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Category Archives: Research

The Great-Sea Flood

Posted on September 28, 2017 by Patricia

A.D. 1014 This year on the eve of St. Michael’s Day, came the great sea-flood, which spread wide over this land, and ran so far up as it never did before, overwhelming many towns, and an innumerable multitude of people. … Read More →

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Of Runes and Repetition

Posted on September 17, 2017 by Patricia

Today I’m sharing something about my writing process. One of the difficulties that a writer faces in penning a trilogy is the problem of repetition. Frankly, it’s almost impossible to avoid when you have the same characters and the same … Read More →

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England’s First City, circa A.D. 1000

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Patricia

For centuries the city of London has been the cultural, political and financial center of the United Kingdom. Turn back the clock some 1200 years though, and you will find that the royal and religious center of England was farther … Read More →

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Those Brutal Middle Ages

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Patricia

I read a scholarly article recently which suggested that medieval warriors suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome, just as modern soldiers do. It also proposed that the fighting men of the middle ages were not the brutal savages that we … Read More →

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What Happened at Corfe in 978?

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Patricia

Today, the chalk hill of Corfe on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset is crowned by the ruins of, for the most part, a 12th century Norman castle. But in Anglo-Saxon times a hunting lodge stood on the hill, and … Read More →

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The Riddle of the Stones

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Patricia

They had arrived at last at a long, low ridge where the standing stone, its edges scored in primitive runes, pointed skyward. Athelstan checked his horse beside the ancient, lichen-covered stone. Gazing into the shallow vale beyond, he caught his … Read More →

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Surviving Despite the Odds: The Bayeux Tapestry

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Patricia

The Bayeux Tapestry, as you probably know, is not a tapestry. It’s an embroidery that tells the story of the Battle of Hastings and of the events leading up to it. The Tapestry is 224 feet long and roughly 18 … Read More →

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5 May 1010: The Battle of Ringmere

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Patricia

On 5 May in the year 1010, a great battle was fought between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes at a place in East Anglia called Ringmere. In the fall of 2012, as part of the research for my novel The … Read More →

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Æthelred II – the Haunted King

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Patricia

On 23 April 1016, King Æthelred II died in London. He was about 50 years old, and he’d ruled England for 38 years. At his death he’d not yet been given the byname, Unræd, (ill-counseled, a play on the Old … Read More →

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On Inspiration

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Patricia

A very generous Elisabeth Storrs, author of The Wedding Shroud and The Golden Dice – novels set in Ancient Rome – invited me to answer a few questions about inspiration. She’s posted the resulting Q&A post on her web page, … Read More →

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