Table of Contents

Start here for everything you need to know about Medieval Musings

Welcome to Medieval Musings, the place to indulge in our shared love of medieval history.

Here you’ll find everything I’ve ever shared, organised by theme and updated on a weekly basis so that you never miss out on a post.

If you’re enjoying Medieval Musings, consider becoming a paid member to unlock:

🏰 Access to ALL historical fiction, including Bertha’s Tale (a completed serialised novel based on the first Christian queen in England, Bertha of Kent) and Short Stories

🏰 Exclusive instalments of my current serial historical fiction, Hild’s Tale, based on the life of Abbess Hild of Whitby

🏰 Access to 50+ member-only posts, past and future

🏰 Exclusive access to upcoming historian interviews

🏰 Exclusive access to recordings of Live videos

🏰 Join discussion in member-only posts

Upgrade through the link below to enjoy 10% off forever.

Here’s what others are saying about

Medieval Musings

:

---

Historical Discussions

Gender

• Medieval Gender Studies Is Getting This Wrong

• The truth about medieval masculinity

• Unearthing the powerful emotional depths of medieval men

• Did medieval men love like we do?

• The acceptability of public displays of grief in ‘The Wanderer’, an Anglo-Saxon poem

• Depictions of male grief in Beowulf

Women’s history

• Where does the millennial woman’s strength come from?

• Rewriting history: Women’s unique influence on the Christianization of England

• An eighth century gap year? International travel for women in early Anglo-Saxon England.

• Their power lay in their bodies: The practice of exogamy

• Back when girls did run the world… Or at least part of it (International Women’s Day 2024)

Archaeology

• Antiquarian Mishaps

• Medieval Treasures Advent Calendar

• The hidden history of female bed burials in early medieval England

Social history

• A knight’s tale: The magic of storytelling in medieval England

• Why Anglo-Saxon kings (sometimes) married their fathers’ widows

• The path to power among people everywhere: The importance of influencing in Beowulf

• Seasonal transitions in the language of Beowulf

• The Battle of Brunanburh and the emergence of nationalism in the poetry of the West Saxons

• Loss, despair, and the destruction of a glorious past in The Ruin

• Heartbreak, loneliness, and disappointed dreams in The Wife’s Lament

Biographies

• Princess Eanflæd of the Northumbrians: Beginning her political career in the cradle

• Abbess Hild of Whitby: Writing women back into history

• The Prittlewell Prince: An Anglo-Saxon 'princely' burial

• King Rædwald of the East Angles: ‘Seduced by his wife and certain evil teachers’

• Queen Bertha of Kent: The woman who converted a kingdom?

• King Æthelberht of Kent: The first Christian king in England

---

Book Reviews

Historical Fiction

• Bringing Light to the Dark Ages: ‘Dark Earth’ by Rebecca Stott

• I nearly DNF’d this book - and I’m so glad I didn’t: ‘Glorious Exploits’ by Ferdia Lennon

• From Ancient Greece to mythical Britain: My latest historical fiction reads

Non-fiction

• Elfrida by Elizabeth Norton

• Dark Queens by Shelley Puhak

• The Bone Chests by Cat Jarman

• Crypt by Alice Roberts

• Normal Women by Philippa Gregory

• Mother Tongue by Jenni Nuttall

• Winters in the World by Eleanor Parker

Other

• The history books you should panic-buy as Christmas presents

• Books YOU think we should be reading

• What’s wrong with medieval history publishing?

• History books for little ones

• Five mini-reviews of books I’ve been loving lately

---

Travel Diaries

• Beddgelert, Wales: Powerful stories hidden within place-names

• Conisbrough Castle, England: That time I visited a castle - but not to see the keep

---

DPhil Diaries

1. Join me on my DPhil Archaeology Induction

2. Walk With Me Amongst the Dreaming Spires

3. My Trip Did Not Start Well

---

Live Videos

• EXCLUSIVE 2025 Updates

---

Hild’s Tale

Serialised historical fiction novel - in progress

1. Her story begins

2. “The angels took her by the hand”: No ordinary abbess

3. “I am Hild and this is my account, in my own words.”

4. Strange Visitors Threaten the Old Gods

5. Resistance Bordering On Rebellion

---

Bertha’s Tale

Serialised historical fiction novel - complete

1. A queen’s first steps

2. Longings for home

3. From the Frankish court to the Kentish throne

4. A new dawn for Bertha

5. The faintest flicker of a smile

6. Love’s tangled threads

7. Whispers of betrayal

8. Battle for the prince’s love

9. Promises in the night

10. A love unexpected

11. What was it like to journey across the sea?

12. The foundations have collapsed; everything is gone.

13. The façade of genuine love, gone

14. The princess’s rebellion: Her quest and the crushing reality

15. Queen of ashes: A bittersweet triumph

16. Love and power: The silent queen

17. The irresistible pull of faith made clear, finally

18. New Faith, Old Foes, and a Deadly Obsession

19. The Finale and a Historical Endnote: A Real Life, Reimagined

---

Short Stories

Chronicles of an Unwilling Abbess

1. A path unchosen

2. A beautiful journey of identity and faith

3. Eadgifu’s willpower struggles to overcome her deception

The Warrior’s Heart

1. The Crown’s shadow

2. A father’s lament: The price of war

Flash Fiction

• Grieving a fallen hero: A medieval tale of love and tragedy

• Where the ghosts dared not tread

• I don’t really want to keep him tiny - do I?

• We women are always at the mercy of others: A short story of Æthelburh, an Anglo-Saxon queen who forged her own path

• At the mercy of her husband’s ambitions: Inhabiting Eleanor of Castile’s perspective of birth in an unfinished wilderness castle

• A feeling of great sadness: The imperceptible grief of early motherhood

• The baby won’t stop crying, and it’s driving her crazy

• Emerging from the mist: Stepping over the seasonal threshold

• The life has gone from the snowdrops; they are crushed.

• How the experience of birth links us to the women of the past

• Very little compares to the smell of a newborn baby

• Fierce journeys through the earth

• Christmas at Cyningesburh

---

Ebook Downloads

Echoes of Hearth and Hall, my collection of short historical fiction stories

---

Historical Fiction Deep Dive

• Why write historical fiction?

• How to publish historical fiction through Amazon KDP, with

  Fiona Forsyth

• Indie publishing for historical fiction writers, with

  Kate Baker

• The editors’ notes for publishing historical fiction, with

  The Literary Assistant

• How I got published at the Edge of Yesterday, with

  Robin Payes

• What not to do when publishing historical fiction, with

  G. M. (Mark) Baker

---

Serialised Fiction Deep Dive

• A Directory of Serialised Fiction on Substack

• “I thought I’d ‘made it’… whatever that means”, with

  Vicky Randle (V. J. Randle)

• “I fell into serial fiction almost by accident”, with

  Simon K Jones

• “People crave good stories”: A true definition of magic, with

  💎 Jaime Buckley
  (Part One)

• “The most untapped, golden opportunities out there for writers”, with

  💎 Jaime Buckley
  (Part Two)

• DO THIS if you want to become a better writer. (And avoid the mistakes I made), with advice from

  Sarah Fay

• “Cliffhangers get exhausting”: The inside scoop on keeping readers engaged, with

  ☕ KimBoo York

---

Roundups

• Our Medieval Month | February 2025

• Our Medieval Month | January 2025

• 2024 ‘Substack Wrapped’

• November 2024

• October 2024

• September 2024

• August 2024

• July 2024

• June 2024

• January 2024

• December 2023

• November 2023

---

Book Club - not currently running

• Storyland, Amy Jeffs |1| October 2024

• Storyland, Amy Jeffs | 2 | November 2024

---

Scriptorium Club - not currently running

• 💬 Flash (Historical) Fiction Writealong

• 💬 Historical people YOU think deserve a place in the spotlight