Apart from two well-known women, Æthelflæd and Elfrida (Ælfthryth), there’s a lack of information in books about the royal women of 10th-century England, says MJ Porter. So MJ decided to write a book about them. Here are some of the women it covers, including the impressive Eadgifu. In recent years, I’ve set about fictionalising the […]
‘England’ in the 10th century
What we think of as ‘England’ was, at the start of the 10th century, made up of a number of smaller kingdoms — many powerful in their own right — including the area known as as the Danelaw, ruled by Scandinavian kings. Yet, as MJ Porter, author of King of Kings, writes, by the middle […]
Adding the ‘little’ bits to enrich a story of Saxon historical fiction
The stomach-growling smell of roast meat, the hit of mead, the arm-ache from embroidery; wind, rain, fruit in the hedgerows: details like these are the ‘little’ extras that add more period and atmosphere to your story, says MJ Porter, author of Anglo-Saxon period historical fiction. In Warrior of Mercia, the third book in the Eagle […]
Rival kings and the fall of Mercia
The Kingdom of Mercia went rapidly from being the foremost power in 8th-century England to being conquered in less than a decade. What happened? MJ Porter explains a time of unrest, loss, and rival kings. Son of Mercia, the first book in a new series set in the ninth century, occurs against a backdrop of […]