Sir Lancelot du Lac ~ the Noblest of Arthur's knights #kingarthur #Arthurian

Carrying on with the Arthurian theme this week, I thought we would have a recap on my favourite Arthurian knight. If you have read my books, then you will know that I have a bit of a soft spot for Lancelot. He is the father of my protagonists in The Du Lac Chronicles, and his sons have a lot to live up to.

 

Santiago Cabrera played Lancelot in the BBC drama, Merlin.

But putting my books aside, for just a moment… Scrap that, if you are in the middle of reading The Du Lac Chronicles, then please don't put it down, carry on reading.

Be gone with you back to Benwick and see what mischief Merton is getting up to now!

If you are not reading my books, I am going to assume that you have already read them, or are planning too...!!! But nevertheless, read on!

Right, (rubs hands with glee) Lancelot. What do we know about him?

Let's break this down into bullet points:

• He was Arthur's best friend.

Ioan Gruffudd played Lancelot in the 2004 film, King Arthur

• He was chivalrous.

• He was a bit of a ladies man.

• He was pretty good with the joust.

• Even better with the sword.

• Had an affair with Guinevere (what was he thinking?)!

The Accolade is a painting by British artist Edmund Leighton.

• Fell out with Arthur.

• Caused a Civil War.

• He was responsible for the downfall of Arthur, the Knights, Camelot, and consequently the whole of Britain.

Gustave Doré’s illustration of Camelot from “Enid”, 1867.

• He became a hermit (What?) 

Lancelot had a busy life, didn’t he? No wonder he has had ladies swooning for almost a thousand years. You are trying to do the math now; I can see you doing it. 

Unfortunately, this isn't entirely accurate. Until the 12th Century, Lancelot was a nobody. An unkown. It was the French poet, Chrétien de Troyes, who we have to thank for Lancelot’s creation. In Le Chevalier de la Charette, de Troyes portrays Lancelot as Arthur's greatest knight.

Chrétien de Troyes

As the years have gone by many others have contributed their 10 pence worth to this legendary knight.

Lancelot is everything a knight should be. He is noble, honest, a lover of women, kind, saintly, a lover of women, a defender of the weak, courageous, a lover of women, loyal, honourable, trustworthy, a lover of women, Follower of Christ, faithful to his word, and a lover of women.

Lancelot at the Chapel of the Holy Grail by the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones

There is a bit of a theme here, isn’t there?

Lancelot’s Achilles Heel, if you like to call it that is, is women. In particular one woman. But she is married. Worse than that she is married to his best friend who so happens to be the High King. Who so happens to be Arthur. I guess you can’t always help whom you fall in love with.

Lancelot’s story doesn’t have a happy ending. He loses almost everything. In the end, Guinevere chooses Arthur, and when he dies, she doesn't run back to Lancelot. Instead, she spends the rest of her days in a convent.

As for Lancelot, he is so guilt-ridden that he hides from the world and seeks solace in God.

Fast-forward many years to my books and Lancelot’s story does not end with the death of Arthur. He doesn’t become a hermit. He becomes a king. And what a king. But now Lancelot is dead and his sons find themselves in an ever-changing Saxon world, where chivalry is hanging in by its fingernails…

 The Du Lac Chronicles series...

 

A generation after Arthur Pendragon ruled, Briton lies fragmented into warring kingdoms and principalities.

Eighteen-year-old Alden du Lac ruled the tiny kingdom of Cerniw. Now he half-hangs from a wooden pole, his back lashed into a mass of bloody welts exposed to the cold of a cruel winter night. He’s to be executed come daybreak—should he survive that long.

When Alden notices the shadowy figure approaching, he assumes death has come to end his pain. Instead, the daughter of his enemy, Cerdic of Wessex, frees and hides him, her motives unclear.

Annis has loved Alden since his ill-fated marriage to her Saxon cousin—a marriage that ended in blood and guilt—and she would give anything to protect him. Annis’s rescue of Alden traps them between a brutal Saxon king and Alden’s remaining allies. Meanwhile, unknown forces are carefully manipulating the ruins of Arthur’s legacy.

 Grab you copy of The Du Lac Chronicles on Kindle for only 0.99 (Amazon US only) for a Limited Time.

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The death of King Arthur was only the beginning… #Arthurian #histfic

I have great news, you can pick up your kindle copy of The Du Lac Chronicles for only 0.99 (Amazon US only). But hurry, this offer won’t last long!!

The Du Lac Chronicles

By

Mary Anne Yarde

 

A generation after Arthur Pendragon ruled, Briton lies fragmented into warring kingdoms and principalities.

Eighteen-year-old Alden du Lac ruled the tiny kingdom of Cerniw. Now he half-hangs from a wooden pole, his back lashed into a mass of bloody welts exposed to the cold of a cruel winter night. He’s to be executed come daybreak—should he survive that long.

When Alden notices the shadowy figure approaching, he assumes death has come to end his pain. Instead, the daughter of his enemy, Cerdic of Wessex, frees and hides him, her motives unclear.

Annis has loved Alden since his ill-fated marriage to her Saxon cousin—a marriage that ended in blood and guilt—and she would give anything to protect him. Annis’s rescue of Alden traps them between a brutal Saxon king and Alden’s remaining allies. Meanwhile, unknown forces are carefully manipulating the ruins of Arthur’s legacy.

Book Extract

AD 495 Wessex, Briton.

Alden du Lac drew in a ragged breath. The cold night air hurt his lungs, and the rough wooden post that he was tied to rubbed the wounds on his back. He had prayed for the welcomed relief of unconsciousness; alas, it was not to be. It seemed even God wanted him to suffer for his failings.

He had lost count how many times he had been lashed. All he knew was that each lash represented every Wessex soldier that had been killed by his men. Cerniw's losses had been far higher, but no one paid for their deaths. Life was never fair, though; he did not need a lost battle and hundreds dead to tell him that much.

The year had been horrendous. Cerniw, with its rugged moorlands, its vast forests and beautiful coasts, had been struck with one pestilence after another. The people started to talk about moving, and some already had. Those who had stayed loyal to the land and, of course, to him, no doubt now wished they had not, for when Cerdic's Saxons came, they purged the kingdom, making it look like the hell the bishop preached of in his Sunday sermon. Alden, unlike God, had been powerless to do anything about it. Oh yes, he had fought, but the numbers he fought against had overwhelmed his army, for who could fight the devil, without God on their side, and think to win?

 

Alden hung his head in shame, his shoulder-length dark hair falling into his face. He cursed his naivety and worse still, his arrogance. His younger brother had warned him, but he had not heeded the warning; instead, he believed the useless treaty that Cerdic of Wessex had offered him only months before. He should have seen where Cerdic was going with it then, only he had been blinded by grief, by guilt. The responsibility for what happened, therefore, was his and his alone. He knew that, and he took the blame. He deserved to be tied to a post waiting for death.

 

Alden closed his pain-filled grey eyes as the image of his homeland in flames scorched his mind. He could hear the screams, the begging for mercy, and the cries for help. He could taste the terror in the air and feel the heat of the flames. Dear God, what had he done?

He had been left with no alternative. Even now, with the clarity of hindsight, he could see no other choice. He had ridden towards the enemy, carrying the white flag of truce and hoping ⎯ sweet Lord, how he had hoped ⎯ for clemency, not for himself, but for his people.

Instead, Cerdic's soldiers had pulled him unceremoniously from his horse and taken him prisoner along with at least eighty of his kinsmen. Of their fate he was uncertain, but his was assured. If he did not die tonight from exposure then an axe awaited him at dawn. It was a terrifying thought, and he prayed to God for courage. He felt no warm, welcoming presence and he feared what all men secretly feared, that on the morrow, he would not die well.

Snow began to fall softly from the night sky, not enough to settle, just enough to plummet the temperature further. He began to shiver. He tried thinking of a warm fire and his large bed covered in thick furs. It did not help. After all, when last he saw his fort it was in flames.

“Are you still alive, du Lac?”

Alden kept his head down, pretending to be unconscious, and hoped the bastard would leave him alone to die in peace.

Draca, the guard in charge of the prisoners, was not fooled. He lived for terror and he had no intention of allowing the former ruler of Cerniw an easy death. He grabbed Alden's chin roughly and forced his head up.

Alden opened his eyes and stared with contempt at the soldier in front of him. Draca was a huge man, with a shiny bald head, tiny eyes and a big fist, whose breath stank of stale beer and his body of gone-off fish mixed horribly with the smell of fresh blood ⎯ not his own, but someone else's.

“Not quite dead yet, are you? Won't be long, though.” Draca chuckled deep in his throat. “I've never killed a King before. I'm looking forward to it…”

Links for Purchase

 

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About the author

Mary Anne Yarde is an award winning author of the International Best Selling Series — The Du Lac Chronicles. Set a generation after the fall of King Arthur, The Du Lac Chronicles takes you on a journey through Dark Age Briton and Brittany, where you will meet new friends and terrifying foes. Based on legends and historical fact, the Du Lac Chronicles is a series not to be missed.

Born in Bath, England, Mary Anne Yarde grew up in the southwest of England, surrounded and influenced by centuries of history and mythology. Glastonbury--the fabled Isle of Avalon--was a mere fifteen-minute drive from her home, and tales of King Arthur and his knights

#newrelease ~ King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

So in recognition of the release of King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, I thought I would have an Arthurian-themed week on the blog ~ because regular readers will know that isn't a subject that I have covered very much before!! Just over 60 blog posts I believe, but who's counting?

Let's start the week off by looking at the movie that everyone is talking about.

 

Here is the blurb ~ with thanks to Wikipedia

The young Arthur runs the back streets of Londinium with his crew, unaware of his royal lineage until he draws the sword Excalibur from the stone. Instantly confronted by the sword’s influence, Arthur is forced to decide when to become involved with his power. Throwing in with the Resistance and an enigmatic young woman named Guinevere, he must learn to master the sword, face down his demons, unite the people to defeat the tyrant Vortigern — who murdered his parents and stole his crown — and become king.

What do you think? Is it something you would go and watch?

Let's take a look at the movie trailer.

 

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – Comic-Con Trailer 

Official Warner Bros. UK

I am often asked if I avoid King Arthur based movies and my answer is No. I love seeing the different interpretations. So before you ask, yes, I will be checking out  King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

If you have seen this movie I would love to hear your opinions. Don't forget to comment at the bottom of this post!

If, after you have watched King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, you feel like staying with the Arthurian story, then don't forget to check out my book series...

The Du Lac Chronicles

 

“Chivalry is hanging in by its fingernails and treachery is in the air…”

Tony Riches ~ author of The Tudor Trilogy

“If you’re a fan of Game of Thrones and/or The Vikings, you’ll love the back-stabbing/political jockeying in The Du Lac Devil.”

N.N.Light

The Du Lac Chronicles is set a generation after the death of King Arthur, and it follows the fortunes and misfortunes of Lancelot du Lac's sons.
  

Links for Purchase

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Author’s Inspiration ~ The Shadow Queen #Historical #histfic @anne_obrien

Please give a warm welcome to The Sunday Times Bestselling author, Anne O'Brien. Anne is going to share with us the inspirations behind her latest book...

 

 The Shadow Queen

 

The Shadow Queen is the story of Joan of Kent, a tale of treachery, power-hungry families and legal subterfuges, in which Joan, a woman of considerable charm and beauty, played a central role at the Plantagenet Court.

‘What would enhance the pattern of my life further? One word slid into my

mind. A seductive word. A dangerous word, perhaps, for a woman. Power.’

From her first clandestine marriage Joan of Kent’s reputation was one of scandal and rumour.  Her royal blood made her a desirable bride, but her ambition and passion could become a threat to the stability of the Plantagenet dynasty.

Joan knew what she must do to survive, the political games to play, the alliances she must make, even if one man will always own her heart.  But would her ambitions bring her happiness?

A dramatic story of love and loyalty and of the cost of personal ambition, this is the story  of the woman who would ultimately seek power as the mother to the ten year old King Richard II, from the shadows of the throne.

The Shadow Queen breathes life back into this remarkable medieval woman, Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent of Kent.

Author’s Inspiration

Joan of Kent: A Many-Faceted Woman

All the medieval women I have written about in the past have been chosen by me because of the characters with whom they interacted and the story they had to tell of the politics and social mores of the day.  Joan of Kent was the one to do the choosing in this writing partnership.  She has appeared in cameo slots in previous novels.  This time she demanded a stage of her own.

I have to admit to an initial reluctance.  I have stepped around this Plantagenet princess because she was such a complex character with much myth attached to her and little evidence.  Apart from some significant points in her life, certainly of a scandalous nature, we know very little about her.  It is all supposition and possibilities.  When it comes to her motivations, we are left in the dark, reliant on conjecture.  More importantly, for me, it takes more than scandal to make a medieval woman into an exciting and dramatic subject for a historical novel.  For me she must be involved in the events of the reign with some influence on the lives of those around her.

Yet Joan hovered on my horizon, appearing in The King's Concubine as a significant mover and shaker.  Ultimately I had to take her on if only to see which of the contemporary opinions had some truth behind them. I decided that it would be a writer's act of cowardice to turn my back on this intriguing woman who became Princess of Wales, Princess of Aquitaine and ultimately King's Mother.

Was she '... the most beautiful lady in the whole realm of England, and by far the most amorous.' So says Jean Froissart.  Was she  'beauteous, charming and discreet.'  The opinion of the Chandos Herald.

Or was this a more accurate, and far less flattering, summing up of Joan?  '...concerning  whose birth (Richard II) many unsavoury things were commonly said (of Joan), namely that he (Richard) was not born to a father of the royal line, but of a mother given to slippery ways - to say nothing of many other things I have heard.'  Thus the opinion given in The Chronicle of Adam Usk.

It would be an interesting exercise.

Joan was notable for her three marriages, two of them clandestine and one quite definitely bigamous.  Here, for once, we have much evidence about the legalities of the decisions made to solve the problem of Joan's bigamy, but here was also the intrigue.  Was Joan simply a pawn in the pattern of royal alliance-making, forced into a union with a powerful family against her will, or did she take her future into her own hands?  Was she sweet and beautiful and perfectly compliant, or did she have a will of iron? Even more important, was Joan's first marriage simply the result of a lust-filled seduction of a gullible young girl by Sir Thomas Holland, who should have known better?  

Myth says that Joan had a childhood and reciprocal love affair with Edward of Woodstock, later Prince of Wales, which ultimately brought them together into marriage when Joan was widowed.  This seems highly improbably since Edward was two years younger than Joan, and Joan was already wed to Sir Thomas Holland when barely more than a child.  A youthful love affair is not a likely scenario.  So what was her relationship with Prince Edward, and what persuaded her to engage in a marriage with the Prince, a marriage equally as clandestine as the one with Thomas Holland, until a papal dispensation sorted out the mess?

I was also interested to discover if Joan had ambition.  Of royal blood and first cousin to King Edward III, how did she see her future as the daughter of a man executed for treason?  After the death of King Edward III, Joan was in the pre-eminent position of  King's Mother for her ten year old son Richard II.  Did she wield any influence?  And what was her relationship with the infamous Alice Perrers and the equally ambitious John of Gaunt?   Their paths certainly crossed.  Here were relationships I knew I would like to explore.

Finally there was the issue of Joan's insecurity which dogged her final days.  Joan's marriage scandals might just cast a dark shadow over the legitimate inheritance of her son.

What a roller coaster of a life it turned out to be for Princess Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent.  Using the evidence where we have it, particularly in Aquitaine where neither Joan nor Prince Edward made many friends, I have developed her character of much notoriety, some charm and considerable ambition.  This is Joan of Kent, The Shadow Queen.

Links for Purchase

On sale in Waterstones, WHS and all good bookshops a well as on Amazon

About the author

Anne O’Brien was born in West  Yorkshire. After gaining a BA Honours degree in History at Manchester University and a Master’s in Education at Hull, she lived in East Yorkshire for many years as a teacher of history.

She now lives with her husband in an eighteenth-century timber-framed cottage in the depths of the Welsh Marches in Herefordshire, on the borders between England and Wales, where she writes historical novels.  The perfect place in which to bring medieval women back to life.

Visit me.

Website: https://www.anneobrien.co.uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anneobrienbooks/

Twitter: @anne_obrien