History And Catherine de'Medici

Source

About Catherine de' Medici  By Honoré de Balzac:

In France, and that, too, during the most serious epoch of modern history, no woman, unless it be Brunehaut or Fredegonde, has suffered from popular error so much as Catherine de' Medici; whereas Marie de' Medici, all of whose actions were prejudicial to France, has escaped the shame which ought to cover her name. Marie de' Medici wasted the wealth amassed by Henri IV.; she never purged herself of the charge of having known of the king's assassination; her intimate was d'Epernon, who did not ward off Ravaillac's blow, and who was proved to have known the murderer personally for a long time. Marie's conduct was such that she forced her son to banish her from France, where she was encouraging her other son, Gaston, to rebel; and the victory Richelieu at last won over her (on the Day of the Dupes) was due solely to the discovery the cardinal made, and imparted to Louis XIII., of secret documents relating to the death of Henri IV.

14Th And 15Th Century Best Historical Novels

A guide to the best historical novels and tales:

Filidh

The Dublin Saga, from Edward Rutherfurd's The Princes of Ireland series:

"There were three classes of learned men on the island.  The humblest were the bards, the storytellers who would entertain the company at a feast; of a higher class entirely were the filidh, guardians of the genealogies, makers of poetry, and even sometimes prophesy; but above them both, and more fearsome, were the druids."


Now I know what at least one word means!:

Source

13TH Century's Best Historical Novels

A guide to the best historical novels and tales:

Best Historical Novels - Ninth Century

A guide to the best historical novels and tales:

The Tower Of Nesle

The incident, The Tower of Nesle*, was raised in the novel The Royal Succession (one in a series), by Maurice Druon.

From this source:


"It is certain, however, that the three daughters-in-law of Philip the Fair led a most scandalous life, and that the Tower of Nesle in Paris was the scene of their crimes. Having been found out, they were arrested and sent to prison."

 Margaret of Burgundy, Queen of France, was one of the inhabitants of the Tower of Nesle (source):

Some historical tidbits about the French royal family, the Capets, can be found at an Internet forum here. 

*Also a novel, The Tower of Nesle or the Queen's Intrigue, by Alexander Dumas, Henry Llewellyn Williams.

Historic MacBeth - King of Alba

I've never read Shakespeare's MacBeth, though I don't know if that was an advantage or a disadvantage while reading "King Thereafter," by Dorothy Dunnett.

In Mrs. Dunnett's well-researched historical novel, she theorized that MacBeth and Thorfinn were not two separate people, but were the same historical figure. Here is a time line of that era featuring other historical figures in "King Thereafter," such as King Canute and King Malcolm.

The first character introduced in the novel was Thorkel Amundason, Thorfinn's foster father and a presence in Thorfinn's adult life as well. An excerpt from "King Thereafter" featuring Thorkel (beginning with the first line in Chapter One) can be found here.

A bit of the tale about the power struggle between the Earls of Orkney when Thorfinn started to consolidate his power base can be found here.

The prevalent characteristic about Thorfinn (MacBeth) was his approach to life and his style as king -- it was a chess match where he was several moves ahead of his opponents. This tendency was revealed early; "Here was a youth, it seemed to indicate, ready to fall in with the wishes of others. Sulien could not tell why, therefore, he became seized with the certainty that this proposal of Alfgar's (Note: Lady Godiva's son) was what Thorfinn had intended to do all along." (Page 30) If events did not turn out as anticipated, MacBeth's mind was agile enough to adjust to circumstances, even in the end.

MacBeth is no longer just a character in a Shakespeare play to me after reading "King Thereafter."

English Queens - Isabel The Fair

Isabel The Fair by Margaret Campbell Barnes is a novel about Isabel, daughter of Philip The Fair, King of France, and wife of Edward II, King of England. Isabel's first nemesis was Piers Galveston; her second was Hugh despencer.

A blog dedicated to Edward II of England and a specific entry about Hugh despencer.
Descendants of Hugh le Despencer are listed here. A Despencer blog can be found here. Is Hugh Despencer an ancestor of Gerrard Spencer and therefore an ancestor of mine? It appears as though Gerrard Spencer was descended from Geoffrey (did this Geoffrey marry Emma?) and Geoffrey's brother Hugh was the father of Hugh who was a major character in the novel. Does this support or debunk the connection? Need more time to go through it thoroughly.

21. Gerrard Spencer was the son of Michael Spencer, and was baptized at
Stratford, England, in 1576. He was the grandson of John Spencer who
married Ann Gerrard, a daughter of Sir William Gerrard, Lord Mayor of
London, 1555. It was from this grandparent that he received his name,
which was provincialized to Jared in New England.

Henry Spencer and Isabelle Lincoln, my ancestors (via Gerrard Spencer) and also ancestors of Prince William of England through his mother Diana, per this site.  Other descendants 

include Winston Churchill, George Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and 

George Bush.

Scotland's History and Geography - Sword of State by Nigel Tranter

Haven't finished "Sword of State," by Nigel Tranter, but realized that once I familiarized myself with some of the geographic features mentioned in the novel it would enhance my understanding of the novel. The website, Undiscovered Scotland, proved to be a good resource in this endeavor. Rosemarkie was one of the little towns mentioned in the book and it was found here [Undiscovered Scotland]. The name Haliburton evolved from “…Holy Burgh Town" and was mentioned in the same sentence as Kelso Abbey.” Another area mentioned was Lammermuir , a sheep grazing area. Another look at modern day Lammermuir can be found on this blog. Dingwall and Roxburgh were two more places in Scotland mentioned in the novel.

The basis of the book is "...the fascinating 13th century story of Patrick, Master of Dunbar, and his enduring friendship with Alexander II of Scotland." A more detailed of Alexander II's story can be found here. Alexander's father, William I of Scotland, The Lion (1143-1214), used the red lion on yellow as his standard and is a known symbol of present day Scotland.

A history of the Dunbars can be found here, in the "Genealogical Collections Concerning Families in Scotland," by Walter MacFarlane, et al. An updated look at the Dunbars can be found here.

Tapestry of the Boar by Nigel Tranter

A glimpse of medieval Scotland (ca 1160) can be seen through the fictional work by Nigel Tranter, Tapestry of the Boar. As one of the characters, Margaret Olifard, stated, "All Scots ought to know a great deal more about their ancestors....” . As someone with several Scots ancestors, I concur.

A review of Tapestry of the Boar at Amazon.com supplies a nice overview of the novel. A partial list of characters listed in the book include:

Hugh de Swinton: Second son of the Sheriff of the Merse, or Berwickshire
Duncan: Illegitimate son of the sheriff
Sir Ernulf de Swinton: Chief of the Name, uncle of above
Cospatrick de Swinton: Sheriff
Cospatrick, Earl of March: Distant kinsman and powerful noble
Sir Osbert Olifard: Thane of Arbuthnott and the Mearns
Margaret Olifard: Daughter and heiress of above

A genealogy of the principal character, Hugh de Swinton, later Arbuthnott (upon his marriage to Margaret Olifard, who was an only child, Hugh took not the Olifard name, but the name of the area or estate of Sir Olifard) can be seen here.

Hugh de Swinton was knighted by King Malcolm primarily due to his invaluable scouting services to the King while containing rebellious Scottish earls. The novel explains Hugh's later role in escorting the King's sister, Ada, to Holland for her marriage to Count Floris III.

The novel mention the saga of Lady Finella who allegedly murdered Kenneth II. It was a story completely unknown to me when I started reading the Tapestry of the Boar.

Another interesting historical reference was made in the book by Margaret Olifard regarded the Picts. “The young woman appeared to be something of an authority on the mysterious Picts, or Cruithne, as she declared that they should really be called, pict or pictori being merely a name the Roman invaders had given them because they had a pictorial rather than a written language, using symbols instead of letters. Cruithne meant wheat-growers, which was significant, she asserted, in that it revealed that they were a settled , land-cultivating people, not barbaric nomads as many assumed—and their cultivation in more than the soil."

Since there's a vast amount of Scotland's history unknown to me, a timeline of Scotland's history is linked here.