The Legend of Hereward - Softcover

Ripley, Mike

Softcover

ISBN 10: 190628895X ISBN 13: 9781906288952

Publisher: Ostara Publishing, 2013

Synopsis

"On mid-summer's eve in the year 1063, just before noon, two young men, heavily armed, rode into Bourne looking for a fight." It was the beginning of the Legend of Hereward - but which Hereward? Hereward The Outlaw? Hereward the Firestarter? Hereward the Plunderer? Hereward the Witch-Killer? Was he an English hero leading a last-ditch resistance against William the Conqueror and the invading Normans, whose exploits inspired the romantic myth of Robin Hood? Or was he a dangerous 'berserker' for whom murder, deceit and betrayal were constant companions? More than a century on from his short and violent life, it is the learned monk Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambriensis or Gerald de Barri) who has to piece together - and put a favourable gloss on - the legend of Hereward and reveal what happened at the siege of Ely and its Abbey, deep in the flooded and mysterious East Anglian Fens.

About this title

About the Author

Mike Ripley is the two-time winner of the Crime Writers Last Laugh award, and the author of several thrillers and historical novels. He writes a hugely respected monthly review column for Shots Magazine entitled getting Away with Murder. Philip Youngman Carter was Margery Allingham s artist husband and a novelist in his own write.

From Publishers Weekly

This solid historical from Ripley, best known for his Angel crime series (Angel's Share, etc.), chronicles the exploits of Hereward the Wake, an 11th-century rebel against the Norman rulers of England. The story alternates between the narrative of Gerald of Wales, a 13th-century monk commissioned to write the family history of a nobleman who may be related to Hereward, and an account of Hereward's life by Thomas of Ely, a 12th-century churchman. Gerald comments on the historicity of Thomas's work, which traces Hereward's rise from obscurity to legend as a sort of Robin Hood figure. Swashbuckler fans will appreciate the tales of Hereward's ambushes of William the Conqueror's men. Readers who may wonder why Gerald devotes so much space to assessing the reliability of Thomas's text will be rewarded in the end. (Apr.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Ostara Publishing
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 190628895X
• ISBN 13: 9781906288952
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 212