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Historical person
1157–1199
Richard I, known as the Lionheart, ruled England from 1189 to 1199 but spent much of his reign on crusade, in captivity or defending his French territories. He won major victories against Saladin during the Third Crusade but failed to recover Jerusalem.
Captured while returning home, Richard was held for an enormous ransom. He later fought Philip II in France and died from a wound received while besieging a minor castle. Richard I of England was born in Beaumont Palace and died in Châlus.
In John Man’s Saladin, the Third Crusade brought Saladin into conflict with Richard I of England and helped create the image of two chivalrous opponents that later tradition often preferred to the harsher realities of war. In G. A. Henty’s Winning His Spurs, Historical figures including Richard I of England and Saladin connect the fictional action directly to the documented events. Additional non-fiction treatment of Richard I of England comes from Gareth Russell’s A History of the English Monarchy, Peter Ackroyd’s Foundation, John Gillingham and Frank Barlow’s Richard I, Thomas Asbridge’s Richard I (Penguin Monarchs), and Hourly History’s Richard the Lionheart.
Periods
Series
The five Angevin novels trace the Plantagenet dynasty from the succession crisis after Henry I through Henry II and Eleanor’s turbulent marriage, their sons’ rebellions, Richard I’s crusade, captivity and final campaigns. The sequence combines royal family drama with the Anarchy, Angevin state-building, church–crown conflict and the Third…
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Ferdia, a young Irish noble held hostage after the English invasion of Ireland, saves the life of Henry II’s son Richard and enters his service. He accompanies Richard through rebellion against his father, warfare in Aquitaine and the struggle for the English crown. When Richard becomes king, Ferdia…
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The Roger of Huntley series follows a fugitive monk and crusader through the violence of the Third Crusade and the later crisis of King John’s reign. The early books place Roger among soldiers, pilgrims and rulers in the eastern Mediterranean, while the later novels return him to England…
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The Outlaw Chronicles reimagine Robin Hood as Robert Odo, Earl of Locksley, a charismatic and violent criminal lord remembered by his lieutenant Alan Dale. The original novels carry Alan from his entry into the Sherwood band through the Third Crusade, Richard I’s wars, the loss of Normandy, Magna…
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The Crowner John Mysteries follow Sir John de Wolfe, a former crusader appointed county coroner for Devon during the reign of Richard I. Working from Exeter with his officer Gwyn and clerk Thomas, John investigates suspicious deaths through inquests, witness testimony and the limited forensic methods available at…
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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…
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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…
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The Medieval Saga follows interlinked fictional families through two centuries of English dynastic conflict, beginning with the invasions of 1066 and ending with Simon de Montfort’s challenge to Henry III. The sequence places ordinary soldiers, household officers and landed families beside the rulers whose wars repeatedly reshape their…
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Outlaw Knight follows Philip of Cognac, the reputed illegitimate son of Richard the Lionheart, through the upheavals of the Fourth Crusade. After Constantinople falls, Philip becomes entangled in the wars among the Latin conquerors, the Greek successor states and the Bulgarian Empire, fighting for survival in the shattered…
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These medieval mysteries follow the fictional royal agent Justin de Quincy in 1193, while Eleanor of Aquitaine governs for the captive Richard I and John manoeuvres for the throne. Each investigation links murder, theft or conspiracy to the political instability of the Angevin realm.
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The Islam Quintet is Tariq Ali’s cycle of five historical novels examining encounters between Islamic societies and the Christian West across more than five centuries. Moving from the fall of Muslim Granada and the Crusades to Norman Sicily, the late Ottoman Empire and the modern transnational world, the…
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The Plantagenet Saga spans the dynasty from Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine to Richard III. Across fourteen novels, family rebellion, disputed succession, royal marriage and war connect the Angevin Empire, the conquest of Wales, conflict with Scotland, the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses.
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The Hawkenlye Mysteries follow Abbess Helewise and French knight Sir Josse d’Acquin as murder and private secrets disturb a fictional religious house in the Weald of Kent. Beginning in 1189 under Richard I, the sequence moves through the ransom years and King John’s troubled reign to civil war…
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The William Marshal trilogy fictionalises the life of the celebrated knight and regent from his childhood during the Anarchy to his final defence of the young Henry III. It follows Marshal through tournaments, service to Henry II and Richard I, the Third Crusade, King John’s loss of Normandy…
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The Templar trilogy follows members of the St. Clair family and a secret brotherhood whose history is bound to the rise and destruction of the Knights Templar. Beginning in the aftermath of the First Crusade, the sequence moves through the disasters of Hattin and the Third Crusade before…
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The Queens of England novels dramatise the lives of royal women from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Queen Victoria. Each volume concentrates on a queen, consort or claimant whose marriages, loyalties and private ambitions were inseparable from dynastic politics, religious conflict and the exercise of monarchy.
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The Crusader series follows the fictional Lancastrian knight Frederick Banastre and his descendants through the conflicts of the Angevin and early Plantagenet monarchy. Frederick enters the household of the future Richard I, campaigns in France and the Holy Land, and becomes involved in the political struggles caused by…
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The Waverley Novels are Walter Scott’s long sequence of historical romances, named after the anonymously published Waverley of 1814. The series moves across Scottish, English and continental European history, placing fictional protagonists between older systems of loyalty and the political, commercial and legal institutions replacing them. Scott’s characters…
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Published under the Alan Savage name, the Eleanor of Aquitaine Saga presents Eleanor’s life as a two-volume dynastic narrative. The first book follows her inheritance of Aquitaine, marriage to Louis VII, queenship in France and participation in the Second Crusade. The second begins after annulment and follows her…
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Standalone books
Non Fiction
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
