Medieval English

August 1284. On the heels of King Edward's triumph over Wales, the high point of his reign thus far, he receives the worst news possible: his eldest living son and heir to the throne of England has died. Concerned that his victories in Wales, and even more the means by which he came by them, have brought the wrath of the Almighty down upon his house, King Edward sends Catrin and Rhys to Windsor Castle to investigate.

Sylvia Townsend Warner’s The Corner That Held Them is a historical novel like no other, one that immerses the listener in the dailiness of history, rather than history as the given sequence of events that, in time, it comes to seem. Time ebbs and flows and characters come and go in this novel, set in the era of the Black Death, about a Benedictine convent of no great note. The nuns do their chores, seek to maintain and improve the fabric of their house and chapel, and struggle with each other and with themselves.

AD 1518. As a decorated knight for Henry VIII, Cort is charged with a special mission: to seduce an Irish rebel and learn her secrets. Dera MacRohan is no ordinary Irish warrior lass. Born from the ancient MacRohan warrior bloodlines, Dera is from a long line of warrior women. She deeply resents the English and their conquest, but she also understands the subtleties of tactics and strategy.

The Banished Lands are engulfed in war and chaos. The cunning Queen Rhin has conquered the west and High King Nathair has the cauldron, most powerful of the seven treasures. At his back stands the scheming Calidus and a warband of the Kadoshim, dread demons of the Otherworld. They plan to bring...

1215 A.D. - Dashiell "Dash" du Reims is the eldest son of the Earl of East Anglia and a cousin to the great House of de Lohr. Much like his warring and politically-involved cousins, Dashiell is also waist-deep in the political turmoil that is sweeping England at this time. As the Captain of the Guard for the powerful, and senile, Duke of Savernake, his is in the middle of the baron's rebellion against the king.

Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism—gold, cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils the riches of a quite different civilization. Avoiding a standard chronological account of the Byzantine Empire's millennium-long history, she identifies the fundamental questions about Byzantium—what it was, and what special significance it holds for us today.

In 1282, David and his sister Anna crashed through time to save the life of their father, the last Prince of Wales. Thirteen years later, David is a grown man - husband, father, and high king of Britain. He is also the Duke of Aquitaine, a fact which King Philip of France appears to resent. So, when Philip summons David to Paris to bend the knee for the right to remain Aquitaine's duke, David is the first to suspect treachery.

1305 A.D. Being descended from great, though disgraced family, can be a greater curse than most. As a direct descendent of Simon de Montfort, Lady Gray de Montfort Serroux has lived her life with the axe of shame hanging over her head. Because of this, her marriage matches were limited and she wed a dishonorable man who widowed her when he was murdered in a gambling game. Left with a young daughter to support, Gray and her daughter and her mother have been living in poverty.

A hero of the crusades, Dominic le Sabre has returned in glory and in triumph to claim his reward: the beautiful Saxon bride awarded to him by the conqueror king. But Lady Margaret of the Blackthorne cannot yield to the bold Norman invader.

Love. Magic. Faith. By the autumn of 537 AD, all who are loyal to King Arthur have retreated to a small parcel of land in North Wales. They are surrounded on all sides, heavily outnumbered, and facing near certain defeat. But Myrddin and Nell, two of the king's companions, have a secret that neither has ever been able to face: Each has seen that on a cold and snowy day in December, Saxon soldiers sent by Modred will ambush and kill King Arthur. And together, they must decide what they are willing to do, and to sacrifice, to avert that fate.

1228 A.D. - After a vicious battle with old adversaries that sees his father killed, Sir Dennis d’Vant finds himself the head of the House of d’Vant. A house descended from the kings of Cornwall, they are a proud but warring people. Their most hated enemy is their neighbor to the north, the rich and cunning Earl of Cornwall. Dennis, however, is not like his forefathers; a giant of a man and a skilled warrior, he is also quiet and gentle. He does not possess the same fiery instincts of his family and for that, he is often looked upon as weak.

Cassian de Velt came to foster with Christopher de Lohr at a young age. From nearly the first day he arrived at Lioncross Abbey Castle, his gaze was drawn to Brielle de Lohr, Christopher’s second eldest daughter. As children, they shared a friendship that was strong and innocent—enjoying the same things, having the same sense of humor. All of the things that made a strong friendship develop into a love that could not be broken. Unfortunately, they were only teenagers when Cassian asked Brielle to run away with him so they could be married.

Adam Wellesbourne and his four sons - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - comprise the most feared House in the service of Richard III. Adam's eldest son, Matthew, has earned such an influential reputation that throughout England he is known as The White Lord of Wellesbourne. Upon the eve of the Battle of Bosworth field, Matthew finds himself forced into a contract marriage that he has been avoiding for 10 years.

May, 1258 A.D. - Now, Simon de Montfort is amassing a parliament whereupon King Henry and Simon will all have equal representation. As the politics in this difficult time begin to gain speed, Maximus de Shera, the consummate warrior and middle brother of the de Shera brother trio, has something very unexpected happen to him. In the midst of the political turmoil, he finds love in the daughter of a de Montfort supporter.

Paris de Norville (The Wolfe) and Jemma Scott Hage (The Wolfe) find love in their sunset years...with each other? It seems like an impossible suggestion. Paris and Jemma first met in The Wolfe in a fiery explosion of temper and taunting. Her temper mostly, because he was taunting. Handsome and arrogant in his youth, Paris was a powerful knight, second in command to the great William de Wolfe, and he found great sport in taunting a Scots captive named Jemma Scott.

Richard "Roi" de Lohr is the second son of Richard the Lionheart's champion, Christopher de Lohr. Roi was raised in the finest homes and with the finest training. Emerging as a powerful and intelligent knight, he married the woman he wanted and enjoyed the life of prestige he had earned. When his wife gave birth to a son, Roi's life was complete. Until tragedy strikes. When Roi's wife dies in childbirth with their second child, he is devastated. But he's a de Lohr, and de Lohrs don't crumble. He raises his son alone, proud that the lad promises to take his place among the great de Lohrs.

On the eve of her profession as a nun, Lady Graeye Charwyck is called home to Medland by the father who disavowed her years earlier for the devil's mark she bears. Desperate to escape the convent, she agrees to wed a man she detests to provide an heir for her family's holdings. But when the king declares the Charwyck lands forfeit and awards them to their enemy, Graeye once more finds herself discarded.

Commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature, Beowulf is an epic poem that traces the exploits of the titular hero. After coming to the aid of the king of the Danes, whose mead hall is under constant attack by the monster Grendel, Beowulf slays Grendel's mother and goes on to become the king of the Geats.

Brunhild was a foreign princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law Fredegund started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet - in sixth-century Merovingian France, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport - these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms, changing the face of Europe.

Widely hailed as a revelation of a "lost" golden age, this history brings to vivid life the rich and thriving culture of medieval Spain, where, for more than seven centuries, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance, and literature, science, and the arts flourished.