RJay asked Sharon Kay Penman:

Sharon, what was your best resource for information on Plantagenets?

Sharon Kay Penman I start with biographies of the people I want to write about, Rosemary, as well as reading general histories of the period. My favorite sources are the chronicles of the times, for they sometimes give us a brief glimpse into the medieval soul. If I am lucky, I get to read chronicles on both sides--the Yorkists vs the Lancastrians, the English vs the Welsh, the crusaders vs the Saracens. Of all my books, I had the best sources by far for Lionheart, for the chronicles were not written by monks in far-off monasteries. They were written by men who'd accompanied Richard on the Third Crusade and by men who knw Saladin personally, two by members of his intimate circle. I actually was able to read first-person accounts of battles from both the victors and the losers, and for a writer, it does not get any better than that!

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