tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post8297513780404306889..comments2023-12-04T18:08:04.286+00:00Comments on Scribbling in the margins: Lost in RomanceCarol McGrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11072696398820339640noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-87055589226208911152015-04-21T00:22:41.696+01:002015-04-21T00:22:41.696+01:00I loved your book and for that reason it was hard ...I loved your book and for that reason it was hard to do the comments as I wanted to say so much. I can't wait to read the next. I read Russian Studies at Queens Belfast years ago. Kristy will put us properly in touch.Carol McGrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11072696398820339640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-23072613453853569532015-04-20T17:16:01.458+01:002015-04-20T17:16:01.458+01:00Hi Carol. Thanks so much for your kind words about...Hi Carol. Thanks so much for your kind words about my novel "Odin's Child", which Kristy has just forwarded to me. I notice that you are also a student of medieval Russia so I will be interested in your thoughts about the "Ice Queen," the second novel in the trilogy, which is coming out in November. Bruce Macbainhttp://www.brucemacbain.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-42905661040920142602014-02-11T12:46:51.178+00:002014-02-11T12:46:51.178+00:00"Henry I", by Charles Warren Hollister, ..."Henry I", by Charles Warren Hollister, quotes some entertaining descriptions of the banished Bishop Odo after his arrival in Normandy in 1088.<br /><br />"Odo now prowled the Duchy like a fire-breathing dragon". The "vanquished" and "very angry" found that Prince Henry, a youth in his twenties, was not only Robert Curthose's principal adviser but had become the overlord of lands in western Normandy encompassing the very ramparts of Bayeux.<br />Odo was now concerned that Duke Robert be strong enought to repel an invasion by WIlliam II. Having landed ahead of Henry, Odo now convinced Robert, "who stood in great fear of Odo", that Henry and Count Robert de Belleme et de Montgomery had formed a conspiracy with William Rufus against him.<br /><br />And so the unsuspecting Prince Henry and Count Robert were arrested, and Henry held in Bayeux itself. Duke Robert now extorted Henry's lands from him (how brave).zoetropohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11561232179829754977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-86171024802886261362014-02-11T10:33:07.235+00:002014-02-11T10:33:07.235+00:00I am aware of all these theories. Will also look a...I am aware of all these theories. Will also look at Swan Daughter blurb. I sort of saw this and will get the website manager to correct it. Thank you. Love the Phoenix idea but in the context of the other two stories The Betrothed Daughter works I think.Carol McGrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11072696398820339640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-29726342728052163282014-02-11T10:29:03.358+00:002014-02-11T10:29:03.358+00:00Keats-Rohan claims that the Ælfgyva scene from the...Keats-Rohan claims that the Ælfgyva scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicts a betrothal. She thinks its Harold's sister (the one called Elgiva in the wikipedia article on Godwin of Wessex), promised (according to WIlliam of Poitiers) to a Norman nobleman. (Which nobleman?)zoetropohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11561232179829754977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-36703916435318982452014-02-11T09:59:18.491+00:002014-02-11T09:59:18.491+00:00Ah yes, concurrent with the story of her sister Gu...Ah yes, concurrent with the story of her sister Gunhilda.<br /><br />Gytha (acc. wikipedia) died in 1098.<br /><br />Though disputed by some academics, Gytha is considered by many to have been the first wife of Vladimir II Monomakh the Grand Duke of Kievan Rus (1053 – 19 May 1125) in its Golden Age, and the mother of five of his sons, born between 1076 and 1083.<br /><br />Vladimir was of the House of Rurik, so naturally he has a place in Norse histories, where he is called "Waldemar, King of Ruthenia". He is buried in Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev.<br /><br />Vladimir's second wife Eufimia is thought to have been a Byzantine noblewoman. She died on 11 May 1107.<br /><br />The eldest of Vladimir's and Gytha's sons was Mstislav the Great (1076–1132), baptised "Theodore" but called "Harald" in the Norse sagas (presumably in allusion to his maternal grandfather). Mstislav reigned in Novgorod the Great (way up north between Moscow and St Petersburg) and was the last of the rulers of a united Kievan Rus.<br /><br />In 1095, Mstislav wed Princess Christina Ingesdotter of Sweden, daughter of King Inge I of Sweden.<br /><br />The same year Christina died (1122), Mstislav married Liubava Dmitrievna (the daughter of Dmitry Zavidich, a nobleman of Novgorod). Their daughter Euphrosyne of Kiev (c. 1130 – c. 1193) married King Géza II of Hungary in 1146 and they are ancestors of King Edward III of England.<br /><br />Lots of Eastern European history here: with Greeks, Cumans, German Emperors and bizarre scandals. Perhaps a mention of the increasing waves of immigration and military threat from the Steppe (as the Turkish, Mongol and other eastern populations boom). Byzantium's borders were already receding under sustained pressure from the expanding Seljuks.<br /><br />Which brings us to the decision of Pope Urban II on 27 November 1095 to call for all to aid the Byzantine empire against the Turks, which with hindsight we know actually undermined the empire.zoetropohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11561232179829754977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-34986252311372301852014-02-11T07:28:50.833+00:002014-02-11T07:28:50.833+00:00The third novel is about King Harold's daughte...The third novel is about King Harold's daughter Gytha who married a Russian prince of Kiev after her exile. It picks up where The Handfasted Wife left off in 1068. It has a title The Betrothed Daughter. Much takes place in the Nordic world.Carol McGrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11072696398820339640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-26445074873462404762014-02-11T07:05:47.188+00:002014-02-11T07:05:47.188+00:00Sorry, the article's title is "The Breton...Sorry, the article's title is "The Breton Campaign1064".zoetropohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11561232179829754977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-59570390083995018072014-02-11T07:05:11.286+00:002014-02-11T07:05:11.286+00:00Katherine Keats-Rohan has just uploaded a copy of ...Katherine Keats-Rohan has just uploaded a copy of her 2012 paper, "The Breton War 1064", to Academia.edu. In it she strongly supports the argument that Bishop Odo of Bayeux (who occupied the intersection of clerical and secular power) was merely the recipient of the Tapestry, and that its patron was Stigand, the Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury who was endeavouring to retain his position.zoetropohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11561232179829754977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-68812237999135417142014-02-11T06:51:16.547+00:002014-02-11T06:51:16.547+00:00Oooh, do hint what the third novel of the trilogy ...Oooh, do hint what the third novel of the trilogy will be about? A prequel or a sequel?zoetropohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11561232179829754977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-34401869230620372802014-02-11T06:50:26.238+00:002014-02-11T06:50:26.238+00:00India had a long medieval phase. Would be a major ...India had a long medieval phase. Would be a major task to become as familiar with its ways as England's. Still, I'm sure you have the stamina, Carol.zoetropohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11561232179829754977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-26356253525076826712014-02-05T15:21:52.717+00:002014-02-05T15:21:52.717+00:00Thank you Judith. The Handfasted Wife is on amazon...Thank you Judith. The Handfasted Wife is on amazon.com, high in the biographical fiction list there too, and can be ordered from bookshops. The second, The Swan-Daughter is in the edits phase. I have a website too<br />carolcmcgrath.co.uk. It tells you about the novels and so on. I would love to write one set in India though when I finish this trilogy which is medieval. This was one of my best trips there ever. I now have to read Shadow of the Moon. I never read it.Carol McGrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11072696398820339640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8900975960314592181.post-134076891328710472014-02-05T15:06:35.967+00:002014-02-05T15:06:35.967+00:00Carol, I am newly come to your blog and this post ...Carol, I am newly come to your blog and this post caught my imagination and memories. One of my earliest introductions to historical fiction was The Far Pavilions and for a long time after I dreamt of India, its colors and cultures. Very idealized. I envy you your journeys there. I live in the US and that sort of travel is monumental from here. Look forward to your bookJudith Scharahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06629065670753694883noreply@blogger.com