The deaths of a king, a poet, and a great battle

The Deadline Dragon has flown away! Muttering that he’d be back, though, for I get the page proofs on November 7th. But for now the house is dragon-free and it has been a long time since I’ve been able to say that.
October 25th 1154 was the date of death for King Stephen. Henry was so lucky in those days, as he was until the end of his life, for Stephen died only a year after they’d made their peace and Henry was acknowledged as Stephen’s successor. No way to prove it, of course, but I always thought that Stephen lost heart after the deaths of his wife and son, Eustace.
October 25th, 1400 was also the date of death of the great writer, Geoffrey Chaucer. His Canterbury Tales is a literary classic and offers a mesmerizing view of medieval life.
And one of the most significant battles of the MA occurred on October 25th in 1415, at Agincourt, with the English king Henry V winning a great victory over the French. Bernard Cornwell’s Agincourt is a wonderful account of this campaign; I know I’ve said it before, but I don’t think there is anyone who writes better battle scenes than Bernard Cornwell.