Historical Fiction author, M J Porter, is sharing
her inspiration behind her fabulous book —
The
First Queen of England
Lady Elfrida could have
been Anne Boleyn, marrying for love, only she outlived her husband. She could
have been Eleanor of Aquitaine, only she only had one son who lived to adulthood.
She could have been Isabella, the She-Wolf of France. No woman before her had
ever held so must power in England, and lost it, at the hands of her son.
The delight in Lady
Elfrida’s story is playing with the ‘what ifs’ and the ‘possibilities.’ This is
why she is a perfect character to explore through fiction, because her life is
long and varied, and there’s a great deal to untangle from the historical
record.
Elfrida was, officially,
the first crowned Queen of England. Of England. Before her, there had been
queens of Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, East Anglia, and even of the
Anglo-Saxons, but never of the English.
‘Twice a Queen’ Emma would
have walked in only recently relinquished footsteps when she married Elfrida’s
son in 1002, the much maligned Æthelred II.
I confess, the idea of a
married king falling passionately in love with Lady Elfrida, was almost more
than enough to want to write about her, and I did include this in the first
novel – much more a romantic historical novel than the subsequent books.
But Lady Elfrida was a
woman of considerable power, not just a love interest for the king – take a
look at the charters issued throughout her second husband’s and second son’s
life, and she’s there, witnessing them. Not always at the top, but clearly in
evidence, apart from when she and her son seem to have fallen out in about 985
until 993, when she reappears until her death. Lady Elfrida was a ‘mover and
shaker’ at the English Court.
She was the ‘queen’
alongside her husband as king, she was mother to his third and fourth children
– two sons.
As Queen she was involved
in the Benedictine Reformation then sweeping England – alongside such political
heavyweights as Archbishop Dunstan and Oswald and Bishop Æthelwold, and her
husband gave her command over the nunneries of England (which meant their
wealth and assets as well as their spiritual needs.)
Under her step-son, Edmund
the Martyr, Lady Elfrida, was absent from Court, no doubt plotting her son’s
return, or, just acknowledging that she had no part to play as her son had been
excluded from the succession.
Lady Elfrida returned to
Court with her son’s accession. A regency council was formed, and of course
Elfrida was included, and this seems to be where Elfrida reached her peak of
influence.
It’s worthwhile pausing
to consider this outcome. Æthelred was no more than ten, possibly eleven, when
he came to the throne. He was a minor. He was a child. And yet he became king
of England, his coronation taking place in April 978 or 979, either with
unseemly haste after his half-brother’s murder, or with a year of ‘arm twisting’
in between.
He was a minor. He was
not a warrior.
A hundred years before
Æthelred’s reign, the Alfred-Guthrum treaty had been signed, dividing England
between the Danes and the ‘English’ (as they weren’t yet really known).
‘England’ (still not a distinct entity) had nearly been overrun by the Vikings.
Fast-forward a hundred years, and ‘England’ has formed and there’s a minor on
the throne. This, in any eyes, must be hailed as the greatest victory for Lady
Elfrida.
Examining Lady Elfrida’s
life with a rational approach and half an eye to the charter evidence for the
period, and half an eye on what would happen after her death to smear her
image, it‘s impossible to say that she was not the first truly influential and
powerful woman to ever stand close to England’s throne – a queen, the king’s
mother, and, in time, the grandmother to a future generation – she deserves
much more than her Post-Conquest title of ‘whore’ and ‘murderer’.
Pick up your copy of The First Queen
of England
The King's Mother:
Sequel to The
First Queen of England Trilogy
The King’s Mother is
the story of a woman who has been censured by history as both a whore and a
murderer but was neither.
The widowed Lady Elfrida has achieved the impossible. She’s ensured her twelve-year-old son has become king, despite the gruesome murder of his predecessor and half-brother. While many blame the king’s mother, she looks to two rival noblemen as the real perpetrators.
Even with the reappearance of an unwelcome enemy on England’s shores, Viking warriors, who attack and threaten the safety and security of England, and specifically, the young king, the two noblemen are far from resigned to Lady Elfrida’s power.
As her son takes the final steps to become king in actions as well as name, she’s increasingly isolated by the deaths of allies and the scheming ways of others, including the king. Resentful of her continuing influence, Lady Elfrida faces banishment from Court with both fierce determination and acquiescence.
The King's Mother is the first part in a new trilogy.
The widowed Lady Elfrida has achieved the impossible. She’s ensured her twelve-year-old son has become king, despite the gruesome murder of his predecessor and half-brother. While many blame the king’s mother, she looks to two rival noblemen as the real perpetrators.
Even with the reappearance of an unwelcome enemy on England’s shores, Viking warriors, who attack and threaten the safety and security of England, and specifically, the young king, the two noblemen are far from resigned to Lady Elfrida’s power.
As her son takes the final steps to become king in actions as well as name, she’s increasingly isolated by the deaths of allies and the scheming ways of others, including the king. Resentful of her continuing influence, Lady Elfrida faces banishment from Court with both fierce determination and acquiescence.
The King's Mother is the first part in a new trilogy.
Suggested
reading order:
The Mercian Brexit (short story and prequel)
The First Queen of England
The First Queen of England Part 2
The First Queen of England Part 3
The King's Mother
The Mercian Brexit (short story and prequel)
The First Queen of England
The First Queen of England Part 2
The First Queen of England Part 3
The King's Mother
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See you on your next coffee break!
Take Care,
Mary Anne xxx