#HistFicThursdays - Her Castilian Heart - Anna Belfrage - Guest Post

 

For this week's #HistFicThursdays blog, I'm delighted to be sharing the brilliant book Her Castilian Heart from Anna Belfrage, as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club tour. Read on for Anna's guest post about the cunning marriages of people and countries across 13th Century. But first, let's meet the book..

Blurb

Blood is not always thicker than water…

At times a common bloodline is something of a curse—or so Robert FitzStephan discovers when he realises his half-brother, Eustace de Lamont, wants to kill him.

A murderous and greedy brother isn’t Robert’s only challenge.  He and his wife, Noor, also have to handle their infected relationship with a mightily displeased Queen Eleanor—all because of their mysterious little foundling whom they refuse to abandon or allow the queen to lock away.

Eustace is persistent. When Robert’s life hangs in the balance, it falls to Noor to do whatever it takes to rip them free from the toothy jaws of fate. Noor may be a woman, but weak she is not, and in her chest beats a heart as brave and ferocious as that of a lioness. But will her courage be enough to see them safe? 

Trigger Warnings:

There is some sexual (consensual) content. Also some violence

Her Castilian Heart is available via this Universal Link

Guest Post

A father must do what a father can do to see his baby girl wed!

In my recent release, Her Castilian Heart, the adventures and misfortunes that beset my fictional protagonists, Robert FitzStephan and his wife Noor, are set against the backdrop of Edward I’s attempts to broker peace between the pope, the king of France and the king of Aragon.

I must admit that I was very intrigued when I started reading up on Edward’s mediating efforts.  After all, how often do we think of Edward as some sort of peace dove? This is a man who comes down to us through history as a harsh man more given to martial pursuits than faffing about with an olive branch, so one wonders why he would expend so much time and money on what would, ultimately, prove a futile effort.

Maybe we should start with some background: In 1282, the Sicilians rose in rebellion against Charles d’Anjou, sick and tired of his oppressive taxation. To their rescue came Pedro of Aragon, who, through his wife, Constanza, had a claim on the kingdom of Sicily. In fact, Charles d’Anjou had brutally ripped Sicily out of Constanza’s father’s hand fifteen years or so earlier.  (And yes, the entire Sicilian situation has become something of a rabbit hole for me, despite being tangential to my book 😊)

The papacy  backed Charles d’Anjou in 1266 and was amply rewarded with annual tribute. Having this source of income ripped away in 1282 did not please the pope. Accordingly, King Pedro was excommunicated. As an aside, those medieval popes seem to have expended way too much time on their temporal powers than on their spiritual obligations, but even if I suspect King Pedro agrees with me here, being excommunicated in the thirteenth century was not good. Hell, dear peeps, yawned wide at the feet of those excluded from the Church, and no one wanted to spend eternity being roasted over hellfire. 

Back to our story: In France, Charles d’Anjou’s nephew, Philippe III was furious on behalf of his uncle.  Plus, he didn’t like, how Pedro of Aragon effectively controlled the western part of the Mediterranean. Which is why, cheered on by the pope, Philippe organised a crusade and invaded Aragon. Yes, a crusade, despite this being one Christian king leading an invasion into a Christian kingdom.

Anyway: the crusading French suffered a humiliating defeat in Aragon. Some weeks later, both Philippe III and Pedro II were dead. 

We’re now in 1286, and Edward is given the task to somehow negotiate a treaty between the aggrieved pope, Philippe IV and the young Aragonese king, Alfonso. 

Not an easy task, let me tell you. The pope wanted Sicily back under his indirect control, i.e. returned to the Angevins. Philippe wanted restitution for the loss of the crown of Aragon—rather odd, seeing as Aragon wasn’t his to begin with. Young Alfonso wanted peace—but not at the expense of relinquishing Sicily.

And then, of course, there was the matter of Eleanor, Edward’s daughter who was contracted to Alfonso. Eleanor was Edward and his wife’s eldest surviving child and she’d been contracted to marry Alfonso of Aragon for years. Pedro had requested repeatedly that she be sent down to Aragon to be raised at their court, but with the escalating conflict between the pope and the king of Aragon, Edward had found it wise to keep Eleanor at home. But now his daughter was seventeen, and Papa wanted to see his daughter safely wed.  

This was Edward’s personal reason for sticking his foot into what effectively was a political hornet’s nest. He really wanted his daughter to become queen, but the pope had made it very clear he’d bring down the wrath of God on Edward, his wife and daughter if she wed that perfidious whelp before Sicily was returned to its rightful lord. 

Edward spent three years negotiating. His expenses were huge—so huge he had to coerce “his” Gascon Jews to pay up 20 000 marks—and he returned to England in late 1289 heavily in debt. And without having managed to marry his daughter, as neither of the two treaties he managed to negotiate between France, the Angevins and Aragon actually called for the return of Sicily to Charles d’Anjou (By this time, Charles was dead, his heir was Alfonso’s prisoner which made the Angevin position vulnerable)

It took until 1290 until Edward finally began preparations for his daughter’s trip to Barcelona. In August of 1290, Eleanor wed Alfonso by proxy, and I imagine Edward was pleased: finally, his baby girl was on her way to become queen.  But late in 1290, Edward’s beloved wife, Eleanor of Castile died. That obviously delayed things. And then, in 1291, Alfonso died. Eleanor, princess of England would never set foot in Barcelona, never speak her vows to Alfonso in person or become reigning queen, no matter how much time and silver her dear Papa had invested in trying to make it happen.

Now, let's meet the author:

Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with two absorbing interests: history and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England.  

Anna has also published The Wanderer, a fast-paced contemporary romantic suspense trilogy with paranormal and time-slip ingredients. 

Her Castilian Heart is the third in her “Castilian” series, a stand-alone sequel to her September 2020 release, His Castilian Hawk. Set against the complications of Edward I’s invasion of Wales, His Castilian Hawk is a story of loyalty, integrity—and love. In the second instalment, The Castilian Pomegranate, we travel with the protagonists to the complex political world of medieval Spain. This latest release finds our protagonists back in England—not necessarily any safer than the wilds of Spain!

Anna has also authored The Whirlpools of Time in which she returns to the world of time travel. Join Duncan and the somewhat reluctant time-traveller Erin on their adventures through the Scottish Highlands just as the first Jacobite rebellion is about to explode! 

All of Anna’s books have been awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion, she has several Historical Novel Society Editor’s Choices, and one of her books won the HNS Indie Award in 2015. She is also the proud recipient of various Reader’s Favorite medals as well as having won various Gold, Silver and Bronze Coffee Pot Book Club awards.

Find out more about Anna, her books and enjoy her eclectic historical blog on her website, www.annabelfrage.com

You can follow Anna on these links:

Website - Twitter - Facebook - BookBub - Instagram - Amazon Author Page - Goodreads

Keep up with the rest of the Her Castilian Heart tour stops by clicking on the banner below: