European history

The making of an unlikely leader. Matilde of Tuscany's childhood

Not much is known about Matilde/a of Tuscany's birth. The year was 1046, but the day and place are uncertain. Mantova, Lucca, Canossa,...

The Road to Canossa shortlisted for Page Turner Screenplay Awards 2021

I entered this competition with very low hopes as my manuscript required screen adaptation, Yet the jury was stellar, comprising...

Hamletic Lotharingia - The parallel lives of Hamlet and King Henry IV of Germany

Whilst I was not consciously aware of it as I was working on his character, I realise a posteriori that my version of Heinrich IV owes...

The books that inspired Lotharingia - Thoughts on Pope Joan

This is my first post in a while. I have spent the summer dreaming of holidays I could not take, and sharing visuals of the settings of...

What's in a name - The Lotharingian connection

A few people have asked how I have come up with the title and what Lotharingia means. Matilde, my heroine, is known as Matilda of...

What's in a cover - The golden crosses of medieval power

I have had a few questions about the cover of Lotharingia, and what it is meant to represent. Lotharingia is a tale of love, relics, and...

Why I decided to write a novel on Matilde of Tuscany

In many ways, Countess Matilde of Tuscany was the most remarkable woman of the XI century. She must have made quite an impression on...

Medieval Women in Power - Matilda of Tuscany and her precursors

Medieval Europe did not really have historians in the modern (or ancient Greek) sense of the word. It had chroniclers and propagandists....

Medieval manuscripts

Sadly, a lot of medieval castles today are very different from the way they looked in their hey day. Re-modelling and change of use, as...