Joint Interview: Sharon Bennett Connolly

Yesterday my book, Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England, was published by Pen & Sword Books. But it wasn't the only one they published yesterday. I'm delighted that Sharon Bennett Connolly's Ladies of Magna Carta was also released and we decided to interview each other, using the same questions. You'll find my answers on her BLOG. Meanwhile, here are Sharon's:

Welcome to the blog Sharon. Firstly, what motivated you to write the book?

I love writing and I love history. The 13th century and, in particular, the reign of King John, is a fascinating era. It is also a time when women stand out as being strong and influential on events. In my first book, Heroines of the Medieval World, I had included the stories of Nicholaa de la Haye and Matilda de Braose, both remarkable, independent women. Nicholaa successfully defended Lincoln Castle in no less than 3 sieges, the last against a joint army of English rebel barons and invading French.  Matilda had also held a castle under siege, but is remembered more as King John’s victim, starved to death in her cell, having chewed on her dead son’s cheek to survive just that bit longer – no one said medieval history was not gruesome! The lives of these two women deserved to be told. And as I looked into the era, the more remarkable women I found.

Runnymede, where Magna Carta was sealed
Photo: Jayne Smith

There are several women whose stories deserved telling, such as the Scottish princesses who were hostages of King John and John’s own wives and daughters. William Marshal was also a big part of the Magna Carta story, and the lives of his five daughters, who married some of the greatest barons of the age, were revealing – several found themselves married to men on the opposing side of the political spectrum to their father. 

I wanted to know how these women reacted to the events that was going on around them, how much influence – or not – they had on their men and history. And I wanted to tell their stories.

What were the research challenges?

As you know, Annie, it’s very hard to get much information on women in medieval history. Most of the chronicles talk about the men and only mention women in passing. So, you have to learn to read between the lines, work out, from the little information you have, where the women would have been and what they would have been up to. 

The 1215 Magna Carta (British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts)

Another challenge is that a lot of the chronicles are written in Latin – and I don’t read Latin. At least, I didn’t think I did. I am fluent in French, which seems to give me enough understanding of Latin to be able to summarise the texts, but not enough to do a thorough translation. And Google translate seems to have less understanding of Latin than I do.

On the plus side, research has never been easier. With the internet, even 1,000-year-old chronicles are at your fingertips. And the greats, such as Orderic Vitalis and William of Malmesbury, are there to be read, from the comfort of your own laptop.


Do you have a particular favourite amongst the women you’ve written about?

I found all the women in the book fascinating. I loved the image of family in the stories of William Marshal’s daughters, how they were asked to sing at his bedside when the great knight was dying. I found Isabelle d’Angoulême particularly vexing. I wanted to feel sorry for her, married before she was even a teenager and thrust into King John’s bed and English politics. But then, she deserted her own children almost as soon as their father was buried, starting a new life and family in France, and only calling on her son, Henry III, when she wanted something. It was hard to feel any sympathy for her in the end!

Carving of Nicolaa de Haye at Lincoln
Castle - Sharon's own photo

My favourite is Nicholaa de la Haye. I have been researching her for about five years now. She is an incredible woman who managed to successfully defend Lincoln Castle against no less than three sieges; in the first one her attacks gave up and went home, in the second, she paid them to go away and in the third, the great William Marshal rode to her relief. 

Nicholaa was the first ever female sheriff in England and a staunch supporter of King John. And yet, four days after the 1217 Battle of Lincoln, which was the culmination of a six-week siege of the castle, she was relieved of her position as castellan of Lincoln Castle in favour of King Henry III’s uncle, William Longspee. 

I’m not sure what the men expected of a woman who had already proven that she would not surrender, but she rode straight to the ten-year-old king and asked for her castle back – and got it. 

Can you tell us briefly about your other books?

Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England is my third book. My first was Heroines of the Medieval World, which was a series of short biographies of some of the most remarkable medieval women, from queens to nuns and from warriors to mistresses. My second, Silk and the Sword: the Women of the Norman Conquest, was a study of the events of 1066, and the years either side, focusing on the women of the era.

What’s next?

I am working on my next book at the moment – it is due into the publishers at the end of the month. It is a biography of the Warenne earls of Surrey, from the Norman Conquest to the last earl’s death in 1347. The family were one of the most prominent in medieval England, marrying into the royal families of England, France and Scotland. They had extensive lands stretching from the south coast to West Yorkshire and were participants in most of the major events of medieval England, from the Conquest itself to the Magna Carta and the Scottish Wars of Independence. As with all medieval lords, their story is replete with high drama, politics and a little love.

Thanks so much for chatting today! Where can people find you on Social Media and where can they buy your books? 

Blog, Facebook, Twitter: @Thehistorybits
Amazon UK
Amazon US

Huge congratulations to Sharon - watch out for my review of her wonderful book, coming soon!

Friday Featured: C

Continuing the new weekly series: Friday Featured. I'm publishing, working from A-Z, a list of authors whose works I think you should check out. Maybe I've read some of their works, maybe I've worked with them on various projects, perhaps their books are on my To-Be-Read pile, or perhaps they are friends of mine who have news that needs to be shared. The only rule here is that it is totally unsolicited. The authors don't know I'm going to feature them, and in that way you'll know that this is simply my honest opinion. If I haven't read their work yet I'll be candid and say so, but at least one book by each of these authors is either on my shelves, or on my Kindle; it might be that I just haven't got to them yet 😊

This week - C  (clicking on the names will take you to the author website; book titles will take you to Amazon)

Meg Clothier I read the paperback version of The Empress a while ago, and you can find my review of it on Discovering Diamonds. I didn't know much - if anything - about the historical setting but I do now. With constant struggles for power, and frequent regime changes, these were turbulent times and Agnes, the empress of the title, has to learn to use her wits merely to stay alive. It's a bit Game of Thrones-esque, in that not all the characters make it, but it is a brilliant read. I warmed to Agnes; I liked the fact that she wasn't 'feisty', just a young girl who is shaped by her experiences. Theo, too, is a likeable, yet flawed character. The history is explained without slowing the plot, I enjoyed the dialogue even though it is quite modern at times, and the world-building is deftly done.

Elizabeth Chadwick What can I say about Elizabeth Chadwick, other than that she is simply masterful at producing historical novels which teem with believable characters and settings? Her series on William Marshal and his family, beginning with A Place Beyond Courage which features William's father and including the recent Templar Silks, are probably the last word on that most extraordinary knight and I've lost count of how many of her books I've read. I've chosen The Wild Hunt because I think it is one of my favourites. Maybe it's because it's set in Wales, but there is just something about the story of the developing relationship between Guyon and Judith which really stayed with me and this remains my favourite of all Ms Chadwick's books. So far... 

Sharon Bennett Connolly  I had the pleasure of meeting Sharon a couple of years ago and we had dinner and a long - very long, actually - chat about history. Now she has not one, but two nonfiction books available and I'm happy to say that I have hardback copies of both volumes. Heroines of the Medieval World is a brilliantly-conceived book which examines the lives of various medieval women. I know that one of Sharon's favourites is Nicolaa de la Haye, who defended Lincoln Castle. Sharon has also written about the women of the Norman Conquest, in Silk and the Sword, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and is currently working on her third book, Ladies of the Magna Carta, which will be released through Pen & Sword in May 2020 and she has, I believe, at least two more books in the pipeline.

Stephanie Churchill Stephanie has, I believe, just finished the third volume (click on her name to pre-order) in her Crown of Destiny series about, well, how to describe it? I'd say it's historical-style fantasy. From the opening page of The Scribe's Daughter, I was hooked. What a wonderful heroine Kassia is. Actually, the setting doesn't really matter because this is such a well-crafted story. The plot twists and turns are clever and unexpected, the characters wonderfully three-dimensional and there are light touches of genuine comedy which I really enjoyed. Kassia's journey is part quest, part escape, and the companions she meets along the way help her - and sometimes hinder her - to solve the mystery of what has happened to her family. All the threads are nicely tied up, but all is also set up for Volume Two. A great read.

Nicola Cornick I was delighted when Nicola sent me a paperback copy of The Woman in the Lake and again, I reviewed for Discovering Diamonds. I think I read this book in about two sittings; it is a real page turner, full of plot twists and coincidences which turn out to be anything but chance. The history of Swindon is used to great dramatic effect. The events of the past have an effect on the future, and the future also seems to affect the past. I liked the main present-day character, Fenella. She is the link between the past and the present, as we gradually find out the identity of the woman in the lake and, more importantly, who put her there. This is a really engrossing read. No point, however small, is insignificant. I also liked the way certain episodes were shown from different points of view.

I've read all of these books and can recommend them. So if you're looking for a weekend read, check them out. And join me next week when in a rather boring and predictable plot development, we move on to D 😊

Review & Giveaway: Silk and the Sword by Sharon Bennett Connolly

What an ingenious concept: to examine the lives of and the roles played by the women related to the more familiar, male, characters involved in the events immediately before and after the Norman Conquest.

Silk and the Sword sensibly begins with events which far preceded those of 1066, giving the reader an introduction to the main families involved, and some background information which shows that we cannot take the events of 1066 in isolation.

This earlier history - of the powerful families of Mercia, Lady Godiva, the Godwines, and Queen Emma and both her husbands - is very familiar to me and if I'm honest there were times when I knew that there was more behind certain parts of the story, but that's me, that's not most folk. I have just had a history of Mercia published, so all my research is still very fresh in my mind. For those who are new to this period, or even those who aren't, there is plenty of meat on the bones of the story. 

Harald's wife Elisiv of Kiev,
daughter of Yaroslav the Wise

Does this mean though that there were no surprises in the book for me and nothing new to learn? Far from it. All the well-known women are here, as one would expect - Emma, Edith of Wessex, Edith 'Swanneck' - but so too are the wives of Harald Hardrada. I knew nothing about these women and I thoroughly enjoyed being whisked across the sea to learn about those close to the man described here as 'the wild card in the events of 1066'. It's easy to forget, because of his ultimate defeat, that he was a powerful ruler whose success in England, had it come, would have seen England absorbed into a Scandinavian empire. I had little idea about his royal pedigree (stretching back through his mother's line to the first king of Norway) nor, indeed, that Harald was married to two women at the same time! 

With the inclusion of Matilda of Flanders even the most ardently pro-Saxon reader will be forced to look at things from a different perspective and Gundrada de Warenne, someone I've not read about more than in passing, is given a chapter of her own and the stories behind her alleged parentage fully explored.

What I do know, because of the book that I'm currently writing, is that it is very difficult to format a book like this. Great care has been taken to skilfully extract these women from the general narrative and talk about them in isolation, whilst keeping the facts of their lives in context. 

Inevitably there is crossover, but rather than repeating herself, the author simply signposts where we are, and that we've been here before, but now we're with a different woman and we're looking at things from a different woman's perspective.

The author is keen for us to share her knowledge and interest in all the women, although I suspect she might have her favourites. Whilst she gives sympathetic and even-handed treatment to them all, I felt that there was added affection when it came to the poignancy of Edith Swanneck's tale and of Gytha, mother of the Godwine brood.

This was an ambitious project, beautifully executed and yes, as I've said, much of it very familiar to me. But the genius touch was to incorporate the stories of women from other countries because actually, it's completely logical. If you're telling the story of the women of 1066 then of course we need to know about the wives of Harald Hardrada and William of Normandy. This is where I was on less familiar ground and fascinating it was, too.

This book is a light, easy read, but it's also full of depth. Whether you are reading about these events for the first time or with a working knowledge of them, the lead-up to and the aftermath of the Conquest, with chapters entitled, for example, 'Grief and Sufferings', give an altogether different viewpoint on proceedings.

I was privileged to receive a pre-publication copy of Silk and the Sword but one lucky winner can also receive a free copy. Sharon is giving away a hardback copy of the book to readers worldwide. Simply leave a comment below - Please don't forget to leave your contact details! - and one name will be chosen at random at 7pm GMT Wednesday 21st November 2018