Medieval aristocrats generally enjoyed hunting. They hunted using birds such as falcons to bring down prey as well as following the hounds to chase deer and boar. Tapestries and illustrations in medieval manuscript work testify to all of this. Also, in my own novels I include scenes with both kinds of hunt. For example, King Harold II is usually depicted … Read More
Empress Maud’s Great Escapes
When I was writing The Stolen Crown, a novel about the twelfth century civil war between Stephen and Matilda known as ‘The Anarchy’, the most exciting episodes to write were those of pursuit and escape. Maud had three exceptionally hairy escapes during the novel. But first a little about Empress Maud’s background and how her crown came to be stolen. … Read More