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jaceyReading Elizabeth Chadwick's historical fiction is almost a guilty pleasure. You tend to know what you're going to get: a romance involving (mostly) genuine historical personages from the Plantagenet era. She has a style and it suits me well for those moments when I want something that's light reading with an air of authentic history. She seems to do her research well (not that I'm an expert). Though it seems she does also rely on the input of an Akashic consultant (the belief that each person leaves a trace record impressed on sub-atomic material and that certain people can tune in to it). Well if that's what floats her boat, who am I to argue? It does sound a bit wibbly-wobbly, but it leads to a good read. She also relies on actual research, which is much more to the point.
This is the story of Ida de Tosney, once the mistress of King Henry II, who was married off to Roger Bigod, heir to lands in East Anglia and in dispute with both the crown and his younger half-brothers over the title and revenues of the earldom of Norfolk (taken from the family after Roger's father rebelled against the King, though Roger himself took the King's side).
The condition of the marriage is that Ida must leave behind the son she bore Henry to be raised as a royal bastard, (eventually revealed as William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury), which, though she has other children with Roger, puts a strain on the marriage, as does the King's call on Roger's services as Roger (a lawyer, good administrator and shrewd economist) rises to be a Judge on the King's bench.
Roger was a contemporary of William Marshall, whose life is covered in Chadwick's books The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion and it's good to see how the Bigods and the Marshalls intersect throughout their story and their children (Roger's son and William's daughter) marry and are the subject of another Chadwick book, as yet unread.
[Edited to remove feral apostrophe]
This is the story of Ida de Tosney, once the mistress of King Henry II, who was married off to Roger Bigod, heir to lands in East Anglia and in dispute with both the crown and his younger half-brothers over the title and revenues of the earldom of Norfolk (taken from the family after Roger's father rebelled against the King, though Roger himself took the King's side).
The condition of the marriage is that Ida must leave behind the son she bore Henry to be raised as a royal bastard, (eventually revealed as William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury), which, though she has other children with Roger, puts a strain on the marriage, as does the King's call on Roger's services as Roger (a lawyer, good administrator and shrewd economist) rises to be a Judge on the King's bench.
Roger was a contemporary of William Marshall, whose life is covered in Chadwick's books The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion and it's good to see how the Bigods and the Marshalls intersect throughout their story and their children (Roger's son and William's daughter) marry and are the subject of another Chadwick book, as yet unread.
[Edited to remove feral apostrophe]
