The Seer Sung Husband

by Bob Beagrie

1536. England appears to be on the edge of civil war. On one side are Henry VIII and the modern, centralising Tudor state. On the other are a thousand years of tradition, custom and belief. In the North a rebel army seizes York, demanding an end to the dissolution of the monasteries and the erosion of religious freedoms. Within a few weeks the government is forced to negotiate with an insurgent army forty thousand strong. But when the rebels are persuaded to disperse, the leaders are arrested and executed. Northern England is placed under martial law. The Seer Sung Husband tells the story of the Pilgrimage of Grace, the Northern rebellion that briefly defied the authority of Church and State. Tobias Shipton, carpenter and husband of the Yorkshire witch and soothsayer Old Mother Shipton, weaves a wyrd tale of love and loyalty, rebellion and royal retribution. The Seer Sung Husband is a book about folklore and myth, imagination and belief. It's a portrait of England at a time of radical social, religious and political crisis. It's a magical realist verse-epic set against the violent upheavals of 16th Century England. It's a book about witchcraft and statecraft, religious faith and political betrayal.

68 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2010