I am going to begin with a confession—I’d have been horrified if you had picked High Drama over Historical Accuracy.   Ideally, a book should be able to provide both.   But I apply a rather stringent standard, and even a well-written book can be ruined for me if the research is sloppy.  I don’t mean occasional errors, which are inevitable, but fundamental misconceptions about the medieval world, what I think of as “The Plantagenets in Pasadena” syndrome, where highborn young women expect to marry for love and class differences are a minor inconvenience and religion is rarely if ever mentioned. 

      Of course much of what historical novelists do is “fill in the blanks,” for we have no choice.  Medieval chroniclers were notably indifferent to the needs of modern novelists, rarely mentioning such dramatic essentials as birth dates or causes of death.  So we novelists must often improvise, sometimes with unintended consequences.   I received a letter once from a woman who’d felt so passionate about Here Be Dragons that she made a pilgrimage to Chester Cathedral, where Joanna and Llewelyn had wed.   She was dismayed to find no reference whatsoever to this important historical event and she took the cathedral officials to task for their negligence.  I then had to tell her that the negligent parties were the thirteenth century chroniclers who hadn’t bothered to mention where the marriage took place.   I’d chosen Chester as a logical site because of its proximity to Wales; I was able to reassure her, though, that Llewelyn ap Gruffydd and Ellen de Montfort actually were wed in Worcester Cathedral.   

      On a related subject, I feel comfortable involving characters in historical events if their participation seems logical and if they aren’t known to have been elsewhere at the time.   For example, there is no evidence that Henry’s illegitimate son Geoff (later Archbishop of York) took part in the battle at Fornham.  But we know he was very active on Henry’s behalf in the military campaigns against English rebels, and we don’t know where he was in October of 1173, so why not Fornham?  

         I found the discussion about Genealogy Charts vs. Cast of Characters quite interesting.  Depending upon the books, I can see a need for both.  When I read Brian Wainwright’s novel about Constance of York, Within the Fetterlock, I’d have been lost if he hadn’t provided a Cast of Characters, for I was not very familiar with the reign of Henry IV.   The ideal solution would be to provide both for the reader.  But as for bibliographies, Kristen, that is not feasible.   It is rarely if ever done in historical novels and I’d expect most publishers to be resistant to it.  So would I, to be candid.   There is no way I could include all of my research sources; in addition to books, I rely upon academic journal articles to a great extent.   Author websites provide the ideal solution, though.  In my Research Recommendations section, I can highlight books that I think my readers will find interesting, and I have the liberty of adding to the list from time to time.  I ought to mention here that I am not always in total agreement with the authors of the books I recommend.  Occasionally the books are outdated or the writers draw conclusions I do not agree with; Marion Meade’s biography of Eleanor is an example, as is John Julius Norwich’s Kingdom in the Sun.  But if books make my list, that does mean that I think the research is generally reliable and the writing itself is graceful.   

     Beth, I loved your comment about historical research.  You are so right!  Research has its own ebb and flow, and surprises can be washed up on shore once the tide goes out.  I have been writing fiction for more than twenty-five years, so it is inevitable that some of my initial research has been contradicted by subsequent discoveries.  Eleanor’s age is a perfect example.  For many years, 1122 was her accepted birth date, but with the publication of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Lord and Lady, that changed, and there seems to be a consensus in favor of Andrew Lewis’s new date of 1124.   Here Be Dragons was published in 1185, and at that time the belief in Richard’s homosexuality was in the ascendancy.  Twenty-some years later that subject engenders a great deal more controversy, and writers on either side of the argument feel obligated to mention the dispute, which is surely a good thing. 

      Research is particularly fluid in the study of genealogy.  When I wrote Dragons, I was unable to find any references to the birth date of John’s illegitimate brother, William Longsword, and his mother was unknown.  Today it is generally accepted that his mother was Ida de Tosny, daughter of the Lord of Conches, later the wife of Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, and it seems likely that Will was born c. 1177.    Readers interested in finding out more about Ida and Roger Bigod are in luck, as Elizabeth Chadwick has written a novel about them titled The Time of Singing, which has just come out in paperback in the U. K.   Moving on to Joanna, I relied upon Peter Bartram’s massive genealogical work of forty years in determining that only Elen was Joanna’s biological daughter.   In the intervening years, I have seen claims that Gladwys and possibly others were Joanna’s, too.  But to show you how complicated the issue is, I would cite two articles from The Genealogist.  One argues that all the mothers of Llewelyn’s daughters must be shown as “unknown,” including Elen.  A subsequent article in The Genealogist unearthed a letter from Henry III dated June 22, 1237, in which he refers to the newly widowed Elen as his niece, which certainly seems to prove that Elen was Joanna’s biological daughter.  In the first article, I was following his arguments with interest until I came upon his statement that Elen had only two daughters, Joanna and Hawise, by her second marriage to Robert de Quincy.   Now I happen to know from my own admittedly unprofessional research that Elen and Robert also had a daughter named Anne, having found this information in the Calendar of Inquisitions, a fascinating document which  gave me the  ages of the daughters and the year in which Elen died.   So I can only repeat that we all make mistakes and we never know when a new treasure might be revealed by those receding waves.  

       Speaking of mistakes, I made one in my last blog, telling you that Eleanor made four trips across the Alps.  Actually it was three; she and Louis took the overland route through Germany on their way to the Holy Land.  

        Before I respond to your questions, I’d like to ask for your help.  A friend of mine asked if I could recommend any novels about Robin Hood.   I’ve never done any Robin Hood reading, but I told him that I’m sure some of my readers will have books to suggest.   So….any Robin Hood novels out there that Jerry would enjoy?

      Okay, question time.  Monica, I am sorry to say that I don’t have any U.K. trips planned in the immediate future. I was fortunate enough to live in York and Benllech, Gwynedd briefly, and I was accustomed to spending at least a month on your side of the Atlantic every year, dividing my time between England and Wales.   But that changed when my mother died and my dad came to live with me; he had serious health problems and I no longer felt free to spend so much time away from home.   By the time he died, I’d followed the Angevins to France and that had become the focal point of my research; the last time I was in England for a research trip, it was to refresh my memories of Canterbury Cathedral in preparation for Henry’s penance scene.

     Ken, I hope you keep us up to date as Othon’s book progresses.   As an ex-archer, have you read Bernard Cornwell’s Agincourt?  If so, what did you think of it?    I was fascinated by his contention that so much of archery is mental.   I hope you have better luck with all those recycled names than I did; with so many Richards and Edwards and even Elizabeths in Sunne, I became inordinately attached to Francis Lovell simply because he was the only one in the whole blessed book!    You said you were interested in the last years of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.  The Osprey Campaign series has a volume by David Nicolle called Acre 1291, Bloody Sunset of the Crusader States, and Christopher Tyerman’s God’s War, A New History of the Crusades, has a section on the fall of Acre.   You’re going to like my Research Recommendations page once I start to add all my crusader books!

     Kristen, I’m sorry you missed my November visit to the Poisoned Pen, but it is very likely I will be back.  My last visit was for the publication of Devil’s Brood, but I’ve often visited even when I didn’t have a book coming out, usually when Barbara Peters has set up a forum with other writers.   I wish I were coming to the West Coast, too, Mimi.  I used to make fairly regular stops in California, Portland, and Seattle, but publishers are cutting back drastically on book tours, so it is hard to say what the future holds for them.  Jenny, my book tour for late July, early August is up in the Press Room of my website; I’ll be at Borders in Baileys Crossroads on July 29^th at 7:30 PM; I hope you can be there.  I love to meet readers, and our blog interaction has added a certain intimacy, so I feel as if I know the “regulars” already. Kelly, what is your daughter’s name?  I hope she can come, too.

      Helen, I would consider a film deal, but sad to say, Stephen Spielberg is not camping out on my front porch.  Sunne is still optioned and the British production company is diligently seeking funding, no easy task in the current economy; there was a recent query about Dragons, but it is not likely to go very far.   Gabriele, I’d warn you to keep a close eye on Arminius; he sounds quite capable of high-jacking your book right out from under your nose.   And is the Dalriatan chief a real historical figure?   He definitely sounds like a man who needs a book of his own!

      Brenna, your question is a difficult one for me.  I generally try not to be publicly critical of other writers, feeling a certain solidarity—we’re an endangered species, after all.   I have reservations about Alison Weir’s biography of Eleanor, as I suspect many of you have guessed, for hers is not one of the books I’ve recommended.  Regrettably, she does not always cite footnotes for the sources of her conclusions.   Some years ago, she wrote a book, Britain’s Royal Families, The Complete Genealogy, in which she offered a bibliography, but not a single footnote, which made it impossible to judge the accuracy  of her statements; for example, she lists seven illegitimate children for Richard III, three of them unnamed with questions marks, which was not particularly helpful for readers wanting to pursue this further.  And I was troubled by some of the errors I found in her biography of Eleanor. 

     Just to cite a few examples:   She says the King of Sicily, Tancred, was the nephew of William the Good, Joanna’s husband.  He was not; he was William’s cousin.  She says that the French King Philippe was so taken with Joanna that Richard immediately moved her to the mainland, “out of the French king’s reach,” since “he was a married man.”  Well, no, he wasn’t.  His queen had died giving birth to stillborn sons six months previously.  And while Roger de Hoveden did indeed report that Philippe was smitten with Joanna, who was a beautiful, accomplished young woman, Richard moved her to the mainland because he feared for her safety—not from Philippe, but from the unfriendly citizens of Messina.  Four days afterward, rioting broke out in Messina and Richard seized control of the city, “in less time than it took for a priest to chant Matins” according to one of the chroniclers accompanying him.   On p. 271, Ms. Weir says that Richard met Tancred in March, 1191 and the two kings reached a “friendly agreement.”   This is partially true.   They did meet at Catania in March, 1191, at which time Richard gave Tancred a sword that he claimed to be Arthur’s Excalibur!     But their “friendly agreement” had been struck five months earlier, in October of 1190, and this is well documented; we have the actual terms of the agreement and even a November letter from Richard in which he notifies the Pope of their accord. 

      I am not saying you should not read her biography of Eleanor, for she has obviously put a great deal of work into it; just proceed with caution.  In fairness to Ms. Weir, I ought to say that she is not the only biographer who can be casual about footnotes.   A recent biography by Frank McLynn, Richard and  John: Kings at War,  tells us that Eleanor had black hair and black eyes.   Now this is rather startling since the details of her physical appearance have eluded us for more than eight centuries.  But no footnote is cited for this remarkable revelation.   I would have been fine with it had he said that Eleanor probably had dark coloring, but he presented it as cold, hard fact.   And while historical novelists have to conjure up details like that, historians have neither that need nor that liberty.

     Megan, I am in agreement with Elizabeth Chadwick and Ken; yours wins the Funniest Comment contest, hands-down!   Paula, you made an interesting comment about medieval cooking.  Should I add a section in my Research Recommendations about medieval food?   I was thinking of recommending several books about medieval travel, so I guess it would make sense to expand the subject a bit.  Opinions?

        Well, I’ve done it again, written a blog entry that rivals Moby Dick in length.   I always start out with such good intentions, too.  So I’ll conclude now by saying that I fully agree with Elizabeth’s answer to your query, Carrie.  The Plantagenets in particular can strain credibility, for the high drama and improbable turns and twists in their lives could have come straight from a Hollywood scriptwriter’s imagination.   So like Elizabeth, I try to keep my books securely grounded in fact.  And hardly a day goes by when I don’t give thanks for the Author’s Note.   Now I am signing off until after the Historical Novel Society Convention.

June 3, 2009

PS  Well, I’m back again, as I forgot to respond to a few questions.   I asked St Martins Press when The Reckoning would be available in Kindle format, and was told it is in the pipeline, and it will depend upon how fast Amazon moves.   Susan Kay’s Legacy will be issued in paperback format by Sourcebooks in the spring of 2010.  Lastly, I found a remarkable website that I want to share.  It is www.freerice.com, and is based upon a brilliant premise.  When you visit the site, you are able to take a vocabulary quiz; each time you correctly identify a word, a rice donation is made for the world’s poor through the UN World Food Program.    Do check it out, as this is a way to have fun while doing good, and it doesn’t get any better than that.

       This is becoming the Blog Without End.   I also forgot to mention that I am planning to add a section for my British readers.  As soon as my Penguin editor sends me the book jackets, we are going to list all of my books published in the U. K.  with a click-on feature to connect readers to British on-line bookshops.    And I now have the publication date for the Penguin paperback edition of Devil’s Brood—August 6, 2009.

June 4, 2009     

      I’d like to start with an Alert Message.  I am hoping that most of the people who e-mail me via my website also read my blogs, for I had a computer meltdown recently, and all of the e-mails in my In Box since August of 2007 were instantly erased.  Fortunately I do back up onto my flash drive, but I’d been lazy and so I lost at least two weeks of e-mails, including a number from readers.  I get so much mail that I cannot respond to every one, but I do try to answer specific questions or requests, and some of these were among the vaporized e-mails.   I renamed my computer Expletive-Deleted after this little episode, but a computer savvy friend said it is really the fault of Outlook Express; apparently the program will take it upon itself to dump e-mails at random when it “decides” the In Box is getting too full.   So I suppose I’ll have to curse Bill Gates instead of my computer, although that is not as much fun since he started giving his billions away to worthwhile charities.  Anyway, for all readers who e-mailed me during the month of April with questions, I would ask you to e-mail me again since your e-mails may have ended up in a black hole of  cyberspace.

       I have some surprising news.  Ballantine Books is planning to send me out on a brief book tour at the time they publish Devil’s Brood and re-issue Time and Chance and When Christ and His Saints Slept in late July.    I’ve done numerous book tours over the years, but this is the first time a paperback house is arranging one for me, so I am very grateful to Ballantine for resurrecting my canceled tour from last October.   The trip itinerary will be posted by week’s end in the Press Room section of my website, but basically I am going to the same stores I’d planned to visit before my unexpected hospital stay wreaked havoc with our plans and will be visiting Bailey’s Crossroads, VA, West Chester, PA, Dayton, Ohio, and Ann Arbor, MI.     I will also be in the Chicago suburbs for the Historical Novel Society Conference on June 12^th through the 14^th, but unfortunately that is not open to the general public, only to conference participants.   I ought to have some interesting stories for you guys, though, when I get back!

     I am updating my Research Recommendations section, and have added a heartfelt Mea Culpa to my Medieval Mishaps page, having discovering a monumental error in The Reckoning.   I am repeating my apology here because I want to publicize it as widely as possible. On p. 229, Edward is discussing weaponry with Roger de Mortimer, and Roger says that longbows are more easily mastered than the crossbow.  This could not be further from the truth.  A man could learn to use a crossbow fairly quickly, whereas it took years of training and considerable physical strength to shoot a longbow.   I am baffled by the mistake, for I am obsessive-compulsive about my research, one reason why it takes me so long to write one of my historical novels.   But since The Reckoning was published eighteen years ago, I will never be able to solve this bizarre mystery.  I can only seek to spread the word about the error—and grovel a bit.   BTW, Bernard Cornwell’s new novel Agincourt is the book to read if you want to know more about the use of longbows.   And there is an interesting story about Richard I and crossbows.  Upon Richard’s arrival in Acre, he was struck down by a mysterious ailment that also infected the French king.  Richard was seriously ill, but as soon as he was on the mend, he insisted upon being taken by litter to the siege site, and lying within a shelter from the extreme heat, he spent hours firing a crossbow at the defenders up on the city walls.   

      There is a new biography of Eleanor, written by the British historian Ralph Turner.  I have not had time to read it from cover to cover yet, have just been skimming so far, but I’ve read enough to recommend it.   He has an excellent account of Eleanor’s time on crusade and a perceptive analysis of the reasons why she has been such a lighting rod for controversy over the centuries.  I did find one startling error; he says that Henry’s father Geoffrey drowned in the River Loire, whereas Geoffrey actually died of a fever after swimming in the Loire to cool off on a hot day.   But even the best historians are not infallible and I’d be the last person to quibble at an occasional error.  (See longbow lunacy above.) 

     Dr. Turner and I do not always interpret known facts in the same way, but his conclusions are always defensible.  For example, he believes that Henry did seduce Alys, the unhappy French princess.  Based upon what we know, I think that is a legitimate point of view.  I concluded otherwise, but after reading his argument, I confess that I felt a pang or two of regret that I’d been convinced by Henry’s biographers and my own understanding of Henry’s very pragmatic character.   As I admitted in my AN for Devil’s Brood, I felt cheated that I hadn’t been able to take the Lion in Winter route, for writers instinctively yearn for scenes of high drama.   Whatever the arguments pro and con about Henry and Alys, the film is very much out of date in its depiction of a love affair between Richard and Philippe, the French king.  But it is still great fun to watch and I continue to recommend it highly to one and all.  Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn were perfection itself as Henry and Eleanor, probably even better than the originals themselves!

      Now back to Lionheart.   I am happy to report that Eleanor and Berengaria have safely arrived in Italy.  Because we know which alpine pass they took, I was able to figure out the route they must have followed, which was great fun.   As I’ve always been fascinated by travel in bygone times, I have gone into considerable details about Eleanor’s journey.  I just hope my editors will let me keep all these details in!   Eleanor took the Montgenevre Pass over the Alps, which is now a ski resort.  I wonder what she would have thought of that?   If you’d like to see some photos of Montgenevre today, google “Montgenevre photos” and prepare to be amazed by all that comes up.   

         Because I had so much to communicate this time, I’m afraid I will have to limit my favorite part of each blog—responding to your comments and questions.  I’ll try to make up for it next time.  Cindy, welcome aboard!  (We’ve met at the Poisoned Pen, as Cindy is lucky enough to live near Scottsdale.)   Your news about Legacy is fantastic.  This is, by far, my favorite book about Elizabeth Tudor.   I haven’t read it in years, am delighted that it will be reprinted.   I have often wondered if Susan Kay wrote any other books or if this was her only child, a la Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird.    But for anyone interested in the Tudors and first-rate writing, this is the book to buy.   On the same subject, I think the best novel I’ve read about Anne Boleyn is Norah Lofts’ The Concubine.   Anyone else read it?

       Cindy, your comment about the need for a genealogy planted the seed for another question.   Do you as readers prefer a straight genealogical chart or a cast of characters for historical novels like mine?    Michele, I’m sorry I couldn’t take part in your book club discussion.  I’ve done a few by phone and they are great fun.  In fact, Ballantine is going to set up some phone chats with their Reading Clubs when their edition of Devil’s Brood comes out.   Gabriele, you have to write about Arminius!   He sounded so intriguing that I did a bit of on-line research and there is no doubt he deserves a book of his own.  Did you know his campaign was mentioned in Robert Graves’ classic, I, Claudius, under the name Hermann?   I’m not sure why ancient Rome casts such a potent spell as I doubt that any of us would have liked to live under the Empire or even the Republic, but novels about Rome are irresistible.  (Another hint, Gabriele, hang in there!)   I have just started Michelle Moran’s new novel, Cleopatra’s Daughter (her child by Marc Antony) and it looks like another winner for her.  

        Ken, it sounds as if you might have to reconsider your game plan.  Would you feel as if you had more control of your material if you focused on only three of your main characters instead of four?   Or you might want to think about writing two books, as I did with Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning.   Is there a natural breaking point in the story line?   I was fortunate in that Shadow had an obvious ending with Simon’s death.  And when I decided that I wanted to do a trilogy about Henry, it was easy to break his life into three segments.  That is not always the case, though.  Would it work to use Evesham as a natural breaking point for Othon’s story?  Based on my own experience, I would suggest you think about splitting it into two or maybe even three books.   The alternative is to leave a lot on the cutting room floor and that can be painful.      

      I loved Elizabeth’s description of Henry as a blazing fire that eventually burned out.  Henry will always be my personal favorite among the English kings, for he seems like the epitome of a Shakespearean tragic hero, one brought down by his own flaws.   I’ve discovered that he casts a long shadow and his memory remains very much alive in Lionheart.   Susan, I’ll see if I can find out from St Martins when The Reckoning will be available in Kindle format.  Lastly, you posed such a wonderful question, Carrie—how much historical interpretation or inaccuracies will readers accept?   I have a low tolerance level myself, but I have friends who are willing to overlook anachronisms if they are swept along by a strong story line.    So…here’s our question for the next blog.    Can powerful writing compensate for faulty research?      

May 20, 2009      

Wow!   This was a fascinating discussion about the use of purely fictional characters in books like mine.   Without doubt, I have remarkably perceptive and eloquent readers! It is gratifying, too, to find that my readers can intuitively sense what I am attempting to do with characters like Ranulf and Rhiannon; you were absolutely right, Michele, in concluding that I’d inserted Rhiannon into the story line to shed light upon the treatment of people with disabilities in the MA.    In Saints, I had Ranulf rescue two orphan children from the Fens, and again, I used them to dramatize the hardscrabble, perilous life of those at the very bottom of society’s social pyramid.   Several of you made the valid point that, in a sense, all characters in a book are fictional; writers start with the skeletal frame, if they are lucky, but then they have to flesh out the character by drawing upon their imaginations.

       This is where I think an Author’s Note is invaluable, for I firmly believe that if an author deviates from known historical facts, there is an obligation to discuss this deviation in the AN.  So often all we know of medieval people are their names and the stark facts of their lives—birth, marriage, death.  But when we are lucky enough to distill the essence of their beings from chronicles or individual actions, I think we owe it to our readers—and to the memories of these long-dead men and women—to depict them as they were, not as we’d like them to be.   So I am in total agreement with you, Sandy; it upsets me when I read a novel in which a real historical figure is distorted beyond recognition for the sake of plot development or the writer’s convenience.  Elizabeth Chadwick calls books like this “wall-bangers,” for even if they are well written, they are not playing fair with history.  

        I also agree with Sara’s post, that it can be liberating to read a book in which the fates of the main characters are not known.  This is one reason why I have enjoyed writing of medieval Wales so much.  I recently finished Brian Wainwright’s excellent historical novel, Within the Fetterlock, and one of the book’s many joys was that I was quite unfamiliar with his heroine, Constance of York.  So there were surprises lurking on every page.  And yes, this is the same Brian Wainwright who wrote the hilarious spoof, The Adventures of Alianore Audley.  While I’m on the subject of books I’ve been reading, I want to recommend another of Elizabeth Chadwick’s novels, Shadows and Strongholds, set in the 12^th century during the last years of  the civil war between Stephen and Henry Fitz Empress. As always, she has created vivid, three-dimensional characters while skillfully balancing the needs of the novelist with those of the historian.  She is particularly effective at revealing the precarious nature of their lives during this turbulent, violent era of English history, just as she did in her book about John Marshal, A Place Beyond Courage.  It truly was a time when Christ and his saints slept.    

       Some of your recent comments concerned the challenges of travel in the MA.  I have been doing extensive research about the crossing of the Alps, and some of the accounts of these harrowing experiences are riveting.   It speaks volumes about the courage and hardiness of medieval men and women that they so often undertook voyages that would be unthinkable in our age.  John of Salisbury crossed the Alps no less than ten times, whereas once would have been more than enough for me if it had to be done by mule.  Our Eleanor did it four times, the last two crossings when she was well into her sixties and in the dead of winter, too.   This is the next chapter in Lionheart, and I am looking forward to it—sometimes writers can have devilish fun making our characters suffer in the name of high drama! 

      Megan, I am so pleased that you named your son Owen; I understand, though, why you compromised with Anglicized spelling.  I did the same in Here be Dragons, using the more familiar spelling of Llewelyn rather than the pure Welsh of Llywelyn.  And friends of mine in Colorado who wanted to name their daughter after Gwynedd opted for spelling her name Gwyneth—although most people now assume she was named after Gwyneth Paltrow. 

        I find it very interesting that some of you are writers, too.  I hope you’ll keep us updated on the progress of your novel, Ken, as Othon sounds like a man who definitely deserves to have his own book.   I was intrigued by your revelation, Gabriele, that your novel was not working for you until you decided to add a “layer of magic.”   And I understand completely your complaint that some characters have to be watched closely lest they take the book in directions the writer does not want to go.   I’ve had several characters show that sort of devious determination to claim center stage.  Llewelyn ap Gruffydd’s brother Davydd had his own ideas how his character should be portrayed, and we had a battle of wills that lasted through two books.   Another character who took a small role and expanded it until he stole virtually every scene he was in was the Welsh poet-prince, Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd.  As an example, he wanted to go along with his friend Ranulf when Henry attempted to make good Eleanor’s rather tenuous claim to Toulouse.   So he reminded me that one of the chronicles said a Welsh prince did, in fact, accompany the English army, insisting with impeccable logic that since the name of this prince was not known, who is to say it could not have been Hywel?   Because he was a charmer, without some of Davydd’s darker undertones, Hywel usually got his way.  It is hard to deny a man whose poetry has withstood the tests of eight centuries.

       James, I am sorry but I cannot comment upon The Tudors, never having seen any of the episodes; too much fiction and not enough history for me.    Kristen, I’ve only read one Alys Clare mystery; while they are well written, I was not comfortable with the freedom enjoyed by her abbess.  If you want an accurate portrayal of the world of a medieval nun, try any of Margaret Frazer’s Sister Frevisse mysteries.  Robin, I’m not familiar with the trilogy written by Posie Graeme-Evans; I tend to stay away from books written about “my” characters; while I’m writing, I don’t want to be influenced, even subconsciously, and afterward a sense of territorial imperative kicks in!   Kristen, all of the songs I quoted in the wedding scene in The Reckoning were actual medieval compositions, but I am sure “Maria Perez” was the creation of a troubadour’s inventive imagination.  Women did take part in the crusades, though, the most infamous case being that of Eleanor of Aquitaine, dubbed by one recent historian the “femme fatale of the Second Crusade.”    Lastly, I hope your wedding was a lovely one, Beth, and the notoriously erratic Welsh weather cooperated for once. 

         Judith has pointed out that there are societies for Richard III, Simon de Montfort, and Napoleon, but sadly, none for Eleanor.  There is also a Gwenllian Society in Wales, and they have succeeded in getting a Welsh mountain named in honor of this tragic princess.    I agree with Judith that Eleanor has been unfairly overlooked.  Anyone want to remedy that injustice and start a society on her behalf? 

       I’d mentioned doing a book drawing, but I think I’ll have to save it for the next blog.  Eleanor is impatient to cross the Pyrenees and collect Richard’s future wife, and I am not going to argue with a woman who signed herself “Eleanor, by the wrath of God, Queen of England.”

May 5, 2009

      I’d like to thank those of you who submitted questions for The Reckoning’s Book Club.  I passed them on to St Martin’s and they were delighted.  They made some minor editing changes, but used most of them, as well as several I’d provided.   You can read them at http://www.readinggroupgold.com/product/product.aspx?isbn=0312382472 ; click onto the Reading Group Guide to find The Reckoning.    A few of you offered questions after St Martin’s had posted them on-line, but I submitted them anyway, and they could possibly be added at a later date.  In any event, everyone who posed a question was eligible for the drawing.  And the winner is Suzanne; as soon as you send me your address, I’ll mail signed paperback copies of Here Be Dragons and Falls the Shadow and a hardback copy of The Reckoning.

        Erika, I’ve decided you have second-sight, for your question about the use of fictional characters was one I’d already proposed myself to St Martin’s!   I was very interested in the subsequent discussion between you and several other posters about this.      Erika, you also asked if this was done for a particular purpose.   The answer is yes.   Sometimes all I know of a secondary character is the name; so I then have to give that character a history.  Eleanor’s maid Amaria is an example of this.  So, too, are Hugh and Juliana in The Reckoning; I knew they were in Ellen de Montfort’s service, but nothing else, so I had to breathe life into them.  Hugh served a double purpose, for I also used his happy ending with Caitlin to mitigate the stark tragedy of the book’s conclusion.  And I  created Ranulf because I worried that my readers would not be able to fully identify with either Stephen or Maude, who were their own worst enemies.    I meant for Ranulf to bridge that sympathy gap until the young Henry Fitz Empress came onto center stage.  Ranulf was a hit with so many of my readers that I kept him on payroll, and then passed the baton on to his son Morgan in Lionheart!  

        So here is my question.    How do you feel about the insertion of purely fictional characters in novels that dramatize the lives of people who actually lived?  Suzanne would prefer to take her history straight, without any sweeteners.   Erika and Paula like a few glimmers of hope midst the darkness.     What about the rest of you?

       Now I’d like to respond to specific comments.    Cassandra, thank you so much for letting us know about bookdepository.com; it is a great site.   You asked about Simon de Montfort’s speech to his men before the battle of Evesham.  Chroniclers reported that he’d given such a speech; I filled in the blanks myself.      Angela, I loved your song for Joanna.  Gayle is right; set it to music and you have a ballad.     Maritza, I don’t have any plans to write about Richard of York and Cecily Neville.  Margaret Frazer has been talking about it for some time, though, so she is the one who needs prodding!   I do intend to write about Owain Glyn Dwr; Owain’s book will come after I finish Lionheart and my novels about Balian of Ibelin and Constance de Hauteville.   Thanks for sharing your “genealogical tidbit” with us, Marilyn, that the wives of Edward I and his brother Edmund were second cousins.   It is surprising how tangled the bloodlines of the highborn become.  For example, Richard’s queen, Berengaria, was the daughter of Sancho VI, King of Navarre.  She was therefore related to Richard’s sister Joanna by marriage, as Joanna’s husband William, King of Sicily, was Berengaria’s first cousin; William’s mother was a princess of Navarre, sister to Berengaria’s father.   Lastly, I’d like to address a question posed by Jenny.   You said you were troubled by Llewelyn ap Gruffydd’s “negative reaction” to his newborn daughter.  This was immediately after the death of his beloved wife in childbirth, so he was still in shock.  But I think his scene with his sister-in-law Elizabeth shows that he would have cherished his daughter had he not died so soon thereafter.

         I wanted to let you all know that I recently did an on-line interview with A ‘n’ E Vibe Magazine; it can be read at http://www.anevibe.com/headlines/bringing-history-to-life-an-interview-with-sharon-kay-penman.html       And my agent, Molly Friedrich, has informed me that one of her writers, Joseph Finder, has come up with an excellent idea to show support for independent bookstores.  He wants to declare this coming May 1^st as “Buy Indie Day,” hoping that we’ll all try to make a purchase at an independent bookstore in our communities on that day as a show of solidarity; he has set up a facebook event for those needing further information.   Sadly, my local independent bookstore closed a number of years ago, so I will buy a book from The Poisoned Pen, my favorite bookstore and one of the “indies.”    

        Lastly, I am sure we are all grieving for the people suffering so from the earthquake that struck the Abruzzo region of Italy.   Earthquakes have done so much damage over the centuries.  Medieval Messina was destroyed by an earthquake early in the 20^th century.  Another one wreaked havoc in the 18^th century, and Sicily was rocked by one in 1169, which leveled the town of Catania.     If you would like to make donations to help the survivors of L’Aquila and the surrounding villages, you can go to http://www.justgiving.com/italy-abruzzo-earthquake  where In Italy Magazine has arranged for contributions to be made to the British Red Cross; any such donations will be used only for the earthquake victims. 

       Lionheart is keeping me very busy these days, which is why it sometimes takes me so long to do a new blog.   In my next one, I hope to do another drawing, offering a signed copy of Devil’s Brood as the prize; I thought it might be fun to offer the English edition this time.  

April 14, 2009

       New evidence of the existence of Robin Hood?   It may be.  Dr Julian Luxford, an expert in medieval manuscript studies at the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland, has revealed that he found an intriguing mention of the legendary outlaw scribbled in the margins of the Polychronicon, a history written by Ralph Higden (c. 1280-1363).  The comment, written in Latin by a monk about 1460, said, “Around this time, according to popular opinion, a certain outlaw named Robin Hood, with his accomplices, infested Sherwood and other law-abiding areas of England with continuous robberies.”  Dr. Luxford believes that this might be the earliest written chronicle reference to Robin Hood, and he points out its “uniquely negative assessment” of the outlaw; not a word, you notice, about stealing from the rich to give to the poor!     

      People have been arguing for years about whether there was a real Robin Hood, a series of Robin Hoods, or if he was merely a myth.   I can say for a reasonable certainty that if Robin did exist, he wasn’t battling “Evil Prince John” while waiting for “Good King Richard” to return from the crusades. I’ve always been partial to the theory that Robin Hood and his band of merry men were followers of Simon de Montfort, outlawed after Simon’s defeat and death at the battle of Evesham in 1265, and so I was pleased to see that Dr Luxford agrees with me, saying that “The new find places Robin Hood in Edward’s reign, thus supporting the belief that his legend is of 13^th century origin.”   

           I began this blog with the item about Robin Hood because I thought we needed a bit of good news; we all agree that if there wasn’t a Robin Hood, there ought to have been one, right?   The world is not a cheerful place these days, and we have to take our cheer wherever we can find it.    Like many people, I felt very sad about the tragic death this week of Natasha Richardson.  While writing Devil’s Brood, I did a lot of research about subdural and epidural hemorrhages, for that was the injury causing Geoffrey’s death.  I remember thinking that we were so lucky, living in an age when such injuries could be successfully treated, whereas it was an automatic death sentence for Geoffrey.  But we can have too much faith in modern medicine.    

        I have some book news now.  St Martin’s Press has brought out new editions of Sunne in Splendour, Here Be Dragons, and Falls the Shadow.  They will be publishing The Reckoning on April 14^th.   St Martin’s has selected all these books for their reading clubs, and provides questions and a reading guide at their website.   It occurred to me that this could be a good opportunity to have another book giveaway; I really enjoyed the last one.   So….here are the rules.  If you would like to suggest any questions for The Reckoning reading groups, post them on my next blog.  I will then pass them on to St Martin’s, and if they like them, they’ll add them to their website reading guide for The Reckoning.   Anyone who submits a question will be entered in a drawing, and the winner will get a signed hardback edition of The Reckoning (the paperback is not available yet) and signed paperback copies of Here Be Dragons and Falls the Shadow. 

        Ballantine Books will be putting out new editions of When Christ and His Saints Slept and Time and Chance at the same time that they publish the paperback edition of Devil’s Brood; the official publication date for all three is July 28^th.  And Penguin UK will be publishing their paperback edition of Devil’s Brood in August; as soon as I get the exact date, I’ll let you know.     I think it will be fun to have book giveaways for them, too, so stay tuned. 

       Okay, now to reader mail.  Thank you all for continuing to share your reading lists.  My only concern is that I’ll need nine lives like a cat in order to follow your recommendations; as the bumper sticker goes, “So many books, so little time.”   Judith, thank you for sharing your song with us.  I love the idea that a young American in the 21^st century was inspired to write a song about a woman dead more than eight centuries.  I think we need to feel that connection to our past, and it saddens me that so many people seem indifferent or even hostile to history.  I truly believe that we need to know what happened yesterday before we can decide what to do tomorrow.   And it is fun to imagine Joanna’s reaction (or Eleanor’s or Henry’s) if only they knew we were still fascinated by their lives so long after their deaths.  

       An interesting question, too, Judith, about Anne Boleyn.  I tend to agree with you and Kristen, think Henry would eventually have divorced Katherine of Aragon even if Anne had died prematurely.  I think by then he’d convinced himself that he “must” have a male heir.   And I could not agree more with Carrie’s poetic observation—that the cracks in history are wonderful places for the imagination to flourish.   I just wish people found the Plantagenets as fascinating as they do the Tudors—it would certainly help the sales of my books!

       Suzanne, Geoffrey, the Archbishop of York, did not refer to himself as Plantagenet.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the first one to make use of that surname was the Duke of York, father of Edward IV and Richard III, in the 15^th century.   Historians will refer to them by that name for convenience; I did that myself in one or two of my books, the earlier ones.  Another example is the use of the surname Capet for the French dynasty that came before the Valois kings.  I refer to Louis Capet often in my trilogy, even though he would not have called himself that; it took a while for it to be adopted by the kings of his dynasty.  I realize I am being inconsistent, referring to Louis Capet but insisting upon calling Henry by the name he called himself—Fitz Empress.  But Louis was a secondary player; had he been the main character, I probably wouldn’t have used Capet.

      It is tricky, no doubt about it.  Right now I am having fits trying to avoid using the words “crusade” or “crusader” in dialogue, since those terms were not used in the 12^th century.   They spoke of “taking the cross” or “pilgrimage”.   There are times when I absolutely have to use “crusade” in the narrative, if only to save my sanity.  But I am making an effort not to put the word in Richard’s mouth.   And yes, you could probably find it in misused in Here Be Dragons.   But that was only my second book and I was still learning—also I was not as obsessive-compulsive then as I would later become! 

       If I am doing a Mea Culpa for Dragons, though, I have more to explain than an occasional use of “crusade” or even “Plantagenet”.  Someone reading Dragons after reading Devil’s Brood might well wonder if the same author wrote both books.   In Dragons, John certainly does not share my doubts about Richard’s sexuality and he is obviously convinced that his father had taken the unfortunate Alys as his mistress.    Richard and Henry were minor characters in Dragons, appearing only very briefly, and so I did not do the sort of extensive research about either man that I did for John; see my above comment about being obsessive-compulsive.  Moreover, Dragons was researched and written more than twenty-five years ago, and history is not static; it is a river, not a pond, and previously unknown facts and nuggets of information are constantly being revealed by that surging current.  

        I’m sure we’ll be discussing this in future blogs.   For now, I can report that Richard and his army have reached Sicily, where he is about to wreak his usual havoc.   And Remember–submit any questions for The Reckoning book club and you’re in the drawing.

March 22, 2009     

     I am sorry it has taken me so long to post another blog, but Richard has been keeping me very busy with a chapter that ended up being much longer than I’d initially intended.  It isn’t unusual for a chapter to become two, for I try to keep them about fifteen pages or so in length unless the chapter cannot possibly be divided, like Henry’s penance scene at Becket’s tomb.  But this is the first time a chapter split like an amoeba into three parts. 

       Thank you all for the interesting book recommendations.  I’m glad you reminded us of Pauline Gedge’s fine Egyptian books, Angela.  I’m also looking forward to Michelle Moran’s next book, Cleopatra’s Daughter, for while I know she was raised by Antony’s long-suffering wife, I know nothing about her subsequent history.  And I hope you tell us more about your Janna mysteries, Felicity.  I’d be interested, too, in what boundaries you set in writing books for teenagers.  When my first mystery, The Queen’s Man, was chosen as one of the best books of the year for Young Adults, I was delighted, of course.  Then I thought, “But Justin has sex!  And there are some bloody murders.”   Apparently, though, sex and violence are okay as long as the writer is not too explicit?

        Judith, I was fascinated to learn that after reading Devil’s Brood, you wrote two songs, one for Hal and one for Joanna.  Would you consider sharing them with us?  Linda, I loved your wish that if only Henry VIII had an appreciation of architecture, he may have spared all those beautiful abbeys and cathedrals.  Of course if Richard had won at Bosworth, Henry would never have been King of England in the first place.  For those who claim that one man cannot change history, I’d say “Meet Henry Tudor.”  If Henry had not been born, would England have broken with the Catholic Church?  Or for that matter, what if Anne Boleyn had never appeared at the royal court to catch Henry’s lustful eye?   This is about as close as I can come to Alternate History, Johnny.  It just goes against my natural instincts.   Moreover, if I lost readers when I started to do mysteries because they preferred that I write of real people and actual events, imagine how they’d bail on me if I ventured into Alternate History!

    Gayle, I found your comments about Eleanor quite interesting, but I do think you were rather hard on her.  Sadly, Eleanor and Henry both failed miserably as parents, Eleanor by not preventing her teenage sons from taking part in that first rebellion, Henry for mistakes beyond counting—not giving Hal lands and money of his own, refusing to give Geoffrey and Constance her full inheritance, trying to take Aquitaine from Richard, using Geoffrey and John to bring Richard to heel.   It is amazing that this brilliant man kept making the same mistakes over and over again where his sons were concerned.

      I have to conclude that Henry’s parental flaws were greater than Eleanor’s simply because their children seem to have loved her.   IF Joanna and Matilda (my Tilda) had not loved their mother, they would not have sought her out in her disgrace.  When Joanna spent the summer of 1176 with Eleanor before her departure for Sicily, Henry’s wounds were still raw, and he’d surely have preferred to keep his daughter away from the wife who’d betrayed him.  But it is very much to Henry’s credit that he put Joanna’s needs first.  And when Matilda and her husband were exiled from Germany, it would have been easy enough to avoid Eleanor and it would have been prudent, too for she and Heinrich were utterly dependent upon Henry’s good will; instead she was often with her mother, even had Eleanor with her at her lying-in.

      As for Eleanor’s sons, Richard’s affection for his mother shines clearly down through the centuries; on his deathbed, Hal pleaded with his father to forgive her; Geoffrey named his daughter after Eleanor; and even John showed Eleanor great respect.  Like Richard’s Berengaria, John’s queen was utterly overshadowed as long as Eleanor lived, and John’s one great military triumph was the remarkable rescue he launched upon learning that Eleanor was under siege at Mirebeau by her own grandson, Arthur…..I do love the Angevins, but they were surely the most dysfunctional family since the Oedipus clan.    

        Sadly, there is no such evidence to put forward on Henry’s behalf.  And I admit this is heartbreaking to me, for there can be no doubt that he did love his sons.  Well,   I am not convinced that he loved Richard, not the way he loved Hal and John and to a lesser extent, Geoffrey.  It may be that he and Richard were too much alike not to clash, and his bitterness in the last year of his life is certainly understandable, especially since he seemed unable to realize how much he’d contributed to their final estrangement. 

        Gayle, you are quite right in singling out John’s son, Henry III, as a good father.  He was not a good king, but he loved his children dearly and so did his unpopular queen.  They had a daughter who was unable to speak or hear, and a chronicler described their great grief when she died at age three.  He then revealed the medieval bias toward physical disabilities by dismissing the little girl as “pretty but useless.”  Another well-known story deals with Henry’s son Edward’s reaction to losing a young son at the same time that Henry died.  When a tactless soul remarked that he seemed to grieve more for Henry than for his son, Edward supposedly replied that a man had only one father but could have other sons.   Unfortunately, Edward didn’t take his father as a parental role model, and proved to be a less than loving father himself.   In fact, there is an interesting pattern for 12^th and 13^th century English monarchs.  You have Henry II, a great king, a flawed father; John, an unsuccessful king but apparently an affectionate father; Henry III, a weak king but a very loving father; Edward I, a great king but a distant, demanding father; Edward II, a disastrous king, a caring father; Edward III, a highly successful king, but another disengaged father.    How significant this is, I don’t know, but it is interesting, no?  

       Sarah—Pride and Predator?  I really do hope Jane Austin haunts Elton John to his dying day!   And yes, Trisha, I liked the Firefly series, too, just as I liked Angel.  But I think Buffy was Josh Whedon’s dark classic.     And Suzanne, an interesting question.  No, I don’t reread my books.  I have to go over a book again and again and again when I am responding to editors and copy editors and proof readers until I am so thoroughly sick of the book that I want only to get it out of my life.  Sunne was the worst, for it was over a thousand pages, and by the time I’d finally turned it in for the last time, I was almost ready to start rooting for Tudor to win Bosworth—almost.  

        Lastly, I’d like to recommend some books for those of you who, like Michele, want to do some advance research on Richard’s reign or the Third Crusade.  To date, the definitive biography of Richard is John Gillingham’s Richard I; he has written several books about Richard but the primary biography is the one published in 1999 at almost four hundred pages.  Another good biography of Richard is Ralph Turner’s The Reign of Richard Lionheart, probably the most dispassionate of the many books written about this very controversial king.  Turner’s final chapter is an excellent summary called Richard in Retrospect, in which he proves that Richard’s reputation is tied directly to the values of the historians writing about him.  In other words, Richard serves as the prism through which the biographer reveals more about himself than about this medieval king.  Turner’s one weakness is that he does not deal with Richard’s exploits on the Third Crusade, the central experience of Richard’s life.  I can also recommend Richard Coeur de Lion in History and Myth, edited by Janet Nelson, and The Legends of King Richard I Coeur de Lion, by Bradford Broughton.    And for readers interested specifically in Richard’s crusade and his military career, I can recommend two books very highly.   A military historian, Geoffrey Regan has written Lionhearts, Richard I, Saladin, and the Era of the Third Crusade.   Whereas the Regan book has Richard sharing star billing with Saladin, David Miller’s Richard the Lionheart focuses more upon Richard’s exploits in the Holy Land.  There may be times when you’ll start to wonder where Richard found a phone booth out in the desert to change into his Superman costume, but he honestly did perform these amazing acts of derring-do.  After reading these books, you’ll find it easier to understand why Richard became a legend in his own lifetime and why that legend has endured over the centuries.  You might also wonder if he had a latent death wish.     

      As I’ve already indicated, I think David Crouch’s William Marshal, Court, Career and Chivalry in the Angevin Empire is the best of the biographies about that celebrated knight.  There are only two English biographies of Berengaria and a 19^th century French one that has never been translated.   I cannot recommend either of these whole-heartedly, for Mairin Mitchell’s Berengaria, Enigmatic Queen of England contains numerous statements that are either factually false or dubious, as her conclusion that Berengaria spoke Basque.  A more scholarly work is Ann Trindale’s Berengaria, in Search of Richard the Lionheart’s Queen, but she is very hostile not only to Richard but to Eleanor as well, and that colors her interpretations of events.  

       There are numerous biographies of Eleanor, more than histories of Henry, which I suspect would annoy him no end.   I have already recommended Eleanor of Aquitaine, Lord and Lady, edited by Bonnie Wheeler.  I have some serious issues with one of the most recent biographies of Eleanor, will save that discussion for a later blog.  Lastly, if you would like to read “ahead” about Joanna, I highly recommend Julius Norwich’s eloquent history of Norman Sicily, Kingdom in the Sun—I love that title, wish I could appropriate it for my novel about Constance!

     Dydd Gywl Dewi Hapus, wishing you all a belated Happy St David’s Day.

March 2, 2009

      I want to thank you all for continuing to suggest books for the rest of us to read.  I’ve gotten very positive feedback from readers about this; it is a wonderful way to find new authors.   

       First of all, I want to alert you to an interview that Elizabeth Chadwick gave on             http://myblog.susannesaville.com/2009/02/04/elizabeth-chadwick-at-the-chatty-cat-cafe.aspx,  in which she discusses her cats and her dog; it is a lot of fun.   Another alert: Dana Stabenow’s latest Kate Shugak mystery, Whisper to the Blood, is finally out.  For those of you lucky enough to live within driving distance of the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona, (people like you, Cindy!), Dana is going to do a reading there on February 17^th at 7 PM, hanging out with the brilliant mystery writer, Laurie King, and Barbara Peters and as many readers as turn out.   And here I am, stuck in the Jersey Pinelands…drat. 

      I finished the novel, The Road to Jerusalem, by the Swedish writer, Jan Guillou, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.   I have another book to recommend, too, an intriguing mystery set in revolutionary Boston, with Abigail Adams as the sleuth.  The title is The Ninth Daughter and the author is Barbara Hamilton; it is coming out as a trade paperback in October, and I think any one who enjoys reading of a bygone time and place will like it.

        It is easy to see Abigail Adams as a detective, given what we know of her intellect and curiosity and self-confidence.   There is a clever mystery series by Stephanie Barron, in which Jane Austen is the protagonist and this works well, too, for Jane was an astute judge of character and a very observant eye-witness, qualities that any good detective needs to have.    But I am so sorry to report that I’ve heard there are two other books about Jane Austen looming on the horizon, one in which Jane is a vampire and the other in which she is a zombie…..and to steal Dave Barry’s favorite line, No, I am not making that up.   I have nothing against vampire novels; I was a huge fan of Josh Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel series.   But for heaven’s sakes, Jane Austen???   

      Let me respond now to some of your questions.  Suzanne, recommendations for biographies, histories, etc, are to be found under the Research Recommendations, as well as in some of the blogs.   I hope to add to the list from time to time, my back and Richard permitting.   You also asked about Bernard Cornwell.  I have read only one of his other historicals, but I am a great fan of his Richard Sharpe series; I can’t think of another writer who does better battle scenes.    Anne, I’ve never read Rosemary Sutcliffe, but I know she was a very well respected British writer.   Any readers familiar with her work?  Or Bernard Cornwell’s non-Sharpe books?   Jeremy, I have never read Sandra Worth.  Again, readers?   Angela, you asked if I were tempted to change history.  If only!  I’d let Richard III win at Bosworth, Simon de Montfort win at Evesham, and the royal House of Gwynedd would be ruling Wales to this very day. 

      Leigh, I am in total agreement with you about the importance of language.   I just finished a chapter set in Sicily, which had three official languages—Arabic, Greek, and Latin.  The people themselves spoke Arabic, Greek, and French, and those who’d settled from Lombardy spoke an Italian dialect,   In Devil’s Brood, I had characters speaking Norman-French, the purer French of the Ile de France, Breton, the lengua romana (today called langue d’oc or Occitan) of Eleanor’s domains, Welsh, and English.    I always have to ask myself which language a character would have been likely to speak, and take this into account if I have someone snooping around and eavesdropping!  And the reason the dialogue in Sunne differed so markedly from subsequent books is that Sunne was the only novel in which my characters were actually speaking English.  What you get in the other books is a “translation” of French or Welsh, etc.   Having said that, I think I would probably do some tinkering with the Sunne dialogue if I could go back in time, as I occasionally had a tin ear; this was my first book and it was therefore a learning experience.  

       Gayle, we do not know if Edward I permitted Davydd ap Gruffydd’s young sons to be educated or attend Mass.  We know they were cruelly separated from their mother, and an order is extant in which instructions were given in 1305 to confine Owain in a cage at night.   However, at least Edward spared the lives of the boys, who were five and three at the time of their capture.  When Heinrich VI seized the Sicilian crown in 1194, his rival was a four year old boy; Heinrich sent the child to Germany, where he was castrated and blinded and died soon afterward.  

        Lastly, I want to respond to your interesting question about bathing, Kristen.  One of the myths of the MA is that people went into the sea every ten years to bathe and were allergic to soap.   Not true.   Obviously the highborn were able to bathe more frequently because they had servants to do the heavy lifting, to lug the buckets of heated water up to their bedchambers, etc.  Since castles were so drafty, I don’t imagine that people wanted to take many baths in the dead of winter, but daily washing in a basin was done by the upper classes, and hands were always washed before and after meals in the great halls.   Since I usually am writing of people in positions of power, my characters are cleaner than the less affluent members of medieval society.   We know that King John took a bath every ten days to two weeks or so, for money was paid to his laundress for each bath and carefully entered into the account books.   Edward I’s young son, Henry, was sickly and indeed did not survive his childhood; a gallon of wine was added to his bath on Pentecost for health reasons.   Cities and many towns had public baths, and medieval manuscripts often show people bathing.   The historian, Margaret Wade Labarge concluded that the standard of cleanliness for the medieval upper classes was much higher than the standards prevailing in the 16^th-18^th centuries, and my own research supports her contention—which is why I have been known to joke that it was the Tudors who raised grime to an art form. 

      Another myth is that medievals knew nothing of sanitation.  Cities hired men to clean the streets, and malodorous occupations like butchers, tanners, etc, were banished to the outskirts of town.   There were laws against dumping chamber pots out of windows; London even had laws requiring the leashing of pet dogs.   Obviously not all were law-abiding, good citizens, and many of these ordinances were ignored.  But the same can be said of us.

     I’d meant to continue our discussion about historical accuracy in novels, but before I knew it, I had a blog that would have rivaled Moby Dick in length.  The tone was strikingly different, too, for I become quite indignant over some of the more egregious mistakes in historical writing.  So I am saving my soapbox rant till next time.  Since it is already partially written—and since my back pain is finally easing up—I ought to have it ready for posting in record time, a week or less.

       Meanwhile, I know our hearts go out to my Australian readers; many prayers are being said for your besieged country.  I think that photo of the smoke-blackened fire-fighter tenderly offering his bottle of water to a frightened and burned little koala will long remain in our memories; for those who haven’t seen it, I’ve been told it is on You-Tube.

       Happy Valentine’s Day to all.  Henry and Eleanor’s daughter Joanna was a Valentine’s Eve bride, wedding King William of Sicily on February 13, 1177.

February 11, 2009

Greetings to all.  I am sorry it has taken me so long to post another blog entry, but my herniated disks chose this time to flare up again and I’ve had to ration my time at the computer, much to my (and Richard’s) frustration.   We ran into technical difficulties with my on-line chat on January 19^th; their server kept crashing.  They are contacting my publicist at Putnam’s and we’ll see if we can reschedule it.  I’m feeling snakebit, for I also encountered computer troubles while I was doing a chat at the Historical Fiction On-line forum; it is almost enough to make me believe in vengeful Tudor ghosts.

     Let’s start with some of your posted comments and queries.  Meghan, I don’t think there are transcripts for most on-line chats, at least for this one.  Mary, I don’t have any New Jersey readings scheduled at present, though I hope to do one on behalf of the Atlantic County Women’s Shelter later in the year.  I am reluctant to take on any PR obligations until my health “issues” are resolved.  I’m feeling better than I was, but I have limited energy and tire very easily.  This is why I haven’t been able yet to add book recommendations for my earlier novels, Suzanne. 

       Julia, I am glad that you and others like the title “Land Beyond the Sea.”  I’ll probably use Outremer as the working title for my convenience since it is short and then suggest the translated version to my publishers.   What do you all think?   Does Land Beyond the Sea work for you?   I have never had any interest, though, Julia, in writing about Isabella and Edward II and Roger Mortimer; their story is too grim for me.   And I have no desire to write about Edward III either.  But after my books about Balian of Ibelin and Queen Constance, I very much want to write about Owain Glyndwr, and so Richard II will be a character in Owain’s story.   So will John of Gaunt.  I decided that I didn’t want to write a novel with John of Gaunt as the main character, though, not wanting to compete with a cult classic, Anya Seton’s Katherine.  

       Susan, I’ll relay your query about Kindle to St Martin’s Press; assuming I can deliver Lionheart on schedule—August, 2010—the publication date would probably occur in the autumn of 2011.  Elizabeth, I have never read  the Matthew Shardlake mysteries; aren’t they set in Tudor times?  Lastly, I want to answer your question, Victoria, about John’s whereabouts in June, 1189.  He disappeared after Henry’s flight from Le Mans and we don’t know where he was during the weeks leading up to Henry’s death.  In Here Be Dragons, I had his last meeting with Henry at Chinon, but when I researched Devil’s Brood, I became convinced that John parted from Henry much earlier, at Le Mans. 

     Now…I have several books to recommend, with great enthusiasm.  I have finished Elizabeth Chadwick’s A Place Beyond Courage, her novel about John Marshal and a time “when Christ and his saints slept.”  It took me so long because I do what you do, Tye; when I enjoy a book, I like to slow down and savor it.   Elizabeth’s John Marshal and mine (in Saints) are not carbon copies, but that is inevitable when we are writing about people who really lived.  Authors take the “known facts” and then interpret them in our own way, which is perfectly fair.  What is important is to get those “known facts” right.  Elizabeth’s John Marshal is a compelling and convincing man of his time, and I am sure that anyone who enjoyed my Saints will also enjoy A Place Beyond Courage.  It is available in paperback now in both the US and the UK.

      Next I want to alert you to a fascinating novel set in 12^th century Scandinavia, The Road to Jerusalem, by Jan Guillou.    Jan Guillou is a best-selling Swedish author who has written an acclaimed trilogy about the Crusades.  The Road to Jerusalem, the first book, will be published by Harper-Collins in May, 2009.  The trilogy is being made into a film, too; you can learn more at www.arnthemovie.com    I have read about 125 pages so far and I am enthralled by it, pure and simple.  The first book deals with the main character’s life in what would later become Sweden; the second one follows him to the Holy Land as a Knight Templar; the third takes him back to his homeland and the woman he loved.  Jan Guillou is an extraordinarily gifted writer and once you enter Arn’s world, you’ll want to stay—at least until you can finish the trilogy! 

       For a complete change of pace, I offer you The Adventures of Alianore Audley, which Elizabeth Chadwick kindly brought to my attention.   It is set during the Wars of the Roses, with Alianore acting as a spy for Edward IV and Richard III.   I am not sure how to classify the book, for it is not a historical novel in the true sense.  It is a spoof, I suppose, but a very clever one and done from a Yorkist perspective, so naturally I enjoyed it!  I realize it may not be to everyone’s taste, so I am going to quote a few passages to let you judge for yourselves.  Here the tart-tongued Alianore is speaking of her husband (whom she loves). 

     “Roger wore his collar of golden Yorkist suns to show that he was one of the king’s knights, ludicrous piked shoes to show that he was fashionable, and a massive codpiece to show that he had a vivid imagination.”    And here she describes Elizabeth Woodville (whom she does not love) as “Elizabeth too-sexy-for-her-hennin Woodville.”   And this is her “take” on the third marriage of Margaret Beaufort (the mother of Henry Tudor) to Thomas Stanley.  “She and Stanley having fallen deeply in love with each other’s money.”   

     The author, Brian Wainwright, has also written a “serious” historical, Under the Fetlock, set in the reign of Richard II, and I have it on my To Read List.  You have to be knowledgeable about a time period to be able to spoof it successfully.   As for Alianore’s adventures, if you like Monty Python, you’ll like Alianore. 

     For a complete change of pace, I want to mention a mystery novel, Dog On It by Spencer Quinn, which will be published in February, 2009 by Atria Books.  I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys mysteries, dogs, laughter, and good writing.  Spence pulls off something remarkable—his narrator is a dog, and he manages to make Chet sound and act like a dog throughout the book.  Check out Chet’s blog at www.chetthedog.com and you’ll see what I mean.

     Finally, the British writer Jules Watson has a new novel coming out in February, 2009 called The Swan Maiden, a lyrical retelling of the legend of Deirdre, the “Irish Helen of Troy.”  It is not available yet in the UK, unfortunately, but British readers can order it from Amazon.

     I thought I’d close by answering a reader’s recent question, for I am sure others have wondered about it, too.  She wanted to know why Henry is called Fitz Empress in his trilogy but I refer to his son as John Plantagenet in Here Be Dragons.   Henry chose to call himself Fitz Empress rather than Fitz Count, preferring to stress his mother’s more rarified status.  The term Plantagenet did not come into use until three centuries later; I believe that Richard, Duke of York was the first to claim it as a surname.  As some of you probably know, Henry’s father Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, liked to wear a sprig of planta genesta in his cap—or so the legend goes.  I couldn’t resist having one of Henry’s spies use planta genesta as a code word in Devil’s Brood.

       John would not have called himself Plantagenet, but when I wrote Dragons, I chose to simplify things and go with the familiar name for their dynasty.  Writers are faced with choices like this all the time.  For example, the term “Byzantine Empire” did not come into use until the 19^th century.  But if it was just a passing reference, I have occasionally used it in one of my books for clarity, knowing my readers would then understand I was speaking of Constantinople.  But when their empire actually figures in the storyline, as in Lionheart, I prefer to refer to it by its medieval name—the empire of the Greeks.   It is a bit unwieldy, but has the virtue of being accurate.   To show you how confusing it can be, though, the Byzantines never called themselves Greeks; they considered themselves to be Romans.  And then we have the Holy Roman Empire, of course, which was actually Germany! 

           So….do you prefer that a historical writer use medieval names even if they are unfamiliar to you?   Or would you prefer that the writer make use of the familiar albeit modern names?   Henry and Eleanor wouldn’t have called it the English Channel, but I use that phrase in my narrative and I feel comfortable using the words “the channel” in dialogue.  In A Place Beyond Courage, Elizabeth Chadwick has John Marshal call it the “Narrow Sea.”    Whether that is historically accurate or a very clever invention on her part, I thought it worked quite well and paid her the highest compliment one writer can offer another, that I wish I’d come up with that.   I was pleased recently to be able to confirm that the term “Mediterranean Sea” was used in the MA, and I am now trying to decide whether to go with “Straits of Messina” or “Far de Meschines”.   Of course now you know why it takes me so long to write one of my books.  I believe the correct term is “obsessive-compulsive.”   

     In my next blog, I would like to talk about historical accuracy and what writers owe the reading public.  But if there are any subjects you’d like me to address, let me know and I’ll certainly give them consideration.   Till then, I hope you enjoy the books I’ve recommended and I hope, too, that you keep sharing your own recommendations with us all.   Finding a new book or new author is a joy for anyone who loves to read.

January 25, 2009

     Thank you all for taking part in our first book giveaway.  It ended at midnight and the winner is Anne Meltzer.   As soon as you send me your address, Anne, I’ll put your copy in the mail to you.   This was fun and I’ll like to do it again from time to time.  When a hardback book is remaindered (goes out of print), an author is usually given the opportunity to buy it at cost, and most of us do so.  Sometimes an order goes astray; I never had any spare copies of Here Be Dragons because of such a slipup.   I’ve exhausted my supply of Sunne in Splendour over the years, and am almost out of copies of When Christ and His Saints Slept.  I do have extra copies of The Reckoning and Time and Chance.  I also have paperback copies of most of the historicals and the mysteries.  Would you be interested in a future giveaway with The Reckoning or Time and Chance or one of the paperbacks as the prize?

        Thank you so much for the vote of confidence in my writing; that means more than I can say.  I loved your comments, which were thoughtful and insightful and occasionally funny, and will respond to them at a later date.  I was just using the 21^st century California book as a hypothetical, so you needn’t worry—no way I’d ever want to write a book set in our time!  

        I hope you all had a good New Year’s.   I spent mine with my editor on Long Island and had a lovely visit; we had a dramatic snowstorm on New Year’s Eve which was great fun since we didn’t have to go out in it.   We also got to discuss my ideas for books after Lionheart—writers don’t feel secure unless we have other books glimmering on the horizon; we also need time to think about future books and let them marinate mentally.  I’ll start with the bad news, at least for my mystery readers.  The Justin de Quincy books are in limbo for now.  The sales have dropped off and my publishers on both sides of the Atlantic prefer that I concentrate upon the historical sagas until the economy improves.  I hope my mystery readers understand that the market dictates a decision like this; there are so many authors writing mysteries these days that the competition is intense.   But I haven’t abandoned Justin, hope to resurrect him when circumstances allow it.

     So I will not be doing a mystery after Lionheart, as originally planned.  What is next then?   Well, it is not carved in stone, but it seems likely now that I will be staying in the 12^th century for my next two books—which makes me very happy since this is the century in which I feel most at home.   Remember I mentioned my interest in writing about the real Balian of Ibelin?   Well, my editor likes the idea, too.   For those of you who’ve seen Kingdom of Heaven, my Balian and Orlando Bloom’s Balian share the same name, but not much else.  Well, they are both tall, and they both held Jerusalem against Saladin, but that‘s about it.    I’ve always thought that reality usually trumps fiction when we’re dealing with the MA.  What scriptwriter could top the antics of the Angevins?  And the real Balian of Ibelin’s life was so dramatic that it did not need any Hollywood embellishments. 

      Nor was drama lacking in the life of Constance de Hautville, heiress to the throne of Sicily.   She may not have been threatened by Byzantine pirates as Eleanor of Aquitaine was on her way home from Crusade; interestingly enough, Eleanor was saved by Constance’s father, King Roger II, whose fleet came to her rescue.  But Constance faced down a mob when they burst into her residence in Salerno and came close to losing her life.   And this was only one of the extraordinary episodes in the life of this strong-willed, remarkable woman.  When I first discovered her story, I remember thinking that she deserved a book of her own, and I am delighted that there is a good chance this may come to pass.  

        One of the many aspects of writing about Balian and Constance that appeals to me is the spillover from Lionheart.  Balian will be a character in my account of Richard I’s crusade, as he was a key player in the politics of Outremer, their name for the Holy Land, loosely translated as “the land beyond the sea.”   I think that would be a good title; anyone agree with me?    And Joanna will have a role in Constance’s book, for the latter was the aunt of Joanna’s husband, King William II, and Joanna loyally supported Constance’s claim to the Sicilian throne.  

         Again, circumstances could force a change of plans.  But as of now, this is the path I hope to travel after Lionheart is done.   And it is very heartening to know you’re all willing to travel it with me.   

           I almost forgot.  I am doing a live web chat at the Schuler e-Studio on Monday, January 19^th, 2009, at 8 PM.  You can visit the website at www.Schulerbooks.com for further details.   I hope some of you will drop in.

January 7, 2009

Hi, everyone.  I am sorry there was such a lapse since my last blog, but like most of you, I got caught up in the pre-Christmas craziness.  And of course I have Richard Coeur de Lion’s hot breath on the back of my neck, as he is very impatient to launch his crusade.   If I thought Henry and Eleanor were prima donnas, I suspect Richard is going to make them seem positively saintly.   I decided this would be a good time to respond to the questions and comments that have been posted about my past blogs.   And I thought, too, that it would be fun to stage a Christmas giveaway.   So….starting from when this blog is posted until Epiphany, January 6^th, 2009, any one who posts a comment about this blog will be entered in a drawing.   Once Epiphany is past, I will pick one name at random from the lot, and that person gets an autographed copy of Devil’s Brood.

     Now I’ll start with my last blog, The Poisoned Pen.  Michelle, I loved your observation that Ranulf is an onion and Hywel is a mushroom.    And Suzanne, you are absolutely correct that Maud, the Countess of Chester, is a mushroom.  I’d never intended for her to have such a large role in Saints, much less Time and Chance and Devil’s Brood.  But from her first appearance, she seized center stage and that was that.   Soon she was facilitating Ranulf’s adulterous affair, dealing deftly with her unstable, dangerous husband, and showing quite a taste for the spotlight.   Before I knew it, she’d become a close friend and confidante of Eleanor, too, thus ensuring her appearance in the rest of the series—clever lady.  We don’t know if they really had such a friendship, but both women had so much in common that it made sense to me.   I am really going to miss Maud in Lionheart, for she died in August of 1189.

      Jenna, I agree with you about Mary Tudor.   I do feel sorry for her, notwithstanding all the blood on her hands.  She was obviously emotionally damaged by her dreadful childhood and girlhood and by the cruel way her father treated her mother.  There is something pathetic about Mary: her desperate need to be loved, her unhappy marriage, and her phantom pregnancy.  That doesn’t mean I would have wanted to live during her reign, though! 

       Jeremy, you are so right about the Tattered Cover.  Next to the Poisoned Pen, it is my favorite independent bookstore.   And I laughed at your comment about the Angevins “sucking me back in,” for that made me think of the line from one of the Godfather films, where Michael Corleone complains that just when he thinks he has gotten out (of the Mafia), they pull him back in.       Sara, I liked your observation that the world begins with Eleanor and Henry, ends temporarily after Richard III’s death, and resumes with the Stuarts, for that is my view of English history, too.   Lastly, I want to thank Britta for recommending John Julius Norwich’s trilogy about the Byzantine Empire.  I am such a fan of his writing, love the two books he wrote about the Norman kingdom of Sicily, The Normans in the South and The Kingdom in the Sun.   I am making great use of the latter book in my research for Lionheart; you may remember that Henry and Eleanor’s daughter Joanna was sent off at age eleven to wed the King of Sicily.   I’ve become so intrigued by Norman Sicily that I am giving serious consideration to writing about it; more on that at a later date. 

       Brief detour here.   Do you want authors to stay within a certain time frame?  For example, Margaret George has written books set in 16^th century England (Henry VIII and Mary, Queen of Scots) the Biblical era (Mary Magdalene) and ancient Greece (Helen of Troy.)  Colleen McCullough is another writer who feels free to follow her own impulses. Would you prefer that a writer “specialize,” if you will, or time travel back and forth across the centuries?  

     I am guessing that if I had an inexplicable urge to write a novel set in 21^st century California, a lot of you would bail on me, right?   But what if I continued to write historical novels, just not medieval historicals?   For a brief time, I played around with the idea of writing about the ancient Roman Republic, for I’d always been interested in the Gracchi brothers.   And then I found myself wanting to write a novel about the American Revolution, approaching it as our first civil war.   In that, I have support from John Adams, who estimated that a quarter of his countrymen were rebels, a quarter were Tories, and the rest were sitting on the fence.    In all honesty, it isn’t likely I’ll get to indulge these impulses, not unless I can live to be 110, for it would be incredibly time-consuming to research and plough virgin territory.   And then I’d have to convince my publishers on both sides of the Atlantic that I hadn’t lost my mind!  I guess it is lucky for me that I feel so at home in the MA.

       But assume for a moment that I could find a way to make it work.  Would you be willing to follow me to 18^th century America or ancient Rome?    Or would you prefer that I continue to focus upon the medieval world?   And what if I strayed from my usual turf, England, France, and Wales?   Would a novel set in 12^th century Sicily or 12^th century Outremer (the Holy Land) attract your attention if you came upon it in a bookstore?   And yes, those are not idle questions, since I am seriously tempted to write of Constance, the daughter of King Roger II of Sicily, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich (a nasty piece of work if ever there was one) and mother of Frederick II.   And I am drawn, too, to Balian of Ibelin, the real man, not Orlando Bloom’s improbable fictional blacksmith in Kingdom of Heaven, a film that—like Braveheart—had me muttering into my popcorn and upsetting other movie viewers. 

       I’d planned to go on and answer some more questions from past blogs, but I am already on page three, so I’ll save that for another time.   I want to thank you all for the eloquent comments about the importance of Author’s Notes; it was wonderful to get such validation.  My Welsh princes would have wished you Nadolig Llawen and Henry and Eleanor a Joyeux Noel, but I’ll settle for Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays..   And don’t forget, any comments about this blog automatically enter you in the Devil’s Brood drawing.     See you next year.

December 24, 2008