The Fugitive’s Sword is now available as an audiobook! When I was looking into having The Fugitive’s Sword made into an audiobook, I knew it needed a narrator who was sympathetic to the period and that was a pretty big ask. So when I learned that Andrea Zuvich – better known on social media asContinue reading “Andrea Zuvich brings The Fugitive’s Sword to life!”
Author Archives: Eleanor Swift-Hook
Prince Rupert of the Rhine – King Charles I’s Cavalier Commander
My review of Prince Rupert of the Rhine – King Charles I’s Cavalier Commander, a new biography of Prince Rupert of the Rhine by Mark Turnbull. Any biography of a major seventeenth-century figure that receives praise from two such giants in the field as Professor Ronald Hutton and Professor Nadine Akkerman has to be somethingContinue reading “Prince Rupert of the Rhine – King Charles I’s Cavalier Commander”
Anglo-Saxon v Early Modern Kingship: Harold Godwinson & Charles I
Paula Lofting has a new book out Searching for the Last Anglo-Saxon King, Harold Godwinson, England’s Golden Warrior. I always find it fascinating to see the similarities there can be between eras and asked her some questions about the ways in which events in 11th Century England can be compared (and contrasted) with those inContinue reading “Anglo-Saxon v Early Modern Kingship: Harold Godwinson & Charles I”
The Royall and Delightfull Game: A Brief History of Piquet
The great appeal about the card game Piquet (which can be pronounced either P.K. or ‘picket’) is that, unlike most games of cards, the element of declaration and the possibility of exchanging cards with a stock pile, means it is possible to have a very good idea of the cards in your opponent’s hand. ThisContinue reading “The Royall and Delightfull Game: A Brief History of Piquet”
Mistress of the Mortlake Hospital for Wandering Philosophers
Jane Fromond is a fascinating figure in history.We know intimate things about her that we know about no other woman of the era. Scholarly scientific analysis has been made of the record we have about the timing of her periods, which her husband, Dr John Dee, recorded in his diary (he was seeking to knowContinue reading “Mistress of the Mortlake Hospital for Wandering Philosophers”
The Fugitive’s Sword
The Fugitive’s Sword is set in the turbulent years of the 1620s when all of Europe was engulfed in what would become the Thirty Years’ War. In England, an increasingly ailing King James strove to keep his kingdoms out of the conflagration… Theobalds House, Hertfordshire September 1624 King James stood, sweltering, by the blue marbleContinue reading “The Fugitive’s Sword”
The Defenestrations of Prague
Such an arresting word ‘defenestration’.The kind of word that sticks in the mind.Unfortunately, its definition is not very delightful at all. It is the act of throwing someone out of a window but carries the implicit intent of killing them by doing so. Unlike many words in the English language, we know when it wasContinue reading “The Defenestrations of Prague”
Daemonologie, Duplicity and Doubt: 17th Century Witchcraft Exposed
Although there is a popular perception when it comes to witchcraft in the first half of the 17th century in England, that credulity ran higher than rationality, the evidence suggests otherwise.There were undoubtedly times that belief was high, especially in the trauma of civil war when Matthew Hopkins, the infamous witchfinder general was doing hisContinue reading “Daemonologie, Duplicity and Doubt: 17th Century Witchcraft Exposed”
The Fighters’ Guild of Merry England
Those who have read The Devil’s Command will already be aware of how Danny Bristow learned his swordsmanship, but the fact there was what amounted to a fighters’ guild in early modern England is not something that is generally known.A guild of weapon masters is more something you think of when you consider fantasy fictionContinue reading “The Fighters’ Guild of Merry England”
The Most Beautiful Swords in the World…
There is something about the schiavona which draws the eye and makes the hand want to reach for it – to slide into that gorgeous basket hilt and lift the sword. It is complex, sturdy and yet delicate in appearance, with its distinctive cat’s head pommel. The schiavona is defined by that hilt and never byContinue reading “The Most Beautiful Swords in the World…”
Eleanor Swift-Hook 