Dan Jones

1981

Dan Jones writes accessible medieval history and historical fiction, with particular strengths in dynastic conflict, warfare and the lives of ordinary soldiers.

Dan Jones was born in Reading in 1981 and studied history at the University of Cambridge. He established himself as a historian, journalist and television presenter through work that combines narrative pace with close attention to political structures and surviving evidence. His nonfiction includes The Plantagenets, The Hollow Crown, The Templars, Crusaders, Powers and Thrones and Henry V, covering subjects from medieval kingship and religious warfare to the broader development of European power.

Jones moved into historical fiction with the Essex Dogs trilogy, beginning with Essex Dogs and continuing through Wolves of Winter and Lion Hearts. The novels follow a small company of English soldiers during the opening campaigns of the Hundred Years’ War, shifting attention away from royal ceremony toward hunger, discipline, plunder and the unstable loyalties of men fighting for pay. His background as a historian gives the books a firm chronological framework, while the fictional company allows him to explore experiences that elite chronicles record only indirectly. Jones is especially useful for readers interested in the Plantagenets, the Crusades and late medieval campaigning.

Periods and events

Battle of Agincourt Glyndŵr Rising Crusades Angevin Empire Plantagenet England Magna Carta Medieval Period Military Orders Wars of the Roses Early Tudor Consolidation Hundred Years’ War Black Death Battle of Crécy Peasants’ Revolt

Series

Series by Dan Jones (1 series)

Essex Dogs in Order

by Dan Jones 3 books 4.3

The Essex Dogs trilogy follows a small company of archers, men-at-arms and camp followers through the opening campaigns of the Hundred Years’ War. Led by the battle-worn Loveday FitzTalbot, the Dogs include the young archer Romford, the formidable Scotsman, the resourceful Pismire and the former priest known as…