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Author

Elizabeth Chadwick

1957

26 fiction

Elizabeth Chadwick writes detailed medieval fiction centred on noble families, marriage, inheritance, court politics and the pressures of feudal power.

Elizabeth Chadwick was born in Bury, Lancashire, in 1957 and began writing historical fiction while still a teenager. An early interest in medieval life developed into years of research and manuscript work before her first novel, The Wild Hunt, was published in 1990. She has studied material culture, castles, landscapes and surviving documents, and her involvement with historical re-enactment has helped her describe clothing, weapons, travel and household routines in practical terms.

Chadwick’s novels concentrate mainly on England and France in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. She is particularly associated with William Marshal, the knight and statesman whose career is explored in The Greatest Knight and related books. Other works examine Eleanor of Aquitaine, Empress Matilda and the families affected by the Anarchy and Plantagenet expansion. Her fiction combines court politics and warfare with marriage, inheritance, childbirth and estate management, giving domestic decisions the same historical weight as battles. Chadwick is therefore well suited to readers interested in Anglo-Norman society, medieval queenship, chivalry and the networks of obligation that held noble households together.

Periods and events

Albigensian Crusade1209–1229 CE Angevin Empire1154–1214 CE Battle of Crécy1346 CE Battle of Hastings1066 CE Black Death1347–1351 CE Captivity and Ransom of Richard I1192–1194 Chivalry and Knightly Culturec. 1100–1500 CE Crusader States1098–1291 CE First Barons’ War1215–1217 CE Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine1152–1189 CE Kingdom of Jerusalem before Hattin1174–1187 Magna Carta1215 CE Medieval England after the Norman Conquest1071–1300 CE Medieval Heresy and Inquisitionc. 1100–1500 CE Military Ordersc. 1119–1500 CE Norman Invasion of Ireland1169–1177 Reign of Henry I and Anglo-Norman England1100–1135 CE Reign of Richard II1377–1399 CE Second Barons’ War1264–1267 CE Second Crusade1147–1149 CE The Anarchy1135–1154 CE Third Crusade1189–1192 CE Thomas Becket and Church–Crown Conflict1162–1170 CE Welsh Marches after the Norman Conquest1067–1284 CE

Historical fiction

Historical fiction series by Elizabeth Chadwick (5 series)

Fitzwarin in Order

by Elizabeth Chadwick 2 books 4.5(2,917)

The Fitzwarin novels reconstruct the borderland world behind the legend of Fulke FitzWarin. Shadows and Strongholds follows Fulke’s upbringing at Ludlow, his bond with Hawise de Dinan and the rivalries that shape his family’s fortunes in the Welsh Marches. Lords of the White Castle carries the story into…

Jeanette of Kent Duology in Order

by Elizabeth Chadwick 2 books 4.4(3,334)

The Jeanette of Kent Duology tells the story of Joan of Kent, presented as Jeanette: a royal cousin whose private choices repeatedly become matters of dynastic importance. The Royal Rebel follows her forbidden marriage to Thomas Holland and the long legal battle to have that marriage recognised. The…

William Marshal in Order

by Elizabeth Chadwick 6 books 4.3(44,460)

Elizabeth Chadwick’s William Marshal cycle follows the Marshal family and the households bound to it from the civil war of the Anarchy to the crisis of King John’s reign. A Place Beyond Courage centres on William’s father, John Marshal, while The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion trace…

Eleanor of Aquitaine in Order

by Elizabeth Chadwick 3 books 4.3(41,678)

Elizabeth Chadwick’s Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy follows one of medieval Europe’s most formidable rulers from her inheritance of Aquitaine and first marriage to Louis VII of France through her turbulent partnership with Henry II of England. The novels place Eleanor’s marriages, motherhood and political ambitions within crusade, dynastic…

Wild Hunt in Order

by Elizabeth Chadwick 2 books 4.2(8,212)

The Wild Hunt sequence follows interconnected families living in the militarised Welsh Marches after the Norman Conquest. Arranged marriages, disputed lordships and shifting royal favour force its characters to build trust while defending estates exposed to both local rivalry and wider political upheaval. The Coming of the Wolf…

Historical fiction

Standalone historical fiction by Elizabeth Chadwick (11 books)

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