The queen and the sociopath

On January 27th, 1186, Constance de Hauteville, aunt of the Sicilian king William II, was wed to Heinrich von Hohenstaufen, King of Germany, and heir to the Holy Roman Empire. She was thirty-one, he was twenty, and I think we can safely say that theirs was not a happy marriage. Heinrich was well educated, fluent in Latin, a poet like his enemy, the English king Richard, and very intelligent. He was also a sociopath. Wives of sociopaths rarely lived happily ever after. But Constance was a remarkable woman, courageous and resourceful. The more I learned about her, the more I found myself wanting to write about her, for her life was filled with incredible drama. I did not expect to do it, though. But then I was asked to write a short story for George R.R. Martin and Gardner Debois’s anthology, Dangerous Woman. Once I stopped laughing at the idea of me doing a short story, I started to give it serious consideration, and the result was The Queen in Exile. Constance appeared briefly in Lionheart and she has several scenes in A King’s Ransom. I was very pleased to have this opportunity to give her more time on center-stage. We’ve been waiting for George to complete his story, a novella, actually, and it has now gone to the publisher. Here is a link to read what George has to say about it. http://grrm.livejournal.com/310198.html He has involved some very gifted writers and I am looking forward to reading their contributions. And of course, as a huge fan of the Ice and Fire series, I know I will turn to his story first!