Fourteenth-Century (and Late Thirteenth-Century) England

Guest Post by Kathryn Warner: Edward II and the Despensers

I’m so pleased to welcome my friend Kathryn Warner for her new biography of Edward II. I’ve been looking forward to a book like this for years, and what better person than Kathryn to write it? Kathryn and I first met online a number of years ago, when I published my first novel, The Traitor’s …

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The Half-Hanged Man: A Guest Post by David Pilling

I’d like to welcome a guest poster, David Pilling, to my blog! Although my recent research has centered on the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, my first two novels were set in the fourteenth century, so it’s great to see some more novels written during this period. Here’s David! Susan has very kindly given me a …

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Cosmo Girl Isabella Pays a Visit! (And Two More Queens)

It’s been a long time since Isabella, Edward II’s queen, has paid a visit to this blog. In the early days, she used to stop by all of the time! Anyway, I was sure that a fashionable French lady like Isabella wouldn’t miss the chance to be on Cosmopolitan, and here she is! And here, …

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Hugh and Eleanor at Tewkesbury Abbey

I got an e-mail the other day from Stephanie Decavallas, who did this beautiful drawing (in two color schemes) of Eleanor de Clare, heroine of The Traitor’s Wife, and her husband, Hugh le Despenser the younger, at Tewkesbury Abbey. Naturally, I wanted to share it with my blog readers! Which version do you prefer? You …

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Elizabeth le Despenser, Daughter of Hugh and Eleanor

Elizabeth le Despenser (who appears a couple of times in Hugh and Bess) was the youngest surviving daughter born to Hugh le Despenser and Eleanor de Clare. Her birth date is unknown, but either she or her brother John might have been the child born to Eleanor in December 1325, as all of the other …

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A Despenser at Dunstable, 1334

One of the fun things about using a lesser-known historical figure as a subject of a novel is that when you run into something about him–anything–you’re absolutely delighted. So a while back when I saw in Collectanea topographica & genealogica, Vol. IV (on Google Books) that the hero of my soon-to-be-reissued second novel, Hugh and …

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In Memory of a Fallen Soldier: Edward le Despenser

Edward le Despenser was the second son of Hugh le Despenser the younger and Eleanor de Clare. He was born before November 23, 1315, when Edward II issued a license for John de Cromwell and his wife, Idonia, to grant certain lands to Robert Baldock, who was to regrant them with a life estate to …

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