Wednesday, 29 October 2025

Five Minute History - by Rosemary Griggs

 

Five Minute History - by Rosemary Griggs

Mistress of Dartington Hall continues the story of a French Huguenot noblewoman, Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery, ‘Roberda’, in Elizabethan Devon.

In The Dartington Bride we followed Roberda as she survived a traumatic childhood during the Wars of Religion in France, where her father was a leading Huguenot general. 

Gabriel de Lorges, Comte de Montgomery, image sourced via Wikimedia Commons


An appallingly difficult marriage dashed Roberda’s hopes of happiness in England.
In Mistress of Dartington Hall, we join Roberda in the autumn of 1587. England is waiting for the arrival of the Spanish Armada. In the absence of her husband, Gawen Champernowne, Roberda has been in charge at Dartington Hall.

Dartington Hall, Devon, England


England had been at war with Spain for over two years. The people of Devon wait for King Philip of Spain to send the largest fleet of warships ever seen. The enemy might land at Falmouth, Plymouth or Dartmouth to establish a foothold on English soil. Thousands of Spanish soldiers would then disembark and rampage through the countryside. It must have been a terrifying time for the people of Dartington, only sixteen miles upriver from the port of Dartmouth. Many false alarms caused panic.

Queen Elizabeth 1 had established a Protestant church in England. As a devout Catholic, King Philip of Spain considered it his duty to return England to the Catholic faith. A mixture of religious conflict, political rivalry, and economic competition fuelled his ambition to conquer England.

 Elizabeth I of England and Philip of Spain, images sourced via Wikimedia Commons


King Philip amassed a massive fleet and gathered supplies. After he excommunicated Queen Elizabeth in 1570, Pope Pius V promised to forgive anyone who took part in the Spanish invasion. Sir Francis Drake led audacious raids on Spanish ships. After Queen Elizabeth supported the Protestant Dutch rebels against Spanish rule, King Philip launched his attack. A fast English ship, the Golden Hind, spotted the Spanish fleet off the coast of Cornwall July 19 1588, near the Lizard Point.

England had a lucky escape in 1588. The men of Dartington who joined Gawen’s cousin, Sir John Gilbert, on Warborough Common to repel the invaders did not have to fight. The Spanish Armada sailed on, intending to rendezvous with the Duke of Parma and his 16,000 soldiers. 
Sir Francis Drake’s more nimble ships pursued them. Drake used fire ships to disrupt the Armada’s formation. Then, a chance change in the wind drove the Armada round the coast of Scotland and away.

Meanwhile, in France, Roberda’s brothers were trying to reclaim the estates they lost when their father died on the executioner’s block in Paris in 1574. While England had been fighting Spain, the French Wars of Religion between the Protestant Huguenots and the Catholics had continued.

The conflict in France escalated into the War of the Three Henrys. After the assassinations of both the Duke of Guise and King Henry III, Henry of Navarre became King Henry IV. However, as a Protestant, his hold on power was weak.

Henry IV of France, image sourced via Wikimedia Commons.


In the 1590s, Roberda's brothers supported Henry IV in his campaigns to assert his authority. The Catholic League, which Spain supported, fought against his rule. Eventually, Henry IV publicly converted to Catholicism and, in 1594, he entered Paris. A year later. Henry IV formally declared war on Spain.

The Edict of Nantes, signed in 1598, ended the religious wars in France. Catholicism became the state religion. However, the Huguenots had substantial rights and religious freedoms. Roberda’s family reclaimed their lands. After her mother’s death, Roberda received her share, and her younger brother, Gabriel, eventually rebuilt the family home at Ducey.

Philip of Spain’s Armada failed in 1588, but the conflict continued for another sixteen years. In August 1595, the Spanish raided and burned villages in Cornwall. King Philip attempted two more full-scale expeditions in 1596 and 1597. The war finally ended with the Treaty of London in 1604. Until then, Roberda and the people of the west were never free of the fear of invasion.

Like many women of her time, Roberda had a powerful sense of duty. She struggles to choose between her own happiness and her children's needs. When Gawen returns to Dartington, she has to decide if she can trust him. 

Later, Roberda acts decisively to outwit others who hope to profit from the inheritance that should be her son’s. Defying the constraints of England’s patriarchal society, she seizes control. 

Roberda’s life as Mistress of Dartington Hall and her fight to secure her children’s future played out against the uncertain background of Elizabethan England at war.



Publication Date: July 10th, 2025
Publisher: Troubador Publishing
Pages: 292
Genre: Historical Fiction


1587. England is at war with Spain. The people of Devon wait in terror for King Philip of Spain’s mighty armada to unleash untold devastation on their land.


Roberda, daughter of a French Huguenot leader, has been managing the Dartington estate in her estranged husband Gawen’s absence. She has gained the respect of the staff and tenants who now look to her to lead them through these dark times.


Gawen’s unexpected return from Ireland, where he has been serving Queen Elizabeth, throws her world into turmoil. He joins the men of the west country, including his cousin, Sir Walter Raleigh, and his friend Sir Francis Drake, as they prepare to repel a Spanish invasion. Amidst musters and alarms, determined and resourceful Roberda rallies the women of Dartington. But, after their earlier differences, can she trust Gawen? Or should she heed the advice of her faithful French maid, Clotilde?


Later Roberda will have to fight if she is to remain Mistress of Dartington Hall, and secure her children’s inheritance. Can she ever truly find fulfilment for herself?


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Rosemary Griggs


Author and speaker Rosemary Griggs has been researching Devon's sixteenth-century history for years. She has discovered a cast of fascinating characters and an intriguing network of families whose influence stretched far beyond the West Country. She loves telling the stories of the forgotten women of history — the women beyond the royal court; wives, sisters, daughters and mothers who played their part during those tumultuous Tudor years: the Daughters of Devon.

Her novel, A Woman of Noble Wit, set in Tudor Devon, is the story of the life of Katherine Champernowne, Sir Walter Raleigh’s mother. The Dartington Bride follows Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery, a young Huguenot noblewoman, as she travels from war-torn France to Elizabethan England to marry into the prominent Champernowne family. Mistress of Dartington Hall, set in the time of the Spanish Armada, continues Roberda’s story.

Rosemary is currently working on her first work of non-fiction — a biography of Kate Astley, childhood governess to Queen Elizabeth 1, due for publication 2026.

Rosemary creates and wears sixteenth-century clothing, and brings the past to life through a unique blend of theatre, history and re-enactment at events all over the West Country. Out of costume, Rosemary leads heritage tours at Dartington Hall, a fourteenth-century manor house that was home of the Champernowne family for 366 years.

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Thursday, 23 October 2025

UGARIT (Tales of a Lost City) by Janet Tamaren


UGARIT
(Tales of a Lost City)
By Janet Tamaren


Publication Date: September 2nd, 2025
Publisher: Historium Press
Pages: 334
Genre: Ancient Historical Fiction


A captivating tale of bravery in the face of heartbreak and upheaval.


IN THE SPRING OF 1190 BC, on the sun-drenched shores of the eastern Mediterranean, the thriving city of Ugarit pulses with life, trade, and courtly intrigues. But danger brews beyond its walls.


Yoninah, a gifted healer, offers herbs and amulets to ease her neighbours’ suffering. When a Mycenaean – an ex-soldier from the Trojan War—stumbles into her life, he reawakens memories she thought long buried. Just as whispers of war echo ever closer.


Meanwhile, in the royal court, Thut-Moses is a scribe who was trained in the temples of Egypt. The king is paralyzed by ominous messages: foreign invaders are razing one coastal city after another. As the tide of destruction nears, Ugarit’s fate hangs in the balance.


Torn between loyalty and survival, love and duty, Yoninah and Thut-Moses must each decide: what will they risk to protect what the hold most dear?


Rich with historical detail and inspired by newly-translated cuneiform tablets unearthed form Ugarit’s ashes, Ugarit: Tales of a Lost City brings to life the final days of a cosmopolitan world on the brink of collapse – a sweeping tale of courage and resilience at the twilight of the Bronze Age.



Praise

"A masterfully told tale-rich, riveting, and utterly transporting. I couldn't put it down."

Historical Fiction Review


Trailer


Excerpt

CHAPTER 3: THE KING’S FEAST

A week after the unnatural darkening of the sun –the serpent god’s attack on the god of the sun, according to the Egyptian astrologer—Thut-Moses and the King had mostly put the event behind them. More pressing matters demanded their attention. To wit, a royal feast.

The kingdom was hosting a grand feast in the Great Hall of the Palace. Prominent diplomats and merchants from neighboring kingdoms were invited. Most had arrived by ship. Spring began the season for commerce and travel on the Great Sea. The spring winds were kinder to sailing vessels than the storms of winter.

Thut-Moses, as the King’s scribe and aide, would be the King’s eyes and ears for the event and would make sure that everything went smoothly. The King trusted him. He knew that he had won the King’s trust by always being deferential in speech, always careful of the King’s feelings. The Nubian had been taught well at the scribal school, which had educated him in the ways of courtly life as well as in languages.

As the various diplomats and their aides gathered in the Great Hall, Thut-Moses welcomed them at the door. He made a memorable sight, with his height, ebony skin, and his fine robe of many colors. His features were even and pleasing. His face was clean-shaven. In fact, as a
eunuch, his face was always clean-shaven. Eunuchs were unable to grow facial hair.

**********

At the dinner party, Thut-Moses brought the visitors to where the King sat, on a fine chair at one end of the hall. As the King stood to greet his visitors, Thut-Moses noted that His Majesty made a fine picture, dressed his royal robes with their stripes of purple. Although Thut-Moses did notice a few ceases adorning the King’s otherwise pristine forehead. 

“It is a pleasure to see so many friends sitting down together for a feast!” the King said.
 
As the usual babble of voices started up, with the conversations between one diplomat and another, Thut-Moses took a moment to appreciate the luxury of the event: pedestals throughout the room displaying golden statuettes of Baal, intricately designed pottery from the Aegean. There were potted palm trees and chattering monkeys scampering in their branches. There were golden wine goblets for each guest. Serving girls brought out plates of cheeses, olives, and bread and a meal of kid goat prepared in goat milk.

As dusk was falling, torches were lit in the hall. And the guests were given a last goblet of wine, as the after-dinner entertainment began.

**********

David the Bard

Strumming on his lyre, David, the King’s bard took center-stage and prepared to sing and play his instrument. With dark curly hair, flashing dark eyes, and a charming smile, David was a handsome young man. Thut- Moses smiled as he looked at David, as the bard’s antics often amused him.

Thut-Moses knew that the King’s favorite part of any dinner party was the entertainment that followed. He would drink a goblet of sweet red wine and listen to David play his lyre.

Also enjoying the music were the two royal wives arrayed in their finery and jewels. Thut-Moses thought the two of them looked splendid. Both dressed to the height of fashion, with fine robes in the royal purple and blue, with kohl on their eyes and crimson on their cheeks, and their hair swept up in ornate bronze pins.

Thut-Moses was friends with the First Wife and shared a smile with her.

After a brief prayer to Baal, there followed a bawdy love song from the Egyptians. Thut-Moses appreciated the subtlety of this arrangement. An Egyptian love song made an excellent
bridge between the different countries represented by his guests. It provided a means of crossing all cultural boundaries and appealing to Hittite, Cypriote, and Egyptian alike. The ballad named body parts and expressed endless yearning on the part of the young lovers.

Seated in front of the group, David strummed a few notes on the lyre. A young woman appeared. With brown skin, slender arms and legs, and a fine-boned face, she appeared Ethiopian. Dressed in a tunic of the finest linen, nearly translucent, in the Egyptian style; she wore a red scarf around her hips, with small bells attached. The dancer proved a mesmerizing sight as she undulated the music.

She started singing, with David playing the lyre. Her voice was clear and strong. She danced to the music as well, with movements of her hands, swaying of her hips, and tapping of her bare feet.

I am dark, from the desert, baked dark in the desert sun. But my beloved, he seeks me out, he calls me.

Where is my beloved? I go to look for him.

He is tall like the cedars of Lebanon. His legs are like pillars of fine marble.

His hair is black with wondrous curls. His lips are ripe like a pomegranate.

I seek him in the streets. I seek him in the gardens. Have you seen him, O daughters of the city?

My heart yearns for his touch. My ears ache for the sound of his voice.

David then strummed another chord and sang the man’s response. Thut-Moses noted the guests’ evident enjoyment of this musical interlude. He thought, “No surprise there, given the number of cups of wine they have drunk.”  

The evening wound down after that. Pleasantries were exchanged all around. The diplomats were heading off to the chambers provided for them, for the duration of their stay in the kingdom.

The King was also evidently pleased with the evening, Thut- Moses watched as he bid his wives good night and went off to spend time with a young concubine, which was a predictable effect of the Egyptian love poems.

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Janet Tamaren


Janet Tamaren is a retired physician who practiced for two decades in rural Kentucky. Now living in Denver with her husband, she enjoys writing and is the author of a medical memoir and a guide to Hebrew Bible stories.

She began writing UGARIT during the COVID lockdown.

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Five Minute History - by Rosemary Griggs

  Five Minute History - by Rosemary Griggs Mistress of Dartington Hall continues the story of a French Huguenot noblewoman, Lady Gabrielle R...