Special Guest Post: Kingbreaker (I): Rebel and Traitor, by David Pilling

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

"This arm upholds the house of Lancaster..."

1461 AD. England is at war. The bitter feud between the rival houses of Lancaster and York reaches a bloody climax on the field of Towton. Here, the rising sun of York is triumphant, and the red rose of Lancaster 

trampled into the mud.

In 1462 John de Vere, the 12th Earl of Oxford, and his eldest son Aubrey were executed at Tower Hill in London. They had been arrested for plotting against the Yorkist king, Edward IV, although the precise nature of the accusations are unclear.

 
What lay behind this spate of political killings? The twelfth earl has steered a middle course during the early stages of the dynastic conflict we know as the Wars of the Roses. He had played no active role on either side, but instead focused on preserving his power base in East Anglia. This passive role served him well, until he suddenly became involved in the fatal conspiracy of 1462. 



The bare outline of this plot is provided by a London chronicle. Quote (rendered in modern English):

“And the xii day of February the earl of Oxford and the lord Aubrey Vere, his son, Sir Thomas Tuddenham, William Tyrell and others were brought into the Tower of London. And upon the xx day of the said month the said Lod Aubrey was drawn from Westminster to the Tower Hill and there beheaded.

And the xxiii day of the said month of February Sir Thomas Tuddenham, William Tyrell, and John Montgomery were beheaded at said Tower Hill. And upon the Friday next following, which was the xxvi day of February, the earl of Oxford was led upon foot from Westminster unto the Tower Hill, and there beheaded; and after the corpse was had unto the friar Augustines, and there buried in the Choir.”

This reveals little save names and dates, and the curious detail that the earl’s execution was saved until last. A brief note in another chronicle states that Aubrey was subjected to an especially cruel execution, being hung and disembowelled (‘suspensus et tractus'), rather than beheaded. This would suggest he was regarded as the chief instigator of the failed plot against Edward IV.

The conspiracy may have been driven by the insecurity of the Yorkist king, who had only been on the throne for a year. Rumours were rife of a fresh invasion of England, led by Margaret of Anjou, the exiled queen of Henry VI. 

This was, supposedly, meant to coincide with an invasion from Scotland by exiled Lancastrians, supported by troops raised by the duke of Somerset. IN the end this elaborate three-pronged strategy came to nothing, although Edward would face many more serious threats to his rule.

 
However, one man never forgot the killing of the de Veres and their supporters at Tower Hill. This was the twelfth earl’s younger son, another John, who was allowed to succeed to the earldom. Driven by revenge on the house of York, he would pursue a remarkable career as rebel, outlaw, pirate and political prisoner, until he finally triumphed on Bosworth Field…

David Pilling

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About the Author

David Pilling is a writer and researcher, addicted to history for as long as he can remember. The medieval era has always held a fascination for him, perhaps because he spent much of his childhood exploring the misted ruins of castles in Wales. David also has a keen interest in the Byzantine Empire, the post-Roman period in Britain and the British & Irish Civil Wars. Follow David on Facebook, Twitter @RobeH2 and on Bluesky @robeh1979.bsky.social

Book Launch: A Guide to the Wars of the Roses, by Derek Birks

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

So much has been written, and is still being written, about the Wars of the Roses – both in print and on the internet - that the interested student of history is in grave danger of being utterly overwhelmed. The key players in the conflict are very interesting personalities but they have become so distorted by caricature that they now appear as a procession of heroes and villains rather than living, breathing people. 

The aim of A Guide to the Wars of the Roses is simple: to help the reader understand what happened and why during the great political upheaval of the fifteenth century. It describes the origins, nature and aftermath of the wars in short, accessible chapters and explains how the period can be divided into three separate, though related, political crises. 

In describing the rise of Richard, Duke of York, in the mid-fifteenth century, the Guide traces how his rivalry with Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, ultimately led to the deposition of the hard-pressed, and wholly unsuitable, King Henry VI. It also explains how the accession of a new king from the House of York failed to solve England’s political problems. 

The triumphant Yorkist faction is examined to chart how the fears and jealousies of its leading figures eventually led to a fatal instability at the heart of government. By putting the wars firmly in their medieval context, the Guide seeks to strip away the hype of half a millennium to examine objectively the roles and motives of those involved, without seeking either to exonerate, or demonise, any particular individual. While the Guide is intended to be comprehensive, it is also an easy-to-follow manual for a subject which has often been dismissed as ‘too complicated’.

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About the Author

Derek was born in Hampshire in England but spent his teenage years in Auckland, New Zealand, where he still has strong family ties.  For many years he taught history in a secondary school in Berkshire but ten years ago he took early retirement to concentrate on his writing.  He writes action-packed fiction which is rooted in accurate history.  His debut historical novel, Feud, is the first of a series of eight books and one novella now entitled The Wars of the Roses which follows the fortunes of the fictional Elder family. The series ends with Crown of Fear which is out now. Derek has also written a bestselling trilogy set largely in post-Roman Britain. You can follow Derek on Twitter as @Feud_writer and his author page on Facebook is: www.facebook.com/feudwriter. To find out more about his books, or to contact him you can go to his website: www.derekbirks.com and he also has an occasional blog:  www.dodgingarrows.wordpress.com.

Book Launch: Wheel of Fortune, by C. F. Dunn: An enthralling Medieval saga (The Tarnished Crown Series Book 1)

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

1469, England: For almost ten years, attractive and charismatic Edward IV has ruled with the Earl of Warwick’s support, but now rebellion threatens England’s fragile peace. With the Midlands in uproar, King Edward wants peace in the shires and the last thing he needs is potential trouble in the form of an unwed heiress.

At the outset of a new year with all its sparkling possibilities, like Janus, I’m looking forward to the past. It is a universal truth that history plays a part in all our lives. However we view it, we are the result of the past. Whether it is our intention or not, whatever we do today, will affect someone tomorrow. Interconnectivity is unavoidable. It is a sobering thought.

I sometimes think I must be barking mad to write historical novels. Why put myself  through such an arduous process of research that requires levels of fact-checking usually expected of a doctorate? Or spend countless days, months, years composing works of fiction? I know because it has taken me over a decade to write Wheel of Fortune - the  first book in my medieval The Tarnished Crown series. 

Truth is that I love the whole process. History has been an abiding passion for as long as I can recall. Combining a vivid imagination with historical research to write the sort of books I like to read was a no-brainer when I began my first novel in 2009. 

Tales of the unexpected

Research holds the key to unlocking a whole world of possibilities. There are so many rabbit holes begging to be investigated, although a quick nip down one might end up taking many hours of precious writing time. Yet you never can tell what nugget of information might be unearthed which could change an interesting storyline into a fascinating one, or suggest a new one altogether.

I always harvest far more information than ever makes it onto the page. I then have to winnow it to leave just enough. Resisting the temptation to stuff the text can be tough, but getting it right is part and parcel of the balancing act authors have to adhere to if they are ever to get their story told. Too much information weighs the story down - clods of detail sticking to the shoes of the reader wading through facts. Too little, and there’s not enough to earth the narrative in reality, and risks the reader floating off to get another cup of tea rather than turn the next page of your book.

Weaving

If I look back, I realise that I’ve been researching this series since I first encountered the Wars of the Roses as a child. I was totally captivated by the people populating the pages of the books I read. It was they that made history come alive for me, their stories full of tragedy, hope, loyalty and treachery. From the yeoman to the king, each had a part to play - a tapestry of myriad lives that together made up the history we believe we know today. But do we? 

All the research in the world can only reveal a fragment of what there is to know, and what we know of history is filtered through a lens coloured by our own experiences, as much as those of the people recording it. Skewed as it is and full of gaps, it’s my job to render a mass of information into something understandable and to make the people of the past relatable to the readers of today.

It’s webs of connectivity that I find fascinating, something that I come back to time and again in my novels. Each life is a story worthy of the tale. No one person stands apart from another and it’s the relationships that developed for myriad reasons that are the result of, and can be the catalyst for, change.

Change

It’s inevitable. Whether driven by forces beyond our control or as a result of it, we are both perpetrators and victims of change. It’s there in the big events we’ve all heard of - battles, disease, the death of kings - and in the developing relationships of characters. 

It is such moments that are most often recorded in primary sources - a birth, coronation, a contract - shifts in what went before that were, quite literally, noteworthy.  We see it in buildings that have evolved over time and in the towns they occupy - rings of development from the ancient core out towards the modern suburbs, or following the lines of roads like legs of a spider.

 

Keeping it real

I have an abhorrence of distorting what we do know, and I won’t change the date of a battle or abuse a historical figure’s reputation to suit my story. But facts and truth are dangerous bedfellows to be used and viewed with caution. The two are not the same.

That being said, I believe that historical novelists have a duty of care to ensure that the past is represented as accurately as possible to readers who might rely on it as truth. Thus are little lies turned into accepted facts that distort history. We all know, for example, that the primary use of spices in the Middle Ages was to disguise less-than-fresh meat, wasn’t it. Was it? Don’t get me started.

It isn’t just a question of knowing who did what, where, and when. There are many instances when it simply isn’t possible to pin down that sort of detail, especially when so much was left unrecorded or has been lost. Whether fictional or historical, my characters won’t make it onto the page without the background research to render them viable, to make them real. 

To do this I must give them a stage upon which they can act out their story. So, in addition to raiding archives and reading texts, I tread the soil our ancestors  walked and eat the fare that graced their tables. I embed myself in their world as best I can the better to understand their experience of it.

One way or another, all fiction is true and all truth, fiction.

 C. F. Dunn

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About the Author

CF Dunn is an award-winning novelist of history, mystery and suspense living on the iconic Dorset coast with her family, two dogs and a clutch of ridiculous chickens. Claire has been telling tales all her life. Long before she learned to write she became acutely aware of the impact of the past. Historian by both instinct and training, and a storyteller at heart, she draws on Britain’s rich history for inspiration. Vibrant characters and meticulous research weave threads of history to bring an authenticity to her suspenseful stories of love, loyalty and treachery.  Claire began writing in 2009 while still working in a specialist education school. Her debut novel, Mortal Fire (pub. Lion Fiction) won a gold medal for Best Adult Romance in 2012, with the following four books nominated as finalists. Now writing full time, Claire has returned to her love of medieval history and is continuing to work on a major 6-book historical fiction series -  The Tarnished Crown - set during the tumultuous fifteenth century Wars of the Roses.  And because writing one series at a time isn’t enough of a challenge, she is writing another for Sapere Books. With a working title of The Veil, Claire enters the realm of Victorian Scotland with an eerie Gothic mystery.  When not writing, Claire can be found dreaming up plots in her garden accompanied by her Lovely Ladies, or rubble cruising ruins with her best friend and fellow historian husband, Richard. Find out more from Claire's website https://www.cfdunn.co.uk/,  and follow her on Facebook  and Instagram 

Book Review: The Fugitive's Sword, by E.M. Swift Hook

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Europe is deeply embroiled in what will become the Thirty Years' War. A young Philip Lord, once favoured at King James' court, has vanished without a trace, under the shadow of treason.

It is intriguing to read a prequel knowing quite so much about what happens to the characters in later life. I enjoyed the six-book 'Lord's Legacy' series by Eleanor Swift-Hook, reading them all in sequence. 

It took me a while to begin to understand the charismatic and complex central character of Philip Lord, and now I wish I'd been able to read this first.

In The Fugitive's Sword, E.M. Swift Hook takes us back to a fifteen-year-old Philip Lord, making his way in the dangerous world of mercenaries and pirates, in a compelling blend of historical detail and inspired storytelling.

I particularly liked the character development, and discovering the hidden depths as new challenges are overcome. These are men and women you care about, with enough well-researched history to create a compelling world based on actual events. Highly recommended.

Tony Riches

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About the Author

Eleanor Swift-Hook enjoys the mysteries of history and fell in love with the early Stuart era at university when she re-enacted battles and living history events with the English Civil War Society. Since then, she has had an ongoing fascination with the social, military and political events that unfolded during the Thirty Years' War and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. She lives in County Durham and loves writing stories woven into the historical backdrop of those dramatic times. You can find out more about the background of Lord's Legacy on her website www.eleanorswifthook.com and find her on Twitter @emswifthook

See Also:

Book Review: The Mercenary's Blade (Lord's Legacy Book 1)

Historical Fiction Spotlight: Harold The King by Helen Hollick

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

First published in 2000 – Celebrating a Silver Anniversary!

The events that led to the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 - told from the English point of view.

Two men. One crown. England, 1044. Harold Godwinesson, a young, respected earl, falls in love with an ordinary but beautiful woman. In Normandy, William, the bastard son of a duke, falls in love with power.

In 1066 England falls vulnerable to the fate of these two men: one, chosen to be a king, the other, determined to take, by force, what he desires. Risking his life to defend his kingdom from foreign invasion, Harold II led his army into the great Battle of Hastings in October 1066 with all the honour and dignity that history remembers of its fallen heroes.

In this beautifully crafted tale, USA Today bestselling author Helen Hollick sets aside the propaganda of the Norman Conquest and brings to life the English version of the story of the man who was the last Anglo-Saxon king, revealing his tender love, determination and proud loyalty, all to be shattered by the desire for a crown – by one who had no right to wear it.

Praise for Helen Hollick:

“Helen Hollick has it all! She tells a great story, gets her history right, and writes consistently readable books” ~ Bernard Cornwell

“A novel of enormous emotional power” ~ Elizabeth Chadwick

“Thanks to Hollick’s masterful storytelling, Harold’s nobility and heroism enthral to the point of engendering hope for a different ending…Joggles a cast of characters and a bloody, tangled plot with great skill” ~ Publisher’s Weekly

“Don’t miss Helen Hollick’s colourful recreation of the events leading up to the Norman Conquest.” ~ Daily Mail

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About the Author

Helen Hollick Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy, a fifth-century version of the Arthurian legend, was accepted for traditional publication in April 1993 by William Heinemann (Random House UK) a week after her 40th birthday.  The Trilogy has been widely acclaimed since then – and gone through several different editions. Helen moved from Random House UK in 2006 and went ‘Indie’, now in 2023 to celebrate she has brought out her own fabulous new editions! (The Trilogy is published mainstream by Sourcebooks Inc in USA/Canada. The publisher was offered the new cover designs for free, but declined.) Helen became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical novel, The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK) with the sequel, Harold the King (US: I Am The Chosen King) being novels that explore the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066.  She writes a nautical adventure/fantasy Pirates of the Caribbean series, The Sea Witch Voyages and has also branched out into the quick read novella, 'Cosy Mystery' genre with her Jan Christopher Murder Mysteries, set in the 1970s, with the first in the series, A Mirror Murder incorporating her, often hilarious, memories of working as a library assistant. Her non-fiction books are Pirates: Truth and Tales and Life of A Smuggler. She lives with her family in an eighteenth-century farmhouse in North Devon with a variety of pets and horses. Find out more from Helen's website https://helenhollick.net and find her on Facebook and Twitter @HelenHollick 

Book Launch Guest Post by Alexandra Walsh, Author of The House of Echoes

Available  from Amazon UK and Amazon US

The Brandon blood is dark with lies and treachery and as it flows through my heart, my vow is this: they will all pay.’

 

The Real Story of Anne Brandon – Friendships at the Tudor Court

In my books, I like to surround my heroines with friends and the Tudor protagonists are no different. It feels more realistic when my main historical character has a group of contemporaries with whom to share their adventures. When I begin each story, I make a list of people who could have the potential to be part of a gang of friends and see which fit in the most natural way. If the main character has sisters, these are included, but I also look at their cousins, other women of similar ages who were either prominent at court or who have links to my main character. 

In The House of Echoes, my Tudor heroine is Anne Brandon, the daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. The duke, who was the best friend of Henry VIII, married several times but his most prestigious union was with Princess Mary Tudor, the youngest sister of Henry VIII and the Dowager Queen of France. As the stepdaughter of a princess, Anne Brandon was at the heart of the Tudor court which gave me a huge choice of potential friends.

Anne’s teenage years coincided with one of the most volatile periods of Henry VIII’s reign: the divorce from his first wife, Katherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. This is where my first potential friend popped up because Anne Brandon and Anne Boleyn knew each other, having spent several years together in Mechelen, the court of Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy in the Netherlands. 

Margaret was the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I. Twice widowed, she was the Governor of Habsburg Netherlands and a very well-educated and influential woman. In 1514, Anne Brandon was seven years old when she was sent to Margaret’s prestigious court to learn the skills of a courtier. A year earlier, in the summer of 1513, Anne Boleyn the daughter of rising diplomat, Thomas Boleyn, had also been given a place at Mechelen.  

Anne Boleyn was to remain in the Netherlands for nearly nine years, while Anne Brandon was summoned home after two years to live with her father, now the Duke of Suffolk and his new wife, Mary Tudor, in the laughter-filled home at Westhorpe Hall, Suffolk. Anne grew close to her new stepmother and enjoyed a happy childhood but with a father and stepmother at the heart of the court, it was not long before she was among the glamorous younger set. When Anne Boleyn returned to England in 1521, Anne Brandon would have been perfectly placed to watch as King Henry fell in love with the dark-haired beauty. 

We look back with knowledge, we know how the story unfolded but for Anne Brandon this would have been a difficult, possibly dangerous time as allegiances shifted and the old world became the new. Her stepmother, Mary, Duchess of Suffolk had been sister-in-law to Katherine for the majority of her life and was loyal to her, while Charles Brandon, as Henry’s best friend had no choice but to help the king achieve his desire of marrying Anne Boleyn. I liked the idea of Anne Brandon having her own link to Anne Boleyn and providing the future queen with a place to share her woes. 

I have also created a friendship between Anne Brandon and the daughter of another key figure in the Tudor court: Margaret – Meg – More, the eldest child of Sir Thomas More. There is no evidence to suggest the young women were friends but as their fathers were contemporaries and worked together for many years, I took the educated guess their daughter’s may have been friends, too. 

Sir Thomas More and his first wife, Jane Colte had four children: Meg, Elizabeth, Cecily and John. From his second marriage to Alice Middleton, More had a stepdaughter, another Alice. Meg is best known for her unusually advanced education and her love of learning. During her lifetime she gained a reputation as one of the most learned women in England. In 1523, humanist scholar, Desiderius Erasmus dedicated his commentary on two hymns by Prudentius to Meg. In response she translated Erasmus’s treatise on the Lord’s Prayer from Latin to English for him. 

In 1521 she married William Roper, a lawyer and a friend of her father. They had five children: Elizabeth, Mary, Thomas, Margaret and Anthony. There is also a tale saying after her father was executed, Meg removed his head from the spike on London Bridge and kept it until her own death when she passed it on to one of her daughters. 

Other women included as Anne Brandon’s confidantes were cousins I found in her family tree. These were Elizabeth Puttenham, who married Thomas Oxenbridge, Emma Meverell who was a similar age to Anne and married Thomas Cradock. There was also Beatrice Cooke who married Sir Richard Ogle. Her link to Anne was different again, she was the stepdaughter of Margaret Pennington who was a lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon and a friend of the Duchess of Suffolk and finally, there was Ellen Audley who married Thomas Guyban. Thomas was the great-grandson of Margaret Brandon who was Charles Brandon’s aunt.

Whether these women did know each other and were friends, I will never really know but I hope they approve of me borrowing their names for this story. 

Alexandra Walsh

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About the Author

Alexandra Walsh is a bestselling author of the dual timeline women’s fiction. Her books range from the 15th and 16th centuries to the Victorian era and are inspired by the hidden voices of women that have been lost over the centuries. The Marquess House Saga offers an alternative view of the Tudor and early Stuart eras, while The Wind Chime and The Music Makers explore different aspects of Victorian society. Formerly, a journalist for over 25 years, writing for many national newspapers and magazines; Alexandra also worked in the TV and film industries as an associate producer, director, script writer and mentor for the MA Screen Writing course at the prestigious London Film School. She is a member of The Society of Authors and The Historical Writers Association. For updates and more information visit her website: www.alexandrawalsh.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter @purplemermaid25 and Bluesky @purplemermaid25.bsky.social

Book Review: The Storyteller's Daughter, by Victoria Scott

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

A secret buried for decades… A story that

 will change everything.

Victoria Scott’s dual-timeline narrative weaves together the past and present as Beth seeks solace in her family's dilapidated manor house.

After a disastrous career and marital setback, Beth is drawn into a gradually unravelling mystery surrounding her great-aunt Nita, a young woman living in the same house during World War II.

I liked the contrast between the world of the 1940’s newspaper office and what it became in 2008, and how the two women respond to very different challenges.

Beth delves into Nita's past through old newspaper articles and personal belongings, she uncovers a web of secrets, lies, and danger. The historical backdrop of WWII adds a depth and intrigue, with sometimes disturbing details of the era.

The plot twists are engaging as we explore of family secrets and their impact on generations. The Storyteller's Daughter is a poignant reminder that the past is never truly buried and how the choices we make can have far-reaching consequences.

Tony Riches

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About the Author

Victoria Scott began her career as a broadcast journalist at the BBC, before moving into the freelance world, working for outlets like the Telegraph and Al Jazeera. When she’s not writing novels, she lectures in Journalism at Kingston University and is an enthusiastic (but amateur) singer and gardener. Victoria lives on a Thames island with her husband and two children and a cat called Alice. Find out more from Victoria's website 

https://www.toryscott.com/ and fond her on Twitter @toryscott and on Instagram @VictoriaScottAuthor