Caer Fawr (Iron Age Hill Fort)

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Caer Fawr, or ‘The Great Fort’, is the scene of the final battle in The Pendragon’s Quest.  It is an iron age hill fort with extensive fortifications, most of which are hidden now by vegetation.  The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales did a study of Caer Fawr and if you’re interested in the topic, it’s worth downloading:  http://www.rcahmw.gov.uk/LO/ENG/Publications/Electronic+Publications/Gaer+Fawr/ It “occupies a prominent hill 1.4 kilometres to the north of Guilsfield (Cegidfa) and 5.4 kilometres north of Welshpool in the old county of Montgomeryshire, now Powys. The topography of this area is dominated by the River Severn, 4.7 kilometres to the east (Fig. 2). The hills flanking its wide river plain rise gently to the west and more steeply to the east and are cut by the tributary rivers which feed the Severn. A series of Read more…


Medieval Monday with Vijayah Schartz!

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Every Monday look for a new medieval author on this blog exchange and check this and their blogs weekly for more wonderful medieval novels: Ashley York – Jenna Jaxon – Laura Strickland – Cathy McRae – Mary Morgan –Andrea Cooper – Jill Hughey – Sarah Woodbury – Laurel O’Donnell – Vijaya Schartz   Welcome to Vijayah Schartz, author of The Curse of the Lost Isle series, beginning with book one, Princess of Bretagne! THE CURSE OF THE LOST ISLE series: From history shrouded in myths, emerges a family of immortal Celtic Ladies, who roam the medieval world in search of salvation from a curse… but if the Church ever suspects what they really are, they will be hunted, tortured, and burned at the stake. PRINCESS OF BRETAGNE Curse of the Lost Isle – Book One http://amzn.com/B007K1EGAM 806 AD – Alba (Ancient Scotland) Read more…


Medieval Monday with Andrea R. Cooper!

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Today’s Post highlights Andrea R. Cooper’s book, Viking Fire – a historical romance with a touch of magic   In 856 CE, Ireland is a land of myth, magic, and blood. Viking raiders have fought the Irish for over half a century. Rival Irish clans promise only betrayal and carnage. Kaireen, daughter of Laird Liannon, is suddenly forced into an arranged marriage with her sworn enemy, a Viking. She refuses to submit. With no mention of love, only land and the protection of her clan, she endeavors to get her betrothed banished from her country. Will love find its way around her stubborn heart? Bram, the Viking, finds himself without future or inheritance as a younger son in his family. A marriage to the Laird’s daughter would grant him land if he swears fidelity and if his men will fight along Read more…


Medieval Monday welcomes Laura Strickland!

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I’m participating in an exchange where authors of medieval fiction share books on our blog. Today, I get to welcome Laura Strickland, author of the The Guardians of Sherwood Trilogy. Book three, Lord of Sherwood, is her latest release! Curlew Champion, master archer, has always known his destiny.  With his cousin, Heron Scarlet, he will become a guardian of Sherwood Forest and further his people’s fight against Norman Tyranny.  But the third member of the triad is still to be revealed, the woman who will complete the magical circle and, perhaps, answer the longing in Curlew’s heart. Anwyn Montfort has fled disgrace in Shrewsbury and come to Nottingham at her father’s bidding.  He wishes her to make a good marr iage and settle down.  But the wildness that possesses her refuses to quiet.  She knows she’s been searching for something all her Read more…


It’s Medieval Monday!

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I’m participating in an exchange where authors of medieval fiction share books on our blog. Since this is my blog, I get to go first. I’m highlighting The Good Knight, the first Gareth & Gwen Medieval Mystery. The Good Knight An enthralling story, sympathetic characters and a visit to another time, another culture.  What more can you ask of an author? – Medieval Mysteries (medievalmysteries.com) Intrigue, suspicion, and rivalry among the royal princes casts a shadow on the court of Owain, king of north Wales… The year is 1143 and King Owain seeks to unite his daughter in marriage with an allied king.  But when the groom is murdered on the way to his wedding, the bride’s brother tasks his two best detectives—Gareth, a knight, and Gwen, the daughter of the court bard—with bringing the killer to justice. And once blame for Read more…


Poet Lloyd Jones

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I wanted to announce the publication of a book of poetry by Lloyd Jones, The Secret Life of a Postman.  I have read many of them and enjoyed them greatly. Lloyd Jones is an award-winning novelist in English and Welsh. He lives on the North Wales coast near Bangor. His first novel, Mr Vogel, (Seren 2005) won the McKitterick first novel award and was shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction. His second novel, Mr Cassini (Seren 2006) won the Wales Book of the Year prize. In 2009, he published his first collection of short stories, My First Colouring Book (Seren). He was chosen to contribute to Seren Books’ acclaimed series reimagining the Mabinogion, the original source of the legendary King Arthur story cycle, with See How They Run (New Stories from the Mabinogion Seren 2012), a retelling Read more…


Ynys Mon (Anglesey) in the Dark and Middle Ages

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Of all the places in north Wales/Gwynedd, the name for Ynys Mon was deliberately changed by the English/Norman invaders to Anglesey, but it belies the fact that Ynys Mon remains resolutely Welsh, with 7 out of 10 residents speaking Welsh.  Because of its location, the populace suffered greatly over the millenia from foreign invaders, culminating with the wars of 1277 and 1282, when it was conquered as a stepping stone to Eryri, the stronghold of the Welsh princes.  After this last war, Edward deliberately razed much that was Welsh to the ground, including Llanfaes Abbey, the gravesite of Princesses Joanna and Elinor and built Beaumaris over the top of it.  In the process, hundreds of Welsh were ‘resettled’ elsewhere and English people brought in. “Ethnic cleansing is not a new concept. When Edward I reached Llanfaes, he forced all the Welsh Read more…


The Welsh Longbow

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The Welsh employed the longbow long before any of their conquerors and used to great effect against their enemies for centuries. https://www.edinformatics.com/inventions_inventors/longbow.htm Bows and arrows have been around since Paleolithic times, with evidence of them as early as 8000-9000 BC in Germany.   http://www.newarchaeology.com/articles/history_bow_and_arrows.php Kennewick man, the controversial skeleton found in the banks of the Columbia River inKennewick,Washington dates to roughly 7500 BC. A CT scan revealed a stone, projectile point embedded in his hip. Oetzi the Iceman was found with a quiver of arrows with flint heads and an unfinished yew longbow–taller than he was–in his pack.  He dates to 3300 BC. A new find in Norway revealed 4500 year old bows and arrows that are very similar in form and function to those found in the Yukon dating to the same time period. The confirmed first use of the longbow was in 633 AD, in Read more…


The Unlikely Spy available now!

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The fifth Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mystery, The Unlikely Spy, is available now in both ebook and paperback! The Unlikely Spy August 1146. Prince Hywel has called all the bards of Wales to him for a music festival to mark the third anniversary of his rule over Ceredigion. He has invited all the lords of Wales too, including his father, his uncle, and his neighbor to the south, King Cadell. But with the highborn also come the low: thieves, spies, and other hangers-on. And when a murderer strikes as the festival starts, Gareth and Gwen are charged with discovering his identity—before the death of a peasant shakes the throne of a king. The Unlikely Spy, the fifth Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mystery was released on 17 June 2014. It is available at Amazon US and all Amazon stores, the Apple iBookstore, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, and Kobo.  


The Wool Trade

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Edward I was the first English monarch to tax the wool trade–to help pay, as always, for his wars. Sheep have been herded in Wales since possibly the Celts, though it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when sheep first came to Wales.  “Excavations show that in about 6000 BC, during the Neolithic period of prehistory, the Castelnovien people, living around Chateauneuf-les-Martigues near present-day Marseille in the south of France, were among the first in Europe to keep domestic sheep. Practically from its inception, ancient Greek civilization relied on sheep as primary livestock, and were even said to name individual animals. Scandinavian sheep of a type seen today — with short tails and multi-colored fleece — were also present early on. Later, the Roman Empire kept sheep on a wide scale, and the Romans were an important agent in the spread Read more…


Historiography of the Welsh Conquest

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Thank you to Brynne Haug for the next installment of her essay on the conquest of Wales. While there has been some measure of historical debate on the benefits and detriments of the English conquest of Wales on the country itself, the majority of scholars have agreed that in terms of identity and culture, the conquest had a negative impact. Wales prior to 1282 was fiercely independent, its people pastoral and very much devoted to the land on which they lived. In the years that followed the conquest, however, Edward I, in an attempt to “civilize” the Welsh, built walled towns throughout Wales and brought English settlers to live in them. Thus, by the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Welsh—who were in theory entirely excluded from these English towns of privilege—were, in the words of R.R. Davies, “outsiders in Read more…


Bwlch y Ddeufaen

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Bwlch y Ddeufaen is a pass along the ancient road from Caerhun to Aber. The topography of North Wales is such that no significant road could run along the coastline due to the cliffs that come right down to the Irish Sea. Thus, from ancient times, the people of Wales used a road that crossed the Conwy River at Caerhun and headed into the hills, reaching a pass marked by two standing stones on either side of the road. The road then descended out of the hills, arriving at Aber and was then able to follow the road west towards Bangor and Caernarvon. Even the Romans found the topography impossible and chose to improve the ancient British/Celtic road rather than build an entirely new one closer to the coast. 1000 years later, the Normans faced the same difficulties. It was Read more…