Purchase
The Last Great Saxon Earls #2
Author Self-Published
March 2016
On Sale: March 7, 2016
306 pages
ISBN: 0997318201
EAN: 9781782798019
Kindle: B01CPPBRC2
e-Book
Add to Wish List
Historical | Fiction
Emerging from the long shadow cast by his formidable
father, Harold Godwineson showed himself to be a worthy
successor to the Earldom of Wessex. In the following
twelve years, he became the King's most trusted advisor,
practically taking the reins of government into his own
hands. And on Edward the Confessor's death, Harold
Godwineson mounted the throne—the first king of England
not of royal blood. Yet Harold was only a man, and his
rise in fortune was not blameless. Like any person
aspiring to power, he made choices he wasn't particularly
proud of. Unfortunately, those closest to him sometimes
paid the price of his fame. This is a story of Godwine's family as told from the
viewpoint of Harold and his younger brothers. Queen
Editha, known for her Vita Ædwardi Regis, originally
commissioned a work to memorialize the deeds of her
family, but after the Conquest historians tell us she
abandoned this project and concentrated on her husband,
the less dangerous subject. In THE SONS OF GODWINE and
FATAL RIVALRY, I am telling the story as it might have
survived had she collected and passed on the memoirs of
her tragic brothers. This book is part two of The Last Great Saxon Earls
series. Book one, GODWINE KINGMAKER, depicted the rise
and fall of the first Earl of Wessex who came to power
under Canute and rose to preeminence at the beginning of
Edward the Confessor's reign. Unfortunately, Godwine's
misguided efforts to champion his eldest son Swegn
recoiled on the whole family, contributing to their
outlawry and Queen Editha's disgrace. Their exile only
lasted one year and they returned victorious to London,
though it was obvious that Harold's career was just
beginning as his father's journey was coming to an end. Harold's siblings were all overshadowed by their famous
brother; in their memoirs we see remarks tinged sometimes
with admiration, sometimes with skepticism, and in
Tostig's case, with jealousy. We see a Harold who is
ambitious, self-assured, sometimes egocentric, imperfect,
yet heroic. His own story is all about Harold, but his
brothers see things a little differently. Throughout,
their observations are purely subjective, and witnessing
events through their eyes gives us an insider’s
perspective. Harold was his mother's favorite, confident enough to
rise above petty sibling rivalry but Tostig, next in
line, was not so lucky. Harold would have been surprised
by Tostig's vindictiveness, if he had ever given his
brother a second thought. And that was the problem.
Tostig's love/hate relationship with Harold would
eventually destroy everything they worked for, leaving
the country open to foreign conquest. This subplot comes
to a crisis in book three of the series, FATAL RIVALRY.
The Last Great Saxon Earls
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
| 
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy