13thcenturyhistory

                                                                              Little Sir Hugh of Lincoln                                                         My original intention was  to write a blogpost about the talk 'Dependence Intolerance and Expulsion; the Story of England's Medieval Jewish Community 1066-1290' by Sean Cunningham, at the National Archives on January 24th 2020. Unfortunately due to the problems on the rail network, I did not manage to attend could not reach Kew. Thought that would write about the Jewish Community during the reign of Henry III instead ...and this is the first part.       ...

                                                                                                                                Coronation of Henry III  Cotton Vitellius A. XIII  courtesy of                                                             Wikipedia, in public domain.  In this year, there was a failure of crops; upon which failure a famine ensued,to such a degree that people from the villages resorted to the city for food; and there upon the famine waxing still greater, many thousand perso...

' The Song of Simon de Montfort-England's First Revolutionary and the Death of Chivalry ' Sophie Therese Ambler , Published by Picador in hardback (2019) and also available in kindle.  An earlier version of this piece was turned down for publication in the Simon de Montfort' Society's  magazine 'The Lion' , so has been overhauled and published on line instead.   Ultimately this  a worthwhile biography which encourages the reader to explore the life and era of Simon de Montfort . At her best Sophie Therese Ambler, both as a writer and speaker, is not over academic nor patronising to her readers. Can appeal to the medieval history enthusiast outside the world of academia and build on their interest. So sincerely hope that my criticism is not taken to be some sort of personal attack on the author. as I do quite admire her.   But to me,  claiming that de Montfort was a 'revolutionary' seems unconvincing. Would add that  ...

                    David Pilling                        It was a pleasure to interview author David Pilling via email last month. His novellas and novels take in many different historical eras. David has also written some fantasy novels and historical works. David's medieval fiction has an emphasis on conflict, breakdown of order, realistic to the point of being brutal, and displays a great knowledge of the era, along with  the history of different regions of England, along with Wales , Scotland, and parts of France. This interview focuses more on David's writing that relates to the 13th and 14th centuries, rather than attempts to be some sort of overview of his work. Predictable question : How important is your connection with Wales in writing Medieval fiction? Am particularly thinking of the 'Lions of Gwynedd' series?  I was born in England but raised on...

                                             Returning to Medieval history                                                          King John's tomb Worcester Cathedral courtesy of Greenshed at English Wikipedia Had drifted away from the study of medieval history for some twelve years , but happened to be in Worcester in September 2018 for the commemoration of the 1651 Battle of Worcester. I visited the Cathedral and saw King John's tomb for the first time since 2006, and wasn't long before I bought Stephen Church's biography of King John. And was soon heading back to the medieval era as well as returning to the Worcester/ Evesham area.  In the 21st century the reigns of Henry III is coming under some scrutiny...