The Lion of Alnwick trilogy by Carol Wensby-Scott

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Sat June 18th, 2011, 10:08 am

Alnwick Castle is lovely as are the grounds! The little town of Alnwick has a great second-hand bookshop, too.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sun June 19th, 2011, 12:37 am

Amazing how everything ties together, Misfit, but I guess the world of Norman aristocracy was quite a small one, so people from noble families were bound to interconnect at some point or other.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Sun June 19th, 2011, 1:29 am

[quote=""annis""]Amazing how everything ties together, Misfit, but I guess the world of Norman aristocracy was quite a small one, so people from noble families were bound to interconnect at some point or other.[/quote]

Isn't that something? I am still shaking my head at how interelated everyone was during just these books.

SGM · Post by **SGM** » Sun June 19th, 2011, 8:10 am

To put it into perspective there were just under 60 hereditary peerages during the time of Elizabeth I, a number which corresponds approximately to about one per county (out of a population of under five million), there had to be a great deal of intermarriage between them.

Of course, the Tudor reigns significant altered the importance of the gentry which provided greater scope for marriage alliances.

When the House of Lords was opposing Lloyd George's budget in 1911, Edward VII threatened to make a lot more peers in order to get the budget through the House but the Lords did not want to lessen the value of the peerage and so passed the budget.

But there were still around 750 in 1999 when they lost their automatic right to sit in the House of Lords (soon to be lost completely).

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Mon June 20th, 2011, 4:45 am

This trilogy looks really interesting. I read Edith Pargeter's A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury not long ago, in which Harry (Hotspur) Percy is a major character. What a story! It would be neat to follow the family into the future if I ever get myself unburied from the pile of review books by my desk.

annis · Post by **annis** » Mon June 20th, 2011, 8:52 pm

They'd be well worth adding to your Medieval Novels list, Margaret, along with Carol Wensby-Scott's Proud Conquest (1979), which is about William the Conqueror and his wife Matilda.

Another one I discovered a while ago would also be a good addition. It covers a similar period to the Lion of Alnwick trilogy. Susan Curran's Heron's Catch (1989), is an intelligent novel about William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, and his wife, Alice, Geoffrey Chaucer's grand-daughter.

Susan Curran came to my attention with her novel The Mouse God (1988), which I found a compelling and thoughtful read. That one focuses on the experience of the Trojan War from the POV of some of its lesser-known female characters like Chryseis, Briseis, Andromache and Polyxena.

annis · Post by **annis** » Tue June 21st, 2011, 6:27 am

Seems to me that we should have a photo of Alnwick Castle to go with this thread! Impressive- it's been owned by the Percy family since 1309.

Quite amused by the Alnwick Castle promotional blurb. "Visit the Poison Garden! Eat at the Castle!" might inspire a few second thoughts

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Tue June 21st, 2011, 8:19 am

LOL. Yes, I remember having a tour of the Poison Garden.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Tue June 21st, 2011, 10:52 am

Thanks Annis. The Poison Garden? I'm not sure I want to know.

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Tue June 21st, 2011, 11:33 am

The Poison Garden

Anybody you'd like to do away with, well, here's your place to know which plant does what!