the French crown, and even helped Abbot Suger to keep the peace while Louis was absent on crusade.

During his brief visits to the French court, Geoffrey would have mingled with the charismatic Queen Eleanor. There are rumours in the writings of the gossipy and highly unreliable pair Walter Map and Gerald of Wales, that Geoffrey had an affair with Eleanor. Walter Map, says that there were ‘rumours’ that Eleanor and Geoffrey of Anjou were lovers. The nearest he got to those rumours if they existed outside of his own head, was being a student in Paris in 1150-1160. Gerald of Wales who was a mere toddler at the time that Map would have heard the rumours (if there were any), reports almost 70 years later in 1216, that the affair actually happened. So Gerald has made into fact a piece of gossip from an unreliable source. Gerald himself is renowned for his agendas against the Angevins and for his poisoned pen. If he didn’t like you, then he made up scurrilous tales about you. I am reminded of the innuendo of today’s hack journalists. Also, having seen in the publishing industry how facts can become warped by a simple, innocent error, I’m inclined to be sceptical of Walter and Gerald. (The other day I was cited on the internet as having written the script of the movie First Knight. I didn’t. I adapted the script, which is a different matter entirely – kind of the difference between flirting and having and affair!)

Leaving that aside, it’s hard to know when Geoffrey and Eleanor would have had the time and opportunity to get it on. Geoffrey is not known to have spent much time at the French court, being too occupied in his campaigns in Normandy, and Alienor did not get much time to herself to go rutting in Aquitaine! Not only that, but they were both far too politically astute to be ruled by lust. There were way too many political brakes on the cart for it ever to run away. Certainly there may have been some flirting, strong eye contact and physical attraction, but I seriously doubt that it led to any sort of exchange of body fluids between the Queen of France and her husband’s vassal!*

I have a notion – not quite a theory – that Eleanor may have flirted with Geoffrey at the French court in 1151 in order to put her husband Louis off the scent that she was considering a match with Geoffrey’s son Henry. Geoffrey had given the Duchy of Normandy to Henry in 1149 and the father and son’s visit to court in 1151 was part of an exercise in smoothing the waters. Around this time, Eleanor and Louis were in the throes of divorcing. Louis would have done everything in his power to prevent a marriage between Eleanor and Henry of Anjou had he known about it. So perhaps a flirtation with Geoffrey was by way of a decoy.

Following their visit to the French court, Geoffrey and Henry set off home. The end of summer weather was burning hot and 39 year old Geoffrey plunged into a river to cool himself off. The result was a fever from which he was to die on the 7^th of September in the small border fortress of Chateau du Loire. His deathbed advice to his son was not to change the customs of the lands over which he would rule. Let each keep their own.

On his death, he was buried as requested not at Tours or Angers with his ancestors, but in his mother’s town of Le Mans where Henry himself had been born. All that remains today of the sumptuous original tomb that had stood in the cathedral of St. Julien is the enamelled plaque, which paints a vivid picture of Geoffrey, insomuch as medieval portraiture can ever do. It accurately shows his blue shield with its gold lioncels, the red-gold hair, and the brilliant eyes.

Historian Kate Norgate says of Geoffrey that he ‘lacked steady principle and genuine feeling.’ I disagree with her. I think Geoffrey had strong principles, and that he loved his son Henry very deeply indeed. Everything was geared towards putting Henry on the ladder and shouldering him upwards. Geoffrey (and Matilda) saw that their son was educated as a fitting king and Duke. If Henry II was one of the greatest kings England has ever known, then part of it is down to his father who played a great part in his son’s upbringing. However, Norgate does concede that he had ‘dogged Angevin thoroughness.’ Professor David Crouch calls it ‘remorseless patience.’ In his biography of King Stephen, Crouch is also of the opinion ‘In retrospect, one is rather driven to the conclusion that the Anglo Norman aristocracy had made a serious error when they rejected Count Geoffrey as their king-consort in 1135.’

Additional note and anecdotes.

Shortly after Geoffrey’s death, a history of his life was put together. Historia Gaufredi ducis Normannorum et comitis Andegavorum written by John of Marmoutier. It’s mostly a paen to its subject, but there are still moments that give us glimpses of Geoffrey’s character, and here are a couple.

There is the story of a discontented knight who's ill will against Geoffrey took the form of a wish that he had the neck of ‘that redhead Geoffrey’ fast between the two hot iron plates used to make a wafer cake called an oublie. It chanced that the oublie maker who had heard the knight say this, was making wafers for Geoffrey at St Aignan and told Geoffrey all about it. Not long after this, the knight who had made the remark was caught by Geoffrey harrying his lands. Geoffrey generously forgave the man, not only his depredations but also the fact that he had expressed a desire to make a wafer out of him!

Another time Geoffrey with a great train of attendants and guests was keeping Christmas at Le Mans. Leaving his private chapel where he had been attending the nocturnal services of the vigil he set out at the head of a procession to celebrate Christmas in the cathedral church. Near the door he met a poorly dressed young clerk whom he flippantly saluted with ‘Any news sir clerkling?’

‘Aye my Lord. The best of good news!’

‘What?’ cried Geoffrey all of his curiosity aroused. ‘Tell me quick!’

‘Unto us a child is born unto us a Son is given!’

You can find a third anecdote from this chronicle in Lady of the English, which involves Geoffrey becoming lost in the woods and having a discourse with a charcoal burner!

*My alternative research via the Akashic Records (psychic time travel) reveals that flirtation occurred between them at social meetings, but nothing more, and that the flirtation, while having its element of physical attraction, was very much a power game.

An Akashic Records description of Geoffrey around the age of 14.

He is rather handsome and he likes posing and inspecting. He has wavy red-gold hair, quite thick lips nicely shaped. Plumpish soft cheeks. Very attractive in a cherubic sort of way. The eyes are not cherubic at all. They are a greenish colour but they flash! And when they flash, they flash blue in the depths of the green. Very glassy, but sea-type colours.

NB The Akashics also inform me that there was no affair between Geoffrey and Eleanor, but for the above article I have used conventional history.

Further reading:

The Plantagenet Chronicles: General Editor Elizabeth Hallam: Weidenfeld & Nicholson 1986

England Under the Angevin Kings Vol I - Kate Norgate – reprint by Elibron Classics

Eleanor of Aquitaine Queen and Rebel by John Flori – Edinburgh University Press (sets out in an unbiased and non sensational way, the arguments about whether or not Geoffrey had an affair with Eleanor)

Contest - quick update

2011-09-18T13:44:00.000Z

A note to say the prize draw contest is still running, so there's still a chance to enter (see the previous post) I will close it on September 30th, 12 noon UK time.

A blog on publication day.

2011-08-18T11:32:00.001Z

Today sees the official publication of TO DEFY A KING in paperback. Previously published in hardcover and also available on Kindle and audio it is now to be had in glorious paberback. The cover has been revamped from the hardcover to make it brighter and give it more standout appeal on the supermarket and chain store bookshelf. It has also been stickered as the very proud winner of the RNA award for historical fiction 2011. I'm having a small celebratory prize draw. See the foot of the blog for details.

So what exactly is the RNA award?

The RNA is the UK's Romantic Novelists Association. http://www.rna-uk.org/ It's a broad church open to published authors across the wide spectrum of romantic fiction genres. It embraces mainstream fiction, literary fiction, historical fiction, romantic comedy, contemporary and historical sagas, and even some crime fiction. It also champions category romance including the rich and varied seam belonging to Mills & Boon. The RNA also has an associate membership for industry professionals such as authors, editors and agents. The association has an annual scheme to assist new writers coming through - the New Writers Scheme. This is immensely popular and always over-subscribed. It is responsible for the discovery of new talent, brings new blood regularly into the RNA and has kick started many a stellar career. As well as conferences, famed London parties and seminars, the RNA also has an award for the best romantic novel of the year with sub categories for the best historical novel, the best romantic comedy and the best love story, the latter geared towards category romances where the romance is fully up front. Although the award rulings are subject to change, the above is the gist.
What is terrific about these awards is that the longlist is chosen by ordinary readers. The publishers enter the books for the award (usually several hundred contenders) and they are parcelled up and sent out to volunteers who are not members of the RNA but who are passionate about reading. They score the books according to various criteria based on plot, characterisation, content etc. Each book receives 2 reads and the scores are added up. Top scores go onto the longlist which is then read by RNA members not connected with the award and without novels of their own involved. The books are whittled down to a shortlist of 6 and these are then judged by a panel of industry professionals and a winner announced. Previous judges have included Tim Waterstone, Jenny Murray, Richard Lee, founder of the Historical Novel Society, Janine Cook, head buyer for Waterstones, and novelist Amanda Craig. Previous winners include Rosamund Pilcher, Philippa Gregory, Susan Kay, Freya North, Cathy Kelly and JoJo Moyes. Shortlistees have included Dorothy Dunnett, Joanne Harris and Nicholas Sparks.

This year's awards were announced at champagne reception and canapes event at Number One Whitehall, London - and a brilliant day out it was too. TO DEFY A KING was on two shortlists, and although it didn't win the all categories, was named the winner of the Historical Novel prize - see the sidebar of the blog.

I credit the RNA with keeping me in a job earlier in my career during some very difficult times. Historical fiction was in the doldrums and I was one of the endangered midlist authors. I saw many of my historical novelist colleagues lose their place in publishing. However, the readers kept putting my books through to the shortlist of the RNA awards and this showed my publisher that there was an appetite out there for what I was producing and also, through publicity, it raised reader awareness that bit higher and helped build my platform. TO DEFY A KING is my fifth shortlisting. Since it's out today, I'd like to raise a toast to my publishers, to the novel, to the readers, and to the RNA. Salute!

These are my other, reader-chosen shortlisted novels from previous years.

To celebrate today's publication, I am offering a giveaway of a copy of To Defy a King plus a novel of your choice to one UK reader and one overseas reader. Just drop an e-mail to elizabethchadwick@live.co.uk, stating clearly whether you are a UK or overseas entry.

NB. If you've tried and it hasn't worked, I'm sorry. I wrote my address wrong the first time - I put a dot in where there wasn't one (sigh). Anyway, it's fixed now. However, Live can be sensitive, so if you can't get through, leave a message on the blog, or contact me through Twitter or Facebook.

FINDING PETRONELLA - More Conundrums

2011-08-15T11:28:00.002Z

NB This is NOT Petronella (fitting given the contents below) but just a suggestive image to brighten the blog!

Nothing is ever simple when it comes to researching Eleanor of Aquitaine, her family and her affiliations. Having wrestled with the problem of her half brothers and having proven that Joscelin was actually the brother of Queen Adeliza of Louvain, I now find myself with several puzzles concerning Eleanor’s younger sister Petronella. Except sometimes she's not call Petronella, she is called Aelith. Already I'm beginning to suspect that I am going to wind up banging my head on the table in frustration.

There is no birth date for Petronella. We now know that Eleanor was born in 1124 not 1122. Petronella was a younger sibling. We know their mother died in 1130 and that Petronella was old enough to be involved in a sexual relationship by 1141, and that she bore a child circa 1143 or 1144. It is therefore likely that she was born fairly close to Eleanor, perhaps in 1125 or 1126. Having said that we have no birth date for the brother William Aigret, who died around the same time as their mother in 1130. Some biographers say he was first born, some that Eleanor was first born. No one seems to know, and William’s birth order may have affected the dating of Petronella's birth. In the great scheme of things, it’s really just a minor puzzle though.

With regard to Petronella's alternative name, I do wonder if she was baptised Aelith but known as Petronella, perhaps because her birth date was close to the feast of St. Petronella on the 31^st of May, and perhaps because St. Petronella had associations with Charlemagne from whom she and Eleanor claimed descent. It may also be telling that the cathedral in Poitiers is dedicated to St Peter, who seems to have loomed large in the lives of the Dukes of Aquitaine, Petronella being the feminine form of Peter.

Or of course, she could have been baptised Petronella.and called Ailith. Or Eleanor may have had two sisters – perhaps Aelith was illegitimate. The mention of Ailith comes from existing documentation concerned with the Abbey of St Mary of Saintes. Perhaps Aelith was a nun? I don’t know. I feel probably not, but it is still there as a consideration when pondering all the possibilities.

Here is a letter from 1140 naming the sister known as Aelith. It’s also interesting to see ‘Eleanor’ rendered in Medieval Latin. I have bolded Aelith’s name in the text.

1140, December 28

Original letter:

Ego Helienordis, Francorum regina, et Willelmi ducis Aquitanici filia, hoc donum, sicut rex vir meus concessit Beate Marie Xancton[ensi] ecclesie, sic concessi et hujus [sign of cross] impressione confirmavi, et in perpetuo habendum Sancte Marie et Agneti amite mee ejusdem loci abbatisse, et omnibus ejus successoribus in eadem die, non in eodem loco, confirmavi; videntibus Aienrico de Niela, Aelith, sorore mea, Maengo de Bono Occulo, Arveo panetario, et pluribus aliis.

Translated letter:

I Eleanor, queen of the Franks, and daughter of William duke of Aquitaine, have granted and confirmed by this stamp* the gift as the king my husband granted it to the church of Blessed Mary of Saintes, to be held in perpetuity by St. Mary and Agnes, my aunt, abbess of that place, and all her successors, I confirmed it on the same day not in the same place: with witnesses Aienric (Henry?) of Niela, Aelith my sister, Maengo of Bono Occulo, Arveo my steward, and many others.

We do know that in 1142, Petronella, then in her early or mid teens, began an affair with King Louis’ much older, war-scarred second cousin, Ralph of Vermandois. He had lost an eye in a siege, when struck by an arrow, but as well as being a warrior, he was a valued and experienced courtier. He also liked the ladies. Chronicler John of Salisbury tells us that even when ordered to abstain from intercourse by his doctors, he paid them no heed because he was ‘very uxorius’. He was married to Leonora – some say niece of Count Theobald of Blois (Ralph Turner, Douglas Boyd, Marion Meade, Desmond Seward, Marjorie Chibnall, Amy Kelly) some say sister of (Alison Weir, Wikipedia) and some say first cousin (Ivan Goubry). You see what I’m up against when researching?! Anyway, the couple were keen to wed and three bishops – including Ralph’s brother, Simon Bishop of Noyon, annulled Ralph’s first marriage. The Pope, on receiving a complaint from Theobald of Champagne on his disparaged sister’s/niece’s/cousin’s/take your pick behalf, immediately reversed the annulment and put Ralph and Petronella under interdict. Without going into masses of political detail at this stage, it caused tremendous political upheaval and was partly the cause of a war between France and Champagne.

Ralph and Petronella weathered the storm and Petronella bore Ralph either two or (here we go again) 3 children. Some time in the early 1150’s she died…. Or did she? Off I go to bang my head on the table.

UK Wikipedia says: “ However, Petronilla and Raoul divorced in 1151, as he remarried the next year. Petronilla remained a member of the French royal court and a constant companion to her sister Eleanor while she was imprisoned by her husband King Henry II in England and Wales. After Henry's death, Eleanor was freed, and Petronilla planned on returning to France. Yet, records of Petronilla after 1189 are scarce. It is believed that she came down with a fever on her voyage from England back to France and died in early 1190 before her arrival at port.

There are no sources given for this bit of information, although the entire article is quoted as sourced from a French work by Patrick van Kerrebrouck (2000). Les Capétiens 987–1328. Since I have no access to this work, I can’t check the veracity or whether Petronella’s death is mentioned in it. Records of Petronella before 1189 are hardly leaping out of the woodwork, and I suspect that here ‘scarce’ is a euphemism for ‘non existent.’

French Wikipedia says she died after 1151 and that Ralph was widowed. ‘devenu veuf’ In 1152 he married his 3^rd wife Lauretta of Alsace.

Chronicler John of Salisbury writing circa 1164 says ‘She did not survive for long; and though she bore a son and two daughters before her death.’…’ ‘As for Count Ralph, he married his 3^rd wife, a daughter of Thierry count of Flanders called Laura.’This being from primary source it’s more promising.

Then I came across this url.http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/AQUITAINE.htm#AelisPetronilledied1153

ELIS [Petronille] d'Aquitaine ([1125]-after 24 Oct 1151, bur St Arnould in Crépy). The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines specifies that "Alienor Guilielmi filia comits Pictavorum et Aquitanie ducis" had two sisters one of whom married "Radulfus…comes Perone et Veromandie", although he does not name them [562]. The Historiæ Tornacenses record the wife of "Radulfem comitem" as "germanam Alienore regine Francorum" but also do not name her [563]. Robert of Torigny refers to the mother of the infant children of "Radulfus de Perrona comes Viromandorum" as "iuniore filia Willelmi ducis Aquitanorum" but he does not name her either [564]. The Chronique de Guillaume de Nangis names "Eléonore et Pétronille" as the two daughters of "Guillaume comte de Poitou et prince d'Aquitaine", recording in 1142 that Pétronille married "Raoul comte de Vermandois" after he repudiated his first wife [565]. m (1142) as his second wife, RAOUL I "le Vaillant" Comte de Vermandois, son of HUGUES "le Maisné" de France Comte de Vermandois & his wife Adelais Ctss de Vermandois, de Valois et de Crépy ([1094]-13 Oct 1152, bur Priory of Saint-Arnoul de Crépy).

The above source has Petronella buried at the Priory of Saint Arnould de Crepy. Note the mention of two sisters in the above source details. Which brings us back to Aelith and Petronella as separate individuals rather than the same person.

Now, to further muddy the waters, the English Pipe Rolls of 1155 to 1158 carry at least a strong suggestion that Petronella was still alive after Ralph’s remarriage to Laura of Flanders and hadn’t died as John of Salisbury says. There is a reference to a Petronille in close proximity to mention of the Queen with reference to payment of Danegeld in the Pipe Roll for Essex of l155, and chances are highly likely that it is her sister. In that of 1158, there is a reference to a payment for the passage of the Queen’s sister (it doesn’t name her and the wording just might possibly refer to the King’s sister – in which case it would be an illegitimate one).

Look at the last word on the 3rd long line down and just above it the word 'Regine

Alison Weir states: ‘During the period 1154-58, there are regular payments of generous sums for wine for Petronilla.’

Having trawled these same pipe rolls, I can find only one such entry and it involves bread as well as wine and does not name Petronella herself and is therefore ambiguous. There is only one mention of a Petronella ( see above full paragraph and photo). The other un-named mentions of a sister might or might not be Petronella. The entries could as easily refer to Henry II’s illegitimate sister Emma, later to marry Dafydd ap Owain Gwynedd, prince of North Wales. It’s not clear enough to say for certain, as ‘Reg’ or 'R' could be short for ‘Regis’ as well as ‘Regine.’

Current conclusion. Until more evidence turns up, my personal belief, based on the seriously muddled and contradictory evidence is that Eleanor definitely had a sister called Petronella and that she married Ralph of Vermandois. They divorced, and Petronella came to live with her sister Eleanor, and died some time after 1155 but before 1164. I am not entirely satisfied with this conclusion, but it’s the most I can go on at the moment. What I need to find out is where the UK Wikipedia got its statement from that Petronella was still alive in 1189. It may well be from a novel, but without references, I can go no further, and as everyone knows, while Wikipedia is a good starting point, it’s never to be trusted. My inner jury is also out on the Aelith business. Two sisters, or one with dual names? It’s in the balance…and there are dints in my table!

WILLIAM MARSHAL TRAVEL TOUR - and other business!

2011-08-02T17:05:00.001Z

I have an exciting announcement to make! Academic Travel Abroad who recently organised a tour dedicated to the life and times of Eleanor of Aquitaine with author Sharon Kay Penman as a guest traveller and 'author on board' are now looking to do the same with William Marshal - with me as the resident author and all things Marshal enthusiast!
To get things going, they have posted a simple questionnaire about preferences here for anyone who would like to consider taking the tour. I think it's wonderful! I could visit with William Marshal and his family forever and a day! Here's the url to the questionnaire. http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CSWGWBC5E/

In other news. Regia Anglorum is 25 years old this year and to celebrate the fact, they've put together this smashing video. I'm not on it, as I wasn't at the shows involved, but lots of my friends are. I think this shows why I consider living history such an important part of my writing. Vivat Regia Anglorum!

In even more news, watch out for a competition to celebrate the paperback publication of To Defy A King. Sphere are preparing it at the moment. More when it's official.

I will also be on blog tour with Sourcebooks for Lady of the English and will add the dates before September 1st.

Onwards and upwards!

ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE AND THE BROTHER THAT NEVER WAS.

2011-07-06T17:17:00.018Z

Here's a bit of historical sleuthing that was occupying me a few weeks ago. It begins with quotes from biographies of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Marion Meade and Alison Weir.

"Although William X had two illigitimate sons, William and Joscelin, he now resolved to beget a male child to inherit his duchy." Marion Meade in Eleanor of Aquitaine a Biography.

"The Pipe Rolls show that the Queen was paid allowances for the two boys, and also record that she was supporting in her household her sister Petronella and their two bastard brothers William and Joscelin.' Alison Weir in Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the wrath of God, Queen of England.

I think other biographers have referenced this relationship too, although Meade and Weir are the only ones where I can find it indexed.
I was interested in this relationship, because writing a novel about Eleanor, I needed to know about her childhood experiences with these aforementioned brothers and how much a part of her household they were prior to her coming to England. So I set out to trawl. At first I found nothing, but since the mention of them was in the Pipe Rolls 1154-58 according to Weir, I went to have a look for myself to see if I could glean anything else about this elusive pair.
I also have a pipe roll of my own for the dates 1176-1177 and here I turned up 'Regina, Ioscelinusm frater ejus. in the index. Heading to the referenced page of 191, I came across this entry for Sussex.
'Iosecelinus, frater regine debet .cc. m. pro fine facto cum uxore Willelmi de Perci.
Now my Latin is rubbish, but I think I understand that 'Joscelin the brother of the queen renders 200? marks in a fine and that it is something to do with either his wife or the wife of William de Perci. The salient points to note are his name, the county, and the de Perci name.

In the Pipe roll for the 4th year of Henry II we have an earlier reference to this Joscelin the brother of the queen, again in the Sussex Pipe Roll. 'Et Josc, Fri Regine - IX Li Xiiis. Or again in the 2nd year and again in Sussex. 'Et Joscel fri Regine XLVI s. (I think. The text of the sum is difficult to read, but it doesn't matter. Again the pertinent thing is the identification of Joscelin as the brother of the queen in the accounting for Sussex).

Right. So the queen has a proven brother Joscelin who is active in Sussex. But now we come to the kicker which seems to have been overlooked along the way. The Pipe rolls don't say which queen, they just say 'Regine'.

A previous queen of England, who still went by her title of 'queen' long after she gave up her regnal position and married royal steward William D'Albini, was Adeliza of Louvain. And guess what. She had an illegitimate brother called Joscelin; he was her constable at Arundel in Sussex, and she gave him lands in Sussex at Petworth. She also sorted him out a rather lucrative marriage with Agnes, heiress of William de Percy. All the evidence clearly points to the Joscelin in question being Joscelin of Louvain, (d.circa 1180) half-brother of former queen Adeliza and NOT a half-brother of Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Was the other illegitimate brother of the queen named William? the jury is out on that one. I can't tie him to Adeliza, but since I can't tie him to Eleanor either, and since I've not come across any mentions elsewhere, it's a definite case of caveat emptor. I shall be leaving him out of the equation.
It's definitely a lesson in not taking for granted everything you read in non fiction!

Speaking of which and still with Eleanor of Aquitaine, I was somewhat surprised to read in Ralph Turner's Eleanor of Aquitaine that Geoffrey le Bel went on the 2nd crusade and that he ended his life by drowning. But at least Turner follows the latest research that Eleanor was actually 13 at her marriage and not 15. More on that in a later blog post. Sean MyClynn meanwhile, tells us that Eleanor had 'a dark complexion, black eyes, black hair and with a curvaceous figure that never ran to fat even in old age.' (fantasy wish fulfilment?) There is no physical description of Eleanor in existence. Even the supposed one at the chapel of St. Radegone is now generally thought by the experts to be a man.
I guess that brings me onto another massive bugbear. The use of personal opinions in biographies that have no underpinning in fact and are just guesswork. Statements preceded by 'Doubtless' 'likely' 'probably' 'must have' are not firm ground for scholarship. Even worse when the biographer misses these signals out and just states opinion as if it's fact, or states the emotional responses of the personalities involved without the primary source evidence. Then it becomes just another novel. It's a minefield for an author trying to do justice to his or her characters and maintain integrity!

Of the books concerned with Eleanor so far, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Lord and Lady edited by Bonnie Wheeler and John c. Parsons is one of the most forthright and best, although it's a series of essays rather than a biography. The same for The World of Eleanor of Aquitaine edited by Marcus Bull and Catherine Leglu. I have been finding the French viewpoint Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen and Rebel from Jean Flori very good on Eleanor's early life, but am told he loses his path when Henry II enters the scene and his rationality goes a bit to pot. Not having read that far, I can't comment, but for now at least it's avoiding the wall bang!

Post Script. I've been dabbling why I had five minutes between one thing and another and I revise my opinion about brother 2, William. This looks as if he has a likely tie with Eleanor. Look on the entry here - lines 4 and 5. Et fr Regine. Will de Pciters. Is that a scribe's rendition of Poitiers? If so, (and I suspect it is) then this may be a bastard half brother. This is in the roll for Kent for the second year of Henry II.

Out and About.

2011-06-23T13:52:00.002Z

Readers of my blog and Facebook Page cannot failed to have noticed that I'm out and about on book tour at the moment. Actually I have quite a few talks lined up all the way to November dotted here and there, but at the moment I've got several lined up close together. Last week was an event in Derby called Eat Your Words, where I gave readings in return for my supper at a restaurant The Wonky Table in the city centre. (I forgot my camera).
Monday I gave a talk at Bookmark in Spalding as part of Indie Bound - a week focusing on independant booksellers. http://independentbooksellersweek.org.uk/ It's a lovely bookshop with a great coffee shop attached and also sells gifts and cards. This time I remembered my camera but forgot to take photos - sigh.
Yesterday, also for the Indie Bound celebration, I was at the the Castle Bookshop in the beautiful Shropshire market town of Ludlow. I love this part of the country and if I didn't have roots and family commitments where I am now, I'd seriously consider moving to Shropshire. Shadows and Strongholds is partly set there and is about some of the medieval lords who once held it.
My talk was held not in the bookshop, but in the owner's fabulous Georgian and late Medieval house just round the corner and opposite the castle wall. The talk had been planned for the garden, but because of earlier unsettled weather, we held it in the sitting room instead, with me talking by the French doors into the garden. Delicious sandwiches, tea, biscuits and cakes were provided and we all had a wonderful late afternoon. The owner's black cat wandered in at one stage to twine around the audience and me, before going into the garden, much to the noisy alarm of a mother blackbird. Kitty had to be removed elsewhere!
This time - I remembered my camera, and took a few photos - see below. Click to enlarge.
Details of further dates on my tour are on the right hand sidebar.
To Ludlow and back

Heading down the motorway


Jack and Pip en route in the footwell

Country roads

Black and white timbered houses


Stopping at traffic lights


On guard

Watching the world go by

More country roads

Are we nearly there yet?

Entering Ludlow under a medieval archway

The Castle Bookshop


It's all going on behind the red door!

Chairs for the audience!

Talking to readers


Another view of the readers.


The garden

The house where I gave the talk

The House next door to the talk house

Tall house on the way to the car park

View of the museum. They used some of the upper rooms to film Moll Flanders

Ludlow Castle doorway

Exterior wall of Ludlow Castle

Cannon outside the castle

Going for a walk before setting off home

Ludlow walls again

More timbered houses

Going round the castle walls

Our old dog Taz still loves climbing on castle walls

Looking down a street off the square

half timbred buildings

Farewell to Ludlow, heading down to the Medieval arch again

Home James!

Leche Lumbard

2011-06-10T23:22:00.001Z

Leche Lumbard, a pottle and a recently published novel!

I'm off Re-enacting with the Conroi de Vey http://www.livinghistory.co.uk/homepages/ConroiDeVey/tomorrow at a local show. We're just having a picnic lunch, but as my contribution I'm taking along some Leche Lumbard. Leche what? Leche Lumbard. It's one of those generic mediaeval recipes that has many versions and if you Google it, you will find all sorts of variations. I'm writing this late at night while waiting for some bread to finish cooking, so I won't go into the full provenance details here, but I'll post them another time. For the moment I just thought I'd give you a basic simplified version of the dish that can be made from easily obtained store cupboard ingredients. it's a sort of sticky date spread. To make a quantity of Leche Lumbard you do this.

Take a packet of dates - the sort you can buy in bags in Julian Graves.
Put them in a saucepan and cover with some white wine - doesn't have to be expensive and better slightly sweet than dry. Add a heaped teaspoon of powdered ginger, two heaped teaspoons of mixed spice, a couple of tablespoons of honey and several good grinds of black pepper. Cook over a moderate heat stirring frequently to make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom, until you have a thick brown mush. Now add breadcrumbs - any sort, but preferably from a slightly stale loaf until your mixture stiffens up. The amount of breadcrumbs is up to you but the texture should be pretty much like stuffing. Dollop is out of the pan into a container and arrange as you choose. If you just leave it in a pile it'll properly look like something out of a stable, so feel free to style it as you choose. You can put some almonds down the middle and drizzle over a bit more wine. and there you have it. Serve as you want. It goes well with pancakes, with bread, (how we shall be eating it tomorrow) and also makes quite a good tart filling if put in a baked pastry shell.
Good stuff!

Contest quiz and Lady of the English Documentary.

2011-05-31T14:31:00.001Z

To celebrate the publication of LADY OF THE ENGLISH, my publishers, Sphere/LittleBrown are holding a quiz over at their website with the first prize of a year's free membership to English Heritage plus a hardback copy of Lady of the English.

Url here: http://www.littlebrownbooks.net/win-a-years-membership-to-english-heritage/

Meanwhile, I have put together a small documentary about the background to the novel.

CARTMEL AND CUMBRIA

2011-05-22T16:36:00.002Z

Cartmel Priory Exterior

More than two years ago, a man called Peter Douglas wrote to me, saying that he had enjoyed my novels about the Marshal family. He was a choristor at Cartmel Priory, which had been founded by William Marshal in the late 1180's on his return from the Holy Land and his marriage to Isabelle de Clare. Peter told me that each year around the anniversary of William's death, the priory invites a speaker to come to Cartmel and give a 'Founder's Day Lecture' about something connected with the Priory, and he wondered if I would be willing to give the lecture in 2011. Previous speakers had included academics among them professor David Crouch, medieval expert and William Marshal's biographer.
After a bit of a gulp (being a humble novelist without a university education) I said yes - it was two years away after all. But tempus fugit and all that, and suddenly the event was right on my doorstep. It was too far from home to drive in a day, so my other half and I decided we'd stay the week in Cumbria self catering with our three dogs. We found a lovely farm out in middle of nowhere about 15 miles from Cartmel with spectacular views over the fells.
Accommodation sorted, I had to decide how to pitch my speech for the talk. Being as it was called 'The Founders Day lecture', I decided that I would speak about William Marshal the whole man - not just his great achievements, but the small ones that also made up the fabric of his being, and I would use as my basis, his 13th century biography, The Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal as my guide. It was written in praise and eulogy of the Marshal, and contained many warm and human details. I also knew that it wasn't a widely circulated work and that most of my audience would not have had access to it, so much of my material would be fresh and new to them even if I knew it well.
The village and Priory of Cartmel are situated in the middle of the Furness and Cartmel peninsula, which pokes out into Morecambe Bay. It's at the southern edge of the Lake District, with popular lakes Windermere and Coniston being the nearest and to the north. As well as the priory founded by William Marshal, Cartmel has a small National Hunt racecourse. I rather like the fact that Cartmel is also famous for being the home of sticky toffee pudding. William Marshal was known to enjoy his food, and I think he would have strongly approved of this! I think he might also be interested in Grasmere gingerbread and Kendal Mint cake, especially as for a time he was Lord of Kendal!
The talk at the Priory went very well indeed. I was warmly welcomed by the vicar, Father Robert Bailey, who told me that he had originally come to Cartmel from Bradenstoke in Wiltshire, not actually realising at the time he took the job, that Bradenstoke was where the first Augustinian monks came from to colonise Cartmel. There was a large and interested audience, and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to them about the life of William Marshal. I have added my lecture spiel below the photos at the end of this blog, and it will be going onto my website as a permanent fixture as soon as I can set it up.
Following the talk, there was tea, sandwiches and cakes - a lovely spread, and I went off to do some book signing in the bookshop complete with loaded plate. The bookshop also has some really beautiful and unusual cards, gifts and souvenirs. (Although the William Marshal chocolate orange bar slightly made me boggle!). Cartmel Priory’s bookshop was the first venue in the country to begin selling my new novel LADY OF THE ENGLISH. Certainly the weekend I gave the talk it wasn't available anywhere else, and we sold plenty of copies!
Later in the week I returned as a tourist to take more photos, and once more was afforded a lovely welcome and given a look at the bell tower and a view from the roof. I so love moments like these!

Giving a talk at Cartmel Priory was something rather special. I know as an author I have to go on the road and that I have to do the book promotion thing. These days it's all part of the job. But at the same time, it's more than promotion. I'm not cynical about it, and I don't want my readers to feel that either. It's a two way thing. I really do enjoy getting out and about, meeting people… And living the history!

Re getting out and about, you'll see at the side of the blog that I've listed dates and appearances, forthcoming this summer.

Photographs of Cartmel and Cumbria: click to enlarge

Giving the Founder's Day Lecture at Cartmel

Tea and cake afterwards

More shots of the attendees

Peter Douglas at the book signing

Book signing - a copy of Lady of the English!

Cartmel Priory Exterior

Cartmel Priory interior

Cartmel Priory Marshal banner

14thC Misericord that may represent the Macrobii, a legendary race from India

14thC Misericord in the Choir. Mermaid representing the lusts of the flesh!

Original arches behind the choir screen

Bishop's Chair, on loan from Chatsworth House

Commemorative shrine to local martyrs

Banner of the Virgin Mary

A Scarlet Lion!

Up on the roof

The bells

The author in civvies beside a commemorative plaque

Where we stayed

One of the locals

Rain. You get LOTS of this in Cumbria!

Walking on the edge of a Saltmarsh on the far side of Morecambe Bay

Saltmarsh reeds

Elterwater to Skelwith Bridge - lovely walk

Skelwith Bridge

Rydal Water

View near the cottage

Jack (black and tan) and Taz, 2 of my dogs at Wastwater

Wastwater

Glittery sea under cloud at St Bees Head, North West Coast.

William Marshal Founders Day Lecture notes: Cartmel Priory, May 15^th 2011

Good afternoon everyone. I feel very honoured to have been asked to give this lecture about William Marshal at Cartmel, his own foundation.

I write historical fiction for a living and began my published career in 1990 with a novel called the wild Hunt which was a romantic story set in the Welsh Marches in the 11th century. Gradually as my career progressed I moved along the path towards writing biographical fiction. My first foray into biographical fiction was a novel called Lords of the White Castle which told the story of mediaeval outlaw Fulke FitzWarin, who led a fascinating life in the late 12th and early 13th century and is thought by some historians to be the originator of the Robin Hood legends. While researching Fulke and sundry other characters, the name of William Marshal kept cropping up. Indeed you can't write historical fiction set in the 12th and 13th century without coming across him. So the idea began to simmer that perhaps I could write a novel about William. He'd had led a very full life, and it seemed like a natural progression.

I freely admit that when I first thought about writing William’s story, my main reason was that he'd led a rags to riches detailed life that would transfer very well to the medium of the historical adventure novel. Actually, the novels nearly didn't get written. When I approached my agent with the idea, historical fiction was just beginning to come out of the doldrums that it had hit in the 90s, but it was all women's fiction led by Philippa Gregory with The other Boleyn Girl, and the perception was that I should really be writing about women. However, my agent was a good friend of someone who sang in the choir at the Temple Church. One evening she went to hear him sing, and went to look at the tombs of the knights displayed there, of which William Marshal's was one, together with 2 of his sons, William and Gilbert. When she realised I wanted to write about this man, her interest was piqued and she championed my cause with my publisher. The result was a two book contract to write about William Marshal's life. Ideally I would have liked three books but the publishers weren’t prepared to stretch out their necks that far. Nevertheless, I had a contract and a brief.

I settled down to the research and it was at this point that I began to realise that this was more than just another temporary project to write the next historical novel, and that I was researching someone really special, an icon in his own era - someone remembered with deep affection and respect by his family, and who is still as a role model in our time.

When William died, his eldest son commissioned a poet to write his father's life story in a series of rhyming couplets 19,215 lines long. It was designed as a commemorative piece to be read out on the anniversary of his death each year, and while it would take far too long these days for me to read the piece to you here and now, I thought it appropriate to share portions of it with you that tell us something about the personality of William the man, his life and times.

William rose from modest beginnings to greatness, and was a man of great political skill and acumen, but with that went compassion and a deep understanding of people. But running alongside all his magnificent qualities and the heroic enormity of the man, was an ordinary life filled with everyday joys and sorrows and a delight in the small things - an awareness that they mattered just as much as the greater horizons.

His chronicler (all we know of him is that he came from France and was called John )says:

A writer with a worthy subject in mind should so arrange matters that,

from the fine start he gives his story, it is brought to a fitting conclusion.

And he adds.

My tale is of the worthiest man who ever lived in our times.

May God, by his grace, give me the ability to handle it in such a way

that all who come to hear it and listen to it attentively shall find their joy and delight in it. To which I can only say Amen.

We don't know William Marshal's date of birth only that it was probably in 1146 or 1147, and that he was born somewhere in Wiltshire or Berkshire. He may have been born at Marlborough, or Luggershawl, at Winterbourne or Tidworth. He was the second son of his father's second marriage. His father John Marshal, had put his first wife aside in order to take a second wife and seal peace between himself and his neighbour Patrick of Salisbury, with whom he was at war at the time. William’s mother Sybilla, was Patrick’s sister.

When William was about five years old, King Stephen came to besiege John Marshal at Newbury Castle and demanded surrender. William’s father said that in order to do that, he would have to do ask permission of his overlord, the Empress Matilda for whom he was fighting against the King. Stephen agreed to let him do this, but said that he would have hostages of him to make sure he kept his word.

Little William was turned over to the King as surety for that word of honour. When the appointed day arrived for John Marshall to surrender Newbury Castle, he refused. Instead of sending word to the Empress, he stuffed the castle to the rafters with men, equipment and supplies. Stephen was furious but probably not surprised, and he sent word to John that William’s life was forfeit and he would be hanged. John retorted with that now infamous reply. ‘He said that he did not care about the child, since he still had the and anvils and hammers to produce even finer sons

William was manhandled to the gallows, but on his way saw the Earl of Arundel holding a very fine javelin and asked to play with it. The King apparently was so struck by William’s charm that he couldn't bring himself to have him hanged. However, William's ordeal wasn't over. He was also threatened with being squashed on a large round shield that was pushed under castle walls, and being flung from a catapult. Seeing the catapult William said: ‘Gracious me! What a swing!It will be a good idea for me to have a swing on it.’He went right up to the sling,but the King said: ‘take him away! Take him away!Anyone who could ever allow

him to die in such agony would certainly have a very cruel heart;he comes out with such engaging childish remarks.

Saved from various sticky ends, William continued to exert his charm on his royal jailer.

The King settled down to the siege. One day he was sitting in his tent, strewn with grasses and flowers of a variety of colours. William looked at the flowers, examining them from top to bottom. Happily and cheerfully he went about gathering the knights growing on the plantain, with its broad pointed leaves. When he gathered enough to make a good handful, he said the King: ‘My dear Lord ,would you like to play knights?’

‘Yes.’ He said ‘my little friend.’

The child immediately placed some on the King's lap, then he asked: ’who has the first go?’

‘You, my dear little friend,’ replied the King.

So he then took one of the knights and the King placed his own against it. But it turned out that in the contest the King's knight lost its head which made William overjoyed.’

You can see from this amusing incident, what a little charmer William the child was, and it has the ring of truth.

Williams survived to return home and grow up. A few years down the line…William had grown into a tall boy. His body was so well fashioned

that, even if he had been created by the sculptor’s chisel, his limbs would not have been so handsome. Etc etc.

This is a work wholly in praise of William Marshal and the chronicler puts in all the stock in trade descriptions of the ideal mediaeval man. However there are a couple of personal moments. We are told that

his hair was brown and his face was swarthy. So basically Brown hair and an outdoor complexion. The Chronicler is hasty to add ‘but his features were so much like those of a true noble that he could have been Emperor of Rome!

The writer also comments that William had a large crotch, 'Si out large la fourcheure' but this just meant in medieval terms that he had a good deep seat in the saddle, rather than being a comment on more private aspects of his anatomy!

In his teens William was sent to train with a family relative William de Tancarville, Chamberlain of Normandy. ‘as is fitting for a nobleman setting off abroad to win an honourable reputation.’

Once in Normandy William got stuck into his training, and there are some lines here that remind me how nothing changes in human nature. As the mother of two sons and having endured their teens I can so identify with some of the habits of a rapidly growing adolescent youth.

People thought is a great pity that he stayed up so little at night and yet slept so late ,that he ate and drank too much, and those scoundrels would laugh at him behind his back, asking of one another ‘this greedy gorger William in God's name, what good is he doing here?’ And they asked William de Tancarville his Lord ‘just how are you being served by this troublesome fellow, this devil of a glutton, who's always sleeping when he's not eating? The man is a fool who feeds him.’… The Chamberlain was much displeased with such words but he smiled and kept quiet, and then replied with a few well chosen words: ‘You will see, he'll set the world alight yet… You have no idea of the quality of the man I'm keeping.’ Indeed so.

William became a knight at around the age of 21.

At Drincourt, William the Marshal was dubbed a knight, and he willingly accepted the honour accorded to him by God which he had been so long waiting for. The Chamberlain girded on his sword with which he was to deal many a blow. And God bestowed on him such grace that he never went anywhere to perform feats of arms without his exploits being covered in glory.

From the start he was eager to join in the fray and prove his worth. When the town of Drincourt was attacked by the French not long after his knighting, the Chamberlain and his knights rode out to defend it and William wanted to be in the forefront.

The Marshal came up so far as to be able to ride alongside the Chamberlain who spoke as follows: 'William get back; don't be so hotheaded, let these knights pass.’ William withdrew a few paces, downcast and ashamed, his face the picture of gloom; he wished he had never been born, since he thought he was indeed a knight. He let three men pass in front of him and he quickly spurred on his horse and he was right in front of those crossing the bridge. Whatever happened, if there was to be a skirmish or battle, if knights were going to be locked in combat, he would make sure he was up there at the front.

He lost his horse in that battle and had to sell one of his cloaks to buy a new one. The Histoire observes that It is well-known that poverty has brought dishonour on many a nobleman and been the ruin of them; such was the case with the Marshal, for he had nothing to give and no source of wealth. He had to sell one of his cloaks,(to buy a horse) which he had when he was made a knight for the sum of 22 shillings in cash in Angevin currency.

So William had to deal with the harsh realities of life. It was all too easy to become penniless knight if you did not have the full support of a patron, or if you did not shift for yourself. I think what happened in his early years had a bearing on how good he actually was with money in his later years as a great magnate and Regent of England. He knew how to spend it, but he was no spend thrift and he knew how to make it as well and how to make do.

Anyway his bacon was saved because the Chamberlain wanted to attend a tournament with all his household and he provided horses for the young men. William was last in the queue when it came to dishing out the animals and so found himself with a reject beast that no one else wanted.

‘The horse was brought out, a horse fine and valuable, had it not been for one flaw that was a terrible drawback: the horse was so wild that it could not be tamed. The Marshal mounted it. Not once did he use his elbows; instead he pricked it with his spurs and the horse, flying faster than a hawk, bounded forwards. At the point where it should have been reined in, it turned out that it pulled incredibly hard: never had it had a master been able to make it pull less, even if he had had 15 reins to restrain it. The Marshal gave the matter thought and came up with a brilliant scheme: he let out the bridle at least three fingers’ length from the bit and so released the lock of the bit that it went down into its mouth so it had far less to bite on than was usual. For no amount of gold or other riches could he have reined him in any other way. He considered that he had been very clever. The horse was so improved by this new bridle that he could have been ridden around in half an acre of land as if he were the tamest on earth,’

So William showed that he understood horses and that he was a master of adapting to adversity. As the saying goes today. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. It appears to be one of Williams guiding principles. Do the best with what you have and turn it to your advantage by thinking outside the box.

William went on to gain experience in the tournaments and did very well for himself. However, his time with the Chamberlain was over. De Tancarville had enough knights to fulfil his quota and William was basically made redundant. He returned to England and joined the service of his uncle, Patrick Earl of Salisbury who was preparing to go to Poitou as its governor. Once more employed, William headed to the South of France, where, while in his uncle's entourage he came into contact with Eleanor of Aquitaine, and went on to save her from ambush when she was attacked by members of the rebel de Lusignan family. William’s uncle was killed in front of his eyes by being speared through the back. Eleanor managed to escape but William was wounded in the thigh, captured after putting up a tremendous fight and taken for ransom. At the time of the attack Eleanor's escort had not been wearing their armour. Later in life William always stayed close to his armour, and would put it on long before a battle situation arose, and I think it was something that was impressed on him that day in Poitou when they were attacked. This is a line from later in the Histoire, illustrating this:

The King said: ‘Go on, take that Armour off, Marshal. Why are you armed?’

The Marshal replied: ‘If it's so please you, sire, so much will I say, that I am very happy to be armed and my arms don't cramp my style in the slightest. I shall not remove my armour for the rest of this day until I have discovered what burden we shall have to shoulder. An unarmed man cannot last out in a crisis or a grave situation and we don't know what their intentions will be.’

In gratitude to William, Eleanor paid his ransom and arranged things for him as behoved her, given the quality of the young man: horses, arms, money, she readily gave him. William became the tutor in chivalry to her eldest son, Henry. His father Henry II, had had him crowned King in his own lifetime to assure the succession of the throne and William’s star continued to rise as he became established as one of young Henry's household Knights.

The King took great pleasure in advancing his son, and he sought outstanding companions for him, the most proven men to be found throughout the realm. At that time the Marshal was summoned, a man most brave and true; he was endowed with all the fine qualities, to the extent that there was nothing lacking in him. The King put him in the company of his son; he promised to do the Marshal much good in return for his care and instruction. The King ‘ asked and commanded William to take care of Henry, for he trusted no man as much as him. The Marshal replied: ‘Know this for sure, I shall do all within my power.’

The Histoire tells us that during this time ‘He led such a very fine life that many were jealous of him. He spent his life in tournaments and war and travel through all the lands where knight should think of winning renown in France and in the low countries, through Hainaut and Flanders, came his high reputation for great exploits.

William remained in the Young King's household as a career knight for more than a decade and in that time moved from young whippersnapper into full manhood. Young Henry although charming and handsome, was not always an easy master to serve. He wanted the power and the money, but did not particularly want to have to work for it at the mundane task of government, and quarrelled with his father on the matter quite seriously on occasion. One such time, he went to seek succour from the French, and asked William, who was ever loyal despite whatever personal misgivings he had might have been harbouring, – to knight him.

Before the assembled counts and barons, and before other men such high rank, he girded the sword on the King of England and yet he had not one strip of land to his name or anything else, just his chivalry.

Matters were patched up for a while between father and son and William and his young charge took to the life of the tourney with a vengeance. Sometimes William went off jousting of his own accord, and on one such occasion which is often mentioned in the biographies he managed to get his head stuck inside his helmet because of all the blows he'd received in the fight. The tournament officials had adjudged him the ‘man of the match’ and came to find him to present him with the prize which happened to be a large pike on a platter as in the fish!

They came to the forge, where they saw him with his head on the anvil. It was no laughing matter, far from it, for the smith with his hammers, wrenches and pincers, was going about the task of tearing off his helmet and cutting through the metal strips, which were quite staved in, smashed and battered. The helmet was so tight around his neck that it was freed with great difficulty. Once the helmet was prized of – and it was pulled off with great difficulty – the knights who had come to forge greeted him graciously. I am sure that back in the day William was delighted to receive the honour of being champion of the tourney, but my imagination furnishes me with a picture of a red-faced William gasping for fresh air and rather sore around the ears, being faced with a crowd of people bearing a large fish on a plate (that’s been doing the rounds for some hours) and I have to laugh!

William certainly seemed to enjoy his life on the tourney field and to have been ideally suited to it. The Histoire is so joyous when describing this part of his story, and really gives a feel for the sites sounds and smells of the tourney round. I think it was Prof Crouch who compared it to something of a large Gymkhana! We know that one year between Lent and Whitsuntide William and a companion took 103 knights prisoner. When a knight was captured in the tourney, he had to pay a ransom to his captor as a forfeit. It was basically a contact sport for prize-money – it would make great television today!

Allied to his prowess William had a mischievous sense of humour and this is one of the reasons why I like him so much. This is an example of incident from his tourney days. The men are hanging around, waiting for the tourney to begin and some ladies arrive.

The knights rose up from the ranks to meet them, as was fit and proper. They were convinced that they had become better men as a result of the lady's arrival, and so they had, for all those there felt a doubling of strength in mind and body, and their boldness and courage. One of them said: ‘come on, let us dance while we are waiting, we will be less bored.’ So they took one another by the hand. One man asked: ‘who will be kind enough to sing for us?’ The Marshal who had a good voice but who in no way boasted about it, then began to sing a song in a pure sweet tone. He gave much pleasure to those present and they willingly joined in his song. And when he had finished his song, which gave them much pleasure and delight, a youngster, recently made a herald at arms, began to sing a new song. I do not know who was the subject of it, but the refrain contained the words: ‘Marshall, come on, give me a trusty steed!’ When the Marshal heard it, he stayed there not a minute longer, but left the dance without saying a word to anyone. A squire brought him his horse, and he beckoned to the young herald. The herald saw the gesture and ran after him as fast as he could. At this point the jousters rode up, those who were in the front rank of the initial contests. The Marshal, a man who had no wish to bandy words, rode straight at one of them. He had such faith in his prowess and in his firm and sturdy lance, that he knocked him off his horse without further ado. Then he had the young herald mount the horse, and he, without uttering a word, galloped back into the dance, and said to all: ‘Look what a fine horse! The Marshal gave it to me.’ Many were greatly surprised by this, as they were under the impression that the Marshall was still at the dance, and they spoke much of it.

While William was in service to the young King, some jealous enemies at court accused him of having an affair with the young King's wife Marguerite, daughter of the king of France. William Staunchly denied this, but nevertheless he was banished from court. Given William’s life compass which was always one of honour, duty and truth, I personally don't think he would have done this. The discovery of such a liaison, would not just have brought shame upon the Marshal, it would have cost him his life. It was treason. As it was just the accusation almost cost him his career and he was ousted from court He took the opportunity to go to Cologne and visits the shrine of the three Kings.. He was offered employment by various magnates throughout Europe, but declined. As far as he was concerned, he only had one Lord, the young King. As it happened young Henry and his father fell out again for various detailed political reasons and William was recalled to serve his master.

This was not a particularly happy time in William’s life. He was now well into his 30s, and perhaps approaching a crossroads. The behaviour that was appropriate to a younger man, now no longer sat so easily on his shoulders. His young Lord, had taken to robbing churches and shrines to gain money for his war, including the shrine of our lady of Rocamadour, and although it does not say so in the Histoire, I gain the impression that William was very unhappy with such a state of affairs. Indeed when he founded the Priory here at Cartmel,, he had a curse written into the foundation charter that was to fall upon anyone who did anything to the detriment of the priory. Although many priories and abbeys have this type of clause written into their foundation charters, I do wonder if William was thinking of Rocamadour when he had this one written.

Shortly after the young King had robbed the shrine, he fell ill dysentery and it became obvious that he was going to die. William was with him on his deathbed and the young King had a particular request to make of him.

And when it came to the reading of his will, he said this: ‘Marshal, you have ever been loyal to me, a staunch supporter in good faith. I leave you my cross so that on my behalf you can take it to the Holy Sepulchre and with it pay my debts to God.’ The Marshal replied: ‘sire, I give you my most grateful thanks! Since that is your provision in your will and you have chosen me for this task, I shall certainly do it gladly, for that man is no loyal friend who is found wanting in help in a great moment of need.’

I think this visit to the holy land was the moment at the crossroads he had been travelling towards. I think he went there in some sort of spiritual crisis and whatever happened, he returned a man who had grown in all areas of his life. The Histoire tells us very little about his time out there, although there are some pertinent points made and one very important one that comes later in his life.

So he went away and stayed two years. In Palestine he showed himself to be so generous, he performed so many feats of bravery and valour, so many fine deeds that no man before had performed so many, even if he had lived there for seven years.

When he left that land, he went to seek leave of King Guy, all the men in the King's household, and of the Templars and Hospitalers, who loved the Marshal very dearly because of his many fine qualities and were very displeased about his returning home. We also know from later on in the tale that he obtained his own burial shrouds while abroad, and showed them to no one, and that while in the holy land he vowed his body to the Templars at his death.

Once home, he took up service with Henry II again, who was pleased to see him and gave him lands here in Cumbria, along with the wardship of Heloise, heir of William of Lancaster, Lord of Kendal, who hd died in 1184 while William was in the holy land.

The lady of Lancaster, a lady of great elegance, together with her land, he gave to the Marshal, and the Marshal did her high honour and kept her from dishonour for a long time, as his dear friend, but he never married her.

William could indeed have married her and made his life in this area as a baron, certainly with the same standing as his father, but he preferred not to. However he did spend some time in Cumbria on his return from the holy land, perhaps to recuperate from all the travelling, and to settle himself spiritually. It was while here that he made plans to found a Priory on the land that King Henry had given him, although building did not start until after his marriage to Isabelle de Clare.

In 1186, William left Cumbria to go to Henry II who had summoned him to Normandy, promising him an even greater heiress and Heloise of Kendal.

The King promised the Marshal in return for his service, the hand of the maiden of Striguil, a worthy, beautiful girl.

Isabelle de Clare, was heiress to lands in Normandy, in Berkshire, the Welsh borders, Wales and Leinster in Ireland. She was just about of marriageable age, a blond beauty and immensely wealthy. Not that it was certain William was going to claim his prize, because Henry was on the back foot. He was fighting both the King of France and his son Richard the Lionheart who was in rebellion against him. It was a vicious, bitter campaign, that saw the burning of Le Mans, Henry's birthplace. Henry himself, sick and distraught, fled the town as Richard entered through the gates. Riding rearguard, William sought to defend his ailing Lord, and showed what he was made of, when it turned out that those pursuing were led by none other than Richard the Lionheart

Like the prudent and wise man he was, he took up his shield and his lands, and spurred straight on to meet the advancing count Richard. When the count saw him coming, he shouted out at the top of his voice: ‘God’s legs, Marshall! Do not kill me, that would be a wicked thing to do, since you find me here completely unarmed.’ The Marshal replied: ‘Indeed I won't. Let the devil kill you! I shall not be the one to do it.’ This said, he struck the Count’s horse a blow with his lance, and the horse died instantly; it's never took another step forward. It died, and the count fell to the ground. It was a fine blow, which came at an opportune moment for those riding ahead.’

Henry was very unwell, and died soon after. His body was borne to the Abbey of Fontevraud by his household Knights, and while they were holding vigil there, Richard came to view his father's body, and talk the men were with him. The last time he had seen William, had been at the other end of a lance, and the Histoire gives us this conversation between them at the church.

‘Marshall, fair Sir, the other day you intended to kill me, and you would have, without a doubt, if I hadn't deflected your lance with my arm. That would have been a bad day.’

He replied to the count ‘My Lord, it was never my intention to kill you, never did I put my effort into that: I am still strong enough to direct a lance when armed and even more so on that occasion, when I was unarmed; if I had wanted, I could have driven it straight through your body, just as I did with that horse of yours.. And I do not consider it a wicked thing for me to have killed it, nor am I sorry for doing so.’

Richard did not bear William a grudge for this. To the contrary he valued his steadfastness and loyalty and to that end, granted him permission to take Isabelle de Clare to wife. William went immediately to London. Isabelle was being kept in the Tower of London because she was such a great prize. William knew that although Richard was King, the situation when a new king took the throne was always volatile and he made haste to marry Isabelle straightaway. It was a political match. As far as we know they had never met before. He was in his early 40s; she was 18 at the oldest. What they thought on first seeing each other is not recorded, but they seem to have made a very strong and affectionate marriage that lasted for 30 years. William set the tone of their marriage from the beginning. It was celebrated in London at the house of his good friend Richard FitzReinier, who offered to provide what was necessary: William said that

‘now that he had her in his possession he had no wish to lose her, so he said that he would go to her lands and marry her there. Hearing this, Richard FitzReinier, his host, who loved him very dearly said ‘Upon my soul my Lord! You will not you shall not marry her anywhere else but here, and in this house your wedding will be so well arranged that you will lack nothing of what a worthy man needs for his use.’ The Marshal replied: ‘I have made no provision for such a thing.’

‘But I have, and very well too,’ said his host, ‘and nothing will be wanting. Thanks to God I have so much of my own that there will be no need of anything of yours.’ That said, there was no further delay: she was married under favourable style, that worthy, beautiful lady of good breeding, that courtly lady of high birth… Once that fine, splendid wedding ceremony had taken place, in a manner that was fitting, I know that the Marshall took the lady to stay with Sir Engelram D’Abernon at Stoke, a peaceful spot, well appointed and a delight to the eye.

Knowing that he was going to be very busy in the future, William nevertheless took the time out to have a honeymoon in a secluded spot and get to know his wife. At this point in his life, he also took a moment to think of his proposed foundation at Cartmel, and sent a colony of Augustinian monks from the mother house at Bradenstoke Priory, to be the founder colony at Cartmel. The first prior of Cartmel was called Daniel and had charge from around 1194 until 1204.

William and Isabelle were blessed with children almost straightaway. Their first son William was born probably in April 1190 possibly at Longeville in Normandy. Richard, their second child arrived about 18 months later, and this set the pattern. William and Isabelle would have 10 children- five boys and five girls because William believed in balance after all. William and Richard came first, then the first daughter Mahelt or Matilda, then Gilbert, Walter, Isabelle, Sybilla and Eve, followed by Ancel and Joanna. By the time Joanna was born William was around 64 and Isabelle into her 40s. None of the boys were to have children, but all the girls had sons and daughters whose descendants are scattered round the world today, some of them properly here listening today.

Williams spent the reign of King Richard bringing up his growing family, serving Richard in a military capacity, and also assisting to rule the country during Richard’s absence on Crusade. He spent most of his time in Normandy, with short occasional returns to England. When Richard died from an arrow wound sustained at a siege in the Limousin, William was in Rouen and one of the first to receive the news. In fact he was on his way to bed but but ‘he put his boots back on’ and went to consult with Hubert Walter the Archbishop of Canterbury about what to do. The men had a long discussion about whether they should back John to be King, or offer the throne to his teenage nephew Prince Arthur. In the end William Marshal persuaded the Archbishop that they should sign up for John because the son is indisputably closer in the line of inheritance than the nephew is, and it is right that that should be made clear.’ The Archbishop agreed but with caveats. He said ‘You will never come to regret anything you did as much as what you're doing now.’ To which William replied ‘thanks for the warning! Nonetheless my advice is that it should be so.’

In hindsight but perhaps William did wish that he hadn’t argued for John, but be that as it may, John was offered the crown, and for his aid in the matter, William was awarded the Earldom of Pembroke and custody of the Castle.

John's reign proved to be a tricky one. John had inherited political difficulties from Richard, not all of Richard’s doing, but the result of general political pull and push throughout Europe, but it has to be said that John's personality did nothing to mitigate circumstances. The King's pride and arrogance increased; they so blurred his vision that he could not see reason indeed, I know for a fact that as a result he lost the affection of the barons of the land before he crossed to England. He did not have an easy character. His biographer WL Warren says of him that he had the mind of a great King and inclinations of petty tyrant, and as a form of shorthand that statement says it all. He was suspicious of everyone including William. That suspicion of William was exacerbated during the fight for Normandy which John was eventually to lose. Seeing the French overrunning the Norman lands, knowing that his own lands were under threat, William made a pact with the King of France, saying he would do him homage for his Norman estates. John not surprisingly took exception to this. William claimed that John gave him permission to give his oath to the French king for the Norman castles, but one suspects at that point in his life William was sailing close to the wind. John decided to take one of William sons hostage as security for William’s good behaviour. The eldest son who was most dear to the Marshall. The latter surrendered him readily to the King, being as he was a man who would have nothing to do with evil-doing or ever thought of such. The saying goes that a man who bandages his finger when it is whole will find it so again when he chooses to take the bandage off.

William further blotted his copybook by seeking permission to go to Ireland and sort out his land there. John had interests in Ireland and didn't want William meddling. However, he allowed William to go, but demanded William second son Richard as a hostage too. Isabelle was very loath to let their second boy go into John's custody, but William was willing to hand him over because he knew that was the only way he was going to get to Ireland without being adjudged a rebel. So he handed over Richard too. At the same time he arranged a marriage for his eldest daughter Mahelt with Hugh Bigod, eldest son of Roger Bigod earl of Norfolk. This kept Mahelt safe in England under the protection of a powerful family, owners of almost half of East Anglia. The marriage was a most suitable one and pleased both families involved,’ The Histoire tells us.

William duly sailed to Ireland with his family all but his hostage sons and his newly married daughter. Once there he set about organising his lands, and founding a town on the River Barrow that today is known as New Ross. The family were to stay there for the next five years. William’s last two children, Ancel and Joanna were to be born in Leinster. King John was enraged to learn that William had gone to Ireland. He had been hoping that the demand for the second son would keep William in England. He summoned William back to England along with the Justiciar of Ireland, one Meilier Fitzhenry who was William’s sworn enemy. Indeed Meilier had left instructions that the moment he and William departed Ireland, his men were to start making war on William’s interests there. The Histoire says of a meeting held between William and his men before he departed for the English court: they greatly feared the King’s sending for him was a trick and that he was acting more with a view to harming him than for his good. This view was expressed in the presence of the Countess, who had every fear as regards the King's word. The Marshal knew very well and was very aware that the King had not sent for him for his good and he had no doubt once he had left the land there would be strife and war. William made contingency plans, but when his men suggested that he himself should take hostages against the behaviour of men of whom he was uncertain, William refused very strongly. He said: enough of that! I would not wish just now even for the price of 100 marks in silver that they came to know for certain that you had said such a thing, for it would be recorded to our eternal shame. Instead I shall send for them to come to me and I shall tell them to uphold the peace and integrity of my land. This then perhaps is a leftover from William himself being taken hostage as a child, and what he felt inside about having to give his sons away to John. He might have had to give his boys as hostages because he had no other choice in order to save the rest of his family, but he would not take other men’s sons.

William had a difficult time in England, because King John proceeded to give him the cold shoulder and treat him with suspicion and contempt. He told him a concocted cock and bull story about William’s best men having been defeated and killed in battle in Ireland and Isabelle (who was heavily pregnant at this time) being left alone and without help. William was very surprised at the news because the weather was bad and no ships were sailing between England and Ireland to bring such details to the court. However he said: ‘I can tell you in truth that the death of those nights is a loss. There is nobody here, be here full wise, who does not know, in a word, that they were your own worthy men, and for that reason this business is an even sorrier affair.’

This put John in his place, and later the news arrived that William's men had actually prevailed over the aggressors, although the town of New Ross had been burned to the ground. John's anger with William lowered to a simmer and he allowed him to return to Ireland, where William set about putting things to right and dealing with the opposition.

It was not all over in a day, and John had not finished with William or with Ireland. The King came there himself to deal with rebels, and take a grip on the country. William played the game cannily and did all that the King asked. Around him he saw other barons being destroyed by the king's anger, most notably and spectacularly, William de Braose. There is not time here to go into the whole de Braose situation, but he too had been asked for hostages. In his case, his wife had refused to give up their sons, saying she would not hand them over to a King who would murder his own nephew. This was a reference to Prince Arthur who have mysteriously vanished while in John's custody in Rouen. No one knew what had happened to him – supposedly, although it is likely that de Braose did, and so might William who was de Braose’s ally. It's something we will never know.

William did manage through diplomacy and sound political decisions to weather the King's displeasure. John went home, and William settled down with his family in Ireland. However that wasn't the end of matters. In 1212, John summoned William back to England because the political situation was dire. The Pope had excommunicated John over a long-running dispute concerning who should be Archbishop of Canterbury. In some ways it was reminiscent of the Becket crisis of his father's reign, in that the King wanted one thing and the church wanted the other. The barons had taken John's excommunication is a general sign to rise up in discontent - and they had a lot discontented about, including the marrying of heiresses to John's favourites, the bad behaviour of his mercenaries, the fact that he was selling justice for money to name just a few. William was put in a predicament because once he swore his loyalty, he kept it, but he too had fallen victim to Royal caprice and tyranny. When summoned he came, The Histoire says: He was sorely grieved by the outrages committed by both sides, once he had been informed of them: he had no wish for them, nor did he agree to them. The Histoire also says when the King ran out of resources, very few of the men stayed with him who were there for his money; they went on their way with their booty in hand. However, the Marshal at least, a man of loyal and noble heart, stayed with him in hard and difficult circumstances; he never left him, he never changed that steadfast heart of his, serving him in good faith as his Lord and King… What ever the King had done to him, he never abandoned him for anyone. That absolute loyalty and honour was one of the the underpinning values of William Marshal's character.

Williams eldest son had joined the rebels. What William thought of this, we don't know. Unless it was a deliberate political move, it must have caused some ructions in the family. The Histoire is silent on the matter. What we do know is that the barons involved in working out the details of Magna Carta, and designated as sureties to see that its terms were carried out, included William Marshall senior and junior and their relatives by marriage William Earl of Salisbury, and Roger and Hugh Bigod, to whom William Marshal's daughter Mahelt was married. William was honour bound to take John’s part in these negotiations, but through family ties he had a foot in each camp.

John died in October 1216, leaving the country in turmoil. There was Civil War, the French had invaded and had control of London, were threatening Dover, and had taken several other important towns. John's eldest son was only nine years old; war had brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy, and there were deep divisions between people who had once been friends and allies. The barons who had stayed loyal to John, including William brought the nine-year-old Henry to Gloucester Abbey. The high-ranking men there carried him between them to the Abbey, where the gift of succession was passed on through the anointing and the coronation.’

Then the matter of who was going to rule the country had to be discussed. There were only two men in the running; William Marshal, and Rannulf Earl of Chester. The latter was known to be a bit prickly, and not everyone was willing to follow him even though he had the ability to lead. In the end the vote went William who was by now around 70 years old. Having been given the job of running the country, William retired to his chamber and the enormity hit him. He called his closest advisers, and then leant against one of the walls. It will not take long to list the members of the council: the three who were with him the previous night, were now with him at these talks. He said to them ‘give me your help and advice, for by the faith I owe you, I have embarked upon the open sea, where no man, where ever he sails or where ever he sounds the depths, can find bottom for sure, and from which it is a miracle if he reaches port and a safe haven. But may God if it please him, sustain me! I have been entrusted with this task, which is already close to coming to grief, as you know and sense. And the child has no wealth, which is very damaging and a source of grief to me, and I myself am an old man.’ Then his heart became full to overflowing and his eyes began to fill with tears. Tears streamed down his face, and those present there, who loved him and were entirely devoted to him, began to weep out of pity for him. And he, after looking up, said: ‘Have you no more to say than this?’

As it was his former Squire and now fellow baron and companion Jean D’Earley comforted him, and did the equivalent of giving him a stiff drink and encouragement. And William shook himself , squared his shoulders, and went to get on with the task of governing England and setting thngs to rights. By various hand to mouth methods, including breaking up the King’s treasure what was left of it, he managed to keep control of the troops and maintain the economic functioning of the country. He got people talking to each other, opened up avenues of debate and issued pardons and truces. He would fight if he had to, but diplomacy came first.

The French army had split up, and one division had gone up to Lincoln to try and take the Castle from its doughty Castellan, a lady called Nicola De la Haye. William seized the moment, and swept his army up to Lincoln to take on the divided French. By this time William’s son William Jr had returned to the fold, as had the Earl of Salisbury. It seems that with John's death, the matter of rebellion was finished for them. William wanted the enemy to think that his army was larger than it was and to be intimidated, so one of the things he did was to have all the noncombatants in the baggage train brandish spears and shields on high, so that as they approached they looked to be massive numbers. The French troops chose to stay behind Lincoln’s walls and not come out, so William had his trebuchets batter down a sealed up doorway in the town walls, and brought his army into Lincoln itself. His life has come full circle. As a young knight he had fought his first battle in the streets of Drincourt. Now an old man, his final big engagement was to be in the streets of Lincoln. He was so eager to enter the fray that he forgot to put his helmet on, and had to go back for it. Once it was on his head the histoire says ‘he appeared more handsome than all the rest. As swiftly as if he were a bird, sparrowhawk or an eagle,he pricked the horse with his spurs.’ Once again the cry of ‘God is with the Marshal!’ was heard on the battlefield.

The French were utterly defeated at the Battle of Lincoln. William’s own cousin the Count of Perche was leading them and was killed when a sword pierced his brain through the eye- slit of his helm.

The final clinching victory was a sea battle in which William took no part save to watch from the shore at Sandwich, as the French supply ships, that would have bolstered the remaining half of the French army at Dover, were either seized or destroyed by English ships. Francis Drake’s glorious moment, was actually pre-empted by the Battle of Sandwich. Many vessels full of riches were captured, and great lords taken for ransom. William used some of the booty to build a hospital dedicated to St Bartholomew.

Prince Louis who was leading the French troops and who at one time had hoped to become King of England, now sued for peace. Negotiations were opened, and he agreed to leave England, although he had to be paid to go away. Some barons protested at this, but William viewed it as a necessary sweetener to diplomacy, and with the French gone, putting the country to rights would go much more smoothly.

William continued with the task of Regency for another couple of years, and although there were still choppy seas to be negotiated, at least the ship was no longer in danger of sinking. However the effort involved had taken its toll on him. Two years from the feast of St Michael, when Louis left the land, it was no longer than the following Candlemas when the Marshal began to be plagued by an illness and pain which resulted in his death.’

He had physicians come to tend him in London, but there was nothing they could do and he decided to go home to his favourite manor at Caversham near Reading to die. His view was that he could more easily put up with his affliction on his own ground if, in the nature of things, death was to be his lot, he preferred to die at home than elsewhere. So he was put in a boat and rode upriver to Caversham. Once there he set about making his will and putting his estate in order. He made plans to hand over the country to some of the other people he had been working with, and he sent for the young King Henry, now 11 years old. When the boy was brought before him, he said ‘I can tell you in truth that I have served you faithfully and to the best of my ability in safeguarding your land, when it was a difficult task to do so, and I would serve you, if I could, if it please God that I had the capacity to do so, but there is no man can plainly see that it does not please him that I should be in this world any longer.’ He also spoke to the boy, warning him against behaving like his father King John. Sire, I beg the Lord our God that, if I ever did anything to please him,that in the end he grant you to grow up to be a worthy man. And if it were the case that you followed in the footsteps of some wicked ancestor, and that your wish was to be like him, then I pray to God the son of Mary, that he does not give you long to live in that you die before it comes to that.’ So despite having served John and his son in full loyalty and to the end of his tether, Williams feelings on the matter come through strongly here.

The matter of the country sorted, William turned to his own concerns. He sent his good friend and companion Jean D’Earley on a mission. Bring me the two lengths of silk cloth which I gave Stephen to look after; Jean D’Earley went and fetched the cloths and brought them back to William’s bedside. Here are your lengths of silk, my Lord, which I was instructed to bring to you.’ When he heard this, he took them, and he said to Henry Fitzgerald ‘Henry, look at this fine cloth here!

‘Indeed my Lord, but I can tell you that I find them a little faded, unless my eyesight is blurred.’

The Earl replied ‘Unfold them, so that we might be in a better position to judge.’ And, once the lengths of cloth had been unfolded, they looked very fine and valuable, choice cloth good workmanship. He called for his son and his knights to come before him, and once they had all appeared he said :‘ my Lords, just look here! I’ve had these lengths of cloth for 30 years; I had them brought back with me when I returned from the holy land, to be used for the purpose which they will now serve; my intention has always been that they will be draped over my body when I am laid in the earth;; that was the destination I had in mind for them.’

‘My Lord,’ said his son ’there is one thing we are wondering about which is a closed book to us we cannot tell nt what place you wish to be laid to rest.’

‘My dear son.’ He said’I shall tell you, without a word of a lie: when I was away in the holy land, I gave my body to be buried by the Templars at the time of my death, in whatever place I happened to die. That is my wish, that is where I shall be laid to rest.’

And that is what happened, and why William’s body is in the Temple Church in London not here at Cartmel or in the main house at Bradenstoke.

William continued to give detailed orders about what he wanted to happen after he had died. His illness was such that he had time to organise his funeral and make his farewells. As well as having kept his burial shrouds for 30 years, he had been keeping another more recent secret. He had had a Templar cloak made in secret and stored in his wardrobe and now he had it brought out for all to see, because he intended now to take the vows of a Templer knight. He had that cloak made for him a year before, keeping it in his possession without anyone else knowing of its existence. The Earl, who was generous, gentle and kind towards his wife the countess, said to her\; ‘Fair Lady kiss me now, for you will never be able to do it again.’ She stepped forward and kissed him, and both of them wept. The good folk present there are also wept out of affection and compassion.’

Even amidst the moments of terrible grief and preparing to leave the world, there were still moments of joy and comfort. One day towards the very end of his illness William declared to Jean D’Earley that he had a sudden desire to sing, but that he would feel foolish doing so. Henry Fitzgerald who was also with him suggested that he send his daughters to sing to comfort him and William agreed. The girls arrived, and William perked up a bit.

‘Matilda, you be the first to sing,’ he said. She had no wish to do so, for her life at the time was a bitter cup, but she had no wish to disobey her father's command. She started to sing, since she wished to please her father, and she sang exceedingly well, giving a verse of the song in a sweet clear voice.’Joanna you sing as best you can!’ She sang one verse from a rotruenge, but timidly. ‘Don’t be bashful when you sing,’ said the Earl, ‘for if you are, you will not perform well and the words will not come across in the right way.’ So the Marshall taught her how to sing the words. Once the song was finished, he said to them ‘My daughters go in the name of Christ, who guards and protects all who believe in him; I pray to him to grant you his protection.’ As was fitting they took their leave:

Another incident involved the supernatural. William was being attended by Jean D’Earley and said to him. ‘Can you see what I can see?’

‘My Lord, I don't know what we're looking at.’

‘Upon my soul, there are two men in white here, one of them here by me on my right and the other on my left; I never saw more handsome anywhere.’

‘My Lord, the company of Angels has come to you, and if it please God, will come again to be by your side. God has sent his company to you to lead you along the right pass.’

The Earl then said:’blessed be the Lord our God, who has given and imparted his grace to me here.’

I believe that indeed the company of Angels had come to him rather than it being caused by the flickers of the dying mind.

William died at Caversham on a May morning with the windows open and his grieving family around his bed - this very week 792 years ago, and as evidenced here in this gathering he is still remembered and honoured at Cartmel, the priory he founded on his return from Jerusalem.

The Histoire finishes: here ends the story of the Earl's life, and may God grant that his soul rest in eternal glory in the company of his angels! Amen

But the story doesn't end there, because William’ memory, like Cartmel itself, has lived on down the centuries. His name has become a byword for honour and chivalry, for loyalty in the face of all odds, for decency, compassion and balance. He was a great man in his time, and he remains a great one even now, perhaps even more so because the global population is so much bigger today, and in reading about him, people all over the world can reach out and be inspired by his values. In writing my own novels about his life, I have learned so much, and I hope I have done him justice. William Marshal. The Greatest Knight. The finest man. May his story live on for many more centuries to come.

Thank you.

LADY OF THE ENGLISH GIVEAWAY

2011-05-09T15:18:00.000Z

We're on the runup to the publication of LADY OF THE ENGLISH. Copies are due in any day now and to celebrate the event, I'm holding a giveaway of 5 copies of the hardcover. There will be another chance later on with another draw, but for now, I have 3 copies for the UK draw and 2 copies for overseas. To enter, all you need do is send an e-mail to elizabethchadwick@live.co.uk, stating which draw you want to enter. UK or other. I will forward the names to Hannah, my PR lady at LittleBrown, and she will select the winners at random. I'm off to Cumbria at the weekend to talk at Cartmel Priory and then take a week's break with my husband and the dogs, so I'll leave the contest open until I return. So closing date is midnight Sunday 22nd May London time.

All best

Elizabeth.

LADY OF THE ENGLISH: Very Early Review

2011-04-27T11:10:00.005Z

Well, it's very early days as LADY OF THE ENGLISH has not yet gone out to a lot of ARC readers, (maps aren't complete for a start I know) but this very early review arrived in my in box this morning. This review isn't officially out for a couple of days yet, but as with many things online, it's ahead of the event, so I'm posting here as a (nice) starter!

I have included the url but it will change frequently because it's to a 'Review of the Day' and LOTE will not always be there. http://www.newbooksmag.com/left-menu/books/review-of-the-day.php I've included the text below for quick ref and for when the url changes title.

It's featured in NewBooks Magazine: The Magazine for Readers and Reading Groups.

Review of the Day:
Lady of the English

Elizabeth Chadwick (Author)

Lady of the English is set in the 1100's, and follows the lives of two very different women, Matilda and Adeliza.

Matilda, the only daughter of Henry I, was used as a political pawn for all of her life. As a young child she was married to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V, until his death in 1125 resulted in her father using her again to make a political marriage, this time with the Count of Anjou. Following the untimely death of her brother William, Matilda was regarded by some of the English barons as the rightful heir to the English crown. However, after the death of her father, the succession was insecure, and Matilda’s life became one long battle to regain, and maintain what was rightfully hers from Stephen, the usurper King. Adeliza of Louvain was the second queen of Henry I, and Matilda's stepmother. Little is known of her historically other than she did not produce the male heir Henry I needed for a safe succession.

This is a meticulously researched historical novel with great insight into both female lead characters. Elizabeth Chadwick has cleverly juxtaposed the lives of these two fascinating women, and brought the medieval world to life in such a believable way, that you feel the tension and experience the struggle, not just for supremacy, but for survival. To be a woman in a medieval world was to be subjected to the whim of men – and only the strongest women made a difference.

Elizabeth Chadwick is a master of medieval storytelling, her sense of history is superb, her characters leap off the page, and enter your life in such a way that the story lives on in your imagination long after the last page.

For reading groups with an interest in historical fiction, this book would be a joy to discuss, and would initiate a lively discussion on the merits of being a woman in a man’s world.

Reviewed by: Josie Barton

Personal read: 5

Group read: 5

Publisher: Little Brown

Imprint: Sphere

ISBN:

Published Date: Thu 02nd Jun 2011

Format: Trade Paperback

Eleanor the introductory trailer.

2011-04-19T22:33:00.004Z

I've made a trailer to announce the commencement of my work on Eleanor. After this the research posts will begin But for now I give you this...

You can also watch it here on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl8grzc-unU

ELEANOR - At last I can tell you!

2011-04-07T17:02:00.003Z

Below I have pasted a press release from LittleBrown announcing my next three novels. I am so excited about this. I've been planning to write about Eleanor of Aquitaine for some time and have been researching her in the background for several of years while engaged in other projects. Last year I began work on the Akashic Record research to join my conventional reading and it has so enriched and added detail to what I know about her and those around her through my other investigations.
Of course Eleanor holds attaction for authors of historical fiction, she is too iconic a figure not to do so, but that's fine by me and I wish them well.
My Eleanor , via THE SUMMER QUEEN, THE WINTER CROWN and THE AUTUMN THRONE, is going be one very fresh take on an incredible woman.

I will be sharing the writing journey with readers via my blog and website. Expect to see articles, discussions, pieces of primary source, and regular excerpts from the Akashic Records. Watch out too for a preliminary book trailer. It's on its way!
"It's time the truth was told."
And now I am off to celebrate with a mug of tea before getting back to work!
Elizabeth

SPHERE has signed a blockbusting Eleanor of Aquitaine fiction trilogy by award-winning novelist Elizabeth Chadwick, for an undisclosed six-figure sum.

Sphere Senior Editor Rebecca Saunders bought UK and Commonwealth rights in three novels – The Summer Queen, The Winter Crown, The Autumn Throne – through Carole Blake at Blake Friedmann.

Sphere will publish the first novel in hardback in summer 2013 supported by major publicity, marketing and digital activity, and will implement an entire backlist reissue programme.

Chadwick, who is published in 19 languages, won the RNA’s 2011 Best Historical Novel Prize for To Defy a King last month.

Saunders said: “When Carole submitted the proposal to me I immediately began to imagine what the jackets would look like, the subject completely captured my imagination. After reading the first three chapters I was hooked and knew we had to publish these books - and in a big way. The story of Eleanor has all the ingredients for a huge commercial success: only 13 when she married Louis of France, Eleanor was a great heiress, and a queen of France and England, destined to change the map of Europe. She’s a wonderful heroine.”

“Most importantly these novels will present a very different Eleanor, an Eleanor told through her own words, her own feelings. As one of the most respected authors of historical fiction in the world, Elizabeth is best placed to reveal her.”

“I am so excited that Sphere has given me the opportunity to write these three novels about Eleanor,” Chadwick said. “I have wanted to tell her story for a while, using research that is absolutely unique to me. It’s long past time the truth was told about this incredible woman, and the real Eleanor allowed to stand in her own light.”

Little, Brown is investing heavily in this summer’s publications of Chadwick’s Lady of the English in hardback, and the paperback of To Defy a King.

Carole Blake said: ”It was obvious from the marketing presentation Little Brown made to us last month that their team are very serious about propelling Elizabeth Chadwick into enduring bestsellerdom. It’s a happy partnership.”

Tallying it all up.

2011-04-05T21:13:00.004Z

I'm easing myself back into blogging after nearly a month's absence, by talking briefly about tally sticks have been around for many thousands of years. They are a form of record-keeping made by making notches on length of wood or bone. Such items have been found dating back to the early Paeleolithic period.
In the Middle Ages, great use was made of the tally stick to keep records of stocks, supplies, and to deal with monetary matters. They were particularly important at the Exchequer when people came to render payment. Reference is made to them in detail in a 12th century instructional book titled Dialogus de Scaccario - in English the Course of the Exchequer. 'The book explains to an apprentice how the Exchequer was run. Tally sticks at this period were generally made from hazelwood and were originally stored in leather pouches or canvas bags. The Exchequer book says that 'the length of a lawful tally is from the tip of the index finger to the tip of the outstretched thumb. At that distance it has a small hole bored in it. (The hole was used for passing a leather thong through in order to string tallies of the same subject together). A thousand pounds isbut shown by a cut at the top of the tally wide enough to hold the thickness of the palm of the hand, a hundred that of the thumb, twenty pounds that of the little finger, a pound that of a swelling barley corn, I shilling smaller, but enough for the two cuts to make a small notch. A penny is indicated by a single cut without removing any of the wood. On the edge of the tally on which a thousand is cut you may put no other number save the half of a thousand, which is done by halving the cut in like manner and putting it lower. The same rule holds for a hundred, if there is no thousand, and likewise for a score and for 20 shillings which make a pound. But if several thousands, hundreds, or scores of pounds are to be cut, the same rule must be observed, that the largest number is to be cut on the more open edge the tally, that is to say that which is directly before you when the note is made, the smaller on the other. But the larger number is always on the first of the tally, and the smaller on the reverse. There is no single cut signifying a mark of silver: it is shown in shillings and pence. But you should cut a mark of gold as you do a pound, in the middle of the tally. A gold penny that is a besant, is not cut like a silver one; but the notches are cut in the middle of the tally with the knife perpendicular, and not stoping as with a silver one, thus the position of the cut on the tally and the difference in the cutting settles what is gold on what is silver.'

That takes a bit of thinking through, but it makes sense. The notches on the wood were a record of how much had been paid into the the Exchequer. once the notches had been made on the tally stick, the shaft was then split lengthways into two pieces of unequal length, but both pieces had identical notches. The longer piece was known as the stock and was given to the person paying into the Exchequer as a record of how much he had paid. The Exchequer officials retained the shorter piece which was known as the foil. When it came time to audit the accounts, the two pieces were fitted together to see if they would "tally". It's also the origin of our word 'stock exchange.'
Tally sticks were used extensively in the merchant community. men might speak different languages, men might be illiterate, but everyone could understand a tally stick. Their use continued in the exchequer until the the first quarter of the 19th century. In fact tally sticks were responsible for the destruction of the old Houses of Parliament. Old unwanted tally sticks were being burned on a purpose made fire that got out of control and burned down the entire building. Oops! As a result of this, many of the ancient tally records were lost, but a few survived, as witnessed by this photo from the National Archives of some 13th Century examples of the tally stick.
I really think I need to get some of these made for reenactment purposes!

RNA Awards 2011

2011-03-12T16:45:00.049Z

I'm still trying to find time to do everything, but wanted to post this before another week goes by.
Back in December, TO DEFY A KING was longlisted for the Best Romantic Novel of the year and Best Historical Novel of the year by the Romantic Novelists Association in the UK.
In February it was shortlisted and last week, it won the Historical Prize. Needless to say I am still on cloud 9. To be recognised in the genre is just the greatest feeling. The judges were Richard Lee, founder of the Historical Novel Society, Diane Pearson, president of the RNA and a historical novelist herself, and Elizabeth Hawksley, historical novelist and writing tutor.

This is how the titles are chosen initially.
Taken from the RNA website
"Eighty members of the public, all keen readers, then settle down to some very enjoyable entertainment. Each title is read and scored three times—with criteria including romantic content, readability, characters, plot, dialogue, style and ending. From these scores, a long list of twenty titles is selected. A panel of RNA members then selects the shortlist of six titles. Three external judges read each of the shortlisted books and select the overall winner. The award is presented at the Pure Passion Awards in March."

The awards event, a champagne and canapes reception, was held at The Liberal Club, 1A Whitehall Place in the Gladstone Library, and what a stunning venue it was! I'm going to just let it all hang out with the photographs now. Some are a bit blurred due to lighting levels and excitement, but I've put them up anway. Click to enlarge. Anyone who wants pics for their album, feel free to use. Sorry about the formatting. It seems to have gone particularly insane tonight! To try and mitigate its effects, I've listed the photo identities at the foot of the blog.

Back to historical stuff next time round.

All best
Elizabeth.

Pics with me in them.

Picture list
Me
1. The winning screen when the Historical Novel of the Year was announced
2 Me, posing by the Pure Passion Poster
3 Me with my agent Carole Blake
4.Me with Carole Blake again - a matching pair in purple!
5. The winning authors with Katie Fforde in sea-green in the middle
6. In the palatial loos with Kate Furnivall and Jane Judd
7. Me and Liz Fenwick
8. Me and Elizabeth Hawksley

Other folks
9. Diane Pearson, Richard Lee and Elizabeth Hawksley, the Historical Prize judges
10. Jan Jones
11. Jan Jones
12. Jane Jackson
13 Val Loh
14. Sarah Duncan and JoJo Moyes
15. Julie Cohen
16. L to R JoJo Moyes, Moira Briggs, Jan Jones, Roger Sanderson, Jill Mansell
17. Joanna Maitland, Christina Courtnay, Sue Moorcroft
18. Christina's shoes!
19. Jo Dickinson, friend and editor at Sphere
20. Penny Jordan receiving her lifetime award

Objects
21

21. The reception room
22. Mural in reception
23. The Gladstone Library, LittleBrown table
24. Chandelier, Gladstone Library
25 and 26. Plates of canapes
27. The Gladstone Library
28. Fabulous staircase

Out-takes
29 Liz Harris
30 Christina Jones (neither of us had had a drink!)
31 Christina Jones and Jill Mansell

Next stop on my blog tour: History undressed.

2011-03-11T21:45:00.003Z

I have a couple of posts waiting in the wings, but in the meantime, I am still on blog tour for the Sourcebooks publication of To Defy A King. Today I was speaking at History Undressed about Medieval marriage and sexuality.
http://historyundressed.blogspot.com/2011/03/guest-author-elizabeth-chadwick-behind.html

The Blog Tour next post

2011-03-02T15:32:00.003Z

Here's the next article I wrote for my blog tour in the USA. Published today at Martha's Bookshelf. http://marthasbookshelf.blogspot.com/2011/03/guest-post-digging-for-gold-choosing.html It's a post all about choosing my subjects.

The Blog Tour

2011-03-01T17:51:00.002Z

Today marks the official USA publication of To Defy A King and I'm on the blog tour circuit on and off for the next month. Okay, blog tours exist to promote the novels, but they're also a chance for an author to add in bits of background information and research that might not otherwise see the light of day. So each time there's a blog published, I'll post the url here.
My first stop off is at The Broken Teepee blog and I've written a post about medieval food - what people ate and how they were governed by the seasons and what was available. Url here if anyone is interested. http://www.brokenteepee.com/2011/03/guest-post-from-elizabeth-chadwick.html

And more London including The Temple Church

2011-02-24T20:35:00.039Z

For the last few weeks I've been batting to and from London for various reasons. The most recent was a visit to my publisher, Sphere at LittleBrown, for a business meeting. I had arranged my inward journey to have a bit of time to spare, so I could visit the Temple Church and take some photographs. I made a sort of photo journey story of my day and here it is below. Some of you may be interested in the close ups of early 13th century armour from the Temple Church section. Click to enlarge, and as always, sorry about the odd formatting. If you see gaps, scroll down. The last photo is of the train journey home!

Waiting at the bus
stop in my village on a
dark, wet Monday morning

John Betjemen statue
at St. Pancras
International

Temple Tube
Station

Red telephone
boxes

Courts of Justice

Twinings Tea
museum

Bank sign

Bank lobby

Temple Church

information
plaque concerning
the effigies

Gilbert Marshal
(d 1241)

Gilbert Marshal

Gilbert Marshal:
Hand around
sword hilt

Close up of
hand grip

Serpent chewing
Gilbert's spur strap
(he die in a tourney
having been dragged
when his foot got
caught in the stirrup).

Shield strap

Arrangement of
mail leg covering

Arrangement of
mail leg cover on
a different effigy
(no dateline)

William Marshal

William Marshal
Note all fingers
visible under the mail

Close up of
mailed hand

William Marshal
full length

Font design
close up

Another font
decoration

Church interior
taken from the
round.

Plan of the
church interior

Plan of the
Temple environs
circa 1250

William Marshal
Junior.

Flying horse
design on the
temple precinct
gates leading to
the Embankment

Blackfriars
Bridge

A misty view
of the London
Eye

Interesting
Art Deco work
at Unilever House

Clock above
entrance to
Unilever House

View to the
ground floor
from LittleBrown's
reception.

The train home!

A few interesting days in London.

2011-02-16T10:08:00.009Z

Just now I am in and out of London a great deal for diverse reasons. Late last month, I was there with my good friend and Akashic Records consultant Alison King to give a talk to the London Dowser's Society about how we work together to access the past. The talk was in Dirty Dick's pub, and suffice to say that there was plenty of the past lurking around in there!

Then last week I was in the capital for a couple of days. I had to meet with my agent to discuss business on one of them, but that left me a free couple of hours to head on the Tube to the British museum and take some photos and have a look round their Medieval gallery - see below.
Then it was back to my hotel to meet a fellow author for dinner. On day two, I had to be up bright and early to attend an event at the RAF club on Picadilly. The shortlisted novels for the RNA's Best Romantic Novel of the Year Award were to be announced at a champagne breakfast and I was one of the shortlisted writers with TO DEFY A KING. The novel is also on the shortlist for the Best Historical Novel of the year too.
I'm back in London next week for another meeting with my publishers and then again on March 7th for the announcement of the winners of the RNA awards. In between, I had better get some writing done! Click to enlarge. As usual, apologies for some of the formatting. Blogger can be awkward.

A very haunted pub

In the vaults!
me and Alison King

British Museum
Door knocker

Series of tiles

Drinking horn - 6thC

enamel plaques

brooch

Seals of Joanna,
Daughter of Eleanor
of Aquitaine and
Henry II

Details for
photo below

liturgical comb

mid 12thC enamel
plaques. Lower one
depicts Henry of Blois
Bishop of Winchester
and King Stephen's
brother.

Explanation of below
photo

aquamanile

reconstruction of the
Sutton Hoo sword

Close up of pattern
welded blade

Replica of the
Sutton Hoo helm

Selection of earrings

RNA awards shortlist
Left to right:

Kate Furnivall
Elizabeth Chadwick
Christina Jones

Shortlisted novels for
the main award.

Post Script to The Eleanor Vase

2011-02-02T14:46:00.003Z

I mentioned that when I got round to writing up the next set of notes, I would add a post script to what Eleanor thought about giving her vase to Suger - according to the Akashic Record. Here is what came through when Alison tuned in.

Following on from our look at Louis giving Eleanor’s vase to Suger, I wanted to look at Eleanor’s reaction to this event. 1144

Alison: She feels quite tight across the heart area. This is an Eleanor who is quite worked up. Tight heart, tight cheeks, tight eyes. Emotional in an anxious way. I am getting the words ‘Please God, this has got to work.’ She is angry and not that bothered about the vase. This is about God. Her anger is connected to her relationship with God, so this is a direct communication with God. Suger is just a periphery. I think this is to do with wanting a boy child. It doesn’t seem fair. Why can’t she have what she wants? She will give anything, it doesn’t matter what, in order to have what she wants. So the actual item isn’t as relevant as what she wants. Suger to her is just someone who is doing what’s needed in the circumstances. Not quite a servant, but a functionary. It’s not up to him, it’s up to God. That’s how she sees it, although she wouldn’t say it outright. It wouldn’t be necessary. She can find Suger a bit annoying but he’s got a job to do. She’ll let him get on with his job, but this isn’t to do with him really. It’s to do with God. He’s just a functionary of God.

So this vase is to be given to God as a plea for her fertility? It’s more of a demand actually! She hardly even looks at the vase. It’s only in her side vision and the main part of her vision is to God. Why the vase and not a different gift? Well she could give anything. She doesn’t mind what it is, and it isn’t the only thing she’s given. She’s given loads of things. She’s given bags of gems. She’s given gold coverings to things. I am seeing one of those gold engraved domes that you put over tombs. She would rake around and give whatever it took.

Going off on a slight sidetrack: I wonder how Louis feels about Eleanor’s childlessness. He feels he must have done something wrong to displease God in such a way and he is starting to distrust Eleanor because just maybe she has done something wrong that he doesn’t know about, or there is something wrong in their relationship. His mind is working on those old fashioned things like consanguinity and something that’s displeasing to God about them being together. That’s one part of it. The other part is someone who is holding back sobs and just wants to cling on to Eleanor for comfort in their mutual sadness. She’s the one who comforts him. I can see his head on her chest and she is stroking his back and head.

This is interesting, as Ralph Turner speculates in his biography of Eleanor (page 68) that the vase was given not only to commemorate the dedication of St. Denis, but as a supplication in order that Eleanor and Louis might be fruitful.

THE ELEANOR VASE

2011-01-16T16:30:00.005Z

I have recently become interested in an object generally known today as 'The Eleanor of Aquitaine Vase.' It can now be seen on permanent display in the Louvre, the museum having acquired the piece in 1793 after the French Revolution. The object is known to have belonged to Eleanor of Aquitaine, who, having inherited it from her grandfather, William IX, gave it as a wedding gift to her first husband, Louis VII of France. In his turn, he gave it to Abbot Suger for his foundation of St. Denis, who used it as a communion vessel.

The vase has not always looked like this, and perhaps is not even a vase. The jewel-encrusted mountings at the top and base were a later addition and the original was a pear-shaped vessel with a neck two centimetres long. The rock crystal is carved in a 'honeycomb' pattern of about 22 rows of small hollowed out hexagons. Carved rock crystal containers have existed from antiquity, the Eastern Mediterranean appearing to be their source of origin at the outset. The craft flourished throughout the Middle East and was known in the Roman Empire. However, other than the Eleanor vase, the honeycomb pattern is only known to have been worked in glass, and as such, Eleanor's piece is utterly unique.
The Medieval world believed that rock crystal was fossilized ice and valued the material greatly. There are references from love poetry composed in Moorish Spain to rock crystal drinking cups, so perhaps the Eleanor Vase was originally one of these, or due to its great value, may have been a display piece. Indeed, it seems extremely likely that the object itself came from Muslim Spain as a gift to Eleanor's grandfather from the Emir Imad-al-dawla of Sarragossa, and would have come into William's possession in around 1120 when he was on battle campaign in Spain.
Experts are unsure of the dating of the vase, but suggest either the 6th or 7th centuries, or the 9th or 10th, but it was already an antique when it came into possession of the Dukes of Aquitaine. It was obviously highly valued by Eleanor for her to present it to her husband as a wedding gift.
On June 11th 1144, Louis bestowed the vase on Abbot Suger at the dedication of the magnificent new church at St. Denis. Suger had a fine collection of precious stones and art objects, and the vase was a fine addition. Illustrated here are two more items from the collection. An eagle-headed vase with a porphry body,

and a Byzantine 7th century Ewer that found its way into his collection and bears the inscription DUM LIBARE DEO GEMMIS DEBEMUS ET AURO / HOC E (go) S (ugeri) US OFFERO VAS DOMINO” (Since we must sacrifice to God with gold and precious stones, I, Suger, offer this vase to the Lord).

Why did Louis give the rock crystal vase to him? Ralph Turner in his biography of Eleanor suggests that it was an offering to St. Denis in the hope that Louis and Eleanor's barren marriage might be blessed with a child (a daughter, Marie, was born the following year). It might have been that Louis valued Suger as an adviser and spiritual mentor and wanted to please him. Suger was to write that Louis had given him the vase 'as a tribute of his great love.' What Eleanor thought is not recorded, although I intend finding out!
Now in possession of the object, Suger set about putting his stamp on it. To beautify it perhaps and make it worthy of his treasury, or perhaps to make sure that it was never going to be given back! He had a base and a neck fashioned for the vase from gilded silver. On the base he put an inscription in niello, then a layer of filigree set with gemstones and decorated with more filigree work and fleurons. He had the neck of the vase similarly adorned. The inscription around the base reads: As a bride, Eleanor gave this vase to King Louis, Mitadolus to her grandfather, the King to me, and Suger to the saints.'

Suger died in January 1151, before Louis and Eleanor divorced. The vase, now a communion vessel remained in the treasury of St Denis down the centuries, but following the French Revolution came to its new home in the Louvre where, together with other items from the treasury of St. Denis, it can be viewed by visitors to the museum.

I have been doing some Akashic Record work on the vase and thought that blog readers might find it interesting to see what has come through from the non conventional side of the historical research. My comments are in bold black and I have pasted excerpts below following the bibiliography for the above article.

The Eleanor of Aquitaine Vase by George T. Beech in Eleanor of Aquitaine, Lord and Lady edited by Bonnie Wheeler and John. C. Parsons.

Eleanor of Aquitaine by Ralph V. Turner

The Louvre website http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp

Akashic Record on the Eleanor Vase:

A tall man is stooping down to put this crystal vase in her hands She’s feeling good. Warm, excited. The vase is quite knobbly.. Alison is drawing it and it does have a strong look of the said vase but without the top and base that were added later.She feels very warm about this. She’s holding this precious thing in her hands and she is walking across to Louis and she’s walking across at a diagonal towards Louis, and because of the preciousness of this object, she is just walking with her feet, she’s not making her knees move. It’s as if she’s giving this delicate thing which is also her delicate self, her heart to him. She has no qualms about trusting. She is just doing what she needs to do and trusting in this exchange and this shows the level of her trust. Louis picks it up and holds it carefully, looks at it, and he kisses her right at the top of her brow. She feels satisfied. In fact it feels a bit of a relief because she no longer has to have responsibility for this vase and Louis calls someone to come and look after it.

And then Suger and the vase.

Why did Louis decide to give the vase to Suger?

Louis loves this man and there seems to be a flowering of this love as Louis gets older. It seems to be something that sustains him. He has been able to rely on Suger right from childhood as someone that sustains him. He just wants to show his appreciation for everything that Suger has done for him and his family in everything that he upholds. The way that he’s treated in the family. The way that Suger has dedicated his whole being and life to upholding the family. What more loyal member of state could you wish for? It almost brings tears to his eyes. So how can he show what he feels without bringing something that is very precious, fragile and more than that, luminous, to give to Suger. It’s something which appears transparent but in certain…ah this is interesting…but in certain lights gives off other colours like a prismatic effect. That’s why it would be so precious wouldn’t it? It would be like a real light show. It would complement the windows that Suger had put in his church – like a reflection. I can feel that Louis feels the emotional preciousness of it in the connection that he has with Eleanor. So it has that emotional resonance as well as the other resonances. And to give that, all his love, all this beauty, all his connection with Eleanor is an enormous gift. No wonder it brings tears to his eyes.

What does Suger think of this gift? He is taking it into his stomach, taking it into his treasury. Mmm, yum, nice.

But then he tarted it up, didn’t he? That’s to make it his. It can’t go back; it’s his now.

Yes, he made an inscription to that effect. So the tarting wasn’t because he felt it needed extra bling? No, he was putting his own graffiti on it. So he thinks it’s a worthy gift? Oh indeed, yes. Has he coveted it before? Yes, he has! Has he ever made mention before that it’s a nice piece? I’ve lost it now, but I just got the feeling he has commented on it before and seen it before, but said things like ‘If only it was a little bit here and a little bit there, it would be perfect, or it would be gorgeous. He certainly does like it.

What Eleanor felt, I have yet to explore, but it's on the agenda!

HAPPY NEW YEAR - I THINK!

2010-12-31T20:50:00.004Z

First of all to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. May 2011 be happy, healthy and prosperous!

I thought I'd have a look at the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, which charts the history of England and sometimes its neighbours from the year 1 to the year 1154 and see what it had to say about the year eleven in each century - or the nearest if eleven isn't involved. Let's see.

11. Herod Antipas received the kingdom in Judea - good for him. Not sure if it was good for anyone else!

110 (nearest) Bishop Ignatius suffered martyrdom. Oh dear.

200 (nearest) The Holy Cross was found. - A good thing for some.

343. (nearest) St Nicholas passed away. No more Santa (have I got the right one?)

410 (nearest) The Goths broke into Rome, and never since has a Roman ruled in Britain. In all they ruled for four hundred and seventy years since Gaius Julius first sought out that island. - The end of civilisation then.

514 (2nd nearest) 'The West Saxons came into Britain with three ships to the place called Cerdicesora. Stuf and Wihtgar fought with the Britons and put them to flight.' Hmm, so his wife was always asking 'Where's my Stuf?'

611 Cynegils received the kingdom in Wessex, and held it for thirty one years. Settling down and being responsible now.

710 (nearest) Acca, Wilfrid's chaplain, received the bishopric which he had held. The same year, ealdorman Beorhtfrith fought with the Picts between the Avon and the Carron. Ine and Nun, his kinsman, fought with Geraint, the Welsh king. The same year Sygbald was killed. Beating up the neighbours as usual.

809 (nearest) The sun darkened at the beginning of the fifth hour of the day on Tuesday July 16th, the 29th day of the moon.

911, Aethelred, lord of the Mercians died; and King Edward received the boroughs of London and Oxford, with all the lands that belonged to them.

1011. Suddenly we've got a garrulous monk and Viking problems.
The king and his counsellors sent to the force and entreated peace, promised them tribute and provisions on the condition that they stop their ravaging. They had by then overrun i. East Anglia, ii Essex, iii Middlesex, iv Oxfordshire, v Cambridgeshire, vi Hertfordshire, vii Buckinghamshire, viii Bedfordshire, ix half Huntingdonshire, x much of Northamptonshire, all Kent, Sussex, Hastings, Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire, and much of Wiltshire.
All this unhappiness befell us through bad counsel, that tribute was not promised them in time, nor were they withstood; but when they had done the most evil, men made truce and treaty with them. Nonetheless, for all this truce, treaty and tribute, they went everywhere in raiding bands, and plundered and killed our wretched folk. In this year between the Nativity of St. Mary and Michaelmas, they besieged Canterbury, and got in by deceit, because Aelmar, whose life Archbishop Aelfheah had saved, betrayed Canterbury to them. There they seized Archbishop Aelfheah, Aelfword the king's reeve, abbot Leofwine, bishop Godwine - and abbot Aelmaer they let go. Inside, they seized all the people in holy orders, men and women - it is impossible to say how many people that was - and stayed in that town as long as they wished. When they had explored the borough completely, they went to the ships and took the Archbishop with them. Then he was captive who had been England's head, and Christendom's, until the time they martyred him.

1111. King Henry did not bear his crown at Christmas, nor Easter, nor Pentecost, and in August he fared over the sea to Normandy because of hostility against him on some of the borders of France, and mostly because of the eorl of Anjou, who held Maine against him. After he came there, many fierce raids, burnings and ravagings they did between them.
This year passed away eorl Robert of Flanders, and his son Baldwin succeeded thereto.
This year, there was a very long winter, a heavy time and severe; through that the earth-crops were greatly spoiled, and there was the most death among livestock that anyone could remember.

The above series of extracts taken at approximately 100 year intervals kind of makes you glad to be living now and not then... But nothing really changes does it?

Once more
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
P.S. the illustrations is from a life of Thomas Becket, but it looks the part!

Lady of the English the book trailer

2010-12-24T23:43:00.003Z

Well, having handed in Lady of the English, I decided to muck about making a book trailer before I start full work on the next project and I've posted it below. I like doing this for fun and I can claim it's work even if I'm playing!
My I wish compliments of the season to everyone wherever you are.
After Christmas I'll return to some more detailed historical posts.

-

Lady of the English - progress report

2010-12-14T11:35:00.006Z

Well, I am delighted to say that I have FINALLY handed in LADY OF THE ENGLISH to my agent and editor. It's due for publication in UK hardcover in June 2011 and and by Sourcebooks USA in September 2011.

As many regular readers of the blog know, it's about the Empress Matilda and her young stepmother Adeliza of Louvain and their lives as they weave in and out of each other's spheres between the turbulent years 1125-1148. Both women held the title of 'Lady of the English' for parts of their lives, but neither of them ended their days in England. Their characters were very different, particularly in the way they dealt with trouble, yet there were similarites too. They shared a lot of common ground and knew each other well.
Matilda has something of a reputation for being a difficult, bad-tempered cow. The Gesta Stephani calls her headstrong in all that she did’ and says that she insulted and threatened men who came to submit to her. She did not rise to acknowledge men who bowed to her, and she refused to listen to their advice. ‘rebuffing them by an arrogant answer and refusing to hearken to their words…she no longer relied on their advice as she should have and had promised them, but arranged everything as she herself thought fit and according to her own arbitrary will.’ However, the monk Stephen of Rouen, praised her greatly, saying that she was much loved by the poor and the nobility alike. She was ‘wise and pious, merciful to the poor, generous to monks, the refuge of the wretched.' The Cistercian monks of le Valasse remembered her as ‘a woman of intelligence and sense.’ So while there may be no smoke without fire, perhaps history has served to exaggerate certain characteristics by concentrating on them rather than considering all facets, and perhaps has not looked closely enough at possible underlying reasons - something that an author of historical fiction can freely explore.

Lady of the English particularly looks at aspects of the important relationships that Adeliza and Matilda had with certain men in their lives.

King Henry I - Matilda's father and Adeliza's husband. His actions and behaviour had a massive and lasting impact on both women - much of it not to the good.

Geoffrey le Bel, count of Anjou - aged just 14 when he and Matilda, (more than 10 years older than him), were forced to marry in order to fulfil parental dynastic ambitions. What did she think of her adolescent husband? What did he think of his strong-willed much older wife? What actually happened behind closed doors?

Brian FitzCount - Matilda's right hand man and lord of Wallingford. But was he more to her than just a valued civil servant? He was interesting to research and not exactly as I expected to find. There's an article I wrote about him here in the blog archive. http://livingthehistoryelizabethchadwick.blogspot.com/2010/07/enigmatic-brian-fitzcount.html

William D'Albini - Lord of Buckenham in Norfolk and hereditary butler in the royal household. Adeliza's second husband. What was Adeliza's married life like with a much younger man who gave her her heart's desire, and yet opposed her support for Matilda? What kind of friction did it create?

Young Henry II, one day to become one of the greatest kings in Christendom. What was Matilda's relationship like with him as a child and a youth?

The above are the main relationships explored in the novel, but others are involved, including King Stephen, who as far as Matilda was concerned had usurped her throne, Robert of Gloucester, her loyal half-brother and commander of her forces, and Henry of Blois Bishop of Winchester, Papal Legate, Stephen's brother and a player of power games extraordinaire.

I love the cover, which I think really gives a feel for Matilda in one of her impatient moods.
It's as if she's been called from some important business and has swished aside a curtain to say 'Yes, what do you want then?' We tried the cover with two woman on it, but it didn't work half as well, and I am really pleased with this look. We also tried out different colours, but this was the one that evoked the best response. I hope to have it up at my website in the early New Year.

Prize draw closed and pending

2010-12-14T11:32:00.002Z

A note to say that the draw for THE LEOPARD UNLEASHED is now closed. I have forwarded all the entries to my lovely Publicity lady at LittleBrown and she will choose 3 at random. I'll inform the winners as soon as LittleBrown get back to me.

A few sundry bits of news and a UK prize draw

2010-11-28T22:56:00.008Z

Hello all,

I am sorry not to have updated my blog in a while, but work has been getting in the way. I have a deadline of 30th December for LADY OF THE ENGLISH and I've been preparing the final draft. I want to get it handed in by mid-December so I can do the Christmas thing with my family so I've had my head down working. The good news is that I am on the final, final draft and it will be off to my publisher within a week to 10 days. I have also been shown a STUNNING cover rough for both this one and for the UK paperback of TO DEFY A KING which takes the hardback cover and give it a new crop suitable to commercial sales. I'll be posting pictures as soon as I get the go ahead from my publisher.
Once I hand in 'LADY', I hope to return to more regular posting.

I was very interested this week to see a piece about a tunnel that has just been discovered at Lincoln Castle. Alison King, my Akashic consultant 'saw' this about 6 months ago when we were conducting some research into the siege of Lincoln Castle in 1141. I said to her at the time that there weren't any tunnels at Lincoln Castle as far as I knew. And now this has turned up. Irrespective, it is a very interesting piece of archaeological discovery. I wonder what else will turn up as they continue. http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/environment/Tunnel-vision-reveals-buildings-castle/article-2935933-detail/article.html

Okay, to celebrate the UK re-issue of The Leopard Unleashed, I am running a giveaway on the blog. Unfortunately this time it is limited to UK readers only, but I will certainly run the next draw internationally.
For those of you in the UK, my publisher Sphere is giving away a first prize of copies of THE WILD HUNT, THE RUNNING VIXEN and THE LEOPARD UNLEASHED and two runner up prizes of just THE LEOPARD UNLEASHED on its own. All you need to do is send an e-mail to me at elizabethchadwick@live.co.uk and I will forward all the names to Hannah at LittleBrown who will select the winners. I will ask the winners for a postal address, no need to send one at this stage - unless you want to. The draw is open as from now and I'll close it on Monday 13th December. You can find an excerpt from 'Leopard' here.
http://elizabethchadwicks.blogspot.com/2010/11/extract-from-leopard-unleashed.html

Sourcebooks cover for TO DEFY A KING

2010-11-10T15:42:00.002Z

This is a very quick drop in to say that I have the Sourcebooks cover for TO DEFY A KING - due out in early March in the USA. They have added a little something to the back, which fits in with an image from the book trailer. I don't think it's too risque and it really hints at the personality of Mahelt Marshal without entering 'bodice ripper' territory. Click to enlarge.

In other news, I am on the final edit of LADY OF THE ENGLISH - hence hiatus in my blog while I get my head down. However, I want to upgrade my extracts blog and I hope to have something new on there fairly soon, including an extract from THE LEOPARD UNLEASHED, due out early next month.

MEDIEVAL MONDAY: Naming Names

2010-10-18T15:49:00.005Z

I was talking to author friend Helen Hollick about medieval names and cultural survival when we met for lunch recently and I said I had been meaning to list some of them as a Medieval Monday post. I have in my possession the Feet of Fines for Norfolk 1201-1215 and for Suffolk 1199-1214. It's a list of cases brought before judges on the travelling circuit at this time and much of it is concerned with property law and small business that gives us the names of the local populace. East Anglia was once part of the Danelaw and there are strong Scandinavian influences at work in this region, as well as Anglo Saxon and Norman. So let's see. Here is a list of names by origin dating to 150 years AFTER the Battle of Hastings. Names of Anglo Saxon and Scandinavian origins seem to be surviving in families at this point although from studying the data it becomes clear that many of the parents with Anglo Saxon and Scandinavian names are now giving their children Norman ones. So for example, Elfstan calls his son Richard, Gunnild calls her son Robert. Brictmar calls his son William. As the Middle Ages progresses, so does the increase in the popularity of certain names. By the early post medieval period, the names William and John accounted for 40% of all boys' names in Parish registers.
Since I don't have an Old English alphabet to hand on my keyboard, excuse the approximate spellings. The 'F' beside a name indicates a woman. Fewer women are involved in the lawsuits, and so there are corrrespondingly less names. Also some of the names go across the board - particularly biblical ones, and these are freqently given to men in holy orders. Whether these were their baptismal names, or taken on when they became clerics, I do not know at this stage.

English names

Adelwold
Aelfled/Elflet F
Aileva F
Ailbrict
Ailletha F
Ailmer/Heilmar
Aillilda F
Ailric
Alviva/ Elviva F
Ailward
Ailwi
Alfred/Alured/Alvred
Algar
Alstan/Elfstan
Alvric
Alwin/Elwin
Botild F
Brichtwold
Brictmar
Brixi
Brun
Dune
Ede
Ediva F
Edmer
Edmund/Eadmund
Edith/Edift F
Edric
Edulf
Edward
Edwen F
Edwin
Eilwin
Eldric
Elfer
Estrilda F
Goda F
Gode F
Goding
Godric
Godwin/Goldwin
Kenestan
Leffemer
Lefquen
Lefric/Levric
Lefsi
Lefstan
Lefwin
Levesun
Leviva F
Luviet
Norman
Ordmer
Oslac
Osulf
Sefugel
Seleve F
Seman
Sired
Sirich
Stanard
Sweteman
Sweting
Theda F
Uchtred
Unwin
Wade
Wengeva F
Wictmar
Windlevi
Wilfrun
Wilfwan F
Winoht
Wlric/Wlvric/Wulfric
Wulfrid
Wulviva F

Scandinavian names
Akke
Elaf
Anger
Angod
Angoth
Osegod
Asketil
Bondi
Kolsveinn
Copman
Gauti
Gunnildr F
Gunnor
Gunnora F
Hakon
Hagen
Halfdan
Hamundr
Hasteinn
Havard
Ulfkell
Skuli
Sigarr
Steingrimr
Styrgeirr
Svartingr
Swein
Torold
Thurgund
Thurmod
Thurstan/Turstan
Turbern
Turchil
Ulf/Hulf
Ingvar
Eirikr

Norman names
(Including biblical ones)
Adam
Ada F
Adelina F
Agatha F
Alan
Alexander
Albreda F
Aleisia F
Amabel F
Amalric
Amicia F
Andrew
Anselm
Ascelina F
Avelina F
Aubrey
Baldwin
Barney
Bartholomew
Basilia F
Beatrice F
Benedict
Bernard
Bertram
Blanche F
Cecelia F
Celestria F
Charles
Christina F
Clarice F
Costance F
Constantine
Daniel
Durand
Eda F
Edelina F
Elias
Emelina F
Emma F
Ermegard F
Ernald
Eudo
Eustace
Everard
Felicity F
Fulk
Gamaliel
Geoffrey
Gerard
Gerbert
Gerold
Gervase
Gilbert
Gocelin/Jocelin
Godfrey
Hamo
Hawisa F
Helena F
Helewise F
Henry
Herbert
Hervey
Hubert
Hugh
Humphrey
Isabel F
Isolda F
Ivo
Joanna F
John
Jordan
Juetta F
Juliana F
Katerina
Laurence
Lecenta F
Lecia F
Lettice F
Lucy F
Luke
Mabel F
Maingot
Margery F
Marie F
Martin
Matilda F
Matthew
Maurice
Mazelina F
Miles
Muriel F
Nicholas
Odo
Oger
Patrick
Peter
Petronilla F
Philippa F
Ralf
Reginald
Reiner
Richard
Robert
Rolland
Roger
Sara F
Simon
Stephen
Thierri
Thomas
Vincent
Waleran
Walter
Warrin
William
Wimarc

MEDIEVAL MONDAY: William Marshal and a spot of Highway Robbery!

2010-10-04T12:59:00.009Z

I gave a talk at Uppermill library in Saddleworth last week and one of my audience - Laura- said she particularly enjoyed my Medieval Monday posts. I admit to being a bit lax with these sometimes as I don't always have the time, but spurred on by her comment - thanks Laura :-) ! I have set out to post one today.
It's from volume 1 of the Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal - the story of the great William Marshal's life - and it's a particular incident that happened to him while he was travelling and on his way back to Montmirail, to the Household of his liege lord The Young King. The dateline is circa 1182/3. It's not an incident I have put in The Greatest Knight, but you might find it in some of his biographies.
It tells us so much about the life and attitudes of the time. My comments are in bold.

'On the Wednesday, as the Marshal was on his way there, it so happened that he felt a desire to sleep; he could not resist and gave way to it. Eustace de Bertrimont stayed with him, nobody else. So the Marshal, well on his way to being asleep, dismounted by the side of the road and lay down on the spot to sleep, (so kipping by the roadside if one had the need was an acceptable norm for knights one assumes) and his squire Eustace took off the
horses' bridles and let them graze over the open countryside. As the Marshal was sleeping, there suddenly appeared a tall, handsome man and a beautiful woman, whether married or not I do not know. They were riding big, fine palfreys, sleek, well-fed and ambling nicely along; the steps they took were big ones and they had bulky baggage, for they each had on a cape of heavy material made in Flanders, and very fine they were. (so this tells us their outdoor cloaks were from cloth woven in Flanders and that it was excellent stuff. I am stating the obvious here, but for someone researching the period this is a useful little nugget of detail. Also some interesting descriptions of the riding horses). When they arrived on the spot where the Marshal was lying asleep, the woman said in a very low voice: 'Good God, how tired I am!' Eustace overheard this, and the Marshal heard it too, and he woke up and asked: 'Eustace, what is that I heard?'
He replied: 'My Lord, the long and the short of it is that I saw a man and a woman passing here right in front of us. The woman said that she was very tired, but they still went on at a smart pace. Also they had a lot of baggage.'
The Marshal said: 'Put the bridle on my horse because I want to find out in full where they've come from and where they're going, who they are and what their business is.'
Immediately he mounted as fast as he could, but in his haste, he forgot about his sword. He spurred on until he caught them up. He took the man by the sleeve of his cape and said:
'My dear sir, now tell me the truth, who are you? I wish to know.' And the man, annoyed by this replied: 'Sir, I am a man.'
'Upon my soul, I can see very well that you are not an animal!'
The man nudged his cape with his elbow, making it slip from the Marshal's grip, and once it was gone from his hand, the man put his hand to his sword.
At this the Marshal said, 'Are you looking for a fight? If you are, you'll get one, and you'll very soon know about it.' He said to Eustace, without any doubt: 'Here, hand me my sword, here, hand it to me!' The man took fright and drew back, and as he did, his cape slipped down and covered the sword which he had uncovered so as to draw it.
The Marshal dug in his spurs and seized the man by his hood; he tugged so violently that he got one of his fingers stuck in his coif and ripped it.
At this point there is nothing more to be said, except that he was the most handsome monk to be found between there and Cologne; once his head was uncovered, there was no hiding the fact. So the Marshal then said: 'Haha! just the chap I was looking for! Who are you, tell me, and who is this woman here?'
The man was frightened and ashamed, upset and troubled, and he said: 'My lord have pity on me in the name of God! Here we are at your mercy. As you can see for yourself I am a monk.'
'Now tell me what you're about; tell me, don't hide it from me.'
'My lord, this woman is my lady friend; I have taken her away from her own land, and we are going to a foreign one.'
Then in turn the Marshal said to the young woman, 'Tell me, fair lady, who are you and what is your family?'
She was very ashamed and, crying on account of the great trouble she was in, she replied: 'My lord, I am from Flanders and the sister of Sir Ralph de Lens.'
'My fair lady, you are not behaving sensibly, I can see that,' said the Marshal. 'I advise you in good faith to desist from this folly and I shall reconcile you with your brother, without a doubt, for I know him very well.'
The lady, not keen to be an object of shame, replied: 'My lord, if it please God, never more shall I be seen in a land where I am known.'
The Marshal said to the monk: 'Tell me, so God Save you; since such is the course you intend to take, have you got coins or other money to provide for and support yourselves?
The man lifted up the hem of his cape and unclipped a very fat purse. 'Of course,' he said 'my dear lord, just see all the money we have here. We've got 48 pounds.' (wow, that must have been some purse when you think of the coinage back then!).
And the Marshal asked him: 'What will you do with them my friend? How have you planned to live on this money of yours?'
'I'll be very happy to tell you that. I would not exchange them, but in some town where we are not known we shall advance them to others to make a profit and live on the interest.'
The Marshal replied 'What! usury! God's Lance, I don't much care for this. So it please God, this will never be! Eustace, take that money! Since you are unwilling to go back where you came from, since you have no mind to lead an honourable life and have been led astray by your wicked hearts, go now and may devils give you speed!'

The Marshal came to the lodgings and he ordered Eustace to make sure he did not disclose any of this business to any man. There is not much else to tell: the Marshal came to the lodgings and found Sir Baldwin who was more to him than a neighbour, and Hugh de Hamelincourt. They both hurried up to meet him, gave him a joyful welcome and cried out together: 'Marshal, your delay en route today has kept us fasting a very long time.'
'My lords,' he replied, 'never mind about that! I have won something of greater use to us, in which gladly I grant you a share. Eustace, over here with that money!'
Eustace was more than happy to oblige and threw it down on the ground in front of them. Being the wise man he was, the Marshal said: 'Take it to pay what we owe.'
They then asked: 'Marshal, where does this money come from?'
He answered: 'Be patient for a while, I shall not let you know just yet.'
Joyfully they ate and drank and, once they had left the table, all the coins were counted, for they thought that the man who had lent them him had miscounted. When the tally had been made, they found 48 pounds in good money; it was all there. The Marshal then said: 'Now I know that the lender was telling me the truth.' So he then began to tell the tale from beginning to end, the whole truth of it, as you have already heard me tell it.
When Sir Hugh heard it, I can tell you he was not best pleased. 'God's teeth, you were more than kind to them for even letting go their palfreys and baggage. Here, bring me my horse. By my faith, I want a word with them.'
The Marshal said: 'My dear lord, in God's name curb this anger of yours. You will hear no more of them from me, and you shall have no more of theirs.'

The moral of this story being that a monk who seeks to run off with someone's sister and live off usury is fair game to have his wherewithal to make a living taken. We might think the Marshal's actions harsh and opportunistic (accosting a stranger on the road, taking his money and dividing the dosh between his cronies!) but his colleagues thought he had not gone far enough and were ready to head out, find the couple and seize their horses and belongings too, although the Marshal prevented them. It's an interesting tale and shows that within the realms of chivalry, there were areas of tarnish on the armour to our modern way of thinking. To theirs, not so.

FOR THE KING'S FAVOR GIVEAWAY: THE WINNERS

2010-10-03T15:11:00.003Z

Okay, I got around to doing the giveaway draw this morning. I separated the entries into 3 piles - USA, Rest of the World and UK and allocated each one a number. So if you e-mailed first you were number 1, 2nd number 2 etc. Wrote all the numbers down on squares of paper and folded them into a basket. My eldest son dropped in with some shopping and stopped for a coffee, so I asked him to do the selecting.

The winners are:
USA drawing: Cathy Helms

Rest of the World Drawing - Laura Rodrigues from Brazil

UK Drawing - Lisa Conway

I have Lisa's address, soI will post straight out, but if Cathy and Laura would like to e-mail me a forwarding address to elizabethchadwick@live.co.uk, I will get those sent out as soon as I can.

I will be running another giveaway for The Leopard Unleashed early in December. Congratulations to the winners and I wish I could have given everyone a book.

Elizabeth.

FOR THE KING'S FAVOR GIVEAWAY UPDATE

2010-10-01T17:25:00.002Z

Hello all.
Just to say that the FOR THE KING'S FAVOR giveaway is now closed. I've been away on book tour and am only just home, so bear with me while I sort the entries into the 3 categories (USA, UK, Rest of the globe) and do a drawing. I'm having a writing catch up day tomorrow as I really need to get back on track with the new work, but I'll do the announcing on Sunday. I've got visitors coming, so I'll get one of them to do the choosing.
Anon
Elizabeth.