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Any suggestions for HF in Charlemagne's era?

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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Thu March 11th, 2010, 5:33 pm

Julia O'Faolain's WOMEN IN THE WALL
I remember that book - read it years and years ago, and still vividly remember the grim atmosphere. The Merovingian kings were brutes, but very interesting brutes, and their wives were even more interesting - strong characters who could really hold their own.
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Post by annis » Thu March 11th, 2010, 6:34 pm

"Women in the Wall" sounds really interesting, Elizabeth- I hadn't heard of that one before. The Merovingians were a blood-thirsty lot and family feeling certainly didn't stand in the way of the quest for power.

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Post by Carla » Fri March 12th, 2010, 5:42 pm

[quote=""annis""] The Merovingians were a blood-thirsty lot and family feeling certainly didn't stand in the way of the quest for power.[/quote]

Par for the course for royal dynasties throughout history, you could say :-)

Women in the Wall does sound interesting - thanks for the recommendation.

Has anyone read Charlemagne and Roland by Allan Massie? I've been wondering whether to give it a go.

Mary Stewart's The Prince and the Pilgrim is set in England and Merovingian France, somewhere in the sixth century, so a couple of hundred years before Charlemagne's time. I read it years ago. Can't remember any details now, except that the heroine lived near Penrith (an area of the country I happen to like) and went on two or three not-very-eventful pilgrimages to Tours. I do remember that I thought it on the dull side, not as good as the Merlin novels. Not much seemed to happen, and what did happen felt contrived. I don't think it has anything much to do with Arthur, except maybe via a tenuous link with one of the legends in Malory.
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Post by annis » Fri March 12th, 2010, 8:34 pm

Just came across an interesting article in the "Guardian" by Sarah Dunant, talking about how Julia O'Faolain's "Women in the Wall" helped to inspire her own novel, "Sacred Hearts".

Warning: could contain spoilers for those who haven't read WITW

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/04/fiction

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Shield-of-Dardania
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Post by Shield-of-Dardania » Fri December 31st, 2010, 3:35 pm

[quote=""Chatterbox""]Was watching some DVDs of Kenneth Clark's civilization series, and it piqued my curiosity about Charlemagne. I've read some interesting NF about that era, but am not aware of any fiction.

Any suggestions???[/quote]
Just a wild idea. There was a legend about someone called Natronai al-Makir, great grandson (if I recall correctly) of Bustanai ben Haninai, a Resh Galuta (i.e. Chief of the Exiles) - a leader of the Jewish community in Persia - and Princess Izdundad, a daughter of Yazdegerd III of Persia by his second queen, Princess Maynanh of Byzantium.

Anyway, if that legend was true, al-Makir went to Frankish lands after a failed effort to get elected to the post of Resh Galuta, married Princess Alda, aunt of Charlemagne, and became Duke Theodoric of Toulouse.

Anyone heards of this?

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Kveto from Prague
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Post by Kveto from Prague » Tue January 25th, 2011, 3:23 pm

[quote=""Shield-of-Dardania""]Just a wild idea. There was a legend about someone called Natronai al-Makir, great grandson (if I recall correctly) of Bustanai ben Haninai, a Resh Galuta (i.e. Chief of the Exiles) - a leader of the Jewish community in Persia - and Princess Izdundad, a daughter of Yazdegerd III of Persia by his second queen, Princess Maynanh of Byzantium.

Anyway, if that legend was true, al-Makir went to Frankish lands after a failed effort to get elected to the post of Resh Galuta, married Princess Alda, aunt of Charlemagne, and became Duke Theodoric of Toulouse.

Anyone heards of this?[/quote]

I might have heard of this. Does this have anything to do with the Jewish kingdom of Septimania in Southern France in the 900s? I dont know anything about it but I know it figures somewhat in the matter of France legends on William of Orange.

Do you have any info on it?

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