Disappearing medieval women and fate – Janet Reedman

I’m delighted to welcome JP (Janet) Reedman to my blog today. JP is is one of my fellow authors selected to write for a new collection of short stories ‘FATE’, commissioned by the Taw River Press.

Janet was born in Canada but has lived in the UK for over 30 years. Her mother was an English warbride, her father a Canadian tank driver. JP developed a huge interest in the past  by the age of  four, and wrote her first stories at five. One was about Cleopatra! At the age of eleven, JP decided to be a fantasy writer and in the 1980s published many fantasy stories and poems in the international small press. However, in the 1990s a change of country meant other things took precedence over writing.

It was in 2002 after JP suffered a serious viral infection that left her with ME that she discovered her passion for writing again, moving gradually into historical fiction and historical fantasy after being inspired by the finding of Richard III’s remains in Leicester. JP has written many books and series, featuring lesser-known medieval women, Richard III and the Wars of the Roses, Robin Hood, and even Stonehenge.

Over to JP!

For the new anthology, FATE, I was able to blend two of my favourite subjects together – lesser-known medieval women and the Wars of the Roses era.  In a short story called Dame Fortune’s Wheel,  Grace, the illegitimate daughter of King Edward IV, is the sole attendant of the Dowager Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, in her failing years at Bermondsey Abbey. Elizabeth may have been ‘encouraged’ to reside there by her son-in-law Henry VII for some misstep during the so-called ‘Lambert Simnel’ rebellion. (She had rented a London property long-term only a few months before the rebellion took place, which implies something happened that made her fall from favour; her son Thomas Grey was also sent to the Tower.)

Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville   (Public domain)

 Grace was one of several illegitimate children of the womanising King Edward, but her mother is unknown. After Elizabeth Woodville’s funeral, she completely vanishes from history. She must have known at least some of her half-sisters and appears to have been accepted by them, but  there is no trace in any later records of a girl called Grace, which was a fairly rare name in this period.

Her brother or half-brother, Arthur, remained at the Tudor court, and eventually became Viscount Lisle, leaving the Lisle letters which give us a great insight into the turbulent times in which he lived. Unfortunately, despite initial closeness to his Tudor relatives, Arthur soon fell afoul of the volatile Henry VIII and ended up imprisoned. He kept his head, but when finally released, the poor man was so relieved he collapsed and died, most likely of a heart attack.

 Many people seem rather surprised to learn that royal medieval bastards were not necessarily treated harshly by society or ignored by their fathers. Victorian writers often tried to impose their own idea of morality onto their medieval forebears, penning lurid tales of  fallen maidens cast into the snow in disgrace and their babies given to the nuns, never to be seen again. In fact, many of the mothers of royal bastards became quite desirable as marriage partners, as the father often paid her a lifelong pension.

Some of the children were recognised by their fathers too, and given education and even important positions. The most famous, of course, were the Beauforts, the children of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, who were later legitimised.

In the Wars of the Roses period, Edward IV’s brother, Richard III also had several illegitimate children, two for certain and maybe three. The verified two, Katherine and John,were both recognised by their father, and appear to have lived at a nursery in one of his castles, possibly Pontefract or Sheriff Hutton.

Sheriff Hutton Castle

Katherine was married in 1484 to William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon,  while her brother or half-brother John was made Captain of Calais, although under supervision, for he was not yet of legal age. I featured Katherine in a novel, The White Rose Rent, but, like Grace, she vanishes from history; in Katherine’s case, not long after Bosworth Field. Her husband is noted as a widower in records a year or two after, and it is thought Katherine may have died during an outbreak of the Sweat or perhaps in childbirth.

For many years, no one even knew her burial place, but it now appears to have been St James Garlickhythe Church, London. A 16th century record exists mentioning the grave of  ‘the Countess of Huntingdon, Lady Harbert’ by the herald Thomas Benolt. So Katherine’s last resting place had been ‘hiding in clear site’ merely because no one put two and two together for centuries.

 And so Dame Fortune’s Wheel turned for both these young women, Grace and Katherine Plantagenet, raising them up, then bringing them down – although I am hopeful that perhaps Grace, unlike her cousin, merely left the realms of the ‘great and good’ behind her when her mistress died and went on to a new life far from court.

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Find out more about JP Reedman

Blog: https://stone-lord.blogspot.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Eleanor.TheLostQueen/
Bluesky:  https://bsky.app/profile/jpreedman.bsky.social
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@janetreedman8
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jpreedmanhistoricalfiction
Twitter/X: https://x.com/stonehenge2500

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A ‘lost’ queen? My Fair Lady 

Married to King Henry III at a young age, Eleanor of Provence navigates a world fraught with court intrigue and baronial wrath. A devoted mother, she defies the monks to care for her ailing son, future king Edward I.

A loyal friend to family members, she incurs the jealousy of the nobles, the anger of the common folk.

As Simon de Montfort’s popularity rises and Henry’s wanes,  Eleanor must decipher friend from foe.

Will her son  Edward free his captive father at Evesham? Will Eleanor’s own legacy endure, or fade away like whispers in the wind?

Buy from  mybook.to/EleanorQueen  (multiple retailers)

And FATE?

If you had a crystal ball to predict what lay ahead, would you be tempted to use it? Or would you leave the future to the turn of Fate?

Tales of history, mystery and magic – some comprising just one of these popular fiction genres, others, a mild mixture of all three.

Our aim, as well-known popular authors, is to entertain you – the reader – but also to share a smorgasbord of short stories that delve into different eras and different locations via different characters and events.

The common theme? Fate! And we should never try to out-do Fate, whatever her form…

Check out and buy the book HERE! https://mybook.to/FateAnthology

Stories by Annie Whitehead, Jean Gill, Marian L Thorpe Helen Hollick, Alison Morton, Elizabeth St. John, R. Marsden, Anna Belfrage, J.P. Reedman and Debbie Young

Watch the (rather fabulous) FATE book trailer: https://youtu.be/M9pSrDX8PTQ  

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers –  INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO,  AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO  and RETALIO,  and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories.  Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA,  Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.

Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.