The Saxon Secret to Avoiding a Bad Ruler
What if the worst rulers in English history didn't have to happen?
Bad kings - the weak, the cruel, the catastrophically incompetent - weren't inevitable. They were the consequence of a system that handed the most powerful job in the kingdom to whoever happened to emerge from the right womb in the right order!
Primogeniture, succession by (male) birth order, gave England Edward II, whose personal failings and political incompetence ended in his deposition and probable murder. It gave England Richard II, whose erratic tyranny triggered a constitutional crisis and cost him his throne. It gave England Henry VI, whose mental collapse plunged the country into thirty years of civil war. These weren't accidents of fate. They were what happens when a system prioritises birth order over every other human quality.
But before the Normans locked this system in place, the Anglo-Saxons did something far more interesting.
The Aetheling System: Choose the Best, Not the First
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.
Nicola de la Haye
The inspiration of Brienne of Tarth, Nicola de la Haye saved England twice. Watch the video below and discover the legend. (Spoilers alerts!).
And when you’ve finished, it’s time to find out more about the medieval heroine, the world she lived in, the corrupt men she had to deal with, and how the medieval badass sorted them all out!
Buy the first book in the Nicola de la Haye series, Lady of Lincoln, here.
Eleanor of Vermandois
In the shadowed corridors of twelfth-century French history stands a woman whose story has been largely forgotten—Eleanor of Vermandois (c. 1148–1213). Born into one of medieval Europe's most controversial families, Eleanor's life was marked by political intrigue, personal tragedy, and remarkable resilience as she navigated a world where powerful men controlled women's destinies.
If you're planning to read my popular, and currently free, historical novella Eleanor's Revenge, the first section of this post is spoiler-free, introducing Eleanor and her family background. Further down, after a clear spoiler warning, I delve into the full dramatic arc of her life.
A Scandalous Beginning
Eleanor's very existence was rooted in scandal. Her parents' marriage in 1142 triggered one of the most notorious affairs of the medieval period. Her father, Raoul I, Count of Vermandois, was the powerful seneschal of France and cousin to King Louis VII. Her mother, Petronilla of Aquitaine, was the younger sister of the legendary Eleanor of Aquitaine, who would become Queen of both France and England.
Their love story began at the French court around 1141, when Petronilla met the much older, married Raoul. With her sister's encouragement and the king's approval, Raoul secured an annulment from his first wife, Eleanor of Blois, on dubious grounds of consanguinity. Three compliant bishops—one of whom was Raoul's own brother—officiated at Raoul and Petronilla's wedding in early 1142.
Medieval New Year's Eve: When Chaos Was the Point
Forget champagne at midnight and awkward renditions of "Auld Lang Syne." Medieval New Year's was an entirely different beast, and honestly? It sounds way more fun.
Across Europe, the turning of the year wasn't just a date on the calendar. It was a full-blown excuse to flip everyday life on its head, stuff your face with roasted meat, and generally behave in ways that would make your local priest extremely nervous.
The Feast of Fools: Your Annually Scheduled Revolution
The Festival of Fools
Picture this: It's January 1st in a medieval town. The lowly church clerks and regular townsfolk have just elected a "Pope of Fools." They're parading through the streets in ridiculous costumes, possibly drunk, definitely making a mockery of sacred rituals. There's dancing. There's dice rolling during church services. Someone's definitely cross-dressing. It's absolute pandemonium.
Welcome to the Festum Fatuorum—the Feast of Fools.
What started as cheeky bits of playacting during Christmas church services eventually spiraled into something gloriously unhinged. By the later Middle Ages, you had masked dances, muddy street parades, and the kind of irreverent chaos that eventually made church authorities say "okay, that's ENOUGH" and ban the whole thing in the 15th century. (Though, naturally, people kept doing versions of it anyway because people have always been delightfully stubborn about their fun.)
Think of it as medieval Mardi Gras meets The Office Christmas party, but with more livestock in the streets.
Fastrada: Charlemagne’s Queen History Tried to Forget
Charlemagne is usually thought of as the iron-willed king, crowned Emperor of the Romans in 800, architect of a European empire and champion of learning and reform. What we never hear about, however, are the women who stood beside him: women whose influence shaped politics, justice, and the fragile stability of his realm.
One of the most controversial of these women was Fastrada, Charlemagne’s fourth wife and queen, a woman remembered less for what she did than for how male chroniclers chose to describe her.
A Frankish Noblewoman in a Dangerous Court
Fastrada was born into the high Frankish nobility around the mid-8th century, the daughter of Count Radulf. Her marriage to Charlemagne in 783 was not a romantic match but a strategic one, strengthening ties between powerful families within the Frankish heartlands. This was a period when Charlemagne’s empire was expanding rapidly through conquest, forced conversion, and ruthless suppression of revolt.
Queens in the Carolingian world were not crowned consorts in the later medieval sense, but they were far from ornamental. They managed households, acted as intermediaries, dispensed patronage, and, crucially, advised the king. Fastrada arrived at court at a moment when Charlemagne’s rule was under strain from internal rebellion, particularly in Saxony.
“Cruel” Queen or Convenient Scapegoat?
Our surviving sources paint Fastrada in dark colours. Einhard, Charlemagne’s biographer, describes her as harsh and cruel, claiming that her influence made the king more severe in judgement. Later chroniclers echoed this, blaming her for brutal punishments meted out against rebels and dissenters.
But this raises an uncomfortable question: Was Fastrada truly cruel, or was she blamed for decisions Charlemagne himself made?
Early medieval queens were often held responsible when kings ruled harshly. Advising firmness could easily be reframed as bloodthirstiness, especially when the adviser was a woman. Fastrada’s reputation may tell us more about medieval anxieties over female influence than about her actual character.
It is worth noting that Charlemagne’s most notorious acts of brutality, including the mass executions of Saxons, predated and outlasted Fastrada’s life. Yet only she became a symbol of excessive severity.
Feasts, Folklore & Boar: A Medieval Christmas with a Dash of Wild Hunt Magic
Christmas is coming; and if you think today’s festive spread is decadent, just imagine what a medieval English banquet looked like! Long before turkeys were discovered in America, people from monks to monarchs gathered round a banquet table groaning with pies, ale, spiced wine, and one very impressive centrepiece: the boar’s head.
Richard the Lionheart at Sixteen: the Making of a Warrior Duke
In 1173, a boy of sixteen took his first step onto the stage of war. His name was Richard, Duke of Aquitaine, though he had yet to earn the epithet Lionheart.
Before he became the crusader-king of legend, before his songs and sieges, Richard was a restless teenager thrust into the most dangerous political storm of the twelfth century: the Great Rebellion against his father, King Henry II.
It was a rebellion born of pride, family betrayal, and the impossible weight of expectation. And it was here — amid defeat, shame, and fire — that the making of a warrior began.
A Son in His Mother’s Shadow
Richard was Eleanor of Aquitaine’s favourite son, and in many ways her reflection: intelligent, impulsive, proud. Born in Oxford but raised in the cultured courts of Poitiers and Bordeaux, he was steeped in his mother’s world of poetry and politics. By his mid-teens he could compose in Occitan, debate theology in Latin, and command a hall full of barons — yet he was still a boy in a man’s game.
In 1172, Henry II had forced Eleanor to surrender the duchy of Aquitaine to her teenage son, intending to bind the region more tightly to the English crown. But Aquitaine was Eleanor’s inheritance, her life’s work, and Richard was fiercely loyal to her. The gift was both a promotion and a trap: the young duke found himself governing a proud and fractious land, surrounded by lords twice his age and loyalty only thinly pledged.
When the rebellion of 1173 began, Richard stood between two worlds — son of a king, heir to a duchy, and caught between the two towering figures who defined his destiny.
A’Wassailing We Come!
Before middle class carol singers in neat scarves and woolly hats gathered to spread festive cheer, Christmas in England was noisier, messier—and far more drunken. Long before anyone had thought of Silent Night and O Come All Ye Faithful, there was wassailing: a boisterous, door-to-door ritual fuelled by ale, cider, and song!
Wu Zetian: The Woman Who Ruled an Empire
When we think of medieval power, the mind rarely leaps to a woman occupying the highest throne in one of the world’s greatest empires. Yet in 7th-century China, one woman did precisely that. Wu Zetian (624–705 CE) rose from low-ranking concubine to become China’s only female emperor; not merely empress consort, nor regent, but sovereign ruler in her own right.
In a world shaped by Confucian ideals that explicitly declared women inferior and unfit for leadership, her ascent was nothing short of astonishing.
And like many powerful women in history, Wu Zetian has been remembered through a haze of scandal, propaganda, and deliberate distortion. It’s time to peel back the layers and re-examine the woman behind the legend.
From Concubine to Emperor: A Rise Unlike Any Other
Wu Zetian entered the palace of Emperor Taizong as a teenage concubine; one among hundreds, hardly expected to influence politics. After Taizong’s death she should, by custom, have been sent to a Buddhist convent. Instead, she returned to the palace of his successor, Emperor Gaozong, beginning her ascent through skill, cunning, and what later historians would call “unwomanly ambition.”
Smooth Operator
But ambition alone did not place her on the throne. She possessed a sharp intelligence and administrative brilliance; a talent for identifying capable officials, many of whom became her loyal supporters; and a capacity to counter, outmanoeuvre, or neutralise rival factions.
When Gaozong suffered debilitating strokes, Wu Zetian took charge of state affairs. After his death, she ruled first through her sons and eventually dispensed with that formality entirely, proclaiming her own dynasty: the Zhou, and naming herself Huangdi, the imperial title previously reserved for male rulers.
‘King and Conqueror’: How much truth-stretching is acceptable?
Welcome back to another Medieval Monday blog. After several posts dissecting the lead up to the Great Rebellion of 1173-4, today I’m switching focus to another seismic moment in English history: the Norman Conquest of England, as reimagined in the TV programme King & Conqueror.
The show has stirred plenty of excitement, and equally as much critique, about just how faithful a retelling it is. Because of that, I was loathe to watch it, but now I have, and here’s my view.
In short: yes, it draws on real events, but takes dramatic licence freely. The question is: when storytelling trumps scholarship, how much is too much?
Empress Theodora of Byzantium: She Saved an Empire
The latest in the blog series is a special treat for me. I’ve long been fascinated, but a bit in the dark, about the Byzantine Empire.
But it seems few women of the early Middle Ages rose as far—or have been judged as harshly—as Empress Theodora of Byzantium. Rising from the margins of Constantinople’s theatre world to become one of the most powerful women in imperial history, Theodora’s story is one of intelligence, ambition, resilience, and reinvention. And like so many extraordinary women, she was both celebrated and vilified by her contemporaries.
Who Was Empress Theodora?
Born around 500 CE, Theodora started life far from the purple. Her father was a bear trainer for the Hippodrome’s Blue faction, and after his death, Theodora and her sisters were pushed into the theatre—an environment that in Byzantium sat somewhere between entertainment, politics, and scandal. According to the hostile historian Procopius (more on him later), Theodora’s early life involved performance, satire, and possibly sex work—though his account is so malicious that modern historians tread carefully.
What we do know is that Theodora was:
Exceptionally intelligent, known for her quick wit and sharp political instincts
Socially mobile in a rigid society, rising from performer to respected mistress of the imperial court
Deeply religious, eventually embracing Monophysite Christianity
A political partner, not merely a wife, to Emperor Justinian I
When Justinian became emperor in 527 CE, Theodora ruled alongside him as Augusta, wielding extraordinary influence—sometimes surpassing that of her husband.
The Nika Riots: A Moment That Defined an Empress
Medieval Advent
Everyone is talking about what they have in their advent calendars: chocolates, toys, even Star Wars characters! Advent also brings to mind glittering candles on wreaths, festive jumpers, Christmas markets, mulled wine, and the countdown to Christmas morning.
I haven’t met a single person (other than fellow medieval fiction authors) who have any idea that for medieval people, Advent was not a season of indulgence or celebration. It was a period of fasting, penance, self-examination, and preparation for the Second Coming rather than Santa’s sleigh.
The earliest evidence for Advent appears in the 4th century, particularly in Gaul and Spain, where Christians observed a multi-week fast before Epiphany rather than Christmas. This early “Nativity Fast” resembled Lent: No meat, no dairy, no rich foods, no marital relations (yes, this was explicitly addressed!). By the 6th century, Rome formalised a four-week liturgical season leading up to Christmas. But unlike today’s “anticipatory joy,” medieval Advent preached repentance, vigilance, and apocalyptic expectation.
The focus wasn’t solely on celebrating Christ’s birth. Advent was designed to prepare the soul for Christ’s return in judgement. Medieval sermons emphasised humility, fear of sin, confession, charitable giving, and moral renewal. The message was clear: Christmas might be coming, but so was Judgement Day!
If modern Advent is “countdown to the festivities,” medieval Advent was “brace yourself and prepare your soul.”
Hypatia of Alexandria
Few figures from the ancient world deserve as much wonder, controversy, and myth-making as Hypatia of Alexandria. Renowned as a philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician in a city often riven by political and religious turbulence, Hypatia has come to symbolise both the intellectual heights of late antiquity and the dangers faced by women who dared to wield knowledge and influence.
Who Was Hypatia?
Hypatia (c. 355–415 CE) was the daughter of Theon of Alexandria, himself a respected scholar and the last recorded member of the Museum—the great scholarly institution associated with the Library of Alexandria (interesting fact of the day about the term ‘Museum’). Raised in this environment, Hypatia received an exceptional education in mathematics, astronomy, and Platonic philosophy. By adulthood she had surpassed her father’s reputation, becoming:
A leading lecturer in Neoplatonism, attracting Christian, pagan, and Jewish students alike;
An authority in mathematics, editing and refining works such as Diophantus’s Arithmetica and Apollonius’s Conics;
A public intellectual, known for her counsel to civic leaders, including the Roman prefect Orestes
She was, quite simply, quite a woman!
Murder Most Foul
Medieval Succession: When Henry II’s Empire Imploded
When Successionfirst aired, audiences were transfixed by its portrait of a modern dynasty at war with itself: scheming heirs, a manipulative patriarch, and a fortune vast enough to make loyalty negotiable. But centuries before Logan Roy was terrifying his children in glass-walled boardrooms, another ruthless family feud was playing out across medieval Europe.
In 1173, the most powerful man in Christendom—King Henry II of England—faced a rebellion led not by rivals or barons, but by his own wife and sons. Chroniclers called it the Great Rebellion; historians often dub it the Revolt of the Eaglets, after the young “eagles” who turned on the parent bird.
And just like inSuccession, the real question was: who inherits the empire?
Zenobia of Palmyra: the Queen Who Defied Rome
In the third century CE, as Rome teetered on the brink of fragmentation, a woman from the desert city of Palmyra rose to challenge the empire itself.
Her name was Zenobia — scholar, strategist, queen, and for a brief, extraordinary moment, empress of the East.
Richard de Brito: The Forgotten Killer; and a very Dangerous Friend
In legend he struck the final blow; in fiction, he will cause a torrent of trouble for his friend William FitzErneis in Lady of Lincoln.
When Archbishop Thomas Becket was cut down before the altar of Canterbury Cathedral in December 1170, the man who delivered the fatal stroke was Richard de Brito—sometimes styled le Breton. His sword, witnesses said, split Becket’s skull so deeply that the blade snapped on the flagstones.
Unlike the other knights, de Brito cried out as he struck:
“Take that for the love of my lord William FitzEmpress!”
The words stunned those who heard them. He was killing the archbishop not in Henry II’s name, but in that of Henry’s brother—the late William FitzEmpress, Henry II’s brother.
Vibia Sabina: Empress, Wife of Hadrian
I bet that if you think of Emperor Hadrian, you think about his great wall in the north of England. Possibly you might think of the Roman decadence of villas and statues made from marble. Yet beside him, often erased from the narrative, stood Vibia Sabina, his wife and Rome’s empress for more than four decades.
Her likeness survives on hundreds of coins, but her voice does not. She remains one of antiquity’s most silent women.
Hugh de Morville: The Knight Who Would Not Repent
Lord of Westmorland and Knaresborough, de Morville escaped execution, but not history’s judgment.
When Thomas Becket fell beneath the knights’ swords on that winter night in Canterbury, Hugh de Morville was there, but whether he struck or simply stood aside remains one of history’s greyest shadows.
He was the oldest of the four and the most powerful: Lord of Westmorland and Knaresborough, baron of the north, and keeper of one of the most formidable castles in England. While Reginald FitzUrse raged, William de Tracy hesitated, and Richard de Brito delivered the fatal blow, de Morville watched . But his silence proved to be as damning as any sword.
Claudia Procula, Pontius Pilate’s wife
Most of us know Pontius Pilate — the Roman governor who condemned Jesus to death. But how many of us know the woman who tried to stop him?
Claudia Procula (sometimes called Procula or Procla) appears only once in the New Testament, yet her brief act of conscience made her one of the most intriguing women in early Christian history, a woman caught between empire, superstition, and moral conviction.
-
Biographies
- 31 Aug 2026 She Didn't Wait for Permission 31 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Eleanor of Vermandois 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Richard the Lionheart at Sixteen: the Making of a Warrior Duke 26 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Hugh de Morville: The Knight Who Would Not Repent 25 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 Reginald FitzUrse: The Bear Knight Who Slayed a Saint 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen, Duchess, and Mother of Rebels 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 Henry II of England – The Jailer of Queens 12 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Geoffrey of Anjou: The Handsome Count Who Founded the Plantagenet Dynasty (Died 7th September 1151) 11 Aug 2026
- 3 Jul 2026 Lucy of Bolingbroke: The Woman Behind Lincoln Castle's Lucy Tower 3 Jul 2026
- 3 Jul 2026 Muriel of Lincoln 3 Jul 2026
-
CrimeAndJustice
- 31 Aug 2026 The York Massacre, 16 March 1190: On this Day in History 31 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 A Rat, a Skull, and a Murder That History Never Solved 26 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Richard de Brito: The Forgotten Killer; and a very Dangerous Friend 25 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 William de Tracy: The Penitent Knight of Canterbury 25 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 Henry II of England – The Jailer of Queens 12 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Geoffrey de Mandeville – The Terror of Widows and Nuns 11 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Philippe II (Augustus) of France Humiliated Queen Ingeborg 11 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Fulk V of Anjou: the King Who Beat His Queen 11 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Matthew of Boulogne: The Count Who Kidnapped a Nun 11 Aug 2026
-
EnglandAndAngevinEmpire
- 12 Oct 2026 Barlings Abbey: The White Canons and the Medieval World Behind Lady of the Castle 12 Oct 2026
- 1 Oct 2026 Black Shuck: The Devil’s Dog That Haunted Medieval England 1 Oct 2026
- 7 Sept 2026 The Treaty of Lambeth, 1217 7 Sept 2026
- 24 Aug 2026 How Nicola de la Haye and Gerard de Camville Conquered the Sea, and Made a Deadly Enemy 24 Aug 2026
- 10 Aug 2026 Willikin of the Weald: Was He the Real Inspiration for Robin Hood? 10 Aug 2026
- 3 Aug 2026 The Real Sheriff of Nottingham? 3 Aug 2026
- 6 Jul 2026 Lincoln's Lost Castle: The Rise and Fall of Thorngate 6 Jul 2026
- 23 Jun 2026 Why the Plantenet Angevins Ruled Half of Europe 23 Jun 2026
-
EverydayLife
- 2 Nov 2026 All Souls’ Day: Soul Cakes, Prayer and Memory 2 Nov 2026
- 1 Nov 2026 What Is Allhallowtide? The Three Days of the Dead… 1 Nov 2026
- 31 Oct 2026 All Hallows’ Eve: The Vigil of the Departed 31 Oct 2026
- 30 Oct 2026 Lanterns and Mischief: From Samhain Fires to Punkie Night 30 Oct 2026
- 12 Oct 2026 Barlings Abbey: The White Canons and the Medieval World Behind Lady of the Castle 12 Oct 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Medieval New Year's Eve: When Chaos Was the Point 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Feasts, Folklore & Boar: A Medieval Christmas with a Dash of Wild Hunt Magic 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 A’Wassailing We Come! 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Medieval Advent 26 Aug 2026
- 17 Aug 2026 Capons, Cocks and Hens: Keeping Chickens in Medieval England 17 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 All Souls’ Day: Soul Cakes, Prayer and Memory 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 All Hallows’ Day: The Feast of All Saints 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 All Hallows’ Eve: The Vigil of the Departed 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 Lanterns and Mischief: From Samhain Fires to Punkie Night 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 What Is Allhallowtide? The Three Days of the Dead… 12 Aug 2026
- 22 Jun 2026 What Languages Did Jews Speak in Medieval England? 22 Jun 2026
-
HistoricalEvents
- 17 Oct 2026 The Battle of Fornham 17 October 1217 17 Oct 2026
- 16 Sept 2026 The Prayer That Outlived Him: Rabbi Yom Tov of Joigny (and York) 16 Sept 2026
- 7 Sept 2026 The Treaty of Lambeth, 1217 7 Sept 2026
- 31 Aug 2026 Magna Carta Day: The Meadow Where a King Was Made to Yield, and the Woman Who Saved It from Ruin 31 Aug 2026
- 31 Aug 2026 Battle of Lincoln 1217: The Woman Who Held the Castle That Saved England 31 Aug 2026
- 31 Aug 2026 The Sky is Falling! Halley's Comet, the Bayeux Tapestry, and the Four Portents in ‘Lady of the Castle’ 31 Aug 2026
- 31 Aug 2026 How a Birthday Party at Chinon Kickstarted a Civil War (5 March 1173) 31 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 A Rat, a Skull, and a Murder That History Never Solved 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 ‘King and Conqueror’: How much truth-stretching is acceptable? 26 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Medieval Succession: When Henry II’s Empire Imploded 25 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Richard de Brito: The Forgotten Killer; and a very Dangerous Friend 25 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 William de Tracy: The Penitent Knight of Canterbury 25 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 Reginald FitzUrse: The Bear Knight Who Slayed a Saint 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 The Shadow of Becket: How a Murder Shook the Kingdom 12 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Princes Without Power: Why Henry the Young King Rebelled 11 Aug 2026
- 27 Jul 2026 What really burned at York Castle in 1190? 27 Jul 2026
- 22 Jun 2026 The Battle of Fornham: When a Countess Rode to War and Changed Medieval England Forever 22 Jun 2026
-
HistoricalFiction
- 26 Oct 2026 The Revenant of Hereford: Walter Map’s Medieval Walking Dead 26 Oct 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Warrior Monks on the Lincolnshire Heath 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Nicola de la Haye 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Fastrada: Charlemagne’s Queen History Tried to Forget 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Wu Zetian: The Woman Who Ruled an Empire 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 ‘King and Conqueror’: How much truth-stretching is acceptable? 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Empress Theodora of Byzantium: She Saved an Empire 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Hypatia of Alexandria 26 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Zenobia of Palmyra: the Queen Who Defied Rome 25 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Vibia Sabina: Empress, Wife of Hadrian 25 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Claudia Procula, Pontius Pilate’s wife 25 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 Zipporah, the Wife of Moses 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 The Revenant of Hereford: Walter Map’s Medieval Walking Dead 12 Aug 2026
-
MedievalLincoln
- 19 Oct 2026 The Holy Innocents Leper Hospital, Lincoln: The Malandry's Forgotten History 19 Oct 2026
-
People
- 26 Aug 2026 The Saxon Secret to Avoiding a Bad Ruler 26 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Medieval Succession: When Henry II’s Empire Imploded 25 Aug 2026
- 24 Aug 2026 How Nicola de la Haye and Gerard de Camville Conquered the Sea, and Made a Deadly Enemy 24 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 The Shadow of Becket: How a Murder Shook the Kingdom 12 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Princes Without Power: Why Henry the Young King Rebelled 11 Aug 2026
- 10 Aug 2026 Willikin of the Weald: Was He the Real Inspiration for Robin Hood? 10 Aug 2026
- 3 Aug 2026 The Real Sheriff of Nottingham? 3 Aug 2026
-
ReligionMagicandBelief
- 2 Nov 2026 All Souls’ Day: Soul Cakes, Prayer and Memory 2 Nov 2026
- 1 Nov 2026 What Is Allhallowtide? The Three Days of the Dead… 1 Nov 2026
- 31 Oct 2026 All Hallows’ Eve: The Vigil of the Departed 31 Oct 2026
- 30 Oct 2026 Lanterns and Mischief: From Samhain Fires to Punkie Night 30 Oct 2026
- 26 Oct 2026 The Revenant of Hereford: Walter Map’s Medieval Walking Dead 26 Oct 2026
- 19 Oct 2026 The Holy Innocents Leper Hospital, Lincoln: The Malandry's Forgotten History 19 Oct 2026
- 12 Oct 2026 Barlings Abbey: The White Canons and the Medieval World Behind Lady of the Castle 12 Oct 2026
- 1 Oct 2026 Black Shuck: The Devil’s Dog That Haunted Medieval England 1 Oct 2026
- 16 Sept 2026 The Prayer That Outlived Him: Rabbi Yom Tov of Joigny (and York) 16 Sept 2026
- 3 Sept 2026 Bloodbath at the Lionheart’s Coronation 3 Sept 2026
- 31 Aug 2026 The Sky is Falling! Halley's Comet, the Bayeux Tapestry, and the Four Portents in ‘Lady of the Castle’ 31 Aug 2026
- 31 Aug 2026 The York Massacre, 16 March 1190: On this Day in History 31 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Warrior Monks on the Lincolnshire Heath 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Friday the 13th Superstitions? 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Feasts, Folklore & Boar: A Medieval Christmas with a Dash of Wild Hunt Magic 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Medieval Advent 26 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Hugh de Morville: The Knight Who Would Not Repent 25 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 All Souls’ Day: Soul Cakes, Prayer and Memory 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 All Hallows’ Day: The Feast of All Saints 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 All Hallows’ Eve: The Vigil of the Departed 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 The Revenant of Hereford: Walter Map’s Medieval Walking Dead 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 Lanterns and Mischief: From Samhain Fires to Punkie Night 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 What Is Allhallowtide? The Three Days of the Dead… 12 Aug 2026
- 27 Jul 2026 What really burned at York Castle in 1190? 27 Jul 2026
- 22 Jun 2026 What Languages Did Jews Speak in Medieval England? 22 Jun 2026
-
TimePeriods
- 31 Aug 2026 How a Birthday Party at Chinon Kickstarted a Civil War (5 March 1173) 31 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Friday the 13th Superstitions? 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Richard the Lionheart at Sixteen: the Making of a Warrior Duke 26 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Geoffrey of Anjou: The Handsome Count Who Founded the Plantagenet Dynasty (Died 7th September 1151) 11 Aug 2026
- 23 Jun 2026 Why the Plantenet Angevins Ruled Half of Europe 23 Jun 2026
-
WomeninHistory
- 17 Oct 2026 The Battle of Fornham 17 October 1217 17 Oct 2026
- 31 Aug 2026 Magna Carta Day: The Meadow Where a King Was Made to Yield, and the Woman Who Saved It from Ruin 31 Aug 2026
- 31 Aug 2026 Battle of Lincoln 1217: The Woman Who Held the Castle That Saved England 31 Aug 2026
- 31 Aug 2026 She Didn't Wait for Permission 31 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 The Saxon Secret to Avoiding a Bad Ruler 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Nicola de la Haye 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Eleanor of Vermandois 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Fastrada: Charlemagne’s Queen History Tried to Forget 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Wu Zetian: The Woman Who Ruled an Empire 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Empress Theodora of Byzantium: She Saved an Empire 26 Aug 2026
- 26 Aug 2026 Hypatia of Alexandria 26 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Zenobia of Palmyra: the Queen Who Defied Rome 25 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Vibia Sabina: Empress, Wife of Hadrian 25 Aug 2026
- 25 Aug 2026 Claudia Procula, Pontius Pilate’s wife 25 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 Zipporah, the Wife of Moses 12 Aug 2026
- 12 Aug 2026 Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen, Duchess, and Mother of Rebels 12 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Geoffrey de Mandeville – The Terror of Widows and Nuns 11 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Philippe II (Augustus) of France Humiliated Queen Ingeborg 11 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Fulk V of Anjou: the King Who Beat His Queen 11 Aug 2026
- 11 Aug 2026 Matthew of Boulogne: The Count Who Kidnapped a Nun 11 Aug 2026
- 3 Jul 2026 Lucy of Bolingbroke: The Woman Behind Lincoln Castle's Lucy Tower 3 Jul 2026
- 3 Jul 2026 Muriel of Lincoln 3 Jul 2026
- 22 Jun 2026 The Battle of Fornham: When a Countess Rode to War and Changed Medieval England Forever 22 Jun 2026
- 1173-4 Great Rebellion
- 12th Century
- 12th Century England
- 12th Century History
- All Hallow Tide
- All Hallow's Eve
- Angevin Empire
- Battle of Fornham
- Battle of Lincoln
- Battle of Lincoln 1217
- Becket Martyrdom 1170
- Becket's Assassins
- Becket's murder 1170
- Canterbury Cathedral
- Celtic Traditions
- Christianity
- Clifford's Tower
- Clifford's Tower massacre
- Dark Ages
- Days of the Dead
- Death
- Earl of Leicester
- Eleanor of Aquitaine
- Eleanor of Aquitane Imprisonment
- England
- English civil war
- Faith and Folklore
- female warriors
- Folklore
- Forgotten Women
- Forgotten Women of History
- Geoffrey of Anjou
- Ghosts
- Halloween
- Halloween History
- Henry II
- Henry II and Becket conflict
- Henry the Young King
- Historical Fiction
- Household Knights
- Jack O' Lanterns
- King John
- Knights Who Killed Thomas Becket
- Lady of England
- Lady of Lincoln
- Lady of Lincoln Novel
- Lady of the Castle
- Lincoln Castle
- Lincoln Castle history
- Magna Carta
- Medieval
- Medieval Antisemitism
- Medieval battles
- Medieval Customs
- Medieval England
- Medieval England and France
- Medieval Feasts
- Medieval Folklore
- Medieval France
- Medieval historical fiction
- Medieval Historical Fiction
- Medieval History
- Medieval Jews
- Medieval Lincolnshire
- Medieval Misogyny
- Medieval Superstitions
- medieval women
- Muriel of Lincoln
- Myths and Legend
- Nicholaa de la Haye
- Nicholaa de la Haye novel
- Nicola de la Haye
- Nicola de la Haye historical fiction
- Nicola de la Haye novel
- Norman Conquest
- Norman Invasion
- Pagan Traditions
- Paganism
- Plantagenet dynasty
- Punkie Night
- Purgatory
- Revenants
- Revolt of the Eaglets
- Richard the Lionheart
- Robert de Beaumont
- Romans
- Samhain
- Saxons
- Soul Cakes
- Souling
- Spirit World
- The Anarchy
- The Three Days of the Dead
- Thomas Becket
- Thomas Becket Murder
- William FitzErneis
- Women in History
- York Jewish massacre 1190
- York massacre 1190
- Zombies