England: The Plantagenets

The Swords of Faith
Richard Warren Field

THE SWORDS OF FAITH tells the story of the confrontation between Richard the Lionheart and Saladin during what history calls "the Third Crusade." Both of these larger-than-life leaders believe they are destined by God to lead their holy armies to complete victory. For Saladin, victory means the defeat and expulsion of the western European Christians who have taken over lands in the eastern Mediterranean. For Richard, victory means the reconquest of Jerusalem, the city that Saladin had taken back from Christians a few years before. The resolution of their irreconcilable goals offers fascinating entertainment, as well as insights that reverberate into the present day. THE SWORDS OF FAITH is told from the viewpoints of Richard and Saladin, as well as through the eyes of two fictional characters, a Christian knight, Pierre of Botron, and an Arab trader, Rashid of Yenbo. Rashid and Pierre cross paths, and their relationship, complicated by their interaction with a beautiful and mysterious young girl, offers the possibility that common people of good will can prosper in the midst of such a polarizing conflict. Events build, culminating with all four characters together as part of a dramatic confrontation at one of the most well-known battles of the Crusades, the Battle of Jaffa. And to a significant extent, the fates of all of the characters, including Richard and Saladin, depend on the choices they make between the compassionate and fanatic aspects of their faiths.

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The Capture and Ransom of Richard the Lionheart    Not in NLS.

The story of Blondel, Richard's devoted minstrel.   Not in NLS.

A novel of Blondel's search for Richard the Lionheart.  Not in NLS.

Story of Richard the Lionearted's imprisonment and how Blondel, his minstrel, found him.  NLS.

Alternate history of Richard the Lionheart's reign over Jerusalem. 

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After his master, a maker of coins for the king, is brutally punished
for alleged cheating, seventeen-year-old Edmund finds himself traveling
to the Holy Land as squire to a knight on his way to join Richard the
Lionheart.  

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Recently returned to England from the Holy Land, Sir William Marshall travels to Pembroke Castle where he discovers the Lady Isabelle de Clare besieged by the hostile forces of John, deceitful brother of Richard the Lionheart. Marshall saves the castle, champions the lady's cause before King Henry II and Queen Eleanor, and remains at Henry's side to fight in the aging king's final offensive against Phillip of France.  Very silly book.  "Lords of the White Castle's Fulke LeBrun is portrayed as somewhat mentally retarded.  NH

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A girl disguised as a boy finds herself courted by Richard the Lionhearted on crusade.

Read review in That's All She Read.   NLS

Sequel to Shield of Three Lions finds Alix captured by Richard again on this time as a real girl.  NLS.

How King John is the good guy - no, really!  Takes place during the reign of 
King Richard I and includes his escape from imprisonment.  A highly weird Robin Hood.  NLS RC 57407 and DB 57407.

Read review in That's All She Read.   NLS.

William Marshal's prowess and loyalty have been rewarded by marriage to heiress Isabelle de Clare. Now a powerful magnate, William has weathered the difficult years of King Richard's absence on crusade and is currently serving him on campaign in Normandy while Isabelle governs their estates. But all the stability William and Isabelle have enjoyed with their young and growing family comes crashing down as Richard dies and his brother John becomes King.

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 K. M. Grant

A special horse named Hosanna changes the lives of two English brothers
and those around them as they fight with King Richard I against  NLS.
Saladin's armies during the Third Crusades. 

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Having returned to a politically unstable England after the Crusades,
brothers Will and Gavin--with the help of the red horse Hosanna--attempt
to rescue their friend Ellie who is being held prisoner by an enemy of
King Richard I.  

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This is as good a novel as I have ever read.  Lady Marian meets Robin of Locksley when he returns battle-scarred from the Crusades and the rest is history.  NH

Read the review at That's All She Read  NLS

Fearing she will be unable to bear Robert a child, Marian refuses to marry him. Instead, she makes a dangerous choice. In the depths of Sherwood Forest, she is transformed from lady to warrior. Joining Robin Hood and his shadowy band of men, Lady Marian is swept up in a plot to steal Prince John's gold-a plot that includes fighting the Sheriff's army as a desperate battle for justice gets underway.

Read review in That's All She Read.   NLS

Novelizations from the BBC Series

See also Movies and TV.

Robin comes home disillusioned from the Crusade and finds all awry and very much of which to disapprove.  This Robin is too 21st century consciousness for me.. he was an archer for heaven's sake! NH  Not in NLS

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Retells the ballad tales of Robin Hood and his band of fellows who outwitted the sour Sheriff of Nottingham, henchman of the wicked King John.

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Robin Hood in his own words   Not in NLS 

When fifteen-year-old Mary flees into the forest to avoid a fearsome marriage arranged by her uncle, she little knows what challenges like in store for her as the wise and magical Green Lady of the Woods.

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Author: Stephen R. Lawhead

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After losing everything he owns, forester Will Scarlet embarks on a search for none other than King Raven, whose exploits have already become legendary. After fulfilling his quest--and proving himself a skilled and loyal companion--Will joins the heroic archer and his men. Now, however, Will is in prison for a crime he did not commit. His sentence is death by hanging--unless he delivers King Raven and his band of cohorts.

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Coming in 2009

The story of Rhi Bran y Hud-Robin Hood-concludes as Abbot Hugo and the Norman invaders attempt to wipe out King Raven and his flock once and for all. Their merciless attack heralds a dark and desperate day for the realm of Elfael. Bran and his few stalwarts desperately need encouragement and reinforcement if they are to survive. But Friar Tuck, a most unconventional priest, has a daring solution to their dilemma that will radically alter all we've known about the legendary figure known as Robin Hood.

In this version the Sheriff of Nottingham is a woman.   Not in NLS

Scorning the knight who would reclaim his former glory under the rule of Prince John, Lady Rowena dresses as a boy to help Robin Hood's cause but soon discovers that Kendrick de Baron is not the enemy she despises.

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Will Scarlet takes center stage in this romance novel.   Not in NLS

A novel about Little John, who escaped serfdom to join Robin Hood.   Not in NLS

A Pagan version of the Robin Hood legend.   Not in NLS

Novelization of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.    NLS Braille only

Ever since the Sheriff of Nottingham killed his father, Rook has run wild as a wolf through Sherwood Forest, dreaming of vengeance. Now, he has come face-to-face with his chance. Not with the Sheriff himself, but with the evil man's son, snared by one of his own father's man-traps. Will Rook take the vengeance he craves, or will he remember he was not always a wild boy?

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Attacked on all sides, by sorcery and by sword, Robin Hood and His Merry Men battle for their forest home, and Sherwood Forest explodes as enemies descend with fire, magic, and treachery...

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Not Marian, but definitely Robin Hood   Not in NLS

From her convent, Maid Marian looks back upon her life.    Not in NLS

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Seven years have passed since Marian, Robin, and their kin fled Sherwood Forest for a remote village in Scotland. They have created a new life and given birth to a New Generation. The children of Sherwood fuse their ancestral traditions and the wildness of their birth land into new forms of magic.  Sequel to "Sherwood Forest."  

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An irresistible reimagining of the Robin Hood legend, Maid Marian brings to life the rollicking—and romantic—world of the Middle Ages and an unforgettable heroine.

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A novel of 12th century England, the origins of the Robin Hood legend,
and a beautiful woman's search for love.    Not in NLS

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A young knight suffers for his defiance of Prince John when the little weasel becomes king.  Love story is 
wonderful.  NH     NLS

Sins of the Knight  
Author: Dawn Halliday

An erotic novel involving a cousin of King John.   Not in NLS.  ebook.

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The first half of the thirteenth century is dominated by two women, as proud and ambitious as they were beautiful. Isabella is flamboyant and passionate, a medieval Helen of Troy - wife to King John and mother to Henry III.Blanche of Castile is the serene and virtuous Queen of France, wife of Louis VIII and mother of Louis IX.The two women hated each other on sight, but Isabella would stop at nothing, not even murder, to destroy the French Queen.

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The sexual attraction is undeniable and irresistible in this story of a woman in 
love with the man seeking her father's death for killing his own.  Hot.  NH   NLS

The action starts with the loss of King John's treasure in the Wash.   A strong female protagonist is only one of the assets of this book.  Not in NLS

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Soraya al-Din is a woman bent on revenge.  Disguised as a boy, nothing will keep her from her quarry.  Marc de Valery is a war-weary knight who has one last duty--to protect King Richard on his perilous journey back to England.  Soraya sets out with Marc with danger following close on their footsteps.     Not in NLS

A woman in search of revenge. An honorable man with a dark past.   Not in NLS

Fly By Knight
Author: Sahara kelly

A Knight condemned to death. A Welsh woman with a quest. Is it fate that brings these two together — or the mystical touch of an ancient warrior? 

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Abbess Helewise solves  murders in 12 th century England.

12th century whoremistress wants to clear one of her ex-whores' new 
lover of the murder of his wife.  Fun and ribald book.  NH   NLS

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In 12th century England a young man becomes the squire and lover of a
Saxon knight and accompanies him on Crusade to the Holy Land.  

A lady is mistaken for a peasant by a warlord bent on rape.   Not in NLS

Medieval Oxford is frightening place for a raw scholarship boy. Thomas Symon stumbles on a corpse within moments of arriving but, by an amazing twist of fate, his new tutor is an amateur sleuth well versed in Aristotelian logic. Magic, anti-semitism and closet pathology add to life's rich pattern circa 1264.  NMJ    Not in NLS

Falconer's Judgement (A Medieval Oxford Mystery)

It is 1261 and Oxford is in turmoil. Pope Alexander has died in Rome, An eclipseof the sun predicted, preaching of the last judgement, and Master Falconer is struggling to decode papers he thinks are on flight, as he manoeuvre's through the pitfalls of monarchy and church to tackle his second mystery.  Not in NLS

Lady Aileas Dugall would have worn chain mail to her wedding if she could because she was more concerned with things martial then marital. Nevertheless, she was the woman Sir George de Gramercie desired, though he wondered if she would come to the marriage bed more warrior than  wife.  Aileas bemoaned the fate that bound her to him, a knight who seemed more interested in the luxuries of life than the mechanics of war   NMJ  Not in NLS

Though famed for prowess in tourney and war, Etienne DeGuerre now found himself at odds in the Battle of the Sexes. For his opponent, Gabriella Frechette, was a woman of singular beauty...and single-minded resolve. One who had easily stormed his defences and laid siege to his unsuspecting heart. NMJ   Not in NLS

Her father would not arrange a marriage...and Janeta Cobham refused to become a nun. She had no alternative but to run from the convent that had been her home for so long. To her good fortune, she was aided by Bertrand D'Aubigny, landless knight, who proved to be her entree to the Court at  Winchester. Caught up in Court intrigues, how could Janeta know that more would be revealed than her growing love for Bertrand? Secrets that would put her in mortal danger..  NMJ   Not in NLS

An Amazon Short.  HTML, PDF.   In thirteenth-century England one young
woman, Aline le Despenser, finds the men she loves, her father and her 
husbandon opposite sides of the civil war that will reach its tragic climax 
on the fields of Evesham.  Not in NLS.  ebook.

Simon de Montfort and his barons challenge Henry III.    Not in NLS

A novel of love, heartbreak, and arranged marriages at the time of King
Henry III.  NLS RD only

Marguerite, eldest daughter of the Count of Provence, had married a king of France - and now her sister Eleanor is determined to make just as grand a match. Good fortune and wily cunning bring her Henry of England. A good and generous husband but a weak king. As Henry showers gifts on his new bride his extravagance forces him to levy ever greater taxation on the land, and the spectre of revolt soon looms against him.Perhaps Plaidy's heart wasn't in this one.  It feels like it was written in ten paragraph sessions and ends ratherr abruptly with Edward I in the Holy Land 
just saying, "Whaddya know, my dad's dead." NH NLS

I got at least three good cries from these/this book(s).  Also available as separate volumes. NH  NLS

A strange and excellent stone mason novel with the weirdest Robin Hood you will ever 
encounter. Roger Bacon is in it too.NH

Read review in That's All She Read.  NLS

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Against a vivid background of everyday life on a medieval English manor,
14 year old Catherine rebels against her  mother's determined attempts
to make Catherine into a gentle and patient lady, and her father's plans
to marry her off--profitably. Catherine is determined not to be sold
like a cheese. What is she to do?    NLS

Murder mystery set in 13th century Lincoln.  Not in NLS

Murder mystery set in 13th century Lincoln.  Not in NLS

This novel examines the marriages of Edward I, II, and III.  Not in NLS

Romance novel about an English nobleman who finds the love of his life
in  a flame-haired ScNot in NLSottish girl.  Not in NLS

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Edward I and his wars in Wales  Not in NLS

Through all the years of his reign, through personal tragedy and chill forebodings as his son grew into a weak, corrupted price, Edward I strove to weld a nation united from England, Scotland and Wales. When the mighty Wallace raised the Scots in arms and the Welsh Llewellyn strove for power, Edward stood firm to his resolve, despite knowing how much would be lost when his crown passed down to his dissolute son.

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Simon de　Montfort　was a　man ahead of his time, a disinherited Frenchman who talked his way into an English earldom and marriage with a sister of the English king, Henry III. A charismatic, obstinate leader, Simon soon lost patience with the king’s incompetence and inability to keep his word, and found himself the champion of the common people.

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A court functionary in Edward I's reign is asked to solve barious deadly 
mysteries.

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Edward II tells the story of the man who became his magnificent obsession.  Not in NLS

Takes place during the reign of Edward II.  NLS talking book only.

This historical novel casts Piers Gaveston as an orphan seeking the truth about his past.   Not in NLS

Written by  a "Robert Hood" who lived during  reign of Edward II.  Not in NLS

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Companion book for the movie.  Not in NLS

Mysteries solved and Edward II, Isabella and Piers Gaveston make appearances.

Queen Isabella takes a lover and ousts Edward II from the throne to make
way for her son. Part of "The Accursed Kings" series.     NLS

In fourteenth-century England, beautiful Queen Isabella-humiliated by her weak, unfaithful husband-is emerging from the shadows to take her revenge. But her newly arrived, twenty-one year-old Welsh handmaiden, Gwenith de Percy, also seeks vengeance-against the English invaders who crushed her beloved Wales. 

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Isabel's hopes for a happy marriage are dashed when she discovers her
husband's passion for Piers Gaveston.  NLS RD only

Edward the Second's first act on coming to the throne is to recall Piers Gaveston from exile, and the new king's devotion to the shrewd and avaricious young man soon becomes a scandal. The beautiful new queen, Isabella, accustomed to adulation, is bitterly humilated; and she is not a woman to forget or forgive. With the country in turmoil the king is making enemies throughout the land, and he fails to see that the most deadly of these is his queen.

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Danger, intrigue, and romance, and lots of sex too, in this steamy
romance set at the court of King Edward II.  NLS

A novel about the notorious and ill-fated Piers Gaveston.  Not in NLS

The court of Edward II as seen through the eyes of one of Queen Isabella's ladies-in-waiting.  Not in NLS

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The heroine of this novel is the  mistress of Piers Gaveston.. yeah, 
you read that right.  Gaveston.  NH   Not in NLS

Queen Isabella and her lover    Not in NLS

A novel of the wife of Edward II.  Not in NLS

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Isabella.. who else would it be?    Not in NLS

About  Piers Gaveston and Hugh
Despenser.  Not in NLS

Geoffrey Chaucer and his resentful scrivener follow the funeral procession of John of Gaunt from Leicester to London. Portrays Chaucer as a shrewd, political courtier -- not entirely likable -- with a few dark secrets, which his Scrivener tries to reveal to the world.

Rare book.  Sir Nigel Loring seeks his fortune in the service of King Edward III and finds adventure, pirates, treachery and redemption.  Conan Doyle is most famous for his detective, but he was proudest of his historical fiction.  NLS

In Edward III's England, the daughter of a newly made earl and the son of a 
disgraced traitor must make their marriage work.  Not in NLS

The sexiest Welsh soldier in medieval fiction and the cleverest apothecary 
team up to solve murders mostly in Edward III's Yourk.  Chaucer shows up
up in a couple of the novels.

In 1366, while England is at war with Spain, young Alleyne Edricson becomes a squire to Sir Nigel Loring and travels to France to join a bold band of archers known as the White Company.  NLS

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In the fifteenth century, with religious intolerance spreading like wildfire across Europe, Anna Bookman and her grandfather, Finn, earn a living in Prague by illuminating precious books---including forbidden translations of the Bible. As their secret trade grows ever more hazardous, Finn urges Anna to seek sanctuary in England. Her passage abroad, however, will be anything but easy as Brother Gabriel is sent to ferret out the source of the banned manuscripts.

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Filled with scandal, court intrigue, and prominent figures of the Medieval Age, The First Princess of Wales has at its center a wonderful love story, that of Joan of Kent and the son of Edward III, it is the riveting tale of an innocent girl who marries a prince and gives birth to a king. 

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Edward II has been barbarously murdered in Berkeley Castle on the orders of his wife, Queen Isabella, and her lover Roger de Mortimer, and fifteen-year-old Edward III is now king. Here we see Edward in his greatness, victorious in war and leading his country to prosperity, in love with beautiful Philippa, fathering a son, and at his very weakest, fallen from glory and crippled by his scheming mistress.

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Sequel to Pillars of the Earth - see under Stephen and Maud - about the struggle to build a new bridge and save the town's wool fair. A subplot concerns a secret about Edward II.  NLS

This mystery novel, set during the reign of Edward III, investigates the
mysterious cicumstances surrounding the death of King Edward II.  Not in NLS

In danger of losing the Aquitaine territory, England sends Geoffrey Chaucer, protégé of the king's son, to France. As a poet on a diplomatic mission, Chaucer must persuade one of the most important noblemen of the region to remain loyal to England's king. The problem is that the noble, Henri, Comte de Guyac, whose wife Chaucer had previously fallen in love, is not exactly neutral in his feelings for Chaucer.

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For Kivrin, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity's history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone. For her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location. But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in a bygone age as her fellows try desperately to rescue her. In a time of superstition and fear, Kivrin — barely of age herself — finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history's darkest hours.

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Preorder now.  The Crown of Thorns is brought to England as a peace offering...or is it a French assassination plot against King Richard II? Ex-knight turned detective Crispin Guest must discover the true culprit before he falls prey to the king's justice.

Ex-knight turned criminal investigator Crispin Guest finds that a routine case of adultery turns to murder involving an Italian syndicate and a mysterious veil with the face of Christ.  On sale November 2008

Read the review at That's All She Read    Not in NLS

You don't have to believe it when it says "The End"!  See The private journal of Crispin Guest, ex-knight turned  detective in 14th century London. 

A novel of Richard II.   NLS RD only

Richard of Bordeaux, young heir to the throne after Edward III, is surrounded by ambitious uncles who believe it would be better for the country if they could take the crown. Here is a vivid picture of Richard's court, his devotion to his favourite Robert de Vere, his love for two Queens, clever Anne and the little Isabella, and of his headlong journey towards disaster.  

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