I covered the rest of day 1 of my trip to France in the last post. To catch you up, I’m still on day one because the second half of the day I went wandering on my own to Notre Dame. This wouldn’t have gotten much of a mention, but two days after we flew
<em>Tag</em> history
Story Origin is offering ten free historical fiction stories this May. From now until May 30th, you can download the stories. I’m offering my own short story, Safe in My Arms, in the bundle. If you already have it, you still have several other offerings to download. You can visit the page here, starting May
My biggest beef with the way most of us are taught history is that we just hit what I call the “highlight people:” the few who made a lasting impression and just skip over whomever Professor So and So thinks is just not that important to bring up in today’s lecture. The Simpsons lampooned this
If you’ve decided to try your hand a writing historical fiction, great! It’s been the best job that I’ve ever had, even better than the time we got free pizza at Snappy Tomato back in college. It’s not an overnight success story, no matter what non-writers will tell you. It will take you a while
I’ve written four books at this point about the French Renaissance, and Catherine de Medici is a major supporting character in all of them. You cannot get away from studying 16th Century France without a thorough understanding of Catherine’s life as Duchess, Dauphine, Queen Consort, and finally, Queen Mother of France. Free sources about Catherine
You may be familiar with the story of Gabrielle d’Estrees, the woman who Henry IV loved so much that he eventually agreed to her despite the fact that she had little political clout outside of France and she was already his Baby Mama thrice over. If Gabrielle is an unknown figure to you, there’s quite
The Valois Mistress is my first full length novel, and I’m very excited to share it with you. The book’s still in the editing stage, but I’m hoping to get it out this December. If you want to get an advanced copy, click here. While you’re waiting, get to know the people of the French
I’ve gushed in the past about the prayers books that were created during Renaissance France. Before, they were books that belonged to royal and noblewomen. Color me shocked when I learned that Henry of Navarre, who became Henry IV of France, carried a prayer book of his own. I have the folks at Medievalists to
Meet the Cleves sisters and the people who made their lives. If you’ve read the Three Graces Trilogy, you’ll find several familiar names Youngest sister, Marie, is the Princess de Conde. While the title may sound impressive, the marriage (and the husband who came with it) was not. Marie tries valiantly to keep her arraigned
Where would a good Renaissance era Catholic be without a good prayer book, also known as a Book of Hours? I’ve looked at Henry IV of France’s prayer book earlier, but let’s not forget his illustrious predecessor, Francis I. The British and French began fighting over it (of course they did) as soon as it