(Awarded the B.R.A.G. Medallion) The Novel Welcome to The Fenland Spell, my second novel in the Father Eadred series. The book has recently been released and is available from Troubador and Amazon and all good booksellers. As with Murder at Elmstow Minster, it blends historical fiction with murder mystery, and is set in the Fens […]
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The Anglo-Saxons did sometimes build with stone, although the overwhelming number of their structures were of wood. This post looks a little deeper into when and why stone (and brick) were used in their buildings. The broader context is about what was different about the period following the end of Roman rule in Britain that
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In my novel, Murder at Elmstow Minster, I depict a minster (an important church/monastery) in the 830s, divided between pious nuns and those who are worldly and decadent. It certainly makes for a good story, but the bones are accurate. A mistake often made when considering early and middle Anglo-Saxon monastic life, is to imagine
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In my recently released novel, Murder at Elmstow Minster, set in a community of nuns in the 830s, there is an Anglo-Saxon trial by ordeal. What were such trials? When were they applicable. How did they attempt to identify whether a person was innocent or guilty? They may seem completely bizarre to the modern Western
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Selection Criteria (Acknowledgement. I am grateful to Dr Francis Young for kindly taking the time to read an earlier version of this article and making helpful suggestions to correct several factual errors. I take full responsibility, of course, for any remaining errors or omissions and interpretations about Anglo-Saxon saints). The Anglo-Saxon Church was awash with
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Part Two: Anglo-Saxon Conversion As part of the research for my novels, Murder at Elmstow Minster and The Fenland Spell, I have delved into Anglo-Saxon spirituality – ‘pagan’ and Christian. In Part One of this series, I concluded by saying that there were some core aspects of pagan spirituality that would be certain to cause
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Part One: ‘Pagan’ Spiritual Beliefs If I were to venture a breathtakingly broad generalization of the spiritual history of the Anglo-Saxons, I would use the metaphor of a giant interconnected system of rivers and streams with ‘pagan’ (i.e. non-Christian) and some Christian waters intermingling with tolerance and little impediment up to the Conversion period. From
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Those familiar with Anglo-Saxon history or literature will know the term, ‘hearth companions’ or ‘hearth group’. Although its meaning changed over the Anglo-Saxon period, at core, it is wonderfully redolent of Germanic aristocratic culture. A group of chosen warriors fiercely loyal to their lord (king, prince or noble), often unto death. They were mutually supportive
