“Most Sacrilegious Murder…” said by MacDuff

Wednesday, 29 May 2019, 9:40.Reading time 1 minute.

I’ve always been more of a Baconian than an Oxfordian. Then they threw in Mary Sidney and the whole ‘Who wrote Shakespeare?’ argument started again. I’m soooo over that now. All I know is – whoever wrote the plays was a Genius. With a capital Gee! I especially love Macbeth…..The Scottish Play. NC have done […]

Roxelana Sultana

Thursday, 11 April 2019, 6:34.Reading time 1 minute.

I’m still on the Dorothy Dunnett vibe. Out of the six Lymond Chronicles, Pawn in Frankincense is my favourite. It’s partly why I know a bit about the Ottoman Empire and Constantinople. Lymond is causing havoc around the Mediterranean, especially in the court of Suleiman the Magnificent and his powerful wife, Roxelana. I was delighted […]

Janissaries

Monday, 1 April 2019, 7:26.Reading time 1 minute.

Who EXACTLY were the famous Janissaries? Wikiwhatever says this – Janissaries Quote – “They began as an elite corps of slave soldiers made up of kidnapped young Christian boys who were converted to Islam.” Mid to late 1300’s. OK. Whatever. How about this? “Christian/Turk.” In the 14th century there was no such distinction. The Great Empire […]

Hovering Thrones and Mechanical Lions of the Comnenus

Monday, 25 March 2019, 16:49.Reading time 3 minutes.

Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. So much that is good and beautiful in our lives has been twisted. For example…. Mechanical Lions of the Comnenus. Financial Times Article ALSO… The Emperor’s Palace in Constantinople (described by J Arnott Hamilton, Byzantine Architecture and Decoration (1956 pp16-17) William of Tyre in the […]

The Alexiad of Anna Comnena

Monday, 11 March 2019, 16:14.Reading time 1 minute.

I bought this book over twenty years ago. On a whim, From a secondhand bookshop. I read it and then parked it…one book amongst many. Then three or so years ago Serious Research began on my next magnificent, blockbusting novel Ravens of Dinefwr (OK. Stop laughing. A girl can dream!) My story includes Robert Curthose, […]

Byzantine Mosaics

Monday, 11 March 2019, 7:43.Reading time 1 minute.

This weekend’s Spring Clean allowed me to organise my mosaic making supplies and sparked an inner need to create another Greta-Style mosaic. Something I love, love doing :o) So I set out on a quest for inspiration, at the same time feeding my soul with the sheer beauty of this art-form. Here are a few […]

The Sack of Constantinople – 1204

Monday, 7 January 2019, 10:04.Reading time 2 minutes.

The Sack of Constantinople – part of the Fourth Crusade – is always described as a major turning point in Medieval History. It has perplexed many people for a long time. Few can agree on the reason why the brilliant, elite Crusaders of North Western Europe stopped at Constantinople and never attempted to move forwards […]

The Ravens of Dinefwr is the first in a series of novels-in-progress set in the early 12th century. It follows the dispossessed members of the South Wales House of Dinefwr from their origins in Deheubarth to the centre of the known world, Jerusalem. Come and be my fellow Far-Farer. Come travelling and unravelling with me through Wales, Norway, Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Russia, Constantinople, Italy, the Balkans, the Holy Land. Come and Far-Fare through every degree on my 12th century compass.