Showing titles in Medieval

July 1284. King Edward has invited the nobility of England, Ireland, and Scotland to Nefyn, one of the most remote spots in Wales, for a Round Table—a tournament as in the tales of King Arthur to celebrate Edward's victory over the Welsh and his ascension to Arthur's throne. Not everyone sees the tournament as a friendly competition, however, and in short order, Rhys and Catrin are called to investigate the death of a knight in the retinue of the Earl of Gloucester.

York, 1367. Owen Archer and his old comrade, Ned Townley, are each leading companies of the king's men north of York to Fountains and Rievaulx abbeys respectively, on a mission to win the support of the powerful abbots for William of Wykeham becoming the Bishop of Winchester. But trouble stalks Ned Townley—Sir William of Wyndesore's men at Windsor suspect he killed a page in a jealous rage over his betrothed. Is the rumor true?

*Winner of the Aurora Award for Best Novel* From SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Kate Heartfield comes a glorious, lyrical retelling of one of Norse mythology’s greatest epics 'With a brilliant heroine at the helm, this richly detailed, character-driven story renders epic mythological battles...

After years of voyaging around the world, the Wolves of Odin are going home. Far from the green crew led by an unblooded, wily lad that departed Sigtun, they return a renowned, feared war-band, led by Jarl Halfdan Loki-Born. They have come back to hunt down the last man responsible for the death of Halfdan’s father, the wicked Christian priest Hjalmvigi.

In summer of 1144, a strange calm has settled over England. The armies of King Stephen and Empress Maudhave temporarily exhausted each other. Brother Cadfael, herbalist-sleuth of Shrewsbury's Benedictine Abbey, agrees to accompany wise young Brother Mark on Church business in Wales. But the brothers soon find themselves caught up in yet another feud. A Welsh prince has banished his brother, accusing him of the treacherous murder of an ally, and the country teeters on the brink of civil war. Cadfael has to survive the brotherly quarrel that could plunge an entire kingdom into chaos.

1584: Elizabeth I rules England. But a dangerous plot is brewing in court, and Mary Queen of Scots will stop at nothing to take her cousin’s throne. There’s only one thing standing in her way: Tom, the queen’s trusted apothecary, who makes the perfect silent spy.... 2021: Travelling the globe in her campervan, Mathilde has never belonged anywhere. So when she receives news of an inheritance, she is shocked to discover she has a family in England.

September, 1284. Within moments of rejoining the king's company, Rhys and Catrin learn King Edward has not only melted down the silver seal of their murdered prince and turned it into a chalice, but the chalice itself has gone missing a matter of days before its intended consecration at Vale Royal Abbey.

When his father is killed at Arsuf protecting King Richard, Thomas is knighted. His hopes of inheriting his family's manor are dashed when Prince John takes power in his brother's absence. With a handful of men, Sir Thomas is forced to travel to Sweden where he joins the Jarl Birger Brosa fighting the Estonians, Karelians and Slavs. Fighting in the harsh environment of a Baltic winter makes Sir Thomas and his men stronger. There he learns of further treachery and dishonour among Bishops, Kings and Princes who value thrones more than men.

In the dilapidated surroundings of the Savoy hospital, a delegation from the Netherlands has gathered for a final attempt to secure peace between the two nations. Thomas Chaloner, active in Holland during Cromwell's time, knows many of the delegates, including the sister of his late wife. Then the body of his former brother-in-law is found in the Thames. Chaloner discovers that the dead man has left enigmatic clues to a motivation for his murder.

Sylvia Townsend Warner’s The Corner That Held Them is a historical novel like no other, one that immerses the listener in the dailiness of history, rather than history as the given sequence of events that, in time, it comes to seem. Time ebbs and flows and characters come and go in this novel, set in the era of the Black Death, about a Benedictine convent of no great note. The nuns do their chores, seek to maintain and improve the fabric of their house and chapel, and struggle with each other and with themselves. 

Alexander and Hervi de Montroi, half-brothers with no inheritance, meet in France. Hervi is a professional jouster and Alexander, fleeing the beatings of an English monastery, needs a trade. Despite misgivings, Hervi takes him on as his squire, introducing him to the travelers' immoral lifestyle. He befriends a girl, Monday, taking care of her after her parents die until, pregnant with Alexander's child, she leaves, finding shelter in a castle as a seamstress. Noticed by King John, she becomes his mistress in England, bearing his son and gaining a house.

Poitiers was in the past, but it changed the life of Sir John Hawkwood, for he gained his spurs and that was another step on his journey. Once he realised that he had more ambition than just to serve the king of England, he joined forces with Albert Sterz and formed a company of mercenaries who hired out their swords. Fighting for the king of England against Burgundy, they gained a reputation which made others both fear and hate them in equal measure. 

When Princess Matilda is eighteen years old, tragedy strikes the royal family, and she becomes the only child of the king of England - the de facto heir to the throne. As her dying father persuades the barons to pledge allegiance to her, Matilda returns to England - but the lords and clergy do not like an independent woman. And Matilda is nothing if not headstrong. When the old king dies, the country is plunged into instant chaos. So begins a fierce battle between cousins that will go down in history as a time called 'The Anarchy'.

For the Dogs, the war has only just begun. Caught up in the siege of Calais, in the midst of a brutal eleven-month blockade of a small port on the French coast, they are no longer blindly walking into the unknown. But the men still have more questions than answers about what faces them–and why. What are they really fighting for? And why does the king care so much about taking such a small French town? The Dogs aren't paid to ask questions but in their work, they have the means to make people talk.

When Hugh and Kate’s newborn son is taken to the church to be baptized, they are astounded to find that the locked font is completely dry. The possibility of a leak is quickly ruled out, and just as Hugh is beginning to wonder if there may be a sinister explanation for the stolen holy water, Father Robert is found lying motionless by the rood screen in a pool of blood.

Alfraed is now the Earl of Cleveland but his new position throws him into a world of intrigue. There are plots and coups as the enemies of England try to wrest the land from King Henry. The Earl has to fight the Scots, the Welsh and Vikings before he travels to Normandy to fight alongside the king. Filled with battles and knightly combat, the fast-moving novel reflects the chaotic times before the first English Civil War.

873 AD. The Viking Age grips Northern Europe. Seven years have passed since the ferocious sea battle with Ivar the Boneless, and Hundr is now a Viking war leader of reputation and wealth. A voice from the past calls to Hundr for aid, and he must take his loyal crew and their feared warships across the Whale Road to Viking Dublin, in a vicious and brutal fight against Eystein Longaxe. Hundr must fight against an implacable and powerful enemy amidst brutal attacks, shield wall battles, and treachery. Will his skill and savagery be enough, and can Hundr and his crew survive?

Thirteenth-century France. Bridget has grown up mastering the mystical gifts of her ancestor, Mary Magdalene, whose unbroken female lineage has kept a legacy of wisdom alive for a thousand years. But the all-powerful Catholic Church has sworn to destroy Bridget for using her healing talents and supernatural abilities.

A Sunday Times Bestseller England’s Forgotten Queens ‘O’Brien cleverly intertwines the personal and political in this enjoyable, gripping tale.’ -The Times Her children or her crown France, 1399: The Duke of Brittany is dead and his widow, Joanna of Navarre, has inherited control of...

Dragon Heart's daughter and daughter in law had been kidnapped. He has to to search for them in the lands and the seas of his enemies. He faces enemies with magical powers as well as enemies who have castles which cannot be taken. In a fast moving story filled with battles at sea and on land our Viking hero has more twists and turns to contend with than he has encountered before. The story moves from the north to Cornwall, Wales and back to the north as Dragon Heart and his men are stretched to the limit.