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!

Characters and their occupations - 12 authors introduce

Today is traditionally 'Labour Day' in the UK. I asked 11 other authors to introduce one of their characters and their occupation. I hope you take instantly to this varied group and all the buy links are there if you want to read further. (If? Of course you do! 😉)

Pauline Barclay
Hello, I’m Dor, I’ve been asked what my occupation is, my girl says I’m a scrubber, she’s a cheeky mare! Ok, I’m a cleaner and have four jobs that have me rolling my sleeves up! Not glamorous, but it pays the bills, just! One of my cleans is an office, you wouldn’t believe how office folk leave the place, and the little bleeders like their morning joke! I’ll be putting my coat as there’re strolling in. “Lucky you, we’re starting and you’re off to put your feet up.’ I won’t say what I’d like to reply, but with three other places to muck out, it ain't polite! They might all look down their beaks at me, but at the end of the day I was the one who wiped the smile from their faces because sometimes it happens!


The Birthday Card
Web Site
Blog Site
Facebook
Twitter: @paulinembarclay
Instagram @paulinebarclay

Cryssa Bazos
Elizabeth Seton comes from a long line of herbalists and has a talent for the healing arts. Ever since she was a little girl in Weymouth, she planned to follow in her mother’s footsteps and continue to care for the sick who came to their door. Until civil war reared its ugly head and a community was left divided. With her family destroyed, Elizabeth uproots herself to live with her widowed aunt, a healer in her own community. Under the guidance of her aunt, Elizabeth once more explores her art by creating simple syrups, tinctures, salves, and purges. Snakeweed for the ague, willow bark for pain, king’s claver for consumption, and take care not to trod on moonwort lest your horse cast a shoe. The tools of her trade, mortar and pestle, scales and stills, transform herbs and roots into medicine, while her aunt’s receipt book captures generations of experience. 

Traitor’s Knot buy link
Website: https://cryssabazos.com
Twitter (@CryssaBazos)
Facebook

Anna Belfrage
Name: Adam de Guirande, protagonist of In The Shadow of the Storm. Occupation: Knight. Excels at the broadsword, is more than capable with a lance but will admit to being less of an expert with bow and arrow—he has archers to handle such. Recently wed to a lady who is not quite what she seems to be and is finding married life comes with numerous challenges, one of which is having a new person wiggle her way into his heart. Will do anything for his lord and master, Roger Mortimer, which does not necessarily endear him to King Edward II who considers Mortimer a rebel and his greatest enemy. But knights as loyal and honourable as Adam are hard to come by so hanging him may be a waste. Or maybe not—after all, WHO is he loyal to? That perfidious Mortimer or his king? 
Find out more about Anna on her website, check out her Amazon page and connect on FB and Twitter.

Buy In the Shadow of the Storm

Kathryn Gauci 
Sophia Laskaris is a couturier in Constantinople during the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Born into a family of professional embroiderers, she is a woman who is not only creative, but has a head for business too. Her grandmother, Dimitra, one of the first embroiderers to gain the patronage of the Sultan’s family and who took her business to great heights throughout the empire, was the guiding light in her life. Sophia opened up her couture house, La Maison du L’Orient, in Pera, the fashionable European district in the city, at a time when European fashion was becoming popular, but she continued to create designs based on the oriental look and was admired by Parisian designers such as Paul Poiret. She was highly educated, speaking several languages, and politically astute. With the outbreak of the Balkan Wars in 1912 and WWI, she used her work to not only aid Turks in distress, but to gather information for the Greeks who were seeking independence. When the situation deteriorated, she was forced to flee Turkey and reinvent herself as a seamstress in Athens. After the Germans occupied Greece, she drew on her previous background to aid the Resistance.

Buy The Embroiderer 
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Susan Grossey
My narrator Sam Plank’s occupation – that of magistrates’ constable – is central to his life and to my books.  Magistrates’ constables existed for only a short period of policing history: they were used in London during the two decades or so after the Bow Street Runners and before the Metropolitan Police, which was the 1810s and 1820s.  At that time there was little concept of investigation of crime, and none at all of detection.  If you were the victim of a crime and had some idea who had done it, you took your complaint to the local magistrate.  If he thought your claim had merit, he would task one of his constables with executing a warrant to bring the accused in for questioning.  Of course, “my” Sam is much more curious than that and makes a great deal more of his role, taking a particular interest in financial crimes…

Website 
Blog 
I tweet as @ConstablePlank
Monthly Newsletter (for updates & offers) 

Helen Hollick
I was elected King of England in January 1066. It was an honour I did not want, but who else is there able to protect this noble land from those who want to steal our wealth and the Crown for their own?
King Edward died without a son, the only other of royal blood is but a boy with no experience of battle or government. To be King I must ally with the Northern Earls, so I must take their sister to be my Queen. She is a comely lass, but I have a handfasted wife, my beloved Edyth, mother of my children. So, I set her aside for the good of England, for stability and prosperity. Hah! Being King is a privilege you say?  I swear it is not. But I will do my duty and all I can to protect you, my people from the  threatening tyranny of Normandy. Or die trying.

you tube trailer:
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Twitter: @HelenHollick

Charlene Newcomb 
I thank Mistress Annie from Westminster’s kitchens who invited me here today. I met her when nobles gathered to crown the new king. I was wearing my fancy clothes—stolen, of course—pretending to be a page. Mistress Annie knows I’m a thief living on the streets, sleeping in the eaves of St. Paul’s or here at Westminster many a night, but she doesn’t fault me. She feeds me and my friend now and again, best chicken in garlic and onion sauce served alongside the best gossip. We hear the king, the one called Lionheart, is gathering an army for a pilgrimage to Outremer. Streets of London or camp follower—not much different. Being good with dice, I can win a coin or two. We might pick up some work. I can brush down a palfrey, and Little John is handy with needle and thread. And if we cannot work, there’ll be pockets-a-plenty to pick. 
—meet young Allan and Little John in Men of the Cross


Find Char’s books on Amazon & connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Amy Maroney
Artist, healer: Miramonde de Oto was a woman of many skills. Raised in a convent in the medieval Pyrenees, she learned healing remedies from the “mountain folk” and worked during her adolescence in the convent’s infirmary. In her childhood, she used bits of charcoal to draw on the marble step of an old well. When she learned to write, she was tasked with copying and illuminating manuscripts in the convent’s library. Eventually she graduated to painting portraits, thanks to an exceptional art teacher. It wasn’t until catastrophe struck the convent that Miramonde would go on to use her talents in the wider world—and unlike most women artists of her time, she even got paid for it. 

The Girl from Oto is available on Amazon UK and Amazon US
Get a free prequel novella to The Girl from Oto and find Amy’s Blog here. Connect with her on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook

Alison Morton 
Jobs for the girls? Aurelia Mitela has always known she would serve her country in some way; she’s a bone-and-blood Roma Novan, member of a leading family with military commanders, diplomats and councillors among her ancestors. She becomes all three eventually, through AURELIA, NEXUS, INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, but is locked in bitter opposition with her lifelong enemy. Passionate and complex, she will do anything to protect both her daughter and her lover, but despite her innate strength she is crippled by self-doubt.

Soldering requires hard physical and mental training which needs persistence and a love of the life of camaraderie, tough decisions and quick and cool judgement in trying circumstances. In a softer way, so does a diplomat’s life! But being a councillor to a weak ruler requires the toughness of mind and an ability to suppress frustration, something that Aurelia doesn’t always achieve...


Amazon author page  
Buying link
Website
Website link to Aurelia specifically

Elizabeth St John 
Nan Wilmot
aka Anne St.John Lee Wilmot
The Countess of Rochester

Job Title: 
Spymistress to Charles II

Qualifications: 
Ambitious multi-talented outgoing individual with wide-ranging contacts across both Parliamentarian and Royalist departments. Highly skilled in project management, sales, marketing and procurement. Exceptionally discreet, trustworthy and decorous.  Fluent in English and French, with proven communication skills, especially in translations and multi-media. Experienced in multiple coding languages. Good social skills, conversant with inter-departmental protocols and processes and an ability to integrate smoothly within existing teams. Successful problem-solver, works well under stress. A valuable addition to any organization. 

Remuneration: 
Land, rents, livestock, jewelry, titles, perquisites, patronage, manors, arranged marriages, gold.
References: 
Charles II, Oliver Cromwell

Buy at
Amazon and Here
Website

Marian Thorpe 
Sorley (Lord Somhairle of Gundarstorp, to give him his full name) is a scáeli, in the language of Linrathe.
I adapted scáeli from scéalaí, Irish for storyteller. Like the skalds of Scandinavia and the bards of Celtic Britain, Sorley is a historian, a genealogist, a musician and a teacher. He and other scáeli’en hold the collective knowledge of their people. He studied long and hard to reach this position, learning songs and stories since childhood, followed by five years of study under a senior scáeli, then years of wandering, collecting songs and stories to add to his collection. Finally, he sat a formal exam of set pieces plus his own compositions, and built his own ladhar (a lyre) as well. Scáeli’en may wander for years, be attached to a noble house, or be appointed to a Ti’ach, a college, as Sorley is at the end of the series.

Buy Empire's Reckoning
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Annie Whitehead
Æthelflæd - known to her family as Teasel - has quite an important job. She’s not only the daughter of Alfred the Great, she’s also destined to become ruler of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Not her father’s realm, but the neighbouring kingdom of Mercia. These two kingdoms are the only ones left in England still holding out against the Danish ‘Vikings’. Despite all expectations, Æthelflæd becomes a queen in all but name. And there’s the rub. Her job is that of queen, but she doesn’t have the official title. She has to learn to live with a husband for whom she doesn’t initially care, discover how to win over the people of Mercia, and, oh yes, protect Mercia not only from the ‘Vikings’, but, ultimately, her own brother. And all this without an official job contract.

Buy To Be A Queen
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Review: Liberation by Imogen Kealey

I've been reading an awful lot of books recently - and trying to move away from my usual preferred time period. Last weekend I read the new book from Imogen Kealey* and I'm glad to say that moving out of my 'comfort zone' was rewarding indeed.

"To the Allies she was a fearless freedom fighter, special operations super spy, a woman ahead of her time. To the Gestapo she was a ghost, a shadow, the most wanted person in the world with a five-million-Franc bounty on her head.
Her name was Nancy Wake.
Now, for the first time, the roots of her legend are told in a thriller about one woman's incredible quest to turn the tide of the war, save the man she loves and take brutal revenge on those who have wronged her."

I was vaguely aware of  Nancy Wake aka Madame Fiocca, but I didn't know enough about her life to know whether she even survived the war, so for me there was added drama and tension as I had no idea what was going to happen to her or her husband Henri. 

The book drops us straight into the action, and we meet Nancy trying to evade the Germans as she scoots across Marseille and witnesses a brutal murder. From then on, the pace barely lets up and this is a very fast-paced read indeed. It was hard to relax even for a moment as the tension never really eases off and the action scenes - of which there are many - were real page-turners. 

There's a good sense of time, place, and - always - danger. Reading it, I stayed constantly alert, which heightened the effect and gave perhaps just a glimpse of what life was really like for the resistance fighters. Just a glimpse, though, because the reality must have been even worse. You need a strong stomach to read it but that's an easy job compared with what these people went through.

The real Nancy Wake - public domain image

Throughout the book, Nancy is aware that her husband has been captured by the Gestapo but she doesn't know what's happened to him, and neither do we. Again, this device, of not letting the reader know his fate, ratchets up the tension, although, as I said, I wasn't aware of the real outcome and others might be.

On the other hand, the authors have taken some licence and altered the timeline and some key events. I suspect they had good reason for doing so and perhaps it allowed them to give better shape to the plot and story arc. It didn't bother me at all, and notes are given at the back of the book.

Some readers might be surprised at how 'sweary' Nancy can be, but I put that down to her being a New Zealander with none of the quintessential English reserve. 


Just below the blurb on the Amazon page it says: "Soon to be a major blockbuster film." I'm not surprised. I think this book will make a terrific film. Nancy, her friends and comrades, and her experiences as portrayed here, will stay with me for a long time.

Amazon Links   US   UK

*the authors are Darby Kealey & Imogen Robertson

Detective Work - How History can Help

I've recently finished a fascinating book. Not my usual reading fare, but lately I've been enjoying books set in the US and have really enjoyed them. Not ones set in the big cities, but the smaller towns. It's somewhere I can float to in my imagination as I'm reading, especially when the descriptions are of long summer evenings and hot-baked roads. What can I say, I'm a lover of summer sunshine and heat! I like it when words like 'languid' come to mind.

So it was that I bought Poison Branches by Cynthia Raleigh. It's mainly set in Kentucky and from almost the very first scene, where the main character thinks about putting the A/C on in the car, I wiggled my toes at the imagined warmth of the air outside.

But, that's not what this book is about. It's essentially a murder mystery, and it's done well. I didn't know whodunnit, not until the final scenes which become a tense, page-turning race against time, but most of the mystery is solved by a particular type of detective work: genealogy.

Perri Seamore is a keen genealogist and so, it seems were at least one of the murder victims. She's brought onto the case by the local Police Department to see if there are clues in the victim's family tree which might help solve the case. 

So it's detective work, but it's also history. Scanning documents - by eye, and with a machine - to search for clues among the lives of real people, most of whom lived a century or more ago is a painstaking but often rewarding task. Whether we do it because we're interested in our own family, or whether we do it because we're writing historical fiction or even nonfiction, the work of the historian, the genealogist, and the police detective all have elements in common.

I've recently been designated keeper of our family records, which include indenture certificates dating to the reign of George III and I'm itching to find out more. I spend a lot of time delving into other people's family trees when I'm writing my fiction and nonfiction. There's added interest when it's personal, and I know of another author, Elizabeth St John, who used a 400-year-old family diary as the basis for her trilogy. (I've read all three books, by the way, and they are superb.)

In Poison Branches, Perri uses her skills and knowledge to find out what the local detective can't, because she has neither the time nor experience. Thus Perri becomes an amateur sleuth and this is Book One of a series, so I expect that Perri will have more such adventures. This book isn't 'just' a murder mystery though; I loved the relationship between Perri and her best friend. The warmth of their friendship and the strength of their bond shone through, from gentle teasing to outright worry once the situation gets a little intense.

I really felt that I couldn't turn the page - or rather, tap the kindle - fast enough when the murderer was revealed. The pacing was superb, the outcome far from obvious and ... well, no spoilers here.

As well as allowing me to enjoy a great story, it also made me stop to think about the satisfying work of the historian, and about how much we can learn from family history generally - for good, or bad.

Interview: Author Tony Riches

I've recently been thinking about why the Tudors remain so popular and I've come to the conclusion that it's simply because this period was like no other. A queen was succeeded by yet another queen, and a king executed two of his wives. Even without the break from Rome, this is all unprecedented stuff. However, away from the main players at court, there are still stories to be found and my guest today, Tony Riches, seems to have a knack of finding them.

AW: Welcome to the blog, Tony. Your Tudor Trilogy focuses on the early years, and those men who founded the dynasty. There is a certain 'romance' in the stories of Owen and Jasper Tudor, but do you find Henry VII a sympathetic character?

TR: Like Henry Tudor, I was born in the Welsh town of Pembroke, a connection which inspired my fascination with the Tudor dynasty. As part of my research I followed in Henry’s footsteps from

Fortresse de Largoet, Brittany

Pembroke to the exile in remote Brittany, then back to Mill Bay and on to the battle at Bosworth. (See my blog for details.) 

Statue of Henry VII at Pembroke Castle

This journey gave me a real sense of Henry’s early life and helped me take a fresh look at how he has been portrayed through the centuries. Far from being miserly, he spent a fortune on good living – although he never recovered from the death of his son Arthur, followed by the loss of his wife, Elizabeth of York.

This helped me understand his strange treatment of his remaining son and heir, and how Henry VIII turned out as he did. Henry VII’s legacy was that he ended what have become known as the Wars of the Roses, and secured peace with France and Spain, and should be remembered as a man who tried his best to be a good King of England.   

AW: You then took your novels in a slightly different direction and examined, in the Brandon Trilogy, the life of Henry VIII's sister, Mary, perhaps a less well-known member of that illustrious family. What drew you to her story?

Each of my books moved on one generation, so Mary Tudor’s story provided a perfect ‘sequel’ to my Tudor trilogy. I never understood why the television series The Tudors ‘merged’ Mary with her sister Margaret, when her story is so intriguing. I wanted to explore what it must have been like for Mary to become Queen of France, then to defy her brother and marry for love.

During my research I visited Mary’s home at Westhorpe and her tomb in Bury St Edmunds, where I saw a lock of her hair in the nearby museum. It was amazing to feel so close to her after studying every detail of her life for two years. 

AW: I bet it was. I love these tangible links to the past. 

AW: Charles Brandon - romantic hero? 

TR: Brandon was a chancer, always in debt and prepared to take great risks for advancement. I tried to show how the social standards of his time shaped his decisions. I believe he loved Mary Tudor, and struggled with his conscience during the downfall of Catherine of Aragon and the trial of Anne Boleyn.

His surviving letters reveal his loyalty and sometimes naivety. When Brandon died, Henry VIII said that in all their long friendship Charles Brandon had never knowingly betrayed a friend or taken advantage of an enemy. He is reported to have asked his council, ‘Is there any of you who can say as much?’   

AW: Admirable, but also, as you say, maybe naive. Your latest novel tells the story of Brandon's last wife, Katherine Willoughby. How easy was it to research her life; was it as well-documented as some of the other Tudor characters?

Katherine Willoughby was a complex and surprisingly modern woman, far ahead of her time. I started with the big question of how the daughter of a devout Catholic, Maria de Salinas, became a radical Protestant, which led me to explore her friendship with men like Hugh Latimer and William Cecil, as well as women like Anne Askew and Catherine Parr.

When I began my research, I had no idea that she knew every one of Henry VIII’s wives, as well as his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and his son Edward. Her letters and the details of her exile when Mary became queen show real strength of character, and her story provided me with the perfect way to conclude the stories of the early Tudors.

AW: I suppose it must be remembered that Henry got through his last five wives quite quickly, but it's still a shock to hear of someone who knew them all. Would you consider writing any novels centred around Henry VIII himself and/or his wives, or do you prefer to write about those who lived their lives slightly away from centre-stage?

TR: I’ve enjoyed building a picture of Henry VIII as seen through the eyes of those who knew him, and am now doing the same with Elizabeth I in my new Elizabethan series. I think it would be quite a challenge to find a way of telling Henry’s story with much sympathy.

AW: I tend to agree! To move away from the Tudor period, if I may, one of your earlier novels is set in tenth-century Wales. Any plans to return to that time period with your writing?

TR: My book Queen Sacrifice was my first attempt at historical fiction and an interesting exercise, as the narrative follows every move in the famous queen sacrifice chess game. I have at least three more books to write about the Elizabethans, but there are plenty of fascinating stories from Welsh history I  would like to return to one day.

AW: Thanks so  much for chatting about your books Tony.

About the Author

Tony Riches is a full time author of best-selling fiction and non-fiction books. He lives by the sea in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, UK, with his wife and enjoys sailing in his spare time. For more information about Tony’s books, podcasts and audiobooks please visit his website www.tonyriches.com and find him on Facebook and Twitter 

Review: 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal

1666 was a watershed year for England. The outbreak of the Great Plague, the eruption of the second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London all struck the country in rapid succession and with devastating repercussions.

Shedding light on these dramatic events, historian Rebecca Rideal reveals an unprecedented period of terror and triumph. Based on original archival research and drawing on little-known sources, 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire takes readers on a thrilling journey through a crucial turning point in English history, as seen through the eyes of an extraordinary cast of historical characters.

While the central events of this significant year were ones of devastation and defeat, 1666 also offers a glimpse of the incredible scientific and artistic progress being made at that time, from Isaac Newton's discovery of gravity to Robert Hooke's microscopic wonders. It was in this year that John Milton completed Paradise Lost, Frances Stewart posed for the now-iconic image of Britannia, and a young architect named Christopher Wren proposed a plan for a new London - a stone phoenix to rise from the charred ashes of the old city.

I studied this period for my History A Level, and have always had an interest in seventeenth-century history, so this book appealed to me. What I hadn't necessarily expected was what an easy, delightful read it would be, and how many dots joined up, not only in terms of putting the Second Dutch War in context with what was going on in England at the time, but also the way the author rounds off all the stories included here and tells us the fate of those involved.

The opening pages give a taste of what's to come. We get a description of everyday London life, but instead of vague 'would have' or 'probably' statements, we get the details of real people, who are named as they go about their lives. There are also fascinating snippets: I had no idea that (if one had the money) it was possible to have water piped directly into one's home during this period.

The first section of the book concerns the plague and we are told how, initially, there seemed no cause for alarm. The playhouses stayed open, but then people got scared and began to leave. Again, we are furnished with details using witness accounts. Mentioned by name are the Howlett and Mitchell families. Surviving the plague, they return to London and Betty Howlett marries Michael Mitchell. They set up shop close to where I know the Great Fire wreaked devastation. I really hoped that we'd meet them again.

Ms Rideal doesn't just tell us what happened, she tells us about the everyday world but in a purposeful way, without going off at tangents. She might set the scene by describing a London park and how it was laid out at the time, but this is by way of introducing a character who had a part to play in events.

Part Two details the war and the descriptions of the naval battles are excellent, again drawn from witness accounts. The military strategies (those which worked and those which didn't) are explained clearly and at no point was I confused about who was whom. Along the way, we are introduced to characters whose names are familiar, such as Aphra Benn, recruited initially as a - rather unsuccessful, as it turns out - spy. 

Then, the Great Fire. And again, detail that surprised. I didn't know that St Paul's was already in a bad state of repair and was clad in scaffolding before the conflagration destroyed it. We have the detailed account from a young boy, William Taswell, as well as those from the likes of Samuel Pepys. We even get details about the early life of Thomas Farriner, at whose bakery the fire started and we learn that he had been in and out of correctional institutions before finally being apprenticed to a baker. Such information reminds us that this is a story about people, not just facts and statistics. The ordinary folk of London are given prominence, although we still get plenty of rich detail about the more recognisable people - Newton, Pepys, Aphra Benn, Rochester - and it really brings the history to life.

The human story is also apparent in the closing chapters. We learn of the complications (legal as well as practical) of rebuilding London, and the after-effects of living through such times. Those who'd survived plague, war and fire show symptoms of what we'd now recognise as PTSD. But many also suffered from guilt - that they had personally or collectively brought disaster upon themselves.

Of course, 1666 wasn't all about catastrophe. There is a wonderful example of scene-setting which introduces Newton's moment under the apple tree. It's informative and evocative and made me think that should the author ever decide to write a novel, it would be excellent.

The epilogue details what became of the people mentioned along the way, and so we find out about the later lives of Pepys, Charles II, Nell Gwynn etc. But, satisfyingly, we also discover the fate of Michael and Betty Mitchell.

Informative, well-researched, beautifully written and very accessible. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this period. Or actually, just to anyone who fancies a damn good read.

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Review: Robert the Bruce: The Champion of a Nation by Stephen Spinks

I suppose like many I thought I knew about Robert Bruce. Leaving aside the inaccuracies in films, it's safe to say that Bannockburn was his triumph, that he probably didn't strike up a meaningful relationship with a spider and that it was he, not William Wallace or Andrew Murray, who won Scotland her freedom.

Well, yes and no.

In this comprehensive yet very readable new biography, Spinks explains the background to the complicated situation in the years before Robert emerged as leader. He begins with a concise but thorough recap of Scottish history up to the entrance of the Bruce family as players on the political stage. He then sets out the family tree, giving brief details of Bruce's forebears  and the family's rise, offering some necessarily speculative information on what Robert's childhood would have been like, based on what little primary evidence is available.

We then read about the rise and fall of King John Balliol, with an excellent summing up of the complex politics (all is very clear, with minimal introduction of characters). Next we learn the details of the rebellion of Wallace and Murray, before the author deals with the knotty problem of Robert's murder of his rival John Comyn. While Spinks feels that he was probably expecting to have to kill Comyn, he also points out how badly that would potentially have affected his chances of winning the hearts and minds of the people he hoped to rule, and how he knew his mortal soul was thenceforth damned. So there is a contradiction here, but one suspects that any researcher of 'The Bruce' would struggle to establish motive/intent. It is a puzzling episode. Notwithstanding this problem, we have a clear explanation of his rise, with the dispelling of myths regarding the legendary cages into which members of Robert's family were placed when taken as hostages by the English. 

As Robert comes into his own, we see him as a canny strategist and wondering in dark times about being punished for murdering Comyn, which maybe suggests that it hadn't, in fact, been planned.

The depiction of the hit and run tactics which won Robert back his kingdom - especially of James Douglas scaling walls, is 'Boys' Own' stuff and marvellously described. We are then treated to a clear retelling of Bannockburn, showing Bruce to be a supreme tactician able to capitalise on every opportunity. It was a revelation to find that the victory almost happened by accident.

And it was a stark reminder that, contrary to Hollywood's enduring belief, Bannockburn was far from the end of it. Robert suffered much personal loss in the following years, endured the continuing worry that he had no adult male heirs, and struggled still to persuade England, and the pope, to accept him as king of the Scots. 

Yet once again we see the clever commander capitalising on the rebellion of Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer against Edward II, although more personal heartache was to follow for Robert.

I was particularly appreciative of the last chapter, 'Aftermath', where the author discusses in detail the possible causes of Robert's ill-health. The fact that he was often left completely debilitated by the bouts of whatever ailment it was, yet never gave up his fight, demonstrates his tenacity. It may perhaps be a spoiler, but ultimately Robert was not able to establish the dynasty he had hoped for, and there is some discussion here about the horrors of the battle of Halidon Hill, where Scottish forces fell victim to the superior army of Edward III. Nevertheless, his legacy was to put in motion the eventual independence of Scotland. What is also clear is that Robert was a man able to command absolute loyalty from those around him.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The very fact that I can remember so much of the detail contained within, enough to tell people, 'did you know that...' is testament to the author's style. This book is informative, yet accessible. Never once did I have to re-read a passage - the whole book flows beautifully.

I had one tiny niggle, which is that I would have preferred a little more elucidation in the endnotes; there are no comments there, simply text reference page numbers.

However, that aside, this is an excellent biography of a man whom I realise now I knew little about and now feel much better informed about. Highly recommended.

Stephen Spinks wrote his dissertation on Edward II while studying at King's College, London. He works for the National Trust and manages three Medieval heritage sites with 900 volunteers and 150 staff. He is a columnist for 'Midlands Zone' magazine, in which he writes a very well received exploration of life as a gay man today, partly political, partly personal. He has given many interviews on radio and in his capacity at the National Trust, to 'BBC's Escape to the Country' and the 'Antiques Road Show'. He has been studying the primary sources (and locations) for this book over the past 15 years.

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