Mothers of kings and last call to win free copy of Sunne

May 31st is a significant date for two women who played important roles in the Wars of the Roses and whom—it is probably safe to say—loathed each other. On May 31, 1443, Margaret Beaufort, future mother of Henry Tudor, was born; I’ve no plans to bake a cake for that lady. And on May 31, 1495, Cecily Neville, the Duchess of York, died, full of years and griefs. Also on May 31st, this time in 1246, John’s Jezebel, as one historian colorfully called her, Isabelle d’Angouleme, died in exile at Fontevrault Abbey. I’ve had people wonder how she ended up crashing the Angevin party as she was given a modest burial in the nuns’ cemetery. When her son, Henry III, visited the abbey a few years later, he was very upset that she was not buried with more pomp and ceremony. The result is that her tomb resides today with those of her son’s celebrated family---Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Richard Lionheart.
Today is the last day to enter the contest on my blog to win a personalized hardcover copy of Sunne; this is the commemorative edition published by my British publisher, Macmillan, which includes a new AN that discusses the remarkable discovery of Richard’s lost grave.