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Lindsay Townsend's Blog

March 3, 2025

New! The Inspiration behind my "Master Cook and the Maiden". Plus a new excerpt



THE MASTER COOK AND THE MAIDEN
 
Vengeance…or love? Will Alfwen have to choose between them? And what part will the handsome Master Cook, Swein, play in her life?


People sometimes ask me: "Where do you get your ideas from?" In the case of my Master Cook and the Maiden, it came from a real historical event.

In the early 14th century, a nun called Joan of Leeds "crafted a dummy... to mislead...She had no shame in procuring its burial in a sacred space" according to the Archbishop of York, William Melton.

By means of the dummy, she faked her own death and fled the convent of Saint Clement by York. Later gossip placed her in the city of Beverley and she was ordered to return to the monastic life by her Archbishop.

Joan's absconding from the convent is not the only one recorded. In 1301 another nun, called Cecily, stripped off her habit, disguised herself and rode off to live with one Gregory de Thornton. 

Clearly, the religious life was not for everyone. 

In the case of my heroine Alfwen, she is not yet a nun. She fakes her death by drowning, a fate that could happen all too easily to laundresses who had to deal with heavy, waterlogged sheets and clothes in their local rivers. She gambles that the church authorities will consider her body swept away and so makes her escape.

Why she does so forms the catalyst of the story.

 #NEW THE MASTER COOK AND THE MAIDEN

Vengeance…or love? Will Alfwen have to choose between them? And what part will the handsome Master Cook, Swein, play in her life?
USA: Master Cook and the Maiden 99Cents https://ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=lindsay+The+master+cook+and+the+maiden&qid=1589871083&s=digital-text&UK:
Master Cook and the Maiden 80p 

https://ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+master+cook+and+the+maiden&qid=1589871416&s=bo#Romance #MedievalRomance #RomanceNovel

New Excerpt

They made good time now to a moated manor house where Swein had agreed, via messages and parchment delivered by a very condescending herald, that he would interrupt his Lent to cook for a knight and lady. As Nutmeg clattered the waggon over the drawbridge, Swein took in a sharp breath and looked at her. “Take care here. It feels amiss.”“Then I am glad I am with you and left Teazel safely back at home,” Alfwen replied, with a calm she did not feel, but wanting to support this man who had rescued and always helped her. Rewarded by a flare of light in his amber eyes and a quick rumble of laughter she turned to face whatever trouble they found. “Will you call me Alf?” she ventured. “It is a part of my name.”He snorted, his humour restored. “If I must!”Alf was certainly better than “You, boy!” which Alfwen endured from the moment she stepped down from the waggon. “You, boy!” yelled a sweating, bearded giant of a man in a filthy tunic as Swein handed her a new leather apron, “Since you are finally here to work get to the well and fetch water, and then rake out the ovens, and then—”Further orders were stopped by Swein stepping up to the taller man so close their boots collided. “Stay, please,” he said to Alfwen, adding in the same breath, “Where is the head cook?” He smacked the letter of introduction against the giant’s chest, allowing all in the kitchen yard to see the lord’s seal.The bearded giant lost his ruddy colour and his bluster, pointing back at the windowless soot-stained building he had just emerged from. “I will introduce us,” Swein went on, glancing at the giant’s meaty fists. “You should get to the well and wash your hands.”He deliberately pushed by the cook and slammed open the door, ignoring the yowl of “Shut it!” from within. Instead he held it wider, allowing Alfwen to see what looked to be a scene from hell. By the light of flickering torches, half-naked, sweating bodies tended glowing orange fires and turned pieces of some kind of flesh on smoking griddles. In the middle of the kitchen, sitting on a bench that was raised to be almost a throne, a dumpy man with a cloth cap similar to Swein’s punched the air, cursed and exhorted “any of you bastards” to close the door.Swein did so and guided her away. “We need to see the lord,” was all he said, followed by “No wonder the lady is sick and needs special dishes made,” and “I hate bullies,” a few moments later.He offered Alfwen his arm, exactly as she dimly recalled Walter offering Enid his, and swept her away, clearly not caring if the round-eyed onlookers thought she was a lad. 


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Published on March 03, 2025 02:13

New for Lent and Easter! The Inspiration behind my "Master Cook and the Maiden". Plus a new excerpt



THE MASTER COOK AND THE MAIDEN
 
Vengeance…or love? Will Alfwen have to choose between them? And what part will the handsome Master Cook, Swein, play in her life?


People sometimes ask me: "Where do you get your ideas from?" In the case of my Master Cook and the Maiden, it came from a real historical event.

In the early 14th century, a nun called Joan of Leeds "crafted a dummy... to mislead...She had no shame in procuring its burial in a sacred space" according to the Archbishop of York, William Melton.

By means of the dummy, she faked her own death and fled the convent of Saint Clement by York. Later gossip placed her in the city of Beverley and she was ordered to return to the monastic life by her Archbishop.

Joan's absconding from the convent is not the only one recorded. In 1301 another nun, called Cecily, stripped off her habit, disguised herself and rode off to live with one Gregory de Thornton. 

Clearly, the religious life was not for everyone. 

In the case of my heroine Alfwen, she is not yet a nun. She fakes her death by drowning, a fate that could happen all too easily to laundresses who had to deal with heavy, waterlogged sheets and clothes in their local rivers. She gambles that the church authorities will consider her body swept away and so makes her escape.

Why she does so forms the catalyst of the story.

 #NEW THE MASTER COOK AND THE MAIDEN

Vengeance…or love? Will Alfwen have to choose between them? And what part will the handsome Master Cook, Swein, play in her life?
USA: Master Cook and the Maiden 99Cents https://ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=lindsay+The+master+cook+and+the+maiden&qid=1589871083&s=digital-text&UK:
Master Cook and the Maiden 80p 

https://ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+master+cook+and+the+maiden&qid=1589871416&s=bo#Romance #MedievalRomance #RomanceNovel

New Excerpt

They made good time now to a moated manor house where Swein had agreed, via messages and parchment delivered by a very condescending herald, that he would interrupt his Lent to cook for a knight and lady. As Nutmeg clattered the waggon over the drawbridge, Swein took in a sharp breath and looked at her. “Take care here. It feels amiss.”“Then I am glad I am with you and left Teazel safely back at home,” Alfwen replied, with a calm she did not feel, but wanting to support this man who had rescued and always helped her. Rewarded by a flare of light in his amber eyes and a quick rumble of laughter she turned to face whatever trouble they found. “Will you call me Alf?” she ventured. “It is a part of my name.”He snorted, his humour restored. “If I must!”Alf was certainly better than “You, boy!” which Alfwen endured from the moment she stepped down from the waggon. “You, boy!” yelled a sweating, bearded giant of a man in a filthy tunic as Swein handed her a new leather apron, “Since you are finally here to work get to the well and fetch water, and then rake out the ovens, and then—”Further orders were stopped by Swein stepping up to the taller man so close their boots collided. “Stay, please,” he said to Alfwen, adding in the same breath, “Where is the head cook?” He smacked the letter of introduction against the giant’s chest, allowing all in the kitchen yard to see the lord’s seal.The bearded giant lost his ruddy colour and his bluster, pointing back at the windowless soot-stained building he had just emerged from. “I will introduce us,” Swein went on, glancing at the giant’s meaty fists. “You should get to the well and wash your hands.”He deliberately pushed by the cook and slammed open the door, ignoring the yowl of “Shut it!” from within. Instead he held it wider, allowing Alfwen to see what looked to be a scene from hell. By the light of flickering torches, half-naked, sweating bodies tended glowing orange fires and turned pieces of some kind of flesh on smoking griddles. In the middle of the kitchen, sitting on a bench that was raised to be almost a throne, a dumpy man with a cloth cap similar to Swein’s punched the air, cursed and exhorted “any of you bastards” to close the door.Swein did so and guided her away. “We need to see the lord,” was all he said, followed by “No wonder the lady is sick and needs special dishes made,” and “I hate bullies,” a few moments later.He offered Alfwen his arm, exactly as she dimly recalled Walter offering Enid his, and swept her away, clearly not caring if the round-eyed onlookers thought she was a lad. 


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Published on March 03, 2025 02:13

November 11, 2024

August 6, 2024

Beach Reads for Summer - all in print

#BeachReads! #HistoricalRomance #FreeReadKU #LowPrices THE SNOW BRIDE (THE KNIGHT AND THE WITCH 1) USA: https://amzn.to/2MZZan0 UK https://amzn.to/2H1tYzY A SUMMER BEWITCHMENT ( THE KNIGHT AND THE WITCH 2) USA: https://amzn.to/2SxGj5L UK https://amzn.to/352aAfD https://
Print: USA: https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Bride-Knight-Witch/dp/1086136233/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pnNxb__i1_2XUI3rMXbcmAwoXK-MBsUP-H9cnITsxnH11WmkJ7fctby2xw4eErGQrBUQL7SptdkDhr8IVr2PM3uCPobjp_lw4OlsgCiV-sxR7VmNrMDHWwggx3R9FB5KAbeNfjw1LzWYAhAjdd3S1KkMDa1osxg3Uuew5cuacosX_lI2Qp1vRiXFOuUVMaj48iNHkgquQWIshsQKvqoHgeoji8qHZTJnMRTU742BQ40.tRonmHbpspCht7vPV8uSjbh7KT4JNnZLRlhXXyxwUjc&qid=1722933711&sr=1-3
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Snow-Bride-Knight-Witch/dp/1086136233/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=AUTHOR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IqjddMSeZ-q_LHMhXGM8yL-g8zWhdwQoNUW0s4i6I3c_RF2LfOdSr_FcvDSy7OMT0JDJuQJlQ5XxAbzjMos7IKeqTk_Q-eWwnjN67xD2SshpyRaAOM4l9soXDmJ-9Vv6i-nF39mJFu3mgD17sGoERH-Ufu8_XHH8JsQKoWJ6igLZe6ldi3js_Y1cJCeZXPmekMK-OAwqovjsTtnC4_tJqXty7OZSZQ1qEoCIda5fxu4.tW53j0juGTz7kAy74xEU3D4xRH1rIPqoV-B3ydUJzg0&qid=&sr=




Print
USA: https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Bewitchment-Knight-Witch/dp/1707959986/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pnNxb__i1_2XUI3rMXbcmAwoXK-MBsUP-H9cnITsxnH11WmkJ7fctby2xw4eErGQrBUQL7SptdkDhr8IVr2PM3uCPobjp_lw4OlsgCiV-sxR7VmNrMDHWwggx3R9FB5KAbeNfjw1LzWYAhAjdd3S1KkMDa1osxg3Uuew5cuacosX_lI2Qp1vRiXFOuUVMaj48iNHkgquQWIshsQKvqoHgeoji8qHZTJnMRTU742BQ40.tRonmHbpspCht7vPV8uSjbh7KT4JNnZLRlhXXyxwUjc&qid=1722933711&sr=1-13 
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Summer-Bewitchment-Knight-Witch/dp/1707959986/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=AUTHOR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IqjddMSeZ-q_LHMhXGM8yL-g8zWhdwQoNUW0s4i6I3c_RF2LfOdSr_FcvDSy7OMT0JDJuQJlQ5XxAbzjMos7IKeqTk_Q-eWwnjN67xD2SshpyRaAOM4l9soXDmJ-9Vv6i-nF39mJFu3mgD17sGoERH-Ufu8_XHH8JsQKoWJ6igLZe6ldi3js_Y1cJCeZXPmekMK-OAwqovjsTtnC4_tJqXty7OZSZQ1qEoCIda5fxu4.tW53j0juGTz7kAy74xEU3D4xRH1rIPqoV-B3ydUJzg0&qid=&sr=

For more please see my amazon author pages under paperbacks:
USA: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lindsay-Townsend/author/B000API55C?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
UK:https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Lindsay-Townsend/author/B000API55C?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true


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Published on August 06, 2024 02:06

June 3, 2024

My Scottish and English Medieval Historical Romance Novels Published by Prairie Rose Publications


THE VIKING AND THE PICTISH PRINCESS 

Eithne’s cruel father sold her mother into slavery and gave her away. Despised by her siblings as a bastard, beautiful Eithne has lost everything, including her name.Now called Bindweed, the illegitimate daughter of King Giric has made a life for herself on Maiden Isle as a respected wise-woman. She is determined to hold fast to that position and her little home, no matter what—or who—may come to try to steal it.But when a fleeing Norseman appears dripping from the loch to seek shelter on Maiden Isle, Bindweed traps him – is he friend or foe? What is his purpose here on her isle? When ruthless raiding Gaels invade, Bindweed and Olaf must unite and fight together, if they plan to survive.

Can The Viking and a Pictish Princess work together to save the last people of the Black Broch before a harsh winter and more devastating raids destroy them?


USA: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LTGYTHV/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i20

https://amzn.to/3jA5bDvUK

 US: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08LTGYTHV/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i13

https://amzn.to/3jA52Qt


Excerpt

The lone figure rose silently from the loch. Emerging from the grey shimmer of a winter morning with water sheeting off his body, he glided over the submerged boulders onto the shore of her island. Bindweed scrambled into a holly tree and dropped to the parched ground. She gritted her teeth against the shout surging up her dry throat, old fears from the past made real.

Viking!

He was big, this invader, big as a king stag of the forest, tanned, barrel chested and with arms thicker than her legs. His black hair, dark as December pine cones, matted itself to his skull in long streamers of shadow and eyes, the colour of storm clouds, were quick and piercing.

“Black Norse,” Bindweed muttered, not daring to stir as that fierce grey gaze swept over her hiding place. His thick gold collar and armlets flashed when he strode by, arrogant as a lord. He moved with the swift, quiet grace of a warrior, the low winter sun illuminating his leather tunic and trews, the long dagger strapped to one thigh, his sword on the other.

Spy or assassin, Bindweed wondered, watching his retreating back. He made for her cave-house as if he had walked the path a hundred times, though she doubted he sought her skill in herb-lore. Still she did not stir.

The first snare on the trail he avoided with a snort of humour, the second, set below a seeming bed of innocent pine needles, swallowed him whole. Bindweed was out of the holly and sprinting before the Viking had stopped his bellow of surprise. A quick jerk of the rope hidden by ivy had the nets and timber unravelling and the trap closed. She quickly pinned it down, panting hard as she rolled the lock-stone in place.

Thirteen feet below, in the round pit it had taken her three summers to dig and harden with fire, the black Norse prowled, thumping the sheer walls and slamming the mud-churned floor. He would not look at her. Bindweed did not care.

“No one comes here,” she lied—why tell truth to the enemy? “Yell away,” she added, when the stranger’s mighty chest swelled like organ bellows. “None shall hear.”

The Viking lunged up. She stamped his clenching fingers off the timbers and nets and he cursed and spat. “Food later,” she told him, spotting how his eyes narrowed briefly in calculation. He understands me, then.

It did not matter. Tomorrow night she would lace his portion and his ale with enough sleeping draught to fell an ox and then drag him out, to question at her leisure. Thank the stag god and the great mother that I heeded my instincts four summers ago to fashion these traps. Sometimes my senses are not only tuned to women’s healing, but to more brutal matters of survival.

She had no time to celebrate, however. Now she was exhausted, harp-string taut tension replaced by a yawning tiredness. Without troubling to undress, she stumbled into her bed and slept.

She dreamed of her past, an old horrific recollection, that began, as too often, with screaming.

****

She was seven summers old when her father Giric killed her mother. Nothing as quick or kind as a knife, but his selling of Kentigerna bright-hair into slavery, to a Viking, was still murder. Years later, she had never forgiven the old man, nor forgotten her mother’s screams.
Medieval Romance -THE SNOW BRIDE by Lindsay Townsend. New Excerpt She is Beauty, but is he the Beast?Elfrida, spirited, caring, and beautiful, is also alone. She is the "witch of the woods," and no man dares to ask for her hand in marriage until a beast comes stalking brides and steals away her sister. Desperate, the lovely Elfrida offers herself as a sacrifice, as bridal bait, and she is seized by a man with fearful scars. Is he the beast?In the depths of a frozen midwinter, in the heart of the woodland, Sir Magnus, battle-hardened knight of the Crusades, searches ceaselessly for three missing brides, pitting his wits and weapons against a nameless stalker of the snowy forest. Disfigured and hideously scarred, Magnus has finished with love, he thinks, until he rescues a fourth "bride," the beautiful, red-haired Elfrida, whose innocent touch ignites in him a fierce passion that satisfies his deepest yearnings and darkest desires.Genre: HistoricalLength: 92,037 words



Chapter 5
As they rode within sight of the thatched roofs of Lower Yarr, Magnus squeezed Elfrida’s waist. “You know what to do?” he whispered against her ear.“We have been over this plan a score of times,” Elfrida replied, quelling the waspish tone in her voice so that Mark, riding alongside, could not accuse her of scolding. “You are right, it should work.”She and Magnus had talked at length at first light, over a breakfast of thick porridge that even now sat in her stomach like a stone. Magnus had seemed shy then, looking at the monster’s blue cup instead of her, but during the long ride over, he had put her before him on his horse and then clamped his body behind her like moss on a boulder.Riding for her was strange and new, but she sensed that even with a missing hand and foot Magnus was an excellent horseman. Once she had asked if they need sit so closely, but he had merely grunted and said the saddle made it so. After that he had urged the bay to a burst of speed, plowing through the fresh snow and scattering great clouds of white chill flakes everywhere so that speech became impossible.Now they were here, at a village she knew but had rarely visited. Those seeking her cures or help came to her, instead. Elfrida pulled the hood of her cloak over her hair so she could stare unchallenged, and she looked about.It was not as pretty as Top Yarr, she decided, satisfied that the village’s great house, wells, homes and snow-covered gardens were no better than those of her village. As they galloped down the track, a few faces she knew peered out from window shutters, and several old men hobbled on sticks out of doors.She and Magnus and a troop of other horsemen swept on to the village’s meeting house, home of the headman Adam de Shaghe, whose wife she had once helped in a matter of love magic.And I have other spells and charms to set, other villagers to help, if not here, then at Selton and Great Yarr. But they must wait. Christina comes first.“You understand their speech?” Magnus asked for the sixth time.“Very well. And you know to back me, whatever I demand?”His long thighs stroked briefly against hers as he hugged her. “To the hilts.”Warmed by his vow, she touched his hand in return, then gave her full attention to Adam de Shaghe and his council, who were gathering by the village cross to meet them.As they had agreed, Magnus and his men dismounted, but Elfrida remained on horseback. Sitting straight and proudly in the saddle, she tossed back the hood of her cloak. Her red hair was the brightest thing in the village clearing, and her itching spots had faded to red blemishes so that she seemed a thing of fury. She sounded it, too, her clear voice ringing to the treetops.

* * * *
THE SNOW BRIDE: [image error]https://amzn.to/2MZZan0

[image error] https://amzn.to/2H1tYzY


DARK MAIDEN:



Ghosts, revenants, incubi , vampires and demons haunt medieval England, as Yolande and Geraint must use their love to survive.


Beautiful Yolande comes from an exotic line of exorcists—a talent she considers a gift—and a curse. In fourteenth century England, a female exorcist who is also black is an oddity. She is sought after and trusted to quiet the restless dead and to send revenants to their final rest.
Geraint the Welshman captures Yolande’s heart with his ready smile and easy ways, and the passionate fire of his spirit. An entertainer, he juggles and tumbles his way through life—but there is a serious side to him that runs deep. He offers Yolande an added strength in her work and opens his heart to her with a love such as she’s never known.
But Yolande is not free to offer Geraint her love completely—not until her “time of seven” has passed. 
Can the powerful attraction between them withstand the powers of evil who mean to separate them forever? Yolande’s conscience and conviction force her to face this evil head-on—but can Geraint save his Dark Maiden…

Read Chapter One

On Amazon Com 

On Amazon Co UK 

Here's a new excerpt, from  the point of view of Yolande, my exorcist, when she meets the dangerous Geraint, my anti-hero.
The following morning, passing the bread and cheese that the sisters had generously given her to a beggar outside the convent walls, Yolande sensed someone watching.  She turned, forced to take a rapid backward step as a stranger trod on her shadow. She had not heard his approach.“Mistress Yolande?”“You have the advantage, mister. You know my name.” She smiled to take any sting from her words. “May I know yours?”Greetings and courtesy were important to her. Each gave clues as to character and wishes. She had once known a demon, beautifully polite, who would have ripped the flesh from her bones had she not bound him by his own rules of manners.The stranger bowed, a good sign. He muttered something in a language she did not know, which was not good. She moved a little closer, ready to boot him in the balls if he did anything unsavory.“Geraint Welshman, at your service.” He crouched then looked straight at her. “I am just taking something from my pack, if it please you.”She grinned at him to prove she was unafraid, her body heavy and languid as she itched to go onto the balls of her feet, ready to scrap. A quick stab to those astonishing black-blue eyes, a swipe at his knee and Geraint the Welshman would be groveling in the hard-packed mud.Which would be a shame for such a glorious face. He bent his head, showing his trust of her, to rummage in his pack. He was a good-looking brute, not too muscled but as lean and wiry as herself. There was a soft jangle of bells within his patched shoulder-pack, revealing him as a wandering entertainer, a less deadly mirror of herself. They were even about the same height.
 I entertain the restless dead before I send them on. What must it be like to work for living laughter?Hard, she guessed, noting his less-than-clean black hair, the scars on his knuckles, his drab motley, missing bits of ribbons and coins. He was darker that she was, tanned by many suns, and with excellent teeth.Strong, rangy and in no hurry to stick to one place, but a honeyman all the same. She felt a flicker of interest, a few youthful, girlish hopes. She was ten-and-eight these days, young for an exorcist but ripe for marriage. Her father, a remarkable man, had managed both. She missed him, but her time would surely come—maybe with this Welshman.“The pardoner said you would understand the message with this.” Geraint interrupted her reverie as he laid a crucifix down on the rutted road, on top of his pack to keep it from the dirt.Yolande stared at it, all hopes forgotten in an instant. She sensed the earth shifting beneath her feet as the blood pounded within her temples, making her convinced the top of her skull might shatter. “Oh, great Maria, already?” she said, unaware she had spoken aloud, crossing herself, making the sign of the cross above the crouching Geraint. The great bow across her shoulders creaked as if in warning.So soon! I must prepare with care. If this sign is right, there can be no mistakes. Pray that I am ready. It is so soon, so soon…

Sequel to "The Snow Bride". Medieval Romance Novel "A Summer Bewitchment".Genre HISTORICAL ROMANCEPublisher PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS
Date of Publication NOV 14th 2019


ASIN: B07ZTMNWZ9


 Free with Kindle Unlimited
Buy Links Amazon USA 
Amazon UK  Amazon Canada Amazon Australia
Blurb



 Can a knight and his witch save seven kidnapped maidens? Sir Magnus and Elfrida strive to find the girls, but at what cost to their marriage ?




Here is an excerpt from the opening chapter:England, summer, 1132“I am the troll king of this land and you owe me a forfeit.”Elfrida glanced behind the shadowed figure who barred her way. He was alone, but then so was she.Do I turn and run along the track? Should I flee into the woods or back to the river? He is close, less than the distance of the cast of a spear. Can I make it hard for him to catch me? Yes.But catch her he would.Play for time.“Indeed?” she asked, using one of her husband’s favorite expressions, then sharpened her tone. “Why must I pay anything?”“You have trespassed in these woods. In my woods.”The nagging ache in her shoulders and hands vanished in a tingling rush of anticipation. Elfrida dropped her basket of washed, dried clothes onto the dusty pathway, the better to fight. “King Henry is lord of England.”“I am king here.”A point to him. “I kept to the path, and then the river.”“That may be so, but I claim a kiss.”He had not moved yet, nor shown his face. The summer evening made his shadow huge, bloody. Her heart beating harder as she anticipated their final, delicious encounter, Elfrida asked, “Are you so bold? My husband is a mighty warrior, the greatest in all Christendom.”“That is a large claim.” He sounded amused. “All Christendom? He must be a splendid fellow. The harpers should sing of him.”Elfrida raised her chin, determined to have her say. “I am proud of my lord. He is a crusader. He has seen Jerusalem and he has learning. He can whistle any tune. He defends all those weaker than himself.” Should I say what I next want to say? Tease him as he has teased me? Why not? Are we are not playing? “Go back to your woods, troll king.”

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Published on June 03, 2024 05:45

April 12, 2024

The Sheriff of Nottingham. A Medieval Myth?

 

Image from "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves."


The Sheriff of Nottingham – A Medieval Myth?


We remember the Sheriff of Nottingham, the ultimatemedieval ‘baddie’, enemy of Robin Hood, played with vigorous style by AlanRickman in “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.”

 

No records give this man’s name, only his title, yetthere never was a sheriff of Nottingham. So did this un-named villain exist?

 

One clue is in the title “Sheriff”, meaningshire-reeve, the reeve (royal officer) of the shire.

 

A further clue to the genesis of this myth is the factthat there was a High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the RoyalForests, appointed by the Crown by the Normans soon after the Norman Conquestof 1066.

 

The Forest Laws were a Norman import, imposed uponAnglo-Saxon Laws and customs, and very much despised by the conqueredpopulation. The Forest Laws were a means by which the King could extend hisrule, eagerly used by monarchs to do just that. They could be imposed on morethan woodland or forest, and the High Sheriff, the creature of the King, washated as an enforcer of arbitrary, sometimes brutal laws. Forest Laws wereintended to reserve the red and fallow deer  and the boar for the King and the aristocracy –and no one else. Dogs, apart from guard dogs, were forbidden in forest areas,and people were forbidden to carry hunting weapons. William Rufus, the son ofWilliam the Conqueror, increased the severity of the laws in the royal foreststo include death and mutilation. Such sentences seem to have rarely imposed,but such laws caused resentment.  

 

King William II Rufus died in the royal New Forest,struck by an arrow. Political assassination or an angry local, furious at thelaws?

 

Another reason why the foil of Robin Hood was a sheriffwas because, in history, so many sheriffs or high sheriffs were bad lots.Philip Mark, sheriff from 1209 to 1224, Henry de Faucemberg (!318 to 1319) andJohn de Oxenford (1334 to 1339) were all corrupt, robbing and extorting with awill. ‘Gentlemen’ gangs of younger sons of the landed gentry, trained forbattle and with no lands to inherit, took readily to robbery and more. Men suchas the Folvilles and the Coterels actively recruited royal and other officialsto help them murder and steal. In 1335 Nicholas Coterel was even made bailifffor the High Peak District of Derbyshire, the ultimatehuntsman-turned-gamekeeper!

 

Given the danger for breakers of the king’s laws,poachers in the royal forest areas were often celebrated and praised. Few whobenefited protested, especially if they might receive a share of fresh, tastymeat.

 

 

Woodland, forests and hunting feature in many of mymedieval stories. I have Magnus, the hero in “The Snow Bride” involved in anassassination attempt in northern woodland during a hunt, and Conrad, the heroof “Sir Conrad and the Christmas Treasure” is a steward of the forest high lands.I speak of poaching, hunting and magic done to aid both in my novel, “The MasterCook and the Maiden”. All three of these novels are available on Amazon andfree to read through Kindle Unlimited. Why not give them a try?

 


"The Snow Bride"


"Sir Conrad and the Christmas Treasure." 



"The Master Cook and the Maiden." 



Lindsay  

 

 

 

 

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Published on April 12, 2024 05:28

February 26, 2024

New! Captives and Creatures: Six Medieval Romances. FREE Read with Kindle Unlimited





Six romantic stories, sensual and sometimes spicy, tales woven into medieval settings and now brought together in one volume.

Sebastian is an alchemist and neither handsome nor good-tempered, but when Melissa, daughter of his sworn enemy, falls into his hands as a war-prize, he finds himself beginning to change.

Valens makes arrows but is also a spy for Sebastian. Katherine is a young mother with a baby, kidnapped from a camp of women as a wetnurse for Valens’ dead sisters’ child. Katherine and Valens fall for each other, but can she trust him?

Julian, a northern sheriff, has the king’s trust and the loyalty of his men, but since the death of his wife he has been angry, plagued by nightmares, resentful, and wanting no other woman. Then he meets the mute Marian, the abused victim of outlaws, and knows her as a kindred soul. With help and love, can they both heal their wounds?

Morcar the Earl is a pagan, hated by the Norman Bishop Cyril. Cyril and his bastard son Gaspar plot to unseat Morcar and kidnap his



son Thorfinn to raise as a puppet manipulated by Cyril. Morcar is overcome and flung into a cave chained to a young woman, the witch Hemlock. Can they work together to escape? Can they recover Thorfinn? In the end, what future can there be between an earl and a witch?

Sir Gawain, poor, thoughtless and eager for glory, is on a quest to catch a unicorn. His reluctant companion, the virgin dairy-maid Matilde, hates the nobility and her fiery response to his attempts to discipline her leads to mutual respect, then fondness, even perhaps to love. When Matilde is taken by outlaws, Gawain realizes what she means to him and rides in hope of rescuing her. And the unicorn? The unicorn, too, has a part to play…

The youngest of nine sons, Jesse is amiable, chivalrous and used to coming last. Becoming a knight through his own efforts, he encounters a beautiful, virtually naked stranger in the countryside above the farmlands of his old home. Who is she and how can he help her? Jesse finds himself tested by the girl, by her unlovely family, and by the realisation that neither flaxen-haired maidens nor fire-breathing dragons are always what they seem.


609 pages 

99cents 

FREEREAD on Amazon KU 

Amazon Com.

Amazon Co UK 

 Many of these stories also feature Magnus and Elfrida, the knight and the with from my novels The Snow Bride and A Summer Bewitchment. 



The Snow Bride: To buy on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VSHHX4N




#Escape into #Romance & #Magic with A SUMMER BEWITCHMENT (THE Knight & the Witch 2)

 https://amzn.to/2SxGj5L  UK  https://amzn.to/352aAfD





View more on Lindsay Townsend's website »
 •  0 comments  •  flag
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Published on February 26, 2024 02:18

New! Captives and Creatures: Six Medieval Romances





Six romantic stories, sensual and sometimes spicy, tales woven into medieval settings and now brought together in one volume.

Sebastian is an alchemist and neither handsome nor good-tempered, but when Melissa, daughter of his sworn enemy, falls into his hands as a war-prize, he finds himself beginning to change.

Valens makes arrows but is also a spy for Sebastian. Katherine is a young mother with a baby, kidnapped from a camp of women as a wetnurse for Valens’ dead sisters’ child. Katherine and Valens fall for each other, but can she trust him?

Julian, a northern sheriff, has the king’s trust and the loyalty of his men, but since the death of his wife he has been angry, plagued by nightmares, resentful, and wanting no other woman. Then he meets the mute Marian, the abused victim of outlaws, and knows her as a kindred soul. With help and love, can they both heal their wounds?

Morcar the Earl is a pagan, hated by the Norman Bishop Cyril. Cyril and his bastard son Gaspar plot to unseat Morcar and kidnap his



son Thorfinn to raise as a puppet manipulated by Cyril. Morcar is overcome and flung into a cave chained to a young woman, the witch Hemlock. Can they work together to escape? Can they recover Thorfinn? In the end, what future can there be between an earl and a witch?

Sir Gawain, poor, thoughtless and eager for glory, is on a quest to catch a unicorn. His reluctant companion, the virgin dairy-maid Matilde, hates the nobility and her fiery response to his attempts to discipline her leads to mutual respect, then fondness, even perhaps to love. When Matilde is taken by outlaws, Gawain realizes what she means to him and rides in hope of rescuing her. And the unicorn? The unicorn, too, has a part to play…

The youngest of nine sons, Jesse is amiable, chivalrous and used to coming last. Becoming a knight through his own efforts, he encounters a beautiful, virtually naked stranger in the countryside above the farmlands of his old home. Who is she and how can he help her? Jesse finds himself tested by the girl, by her unlovely family, and by the realisation that neither flaxen-haired maidens nor fire-breathing dragons are always what they seem.


609 pages 

99cents 

FREEREAD on Amazon KU 

Amazon Com.

Amazon Co UK 

 Many of these stories also feature Magnus and Elfrida, the knight and the with from my novels The Snow Bride and A Summer Bewitchment. 



The Snow Bride: To buy on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VSHHX4N




#Escape into #Romance & #Magic with A SUMMER BEWITCHMENT (THE Knight & the Witch 2)

 https://amzn.to/2SxGj5L  UK  https://amzn.to/352aAfD





View more on Lindsay Townsend's website »
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 26, 2024 02:18