MY FAIR LADY: A Story of Eleanor of Provence, Henry III's Lost Queen
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Nearly all events covered in the novel are real. It is thought the story of Eleanor sending a poem to Henry’s brother, Richard of Cornwall, might be apocryphal but it has become such a part of Eleanor’s personal ‘folklore’, that I decided to include it. The visit to Glastonbury at the end is an invention, although it is true Edward I and his wife did visit on that date. Eleanor of Provence was a great aficionado of Arthurian legends; I think she would have liked to have seen the King’s bones reinterred. I also did not make Eleanor actually become a nun at Amesbury; there is no evidence she was ever professed. She kept many of her lands by special decree and may have built her own quarters at the priory.
As for a few other strange little points: the purple stones of Amesbury do in fact exist, lying around the warm spring behind the priory where Eleanor retired; she may well have seen them in the last years of her life. Inigo Jones and his colleague Webb did indeed visit the priory ruins and had a peep into a tomb that contained a skeleton in rich dress…I strongly suspect that they may have stumbled on to Eleanor’s now-missing grave that day. (Some have hoped her remains are buried somewhere in the older Abbey church of St Mary and St Melor, since geophysics show there are two grave cuts before the high altar, but contemporary descriptions seem to imply the priory was a more likely than the abbey, which had by then become the parish church. It is possible a stone head in St Melor’s is meant to be Eleanor, and one of the mysterious graves could be the tragic Eleanor Fair Maid of Brittany (another story!)
Will Eleanor ever be found? It is always possible. After all, who would have thought Richard III would be located, especially as legend placed him in the local river? We might not have a straight line of mtDNA for Eleanor as we did with Richard, but an isotopic analysis on her teeth should clearly show that her first 12 years were not spent in Britain but in France.
Books to read on Eleanor:
FOUR QUEENS by Nancy Goldstone
ELEANOR OF PROVENCE-A STUDY IN QUEENSHIP by Margaret Howell.
PLACES ASSOCIATED WITH ELEANOR IN WILTSHIRE
Amesbury Abbey, site of the Priory—private. The grounds and river can be seen from the road. There are occasional open days for community events; check local pages. A possible fragment of the priory’s perimeter wall may exist near the later gatehouse near Countess roundabout.
The Church of St Mary and St Melor, Amesbury. Church associated with an earlier abbey in the town. Open most days in summer but check times. Possible carving of Eleanor’s head near the door. Interesting painted medieval corbels. Also striking carved heads of a King and Prince.
Amesbury History Centre. Church Street, Amesbury. Contains much information on the town’s history, including Eleanor, the priory site, the church, and the Mesolithic camp that existed behind the priory.
Marlborough Castle. No stonework remains but the huge mound on which it stood lies in the grounds of Marlborough College. This is not, as was once thought, a Norman motte, but is in fact a huge ceremonial Neolithic mound, similar to Silbury Hill. Marlborough is often known as Merlin’s Town, which would have intrigued Eleanor, who loved the Arthurian legends.
Clarendon Palace. The ruins of this huge Plantagenet palace lie along a forested trackway not far out of Salisbury, headed in the direction of Winchester. There is no carpark, just a track, and then you walk uphill into the woods from there…so you will need a map first. Badly ruined, but very evocative and haunting, with red roof tiles still scattered all over the ground. The stunning coloured floor tiles so loved by Henry are now in the British Museum.
Ludgershall Castle. Earlier castle made into a hunting lodge by Henry III. Eleanor spent a fair bit of time here. Free admission, English Heritage.
OTHER BOOKS BY J.P. REEDMAN
RICHARD III
I, RICHARD PLANTAGENET. The life of Richard III, told from his own first person perspective. Either in one huge volume, or available as parts one and two. In total, over 700 pages and 250,000 words! A Richard neither cardboard saint of Shakespearean monster—loyal brother, ruthless soldier, scoliosis sufferer, husband, father and king.
SACRED KING. Historical fantasy novel about Richard III’s return in a Leicester carpark, after a journey through the otherworld.
WHITE ROSES, GOLDEN SUNNES. Collection of stories of Richard III, mostly dealing with his childhood and youth, including exile in Burgundy.
STONEHENGE
STONE LORD and MOON LORD. A retelling of the Arthurian tales with a twist-- in two volumes. Arthur is now a chieftain of the early Bronze Age. A look at the possible origins of some of the Arthurian mythos. First book shows the shaman known as the Merlin choosing the young warrior who will united the tribes; book two has Mordraed, bastard of Ardhu the Stone Lord, attempting to destroy Stonehenge in a dreadful revenge.
GODS OF STONEHENGE—Non-fiction. Essay on possible deities at Stonehenge, as suggested by mythology and local folklore.
FANTASY
MY NAME IS NOT MIDNIGHT. Dystopian fantasy set in an alternative world 1970’s Canada. A young girl flees the slave orphanage where she had been places and goes on a quest to find the Rose of the World…and her own true name.
BETWEEN THE HORNS. Collection of funny, quirky fantasy tales set in an invented central European land between two great rivers. Giant hares, trolls, child gobbling witches, man eating snowmen, a Krampus, flying pumpkins and more.
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