An Author’s
Inspiration
Owain Glyndŵr inspires a Regency Romance
By
Jayne Davis
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| Seal of Owain Glyndŵr |
Owain Glyndŵr was the last native-born
Prince of Wales, and died some time around 1415. I write Regency Romances, so
how can a Welsh freedom fighter have inspired a light-hearted romance?
The man first crossed my path, in a manner
of speaking, when I was studying for my English Literature O level (for
non-Brits, or Brits a good deal younger than me, O levels were formal
qualifications taken at the age of 16). We had to study at least one
Shakespeare play, and ours was Henry IV Part 1. In that play, much is made of
the rivalry between 3 men of similar age – Prince Hal (later to become Henry
V), Hotspur (Sir Henry Percy) and Owen Glendower (the anglicised spelling of
Glyndŵr’s name). In the play, Glyndŵr is presented
as a magician who can control the weather – having experienced some bad weather
in Wales, I can understand why the English may have thought this!
The real man
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| Corwen’s statue of Owain Glyndŵr / Ian West. |
In reality, Glyndŵr was a descendent of the Princes of Powys. He instigated a Welsh Revolt against Henry IV; there are differing explanations of the initial cause of this rebellion. Over a period of several years he gradually took control of Wales, and in 1404 he called his first parliament at Machynlleth and had himself crowned Prince of Wales. Then Prince Henry changed the English strategy from military expeditions into Wales to economic blockade, and this gradually succeeded. His last successful raid was in 1412.
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| Glyndŵr’s Parliament House in Machynlleth, pictured in 1814. |
He was never seen again by his enemies
after that. He was never captured or betrayed, in spite of rewards being
offered by the English. His final fate and grave are unknown, although there
are various theories about how he spent his last days.
A story is born
Today, Glyndŵr is recognised as a national
hero, and this is where I come back into the story. One of my hobbies is doing
long distance walks with my partner and a friend. There is a 9 day walk across
Wales called the Glyndŵr Way, linking some places associated with him. At one
point, huddling in a wood in the cold and wet to eat a bit of lunch, we found a
historical notice board explaining that a Welsh army had seen off English
forces here, assisted by the weather. It seemed most appropriate.
It was on that same holiday, when my
thoughts were wandering as they do at such times, that I contemplated mentions
of Wales in historical romances. In one of Georgette Heyer’s novels (Faro’s
Daughter), a secondary character is sent off to an aunt in Wales to keep her
out of the clutches of the unpleasant suitor her father has lined up for her.
The implication is that the aunt is a force to be reckoned with. In other
tales, heroines are threatened with being sent to their aunt in Wales as a
punishment for misdeeds (refusing offers of marriage, or wanting to accept the
wrong ones).
Then I started to wonder, what if the aunt
in Wales was not quite what anyone expected? And so a story was born. I also
love the Welsh countryside, and leapt at the chance to describe some of it as
part of my story. Glyndŵr gets a very short mention!
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| Autumnal scenery in mid Wales. |
An
Embroidered Spoon
By
Jayne Davis
Wales 1817
After refusing every offer of marriage that comes her way, Isolde Farrington is packed off to a spinster aunt in Wales until she comes to her senses.
Rhys Williams,
there on business, is turning over his uncle’s choice of bride for him, and the
last thing he needs is to fall for an impertinent miss like Izzy – who takes
Rhys for a yokel.
Izzy’s new surroundings
make her look at life, and Rhys, afresh. But when her father, Lord Bedley,
discovers that the situation in Wales is not what he thought, and that Rhys is
in trade, a gulf opens for a pair who’ve come to love each other.
Will a difference
in class keep them apart?
Pick up your copy of
An
Embroidered Spoon
or
read free on Kindle Unlimited.
Jayne Davis
Jayne Davis writes historical romances set
in the late Georgian/Regency era, published as both ebooks and paperbacks.
She was hooked on Jane Austen and
Georgette Heyer as a teenager, and longed to write similar novels herself. Real
life intervened, and she had several careers, including as a non-fiction author
under another name. That wasn't quite the writing career she had in
mind...
Finally, she got around to polishing up
stories written for her own amusement in long winter evenings, and became the
kind of author she’d dreamed of in her teens. She is now working on the first
few books in the Marstone Series, set in the late Georgian/early Regency period,
but keeps getting distracted by other story ideas.
Connect with
Jayne: Website • Facebook • Twitter • Pinterest • Goodreads.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting to learn more about the background of An Embroidered Spoon. Thank you!
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