Medieval Women

1444. Three princes. Two clashing empires. One deadly game few survive. Vlad Dracula is shattered. After a daring escape sets him free, his kindness gets him recaptured, and he fears he ran out of chances. When his brother Radu saves his head, but the sultan’s mercy throws him back in jail, Vlad vows to get even or die. Can Vlad best Radu and clear his honor in the sultan’s blood? Or will his enemies break his spirit in a fate worse than death? Throne of Blood is the second installment in the Curse of the Dracula Brothers sweeping saga, where dark medieval history meets Romanian ...

Set against the backdrop of the turbulent 13th century, a time of chivalry and crusades, poetry, knights, and monarchs, comes the story of the four beautiful daughters of the count of Provence, whose brilliant marriages made them the queens of France, England, Germany, and Sicily.

"The novella is well crafted and demonstrates a clear focus on the tropes and plotlines of historical fiction."– Royal Palm Literary Award Judge "The rendering of environmental and cultural issues around this story is a very strong point which places the characters in a very rich and believable environment."– Royal Palm Literary Award Judge Losing Love Maggie's beloved Lennox has been dead for ten years, and life is still unbearable without him. Neither of them knew she was carrying their child when he went off to war, but Ian bears a striking resemblance to his father, both in looks ...

Just as out from the flames come the Phoenix, from the ashes of an identity, devastated, came Margaret of Austria, the most influential female of her time. Married into the highest echelons of European monarchy, queen of France, princess of Spain, and duchess of savoy, the security of destiny proved false, leaving the young Margaret married thrice and widowed twice. And yet, this unplanned destiny was transformative, forming her into the hand that moved the puzzle pieces of European diplomacy. Married at two years of age to the dauphin of France, by twelve, Margaret of Austria found herself...

Can infatuation and overwhelming desire evolve into something even more powerful? A KING MADLY IN LOVE is a short story about a warrior king maddened with passion for the daughter of a defeated enemy: a woman whom under normal circumstances he would have executed. Excerpt: The King forced the door and entered the room. He intended to treat the daughter of his defeated opponent in the same manner his men were already handling some of the other women inside the fallen castle of the dead usurper. The usurper’s daughter was said to be a beauty. The King would have her first. He had taken her ...

England and Continental France, 1155. King Henry II of England’s empire is vast and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, unmatched. Queen Eleanor is wealthy, beautiful, intelligent and provided Henry with ample sons and daughters. Their dynastic pairing was ideal, but Henry deeply loves Lady Rosamunde Clifford, an exquisite, gentle beauty who shunned power. Henry’s lengthy absences test Rosamunde’s devotion as he deals with frequent uprisings in his far-flung domains. Once his dearest friend and now his deepest foe, Archbishop Thomas Becket constantly blocks Henry’s efforts for Church ...

After enduring years of her nobleman father's cruelty and abuse, Celestina Lunde is ready to take her own life rather than enter into an arranged marriage with an equally brutal man. But just when she is about to leap through the window of her tower bedroom, a brawny Highland warrior arrives at her home and changes everything.

Meg Langslow’s in for a busy summer. Her husband is directing a production of Macbeth, and most of the cast and crew are occupying spare bedrooms in their house. She also has to keep an eye on Camp Birnam, where a group of medieval reenactors are commemorating the real-life Macbeth by setting up what they fondly believe is an authentic medieval Scottish military camp. And then there’s Damien Goodwin, a filmmaker who has been hanging around, trying to document the production.

A romance thread through a world of war, fantasy fused with fiction, Normandy, 1216: Lady Gabrielle is captured at a French convent and taken to an English castle—a prize for warlord Michael Marston. Her lover, Montague of Rouen, plots a daring rescue, joining forces with English barons about to overthrow King John. Marston steals Gabrielle’s heart with a powerful spell cast by a witch named Minerva. But when England drifts into civil war and Montague attacks, Gabrielle is forced to choose. With whom will she spend eternity: Michael Marston or Montague? A romance thread through a world ...

The idea of a powerful woman in the Middle Ages seems like an oxymoron. Females in this time are imagined to be damsels in distress, trapped in a high tower, and waiting for knights to rescue them, all while wearing traffic-cones for a hat. After rescue, their lives improved little. Their career choices were to be either docile queens, housewives, or be burned at the stake for witchcraft. But what if this image of medieval women is a complete fiction? It turns out that it is. Powerful female rulers fill the Middle Ages.

What have a deaf nun, the mother of the first baby born to Europeans in North America, and a condemned heretic to do with one another? They are among the virtuous virgins, marvelous maidens, and fierce feminists of the Middle Ages who trail-blazed paths for women today. Focusing on women from Western Europe between c. 300 and 1500 CE in the medieval period and richly carpeted with detail, A Medieval Woman’s Companion offers a wealth of information about real medieval women who are now considered vital for understanding the Middle Ages in a full and nuanced way.

What was life really like for women in the medieval period? How did they think about sex, death and God? Could they live independent lives? And how can we hear the stories of women from this period?

The motherless child of an English priest living in ninth-century Mainz, Agnes is a wild and brilliant girl with a deep, visceral love of God. At eighteen, to avoid a future as a wife or nun, Agnes enlists the help of a lovesick Benedictine monk to disguise herself as a man and devote her life to the study she is denied as a woman. So begins the life of John the Englishman: a matchless scholar and scribe of the revered Fulda monastery, then a charismatic heretic in an Athens commune and, by her middle years, a celebrated teacher in Rome.

LET NOTHING HOLD YOU BACK. A companion novel to the Sleeping Lotus series. Loren Stone wasn't always a powerful general. Once, he was simply a victim. And Lassyne True wasn't always the Thorns' most hated spy. Once, she was the heir to a duchy and a fortune... and the favorite target of a murderous lunatic. They have so much in common. They've both been kept in a cage. Lassyne knows this, because she was there. As a child, she saw what happened to Loren... and for ten years of her life, she has watched him from afar, obsessing over a future that they'll never have. But when her parents ...

Separate countries to rule. One heart to share. Will duty or love prevail? ◆ FIRST PLACE WINNER - 2022 CHAUCER Book Awards for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction ◆ WINNER of the Highly Recommended award from The Historical Fiction Company ◆ Royalty ◆ Power ◆ Politics ◆ Love ◆ Struggle The year is 1508. Louis XII, King of France, wants to stamp France’s footprint upon Italy. Anne of Brittany, Queen of France, and ruler of neighboring realm Brittany, wants to produce a son and heir for Louis and to save the independence of Brittany from France. Louise of Savoy, the mother of the ...

The giant Highlander is a self-proclaimed bachelor who has sworn for years that there isn't a woman in all of Scotland worth shaving his beard for, and for good reason. Years ago, after a bonny young lass broke his heart and left his dignity in shreds, he swore never again to put it in such peril. As a testament to his sincerity, he vowed never again to shave his beard. Then he met her.

Young and beautiful Gytha Godwinson is the envy of England when her father Harold seizes the country’s crown in early 1066. But soon, treachery tears her house apart and triumph turns to terror. An evil star appears, heralding the end of an era and a new beginning for Britain. Her family and the country seem cursed. Yet even as she suffers loss, betrayal and humiliation, Gytha is determined to regain what is rightfully hers. A female retelling of the dramatic and heart-wrenching events of the slaughter-stained year of 1066: from the ashes of her father's cursed kingdom, one woman makes a ...

Sequel to Chronicles of Jongleur, the Storyteller. Follow Father Simon, a former priest of a country monastery, as he abruptly leaves his home in England and journeys for ten years in France. It is a dangerous time in the 13th century. Father Simon knows he may never find who he seeks but he will not end this mission until he is dead, and neither will the Devil On God's Mountain.

A traveling merchant’s death heralds a series of grim mishaps at Salisbury Castle. Ela suspects a plot to discredit her as sheriff. Can she solve the murder and save her reputation, or will she be the next victim?

Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron. Growing up in Valenia at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her. While some are born with a talent for one of the five passions - art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge - Brienna struggled to find hers until she chose knowledge. However, Brienna's greatest fear comes true - she is left without a patron. But months later, her life takes an unexpected turn when a disgraced lord offers her patronage.