When you think of women in the Middle Ages/early Renaissance, you probably imagine fair maidens, wives, mothers, nuns and possibly widows. Some people know about a special group of women religious called anchorites, who were literally walled off from the world to pray and devote themselves to God. But very few people have ever heard…
Katherine Swynford lived more than seven hundred years ago. Why is it that, so long after her death, she continues to captivate readers of history and historical fiction? In her own time she was a woman of little importance. Kings and princes, after all, frequently took lovers. Why is is that Katherine has kept such…
The Battle of Crécy is well known from the English point of view. Edward III’s force destroyed the largest and best-equipped army in Europe, that of King Philip VI of France, with extraordinarily few losses on his part. However, the list of those lost on the French side is long and illustrious. The most exalted…
In The White Queen TV series, Margaret Beaufort is an overly religious zealot who hates her mother, loves Jasper Tudor, and was obsessed with her son. The real Margaret Beaufort was close to her mother, happiest with Stafford, and there’s no evidence she loved Jasper Tudor. Nonetheless, Margaret was a remarkable woman – indomitable, shrewd, and strategic….
When I was a child, long before I discovered re-enactment or really understood what or when the middle ages were, I wanted a princess hat. And, for those of you who were little girls, I can pretty much guarantee you have the same mental image as me! Yes, I’m talking about the pointy, conical hats…