The Throne Read online

  The King was dead! Long live the King!

  The End

  Glossary

  Ballock dagger or knife- a blade with two swellings next to the blade

  Begawan- a metal plate to protect the armpit

  Chevauchée- a raid by mounted men

  Cuisse- metal greaves

  Danczik-Danzig/Gdańsk

  Dauentre-Daventry

  Galoches- Clogs

  Hovel- a simple bivouac used when no tents were available

  Medeltone Mowbray -Melton Mowbray

  Mêlée- a medieval fight between knights

  Poleyn- a metal plate to protect the knee

  Pursuivant- the rank below a herald

  Rondel dagger- a narrow bladed dagger with a disc at the end of the hilt to protect the hand

  Sallet bascinet- medieval helmets of the simplest type: round with a neck protector

  Sennight- Seven nights (a week)

  The Pale- the land around Dublin. It belonged to the Kings of England.

  Historical Notes

  This is a work of fiction. Most of the events really happened. The duel, the parliaments, Bolingbroke’s landing at Ravenspur and the King’s strange decision to sail to England without his knights are all facts. I have made up other incidents to suit my story. Roger Mortimer did don Irish garb and ride alone towards the Irish. His death was inexplicable. I have given an explanation. The King did go to Ireland but, as far as I know, no attempt was made upon his life.

  I have tried to make sense of King Richard II who was a complicated man. Some modern writers call him bi-polar. Certainly, his wife, Anne of Bohemia, was the greatest influence for good. However, this story is really about the ordinary folk of England. The archers and sergeants. William Strongstaff represents those people and it is his story which I tell. Queen Anne did die of the plague at Sheen Manor. It changed the King. After he returned from Ireland, he began the tyranny which Shakespeare wrote of. I think it stemmed from his wife’s death. I think it induced a kind of madness. Ukmergė was destroyed in the Baltic crusade. Henry Bolingbroke did take women and children to Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia).

  When the King banished Henry Bolingbroke he took Henry of Monmouth as his ward. He did knight him and, even though he knew that Henry’s father had landed he did nothing to harm the future Henry V. I have changed some events for the sake of my story but the key facts are historical. There were many stories as to why King Richard abdicated. I have not used those. No one knows and I have created one which sounded plausible to me.

  Isabella of Valois returned to her father. She was still a child. King Richard died in Pontefract Castle. I have moved his death to London for the simple reason that Henry IVth was there and rumours abounded, for many years, that the King had killed Richard.

  For the English maps, I have used the original Ordnance survey maps. Produced by the army in the 19th century they show England before modern developments and, in most cases, are pre-industrial revolution. Produced by Cassini they are a useful tool for a historian. I also discovered a good website http: orbis.stanford.edu. This allows a reader to plot any two places in the Roman world and if you input the mode of transport you wish to use and the time of year it will calculate how long it would take you to travel the route. I have used it for all of my books up to the eighteenth century as the transportation system was roughly the same. The Romans would have travelled more quickly!

  Books used in the research:

  The Tower of London -Lapper and Parnell (Osprey)

  English Medieval Knight 1300-1400-Gravett

  The Castles of Edward 1 in Wales- Gravett

  Norman Stone Castles- Gravett

  The Armies of Crécy and Poitiers- Rothero

  The Armies of Agincourt- Rothero

  Henry V and the conquest of France- Knight and Turner

  Chronicles in the Age of Chivalry-Ed. Eliz Hallam

  English Longbowman 1330-1515- Bartlett

  Northumbria at War-Derek Dodds

  Henry V -Teresa Cole

  The Longbow- Mike Loades

  The Scandinavian Baltic Crusades 1100-1500

  Crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights (1)- Turnbull and Dennis

  Crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights (2)- Turnbull and Dennis

  Teutonic Knight 1190-1561- Nicolle and Turner

  For more information on all of the books then please visit the author’s web site at http://www.griffhosker.com where there is a link to contact him.

  Griff Hosker

  January 2019

  Other books

  by

  Griff Hosker

  If you enjoyed reading this book, then why not read another one by the author?

  Ancient History

  The Sword of Cartimandua Series (Germania and Britannia 50 A.D. – 128 A.D.)

  Ulpius Felix- Roman Warrior (prequel)

  Book 1 The Sword of Cartimandua

  Book 2 The Horse Warriors

  Book 3 Invasion Caledonia

  Book 4 Roman Retreat

  Book 5 Revolt of the Red Witch

  Book 6 Druid’s Gold

  Book 7 Trajan’s Hunters

  Book 8 The Last Frontier

  Book 9 Hero of Rome

  Book 10 Roman Hawk

  Book 11 Roman Treachery

  Book 12 Roman Wall

  Book 13 Roman Courage

  The Aelfraed Series (Britain and Byzantium 1050 A.D. - 1085 A.D.

  Book 1 Housecarl

  Book 2 Outlaw

  Book 3 Varangian

  The Wolf Warrior series (Britain in the late 6th Century)

  Book 1 Saxon Dawn

  Book 2 Saxon Revenge

  Book 3 Saxon England

  Book 4 Saxon Blood

  Book 5 Saxon Slayer

  Book 6 Saxon Slaughter

  Book 7 Saxon Bane

  Book 8 Saxon Fall: Rise of the Warlord

  Book 9 Saxon Throne

  Book 10 Saxon Sword

  The Dragon Heart Series

  Book 1 Viking Slave

  Book 2 Viking Warrior

  Book 3 Viking Jarl

  Book 4 Viking Kingdom

  Book 5 Viking Wolf

  Book 6 Viking War

  Book 7 Viking Sword

  Book 8 Viking Wrath

  Book 9 Viking Raid

  Book 10 Viking Legend

  Book 11 Viking Vengeance

  Book 12 Viking Dragon

  Book 13 Viking Treasure

  Book 14 Viking Enemy

  Book 15 Viking Witch

  Book 16 Viking Blood

  Book 17 Viking Weregeld

  Book 18 Viking Storm

  Book 19 Viking Warband

  Book 20 Viking Shadow

  Book 21 Viking Legacy

  Book 22 Viking Clan

  The Norman Genesis Series

  Hrolf the Viking

  Horseman

  The Battle for a Home

  Revenge of the Franks

  The Land of the Northmen

  Ragnvald Hrolfsson

  Brothers in Blood

  Lord of Rouen

  Drekar in the Seine

  Duke of Normandy

  The Anarchy Series England 1120-1180

  English Knight

  Knight of the Empress

  Northern Knight

  Baron of the North

  Earl

  King Henry’s Champion

  The King is Dead

  Warlord of the North

  Enemy at the Gate

  The Fallen Crown

  Warlord's War

  Kingmaker

  Henry II

  Crusader

  The Welsh Marches

  Irish War

  Poisonous Plots

  The Princes’ Revolt

  Earl Marshal

  Border Knight 1182-1300

  Sword for Hire

  Return of the Knight

  Baron’s War

  Magna Carta

  Welsh Wars
r />   Henry III

  Struggle for a Crown 1360- 1485

  Blood on the Crown

  To Murder A King

  The Throne

  Modern History

  The Napoleonic Horseman Series

  Book 1 Chasseur a Cheval

  Book 2 Napoleon’s Guard

  Book 3 British Light Dragoon

  Book 4 Soldier Spy

  Book 5 1808: The Road to A Coruña

  Waterloo

  The Lucky Jack American Civil War series

  Rebel Raiders

  Confederate Rangers

  The Road to Gettysburg

  The British Ace Series

  1914

  1915 Fokker Scourge

  1916 Angels over the Somme

  1917 Eagles Fall

  1918 We will remember them

  From Arctic Snow to Desert Sand

  Wings over Persia

  Combined Operations series 1940-1945

  Commando

  Raider

  Behind Enemy Lines

  Dieppe

  Toehold in Europe

  Sword Beach

  Breakout

  The Battle for Antwerp

  King Tiger

  Beyond the Rhine

  Korea

  Other Books

  Carnage at Cannes (a thriller)

  Great Granny’s Ghost (Aimed at 9-14-year-old young people)

  Adventure at 63-Backpacking to Istanbul

  For more information on all of the books then please visit the author’s web site at www.griffhosker.com where there is a link to contact him.