Showing titles in Medieval

Raised at the court of King Henry III as a chamber lady to the queen, young Joanna of Swanscombe's life changes forever when she comes into an inheritance far above all expectations, including her own. Now a wealthy heiress, Joanna's arranged marriage to the king's charming, tournament-loving half-brother, William de Valence, immediately stokes the flames of political unrest as more established courtiers object to the privileges bestowed on newcomers.

1135, England: Matilda, daughter of Henry I, knows that there are those who will not accept her as England's queen when her father dies. But the men who support her rival, and cousin, Stephen do not know the iron will that drives her. She will win her inheritance against all odds, and despite all men. Adeliza, Henry's widowed queen and Matilda's stepmother, is now married to a warrior who is fighting to keep Matilda off the throne. But Adeliza knows that Britain's crown belongs to a woman this time. Both women will stand and fight for what they know is right for England's royalty.

Bound together by a single ancient text, the unforgettable characters of Cloud Cuckoo Land are dreamers and outsiders figuring out the world around them: 13-year-old Anna and Omeir, an orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy, on opposite sides of the formidable city walls during the 1453 siege of Constantinople; teenage idealist Seymour and octogenarian Zeno in an attack on a public library in present-day Idaho; and Konstance, decades from now, who turns to the oldest stories to guide her community in peril.

879 AD, Norway. Halvdan, son of Ragnar Lothbrok and King of Dublin, is locked in a savage war with Irish Dubgaill warriors in a battle for supremacy of Ireland’s coastal strongholds. Hundr, a Northman with a dog's name…Viking warships flying the raven banner…and the echo of Ivar the Boneless. Hundr and Einar the Brawler are drawn into a search for the son of Bjorn Ironside, lost during the war for Ireland’s future. Old enemies seething with vengeful fury emerge to throw Hundr and Einar into the most dangerous fight of their lives.

Beobrand is besieged in the action-packed instalment in the Bernicia Chronicles set in AD 647 Anglo-Saxon Britain. War hangs heavy in the hot summer air as Penda of Mercia and his allies march into the north. Caught unawares, the Bernician forces are besieged within the great fortress of Bebbanburg. It falls to Beobrand to mount the defence of the stronghold, but even while the battle rages, old and powerful enemies have mobilised against him, seeking vengeance for past events.

Autumn 1192. With Jerusalem still in the Saracens' hands, and a peace treaty agreed with their leader Saladin, Richard the Lionheart is free at last to travel back to his strife-ridden kingdom. By his side at every turn is the loyal knight Ferdia, also known as Rufus. Together they will face not just Richard's archenemy Philippe Capet of France, but also the king's treacherous younger brother, John.

King Henry has need of a sword to help him recover land taken by the Prince of Wales! And he looks to the north and the border knights who have served him so well. Now that Sir Thomas is becoming too old for war, Sir William is chosen to lead the knights of the Tees south to the wild lands of Gwynedd.

In 1282 AD, the Kingdom of Sicily is under the rule of a tyrannical French king and subject to his brutal Angevin army. Daily acts of violence and persecution are commonplace in a once-prosperous realm. For twenty-year-old Aetna Vespiri, daughter of a revered Sicilian knight, survival has become second nature. As a child, she witnessed the destruction of her family’s vineyard by Angevin soldiers and spent the next decade learning the tenets of stiletto-blade combat. Years later in Palermo, Aetna fends off a nefarious sergeant and sparks an uprising against the Angevin occupation.

England, 1351. The Pestilence has ravaged the land. Villages lie abandoned but for crows and corpses. Highways are patrolled by marauders and murderers. In these dark and dangerous times, the wise keep to themselves. But Gerard Fox cannot afford to be wise. The young knight has been robbed of his ancestral home, his family name tarnished. To regain his lands and reputation, he sets forth to petition the one man who can restore them. Fate places Fox on the wrong road at the wrong time as he hurtles towards a chance encounter.

Greed and ambition threaten to tear the north apart. War rages between the two kingdoms of Northumbria. Kin is pitted against kin, and friend becomes foe as ambitious kings vie for supremacy. When Beobrand travels south into East Angeln to rescue a friend, he unwittingly tilts the balance of power in the north, setting in motion events that will lead to a climactic confrontation between Oswiu of Bernicia and Oswine of Deira.

Betrayal by friend and foe alike beset Sir John Hawkwood as he enters the murky world of Italian politics. He will emerge from the experience as a true leader of men but first he has to outwit his enemies of which there are many. With Montferrat secured from the Savoyards and with the White Company now firmly in his hands, Sir John Hawkwood leads his men to Pisa where they have been hired to fight the Florentines. The hero of Poitiers is about to enter a world of treachery, intrigue and double dealing for which he is quite unprepared.

Saxon England burns under attack from the Great Heathen Army. Vicious Viking adventurers land on the coast of Frankia hungry for spoils, conquest and glory. Hundr and the crew of the warship Seaworm are hunted by Ivar the Boneless, a pitiless warrior of incomparable fury and weapon skill. Amidst the invasion of Brittany and war with the Franks, Hundr allies with the armies of Haesten and Bjorn Ironside, two of the greatest warriors of the Viking Age. Ivar the Boneless hunts Hundr, desperate to avenge the death of his son at Hundr's hand.

Saxon barbarians threaten to destroy medieval Wales. Lady Branwen becomes Wales' last hope to unite their divided kingdoms when her father betroths her to a powerful Welsh warlord, the Hammer King. But the fledgling alliance is fraught with enemies from within and without as Branwen becomes the target of assassination attempts and courtly intrigue.

Queen Margaret knows she must protect the crown - and her son Prince Edward's claim to it - at all costs. With her husband, King Henry, increasingly frail, it is up to Margaret to fight for their inheritance. And as the Wars of the Roses rage on, her enemies and their wives lurk close, threatening to unravel everything she is trying to protect.

Since losing his knighthood, Crispin Guest has crafted a new reputation for himself. From the shadowy corners of London to the halls of the royal court he is known as the Tracker, an investigator for hire who can find anyone or anything. But when the Archbishop of Canterbury hires him to expose the culprit threatening the sacred relics of a holy martyr, Crispin finds himself a stranger in an unfamiliar land.

In the year 1553, King Edward VI has turned sixteen. His minority has come to an end. He is ready to rule England as the next Tudor King and Head of the Church of England. However, his Catholic sister Lady Mary poses a threat to his dream of a ruling over a united godly nation.

Twelfth-century England has become too dangerous for Jews, especially the beautiful Jewish healer, Rebecca Manasses, who has been rescued by Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe from being burned alive as a witch. Rebecca and her father, Isaac, make the difficult decision to flee to Spain where they have relatives. They settle in Toledo's Jewish quarter, and Rebecca is able to build a thriving practice as a healer.

Richard III is trapped in the afterlife, waiting with his guide, Raven, for an angel to take his soul to Heaven. Though he's been between worlds for hundreds of years, up in the real world it's 2013 and Molly Stern has a broken heart from losing her father and a recent breakup. Leaving London, Molly goes home to seek solace from her Aunt Peggy and Uncle Frank in Oxenbridge. But there are strange noises in the basement of her childhood house and nothing feels right, not even between Peggy and Frank.

1348. As the Black Plague ravages Italy, Ginevra di Gasparo is summoned to Florence after nearly a decade of lonely exile. Ginevra has a gift—harnessing the hidden powers of gemstones, she can heal the sick. But when word spread of her unusual abilities, she was condemned as a witch and banished. Now, the same men who expelled Ginevra are begging for her return.

Winter, 1364. Sir Thomas Blackstone, Edward III's Master of War, has travelled to France to secure Brittany for England. In the throes of battle, he rescues a Castilian boy, Lazaro, who just witnessed the murder of the young queen. It is suspected that the king - along with Velasquita Alcon de Lugo, the beautiful witch who serves him - assassinated his queen. But Lazaro knows that is not the case. With the king in hiding and the French army advancing Castile is on its knees. So Blackstone is ordered to Castile, to defend England's ally from the French.