Chapter One

The wind whistled around him, but he did not hear it. Nor did he feel the icy flakes of white that battered against the tender flesh of his face, bringing tears to his eyes, and stinging his skin. His retainers might be feeling the force of the driving mixture of snow and sleet, and thinking it was madness to be riding hell-bent for leather in such violent weather, but Henry Bolingbroke did not see his retainers’ distress – he was not even aware of their presence.

If someone had demanded of him whether it was sleet that drizzled… Continue reading →

Some readers may wonder why the author has chosen to publish Love, Honour and Royal Blood in this less traditional way. The reason is very simple. Having spent 30 years researching the lives of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford I did not want an editor changing things to conform with known rules of what sells a novel. Continue reading →

When I am asked who and what is covered in the second book of Love, Honour and Royal Blood, all I can answer is, “A lot!”  So here I give you a glimpse of the breadth of topics covered, by way of the Index:

Index

Adam Pynkhurst: 379

Alan Fletcher: 13, 379

Archbishop of Canterbury:
9, 13, 55, 57-61, 64, 97, 98,
129, 305, 309, 310, 382,
400, 413 Continue reading →

Because spelling was not standardized in the 14^th Century, each scribe wrote words the way that they sounded to him.

In the documents written in Katharine’s own time, (many of which John of Gaunt dictated to his scribes) her name was spelled many different ways, including: Kateryn Swynford and Kateryne Swynford.  Swynford is also sometimes spelled Swinford as in Katherine Swinford or Katharine Swinford. Continue reading →