Gwenllian – Welsh Warrior Queen

A guest post on my novel, The Anarchy, and the story of Gwenllian, the 12th-century Welsh woman who led an army against the Normans at Kidwelly Castle is posted today on Tony Riches’ The Writing Desk. Gwenllian was the daughter of the king of the northern kingdom of Wales, Gwynedd. She married the disinherited king…

Happy May Day

Happy May Day! The Anarchy, the final book in my medieval Wales trilogy, is published today. The novel deals with the 12th century succession crisis after King Henry I lost his only legitimate male heir in a shipwreck and tried to make his daughter, Empress Maud, his successor. It also covers the Welsh uprising against…

Posts from a Castle – Carew (Part 2)

In yesterday’s post, I recounted the early story of the royal Welsh fort at Carew and the coming of the Normans, telling the story of Nest ferch Rhys, the daughter of the last Welsh king in south west Wales, and Gerald FitzWalter, the minor Norman lord who held Pembroke and Carew at the end of…