Sharon Kay Penman's Blog, page 151

Demon Spawn is Dead

     I am sorry it has taken me so long to post this new blog, but life has gotten very chaotic in the past month.  My beloved German Shepherd, Cody, has been waging a gallant but inevitably losing battle against old age, and he took a sudden turn for the worse just before Christmas.  It was touch and go for a while, but I am happy to report that he has rallied dramatically after getting a cortisone shot.  It now looks as if he ought to have more good days ahead of him; I can't be sure of...

A Holiday Giveaway

  I'll spare you all the gory details since some of you have probably read about it during my Facebook rants once I finally...

A Rough Re-entry

  And of course that lovely 9 ½ hour plane...

More Random Thoughts

      I hope most of you are having a better weekend—weather-wise—than we are in the Northeast corner of the US.  This is the second Nor'easter to hit in as many days.  At least it gives me a chance to catch up on e-mails, etc, and to get a new blog up before I leave for a quick research trip to France.  (I know, as the old joke goes, a dirty job but someone has to do it.)   I am so grateful to Richard's sister Joanna for marrying the Count of Toulouse, for until now, I'd never gotten any...

Random Thoughts

     I will start with the good news.  Ken has done more research, this time about the possible identity of Joanna's mother, and I am posting it again in a separate blog entry.  When I wrote Dragons twenty-five years ago, all that was known was that her mother may have been named Clemence, and so I had to create a past and personality for her.   What I love most about history is that it is so fluid.  New discoveries are constantly being made, turned up like seashells when the tide goes...

The Mother of Joanna of Wales, wife of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth

The Mother of Joanna of Wales, wife of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth

 

 

The Children of Llywelyn and Joanna.

 

Following my post on the children of Llywelyn Fawr and Joanna and the responses it received, I checked again through the genealogical pages on the subject of Gwladus Ddu. While it is true, as several genealogists point out, that in the absence of definite proof one way or another, the identity of the mother of Gwladus Ddu must remain 'unknown', I found no reason to change my personal conclusion...

Interview with Michelle Moran

Michelle Moran

INTERVIEW WITH MICHELLE MORAN

I am delighted to have a special guest for this blog–Michelle Moran, the best-selling author of Nefertiti, The Heretic Queen, and her latest, Cleopatra's Daughter.   Michelle's background as almost as interesting as her novels.  She has a BA in English, followed by an MA, and has spent six years in the trenches as a high school English teacher.  She is almost as well traveled as Marco Polo, often venturing off the beaten path.   She is definitely a c...

My Favorite Scenes

        I'd like to start with some book news.  Lovers of good historical fiction can rejoice for there is another P.F. Chisholm mystery glimmering on the horizon; A Murder of Crows won't be out until June of next year, but it has been a long wait since the last adventure of Elizabeth Tudor's dashing cousin, Robert Carey.  Regarding books already ready to be snatched off bookstore shelves, I want to remind you all that Michelle Moran's new novel, Cleopatra's Daughter, has a September birth...

Children of Llewelyn ab Iorwerth

Hi, everyone.  As promised, here is Ken's masterful research project about the bloodlines of Llewelyn Fawr and Joanna.   It is truly fascinating; what I wouldn't have given to have access to this information twenty-five years ago while I was researching and writing Here Be Dragons!    Ken, we're totally in your debt.

Children of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth

 

 

The primary purpose of this exercise is to try, by a review of genealogist's opinions on the subject and by consulting some known original...

Sicily recedes into the distance

Two hundred nineteen ships.   Seventeen thousand sailors and soldiers, a huge army by medieval standards.  This was the royal fleet of Richard Coeur de Lion, which sailed from Messina, Sicily on Wednesday, April 10th 1191.   Almost immediately the fleet was becalmed, forced to anchor off the coast of Calabria.  Two days later, the storm struck.  We even know the hour of the storm, the "ninth hour of the day," or 3 PM.   One reason I am deriving so much pleasure from writing Lionheart is that I h