Magna Carta Day: The Meadow Where a King Was Made to Yield, and the Woman Who Saved It from Ruin
HistoricalEvents, WomeninHistory Hedgehog Books Admin HistoricalEvents, WomeninHistory Hedgehog Books Admin

Magna Carta Day: The Meadow Where a King Was Made to Yield, and the Woman Who Saved It from Ruin

Magna Carta was not born in a peaceful ceremony, but in a tense meadow surrounded by armed men, suspicion, and civil war. On Magna Carta Day, explore the real drama of Runnymede, King John’s tyranny, and the forgotten role of Nicola de la Haye — the woman who helped save England and Magna Carta itself.

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How a Birthday Party at Chinon Kickstarted a Civil War (5 March 1173)
HistoricalEvents, TimePeriods Hedgehog Books Admin HistoricalEvents, TimePeriods Hedgehog Books Admin

How a Birthday Party at Chinon Kickstarted a Civil War (5 March 1173)

Today is my birthday 😁. And as birthdays go, I could have shared mine with worse people, because 5 March 1133 was also the birthday of Henry II of England, born at Le Mans, one of the most formidable rulers medieval Europe ever produced.

Henry II’s Birthday was 5th March

Soldier, lawgiver, empire-builder, father of eight legitimate children (and countless illegitimate ones), and a man whose family would become both his greatest weapon, his biggest headache, and eventually most spectacular downfall.

Which makes today a good day to talk about what happened on his fortieth birthday, in 1173. Because that evening a feast was held at Château de Chinon. The great hall would have been ablaze with candlelight and Henry, thinking he’d managed to control his spoiled, entitled (but courteous and generous) namesake son, allowed the goblets to be repeatedly refilled by his son’s own hand.

The drunkenness that followed led to everything that followed: the Great Rebellion, where Henry’s family were torn apart, and his throne would never feel secure again.

This event, and the Great Rebellion itself, runs through the heart of my novel Lady of Lincoln.

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Warrior Monks on the Lincolnshire Heath
HistoricalFiction, ReligionMagicandBelief Rachel Elwiss Joyce HistoricalFiction, ReligionMagicandBelief Rachel Elwiss Joyce

Warrior Monks on the Lincolnshire Heath

Stand on the open heathland six miles north of Sleaford, and you can still feel it: the particular silence of a place that once held great power. (Well, actually not that silent, the birdsong in the hedgerows was almost deafening when I went there).

A single limestone tower rises above the farmyard, weathered but still standing tall, its spiral staircase worn smooth by eight centuries of footsteps.

This is Temple Bruer: the most important Knights Templar preceptory in England outside London, and a place that has fascinated me ever since I began researching the medieval world of Nicola de la Haye.

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Friday the 13th Superstitions?
ReligionMagicandBelief, TimePeriods Rachel Elwiss Joyce ReligionMagicandBelief, TimePeriods Rachel Elwiss Joyce

Friday the 13th Superstitions?

Forget black cats and broken mirrors—those superstitions came centuries later. Here's what people in Nicola de la Haye's time actually feared on an unlucky day.

The Evil Eye Was Everywhere

In 12th-century England, an envious glance could literally kill you. People believed that jealous or malicious looks could cause illness, spoil crops, curdle milk, or even bring death. The wealthy were particularly vulnerable—their success made them targets for envious stares. Protective charms, prayers, and amulets were essential accessories, not fashion statements.

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All Souls’ Day: Soul Cakes, Prayer and Memory
EverydayLife, ReligionMagicandBelief Rachel Elwiss Joyce EverydayLife, ReligionMagicandBelief Rachel Elwiss Joyce

All Souls’ Day: Soul Cakes, Prayer and Memory

s the bells of All Saints’ Day fall silent, a gentler sound takes their place: the slow, measured knell for the departed.

2 November, All Souls’ Day, was the moment when the living turned their hearts toward those of the departed, the ordinary people, not the saints, who still journeyed through Purgatory.

The season of light ended not in mourning, but in the hope that love and prayer could reach beyond the grave.

Origins and Etymology

The word soul comes from Old English sawol, “the spiritual essence of a person.”

The “Mass of Souls,” or Soul Mass Day, was first proclaimed in 998 AD by Abbot Odilo of Cluny. He ordered that every monastery in his order should celebrate a Mass for “all the faithful departed.” From Cluny, the custom spread throughout Europe.

Yet its roots run deep into pagan soil.

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Geoffrey de Mandeville – The Terror of Widows and Nuns
CrimeAndJustice, WomeninHistory Rachel Elwiss Joyce CrimeAndJustice, WomeninHistory Rachel Elwiss Joyce

Geoffrey de Mandeville – The Terror of Widows and Nuns

It was in the chaos of the Anarchy that one man carved out a reputation so dark that even in an age of violence, his name stood out: Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex.

Geoffrey inherited immense lands and titles but he wanted even more, shifting loyalties between Stephen and Matilda whenever it suited him, extorting charters and privileges from both. When Stephen finally moved against him in 1143, Geoffrey unleashed a reign of terror across eastern England.

Chroniclers such as the Peterborough Chronicle and Orderic Vitalis described him as a robber baron, commanding brutal mercenaries who pillaged the countryside. Hardly chivalric, the man was a misogynist bully who preyed on the weak. For women, especially widows and nuns, he was the Devil’s own demon.

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