SINCE 1819 Subscribe Now Father Eadred returns to solve another fenland murder mystery in Lindsay Jacob’s new book, ‘The Last Days’ By Adrian Peel – adrian.peel@iliffemedia.co.uk Published: 07:00, 28 October 2025 | Updated: 11:35, 29 October 2025 Author Lindsay Jacob’s previous tome, The Fenland Spell, a crime novel set in the Kingdom of the East Angles in the year 832, was […]
Cambridge Independent article, 28 October 2025 Read More »
It is the year 833, and in the land of the East Angles, the rains have failed. The poor pray and starve. Then foreign hermits enter the north of the kingdom. They preach that God’s wrath has fallen upon the people because the king and the head of the Church are heralds of the Antichrist and have allowed sin to flourish.
(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
The Fenland Spell – An Anglo-Saxon Murder Mystery Read More »
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
Anglo-Saxons Buildings Read More »
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
Anglo-Saxon Monastic Decay Read More »
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
Anglo-Saxon Trial by Ordeal Read More »
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
Anglo-Saxon Saints – Piety and Compromise Read More »
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
Mystical Life in Anglo-Saxon England – Conversion Read More »
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
Mystical Life in Anglo-Saxon England Read More »
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
