by Wayne Grant
Richard the Lionheart, King of England: Richard once more proved to be a brilliant tactician and fearless warrior as he fought to regain his patrimony between 1194 and 1199, but Philip, for all his failings as a dynamic military leader, proved a relentless adversary. Richard never was able to regain the key fortress of Gisors, which prompted him to build his new castle of Château Gaillard (which did in fact put a huge strain on the English treasury). See a few pages on for pictures of what the castle looks like now. With John as King, the castle fell to Philip in 1204.
As noted in the opening scene of this book, Richard was wounded by a crossbow during a siege in 1196, though he recovered. The incident apparently failed to teach him caution. In 1199, while besieging the castle at Châlus, he was struck by a crossbow bolt in the neck. Gangrene set in and in just over a week he was dead, leaving his empire in the hands of his brother, John.
Philip II, King of France: What Philip lacked in personal prowess and military genius, he more than made up for in cunning and tenacity. During the long course of the war, he became adept at taking castles, both by storm and by siege and employed the finest siege engineers in Europe for that purpose. After losing a good bit of his gains in the south with Richard’s return, he basically fought the Lionheart to a stalemate until the English King’s death in 1199.
With Richard’s death, a fragile peace held until 1202, when Philip began a new campaign against the Angevin domains on the continent. He laid siege to Château Gaillard in August 1203 and the great fortress surrendered in March 1204. By June of that year Rouen and all of Normandy was in French hands.
Philip lived until 1223 and passed his crown to his son, Louis.
King John: I won’t dwell on John—it’s too depressing. He was accused of murdering Arthur of Brittany in a drunken rage in 1203 and most scholars think he was guilty. He managed to lose all of the Angevin lands on the continent and through misrule incited most of his barons to rebellion, which led to Magna Carta in 1215.
While he put his seal to the Great Charter, he mostly ignored it, prompting rebellious barons to invite Philip’s son, Louis, to invade and take the crown himself. This the French prince very nearly did, but was probably thwarted by John’s death from dysentery in 1216, which removed one of the principal causes of the baronial rebellion.
Eleanor of Aquitaine: The Queen died in April, 1204, a month after the fall of Château Gaillard. Sadly, she saw the beginning of the end of the empire she and King Henry II had built. She must have known it would come to that, for she knew the quality of her youngest son.
William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke: As always, Marshall was loyal. He stood by Henry II when it was clear the old king was dying and he supported Richard when many other barons threw in with John. And despite shabby treatment by John once he was King, Marshall never rose in rebellion like so many other barons. In fact, the two most powerful nobles to remain loyal to the crown during John’s dismal reign were Marshall and Ranulf of Chester, both of whom helped thwart the French invasion of 1217.
In the face of the baronial uprising against John, Marshall was instrumental in mediating the conflict, which led to Magna Carta and when John died in 1216, he stood with John’s nine year old son, Henry III, against Prince Louis of France and the rebellious barons. He became Regent of England during Henry’s minority and died in 1219. On his death bed he took the vows of a Templar Knight and is interred in the Temple Church in London.
Ranulf, Earl of Chester: Like Marshall, Ranulf always stayed loyal to the crown, even through John’s reign. In a curious episode, Ranulf did travel to Brittany in 1196 and apparently kidnapped Constance. Some scholars suggest he did this on his own, but most think it was at the instigation of King Richard, who did not trust the Duchess at all. The king held her until 1198 when the marriage between her and Ranulf was annulled.
During John’s reign, Ranulf’s loyalty was tested when John invaded Gwynedd to punish Prince Llywelyn who the King thought was a troublemaker, though later, Ranulf and Llywelyn again became allies. Ranulf had no children, but his nephew and successor, John the Scot, married one of Llywelyn’s daughters.
During the baronial civil war of 1215-1217, Ranulf played a major role supporting King John and later King Henry III. He was one of the witnesses to Magna Carta. After the French invasion was thwarted, Ranulf took Crusader vows and sailed for Egypt in 1218 to take part in the Fifth Crusade. He returned home in 1222 and died in 1232. His body was buried at St. Werburg’s in Chester.
William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby: Ah, Earl William…Of all the historical figures I’ve made use of in this Saga, it is you I’ve treated most unkindly! Had I not wanted Roland to be a Dane from Derbyshire, I would have picked some other baron to be my nasty villain. My apologies to you and your legacy.
As I’ve mentioned in previous historical notes, William de Ferrers was probably no worse than any other aristocrat of the era and one could make a case that he was better than many. So let’s clear up a few issues:
He did not actually rebel against King Richard, nor lead John’s mercenary army while Richard was imprisoned.
He did not do a sneak attack on Chester.
He was, however, one of John’s favourite barons and was at John’s side when he died in 1216, but so was Earl Ranulf.
He stood with Marshall and Ranulf in support of John’s son, Henry III, against Louis and the invading French.
He actually travelled on the Fifth Crusade with Earl Ranulf in 1218 and married the Earl’s sister, Agnes.
William’s grandson, Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby, would have made a much better villain, as he was an impetuous and violent man who repeatedly rebelled against the king and laid waste to his neighbour’s lands.
William died in 1247 at the ripe old age of 79 from gout.
Ruins of Château Gaillard
Acknowledgements
Where to begin? I did not set out to write a book at all. I only wanted to tell stories to my two young sons. They had reached an age when we no longer read them bedtime stories, but they still liked for me to make up tales for them. So what could be more adventuresome than a boy, a longbow and an evil Earl?
So my first acknowledgement goes to Tyler and Ben. I can still see the worry on their faces when William de Ferrers unleashed his hounds after Roland or when Ivo Brun crept into the stables at York to kill him and their look of relief and triumph when Roland managed to slip free or turn the tables on his enemies. Those looks inspired me more than any review I ever got.
I would be remiss unless I mentioned Oliver Bennet at More Visual who has done all of my fabulous covers and James Young who narrated all of the audiobooks. It was a great collaboration with both.
This brings me to my final acknowledgement. Writing these books is hard. I struggle with plots, I’m lazy, I’m distracted. I would never have got the entire series done without a ton of support. That came from friends and others, but most particularly from my editor, research assistant, wife, and love of my life, Mary. As Millie is to Roland, so she is to me—the star upon which I guide.
Books by Wayne Grant
The Saga of Roland Inness:
Longbow
Warbow
The Broken Realm
The Ransomed Crown
A Prince of Wales
Declan O’Duinne
A Question of Honour
About The Author
I grew up in a tiny cotton town in rural Louisiana where hunting, fishing and farming are a way of life. Between chopping cotton, dove hunting and Little League ball I developed a love of great adventure stories like Call It Courage and Kidnapped.
Like most southern boys, I saw the military as an honourable career, so it was a natural step for me to attend and graduate from West Point. I just missed Vietnam, but served in Germany and Korea. I found that life as a Captain in an army broken by Vietnam was not what I wanted and returned to Louisiana and civilian life. I later served for four years as a senior official in the Pentagon and h
ad the honour of playing a small part in the rebuilding of a great U.S. Army.
Through it all, I kept my love for great adventure stories. When I had two sons, I began making up stories for them about a boy and his longbow. Those stories grew to become my first novel, Longbow.
To learn more about me and my books, visit my website at www.waynegrantbooks.com or the Longbow Facebook page.
The picture was taken at Peveril Castle in April, 2015.
A Final Word
Writing The Saga of Roland Inness has been a labour of love for me. It began as a simple story told to two young boys and grew from there. I had no idea when I wrote Longbow that six more books would follow. There was actually a fourteen year gap between my original version of Longbow and its ultimate (self) publication. I did once have an agent and almost sold the book to Harper Collins, but they ultimately passed.
Like many of my readers, I came to love Roland, Declan, Millie and the rest. They were based on people I have known over the years and on people I wish I had known. They were far from perfect, but in the end, were the kind of people I hoped my two sons would grow to become. I will miss the Shipbrook crew.
I’ve chosen to complete the Saga with this book and at this point in England’s history because King Richard’s death was only a few years off (1199). The Lionheart’s demise ushered in a dismal eighteen years of misrule by King John and defeat for England—not the greatest backdrop for heroic storytelling (unless, perhaps, you are French). I simply didn’t want my characters to suffer through that sad epoch.
That said, there was a light at the end of that long dark tunnel—Magna Carta in 1215, John’s death in 1216, and defeat of a French invasion in that same year by English forces led by Earl William Marshall and Earl Ranulf of Chester, two men who have featured prominently in the Saga. So there may come a time when I get the urge to revisit medieval England when perhaps a much older Roland Inness might string his trusty warbow once more. We will have to see.
In the meantime, I will be turning my attention to a new period of history. I’ve long been interested in the early years of the American Republic (1800-1815). While Europe was preoccupied with Bonaparte, Americans were learning to live without George Washington, exploring a vast new continent, fighting the Barbary Pirates and ultimately taking on the British Empire for a second time.
It may be a year or so before I produce a new book, but I hope you will visit my website at www.waynegrantbooks.com to keep up with my progress. The Saga of Roland Inness has now sold over 150,000 copies worldwide. To all who have joined me for this adventure, my profound thanks.