English history

The Fenland Spell - Front Cover

The Fenland Spell – An Anglo-Saxon Murder Mystery

(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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murder mystery novel

Anglo-Saxon Saints – Piety and Compromise

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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Father Eadred Cover Image

Mystical Life in Anglo-Saxon England – Conversion

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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Mystical Life in Anglo-Saxon England

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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Father Eadred Cover Image

Anglo-Saxon Companions of the Hearth – High Status Bromance or Smokescreen for Indulgence?

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

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