Showing titles in Medieval

August 1284. On the heels of King Edward's triumph over Wales, the high point of his reign thus far, he receives the worst news possible: his eldest living son and heir to the throne of England has died. Concerned that his victories in Wales, and even more the means by which he came by them, have brought the wrath of the Almighty down upon his house, King Edward sends Catrin and Rhys to Windsor Castle to investigate.

Making a much-anticipated return to the world of Hild, Nicola Griffith’s Menewood transports listeners back to seventh-century Britain, a land of rival kings and religions poised for epochal change. Hild is no longer the bright child who made a place in Edwin Overking’s court with her seemingly supernatural insight. She is eighteen, honed and tested, the formidable lady of Elmet, now building her personal stronghold in the valley of Menewood.

Aleys is sixteen years old and unusual: stubborn, bright, and prone to religious visions. She and her only friend, Finn, a young scholar, have been learning Latin together in secret—but just as she thinks their connection might become something more, everything unravels. When her father promises her in marriage to a merchant she doesn’t love, she runs away from home, finding shelter among the beguines, a fiercely independent community of religious women who refuse to answer to the Church.

September, 1284. Within moments of rejoining the king's company, Rhys and Catrin learn King Edward has not only melted down the silver seal of their murdered prince and turned it into a chalice, but the chalice itself has gone missing a matter of days before its intended consecration at Vale Royal Abbey.

Returning from a dangerous mission to Rome, warlord Beobrand looks forward to peace at home, but bloodshed remains his constant companion. While bringing criminals to justice Beobrand believes he has discovered a secret alliance between two of Bernicia's enemies: the Picts and the Mercians. He hastens to warn his king, but finds Oswiu distracted, preparing to marry his eldest son to the daughter of former adversary Penda of Mercia, who remains as slippery as ever. Dismayed, Beobrand finds himself blamed for breaking the truce with the Mercians, and must fight once more for his life.

It is AD 995. Driven from his homeland as a lad, the long-wandering King Olaf Tryggvason has finally returned to Norway with an army at his back and vengeance on his mind. But Olaf does not just want to rule the Northern kingdom. He has more ambitious plans for the realm, and will put to the sword anyone who stands in his way.

Completed in the early 11th century, The Tale of Genji is considered the supreme masterpiece of Japanese prose literature, and one of the world's earliest novels. A work of great length, it comprises six parts, the first part of which (also called The Tale of Genji) is reprinted here. The exact origins of this remarkable saga of the nobility of Heian Japan remain somewhat obscured by time, although its author, Lady Shikibu Murasaki, presumably derived many of her insights into court life from her years of service with the royal family.

Amid the dust and mayhem of the Third Crusade, a fearsome knight, Thurstan Wildblood, 'a man with a hole where his soul should be', is charged with returning a female hostage to Christendom, specifically to Canterbury. Melinda of Jerusalem, they say, works miracles. She is touched by God and when she prays, astonishing cures are affected. The problem is that everyone seeks her as their prize. The crusaders captured her from an Islamic stronghold, and Sultan Saladin wants her back.

In 1561, with Elizabeth I on the throne and Catholic plots brewing, a young German prince arrives in England claiming to be the rightful heir–the son of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves. Armed with jewels, letters, and Tudor looks, his claim threatens to upend the dynasty. But as poison spreads and secrets unravel, astrologer John Dee and his companion Margaretta must uncover the truth behind the prince’s origins.

When a peasant woman is murdered and her daughter found dazed with a blood-drenched dagger lying beside her, the alchemist decides the real killer is hiding in plain sight. He enlists the help of his assistant, Flowia, and that of a resourceful plowman, Bertwoin, and forces them to work together even though a misunderstanding has soured their romance.

For Hasting the Avenger, fame and glory were supposed to last forever. Two years after the legendary sack of Paris, Hasting remains haunted—not by his triumph but by the bitter twist of fate that Ragnar’s name made it into the songs of the Skalds and not his. Drowning in resentment and drink, he has become a shadow of the Viking warrior he once was. When his wife divorces him, strips him of his wealth, and takes his son, Hasting’s world collapses around him.

Written and read by Neil Oliver In 15th century Constantinople, young Prince Constantine, heir to the Byzantine throne, is left permanently crippled when he saves the beautiful Princess Yaminah from falling to her death in the Hagia Sofia. Meanwhile in Scotland, John Grant, a young man with...

Italy, 1351. English knight Gerard Fox and the resourceful Willa have come through a death-defying journey across war-torn Europe. Now looking towards their future together, they must first find a way to reconcile with their difficult pasts. In a small village between Florence and Siena, Fox and Willa are caught up in a deadly ambush. After rescuing the enigmatic woman who is the target of the attack, they take refuge in her opulent villa and learn her heartbreaking story—a tale of loss, deception... and a burning desire for freedom.

Thomasin Marwood is one of Queen Catherine's ladies-in-waiting at the court of Henry VIII, and she does not trust Lady Anne Boleyn. But when an accident forces Thomasin and her family to take refuge at the Boleyn family home at Hever Castle, Thomasin is entrusted with an unexpected mission by Anne's mother.

'As disturbing as it is empathetic, as beautiful as it is riveting' Eimear McBride, New Statesman 'A literary triumph' Adam Thorpe, Guardian 1066. The Norman invasion has brutally seized the country that the Buccmaster of Holland, a proud landowning farmer in Lincolnshire, once knew. Bereft of...

The thirty-fourth mystery in Peter Tremayne's long-standing and much-loved series, Revenge of the Stormbringer features 7th-century Irish super-sleuth Sister Fidelma.

When Viking warlord Hasting arrives at the gates of Constantinople, he knows he can't conquer it. Not with deeds of arms alone. But fate has other plans. His failed raid turns into an opportunity: serve Empress Theodora as her sword-for-hire. Hasting quickly proves himself more capable than the generals she no longer trusts. But the empire is a viper's nest of betrayal, and when an attempt to scare off his men ends in the death of his lover, Hasting's mission changes.

Hrald, Jarl of Four Stones, has forfeited the golden treasure of his wife, Pega, the richest heiress in Mercia. The shrewd and powerful Lady Æthelflaed, daughter of Ælfred, King of Wessex, knows just what to do with that gold, and with the young woman to whom it belongs. She moves with swift decision. Hrald must undertake a startling penance for the harm he has caused. The one reward at the end will be his right to again wed Dagmar, the daughter of the late King of the Danes in Angle-land. If he survives.

In the Name of the Worm is a historical dark fantasy adventure of heretical proportions, complete with lost gods, entombed nuns, witch-knights, and a breathless plot interwoven with a heady dose of heterodox Christian and German folklore.

Tom Swan - soldier, scholar, bastard, spy. Tom Swan and his friends are trying to save Europe from the Turks, but most of his adversaries seem to be other Europeans. This time, an unnamed cabal is trying to kill him and, incidentally, ruin the banks and trade of England, France and Italy. Join Tom Swan on his latest adventure as the likes of Cosimo di Medici, Warwick the Kingmaker, Bessarion the cardinal and Aneas Picclomini the Pope show Tom the Renaissance in all its deadly glory!