Struggle For A Crown Books

Blood on the Crown is set in the latter half of the fourteenth century. Will son of Harry is about to join one of the freebooting mercenaries who serve the Black Prince in Gascony and Spain. Soldiers of fortune they fight for pay and for loot. Circumstances mean that he comes to the attention of the heir to the English throne, Prince Edward and is chosen as the bodyguard for his sons, Edward and Richard. When the Black Prince dies before his father and his elder brother Edward also dies, a young Richard of Bordeaux becomes heir to the throne and Will has a greater responsibility than he expected. He becomes King at the age of just ten. Intrigue, attempted murder and a revolt by the peasants of Kent, Essex and London put both the young King and his bodyguard in mortal danger. Based on the actual events of the years 1367- 1382 the novel shows the struggle for the crown through the eyes of a young warrior.

Will Strongstaff has achieved far more than he ever thought. He is a gentleman. He has land, a wife and children. Yet he is still a warrior. He still has an oath to honour. King Richard is now under the sway of the evil Earl of Oxford Robert de Vere. When the King’s cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, sends for Will to fight in Galicia for his father, John of Gaunt, then Will has to return to the world in which he grew up, the world of the hired sword. This time he not only has enemies on the battlefield but enemies closer to hand as murderers try to end the life of his new lord, Henry Bolingbroke.

When a King becomes a tyrant then blood will flow and men will die. In this sequel to ‘To Murder a King’, we follow the fortunes of a sword for hire who has to tread the difficult path between two rivals for the throne. When the Queen of England dies then King Richard suddenly changes. He wreaks vengeance on all those who have slighted him and only William Strongstaff and John of Gaunt are in a position to curb his excesses. Beginning in the Baltic where there is a crusade against the Lithuanian pagans the novel moves to England, Scotland and Ireland before the owner of the crown of England is decided.

King Richard is barely buried when the men who opposed him plot and plan to remove the new King, Henry Bolingbroke! With enemies in the north and the west, the new king and his son, Henry of Monmouth, find themselves besieged on all sides not knowing whom they can trust. William Strongstaff, now a lord, is the only one they can truly rely upon and any thoughts of hanging up his sword are forgotten as King Henry sends the former royal bodyguard to help his son and quash a Welsh rebellion. Based on the events leading up to the battle of Shrewsbury the story is fast moving with larger than life characters like Harry Hotspur and Owain Glendower!

Henry of Monmouth, Prince Hal, is barely recovered from a near-fatal wound when his father leaves him to retake his land. Owain Glendower and Edmund Mortimer, however, have French allies and the most inhospitable landscape to aid them. All that Prince Hal has to guide him is the guardian of kings, Will Strongstaff. The two of them have to fight treachery and those who count money as well as more traditional enemies, the Welsh archers. As the two of them fight together the young prince learns the skills which will help him, in the fullness to time and when his King of England, to not only defeat but to crush and humiliate the French at the Battle of Agincourt. This is the story of how a prince became a general and how he learned to fight!

The last time an English King had come to France it had been led by the Black Prince. Now a new King, a throwback to those days contemplated retaking what he believed to be his birthright! King Henry Vth of England plans to do just that but disease and sickness robs him of half his army. Forced to flee north as his predecessor had done the English and Welsh army is surrounded on all sides and a host even greater than that which fought at Crécy awaits them. When St Crispin’s Day dawns the beleaguered English are ready to die and prepared to fight to the last. The incredible story of how a handful of men at arms and less than 5,000 archers defeated over 20,000 men at arms and 20,000 other warriors. The story of how a King won a crown!

King Henry V has defeated the French but he has yet to grasp the crown of France. He returns to finish the job which was begun at Agincourt. At his side is his mentor, Sir William Strongstaff, Knight of the Garter. The oldest man in the army he has yet to become a mere observer and he is sent on a diplomatic mission to Burgundy and an alliance with Duke John the Fearless. When the Scots ally with the French and kill the King’s brother in battle it seems that the campaign is over but the English archers and men at arms show their enemies that they reign supreme on the battlefield. Concluding at the battle of Verneuil, The Battle for France takes England a little closer to the crown of France.

Sir William Strongstaff is dead and the defender of England and its kings is no longer there to battle the French. His chosen knight, Sir Michael of Weedon is removed as the new king’s bodyguard and he is sent to France where the king’s uncles are trying to finish the job begun by King Henry Vth. From the outset, Sir Michael and his men are beset by treachery and intrigue. The line between ally and enemy appears to be almost invisible. When the Maid of Orleans becomes a threat then Sir Michael and his men become the only hope for the English to hold on to what they have. The struggle is not only for England’s crown but also the French one! In a novel filled with historical characters like Jeanne d’Arc, the Duke of Bedford and Sir John Fastolf, Sir Michael grows into the knight who will fill the void left by Sir William Strongstaff whose shadow stretches from beyond the grave.

The battle for France is almost over but the Plantagenets do not know it. They cling to the hope that by throwing more and more men at a lost cause, they will regain the land lost. Sir Michael of Weedon knows that is not true and is tired of the waste. He has fulfilled his promise to a dead king, as well as his mentor, but it is a savage attack on his new family's home that makes him return to England. It is there that Fate catches up with him. He is summoned by Queen Catherine, King Henry's widow, and she entrusts him with her most valuable treasure and makes him, the Queen's Knight.

Sir Michael of Weedon might think that his service to the crown ended when the Queen died and he was no longer required as her knight. He is wrong, for his qualities as a true and loyal warrior mean that he can be trusted. King Henry and the Earl of Suffolk send him to France to recover a pyx. Before he can complete his task, he is conscripted back into the army and finds himself, once more, fighting alongside Sir John Talbot.