Weekend Novelist
I HAVE BEEN WRITING SINCE FIRST GRADE, THOUGH NEVER IN CURSIVE. I LOVE READING HISTORICAL FICTION, AND NO PERIOD CAPTIVATES ME MORE THAN THE WARS OF THE ROSES.

imageSource: UK National Trust.

For Colleville Manor, I drew inspiration from Ightham Mote, a moated and fortified manor house in Kent that was built in the fourteenth century and considerably expanded in the fifteenth. It remains relatively unchanged today. Unlike a majority of other surviving manors, the owners of Ightham never demolished a section of ranges in order to allow the main house to look outward.

Ightham has more than 70 rooms inwardly facing and arranged around the central courtyard. The house is fully encompassed by a square moat that is crossed by three bridges. The Great Hall was constructed in the fourteenth century. A chapel, crypt and two solars were attached to its high—or dais—end. The courtyard was later completely enclosed by the ranges and the battlemented tower was added in the fifteenth century.

image

Sketch taken from the essay “Ightham Mote” by Henry Taylor, F.S.A. Archaelogia Cantiana, vol. 27 (1905). © Kent Archaeological Society.

For additional information, see: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ightham-mote.

Armoured Jousting
It has been a childhood dream of mine to compete in a historical jousting tournament. I was finally given the opportunity to break my first lance at Lysts on the Lake 2019.
Learn More About Jousting
Mounted Skills at Arms
Hunting was considered better training for war than jousting. The skill-at-arms competition is a way to demonstrate those abilities.
Learn More About the Skill at Arms
Fighting in Armour on Foot
Harnischfechten is the German term for fighting in armour on foot.
Learn More About Fighting in Armour
Traditional Hunting
For a member of the knightly class in the fifteenth century, hunting was far more than a simple hobby or pleasurable pastime--it was the very essence of life.
Learn More About Traditional Hunting
Art of Maille-Making
Making maille, or chainmail, is like crocheting. But for men. And with steel.
Learn More About Maille-making