13th Century Historic Fiction
Explore the best 13th century historic fiction books! Dive into captivating tales of medieval life, epic battles, and rich historical detail in these top-rated novels.
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Falls the Shadow
by Sharon Kay Penman
"A marvelous literary and historical achievement...Impossible to put down." THE BOSTON HERALD This is Simon de Montfort's story--and the story of King Henry III, as weak and changeable as Montfort was brash and unbending. It is a saga of two opposing wills that would later clash in a storm of violence and betrayal, a story straight from the pages of history that brings the world of the thirteenth century comletely, provocatively, and magnificently alive. Above all, this is a story of conflict and treachery, of human frailty and broken legends, a tale of pageantry and grandeur that is as unforgettable as it is real....
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Relics
by Pip Vaughan-Hughes
It's England, 1235, and Brother Petroc is living a simple life as a novice monk. Struggling to keep his soul fairly clean and worrying most about resisting the local girls, he is helpless when he stumbles headlong into vicious trap. Framed by a sinister Templar Knight for a brutal murder of a church official and accused of the theft of a priceless relic, he is forced to run for his life. But when his best friend Will is killed by the chasing knight, Petroc's flight becomes a quest for restitution. Trusting his fate to an enigmatic relic-hunter and scoundrel, he must dodge the long arm of the church and somehow get to the bottom of everything that has happened to him. He must find out how his fate is entwined with that of the sacred object and get revenge on the man who wrecked his life - all the while avoiding the pitfalls and perils of love for a beautiful Greek princess... RELICS is a powerful tale of loss and revenge and how the remnants of the past can continue to haunt the present.
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The Reckoning
by Sharon Kay Penman
"Penman's characters are so shrewdly imagined, so full of resonant human feeling that they seem to be on the page....Most compelling is the portrait of the Welsh as wild and rugged as their landscape." SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Here, alive from the pages of history, is the compelling tale of a Celtic society ruled by Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, on a collison course with a feudal realm of Edward I. WIth this last book in the extraordinary trilogy that began with HERE BE DRAGONS and continued in FALLS THE SHADOW, Sharon Kay Penman has written a beautiful and moving conclusion to her medieval saga. For everyone who has read the earlier books in this incomparable series or ever wanted to experience the rich tapestry of British history and lore, this bold and romantic adventure must be read.
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Satan in St. Mary's
by Paul Doherty
1284 and Edward I is battling a traitorous movement founded by the late Simon de Montfort, the rebel who lost his life at the Battle of Evesham in 1258. The Pentangle, the movement's underground society whose members are known to practice the black arts, is thought to be behind the apparent suicide of Lawrence Duket, one of the King's loyal subjects, in revenge for Duket's murder of one of their supporters. The King, deeply suspicious of the affair, orders his wily Chancellor, Burnell, to look into the matter. Burnell chooses a sharp and clever clerk from the Court of King's Bench, Hugh Corbett, to conduct the investigation. Corbett - together with his manservant, Ranulf, late of Newgate - is swiftly drawn into the tangled politics and dark and dangerous underworld of medieval London.
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Crown in Darkness
by P. C. Doherty
1286 and on a storm-ridden night King Alexander III of Scotland is riding across the Firth of Forth to meet his beautiful French bride Yolande. He never reaches his final destination as his horse mysteriously slips, sending them both crashing to their death on cruel rocks. The Scottish throne is left vacant of any real heir and immediately the great European princes and the powerful nobles of Alexander's kingdom start fighting for the glittering prize. The Chancellor of England, Burnell, ever mindful of the interest his king, Edward I, has in Scotland, sends his faithful clerk, Hugh Corbett, to report on the chaotic situation at the Scottish court. Concerned that a connection exists between the king's death and those now desirous of taking the Scottish throne, Corbett is drawn into a maelstrom of intrigue, conspiracy and danger.
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Spy in Chancery
by P. C. Doherty
Edward I entrusts his clerk, Hugh Corbett, to uncover the spy in the English court planted by France's Philip IV, a mission that leads Corbett into danger in thirteenth-century Paris
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The Waxman Murders
by Paul Doherty
In 1300, an English privateer named 'The Waxman' was trapped and overrun by two powerful war cogs flying the streamers of the powerful Hanseatic League of North Germany. The ship was carrying a casket containing the 'Carta Mysteriosa', a collection of valuable and detailed maps and sea charts. The rulers of Europe, not to mention their merchant princes, would wade through a sea of blood to obtain them. Three years later Wilhelm Von Paulents, a representative of the Hanseatic League, comes to England. Rumours have it that he owns the sea charts and Sir Hugh Corbett is sent to negotiate with Von Paulents. But the German visitors fall ill of some mysterious ailment and then, on the morning of the fourth Sunday in Advent, Corbett is summoned to a scene of bloody mayhem and murder: Von Paulents, his wife, son and clerk have been barbarously assassinated. The 'Carta Mysteriosa' have not been stolen. So why were the murders committed and by whom? Corbett investigates and, once again, he enters the world of shadows to confront the Seed of Cain.
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The Prince of Darkness
by P.c. Doherty
The Prince Of Darkness by P. C. Doherty released on Jan 25, 1995 is available now for purchase.