De Bohun’s Destiny by Carolyn Hughes
It is 1356, seven years since the Black Death ravaged Meonbridge, turning society upside down. Margaret, Lady de Bohun, is horrified when her husband lies about their grandson Dickon’s entitlement to inherit Meonbridge. She knows that Richard lied for the very best of reasons – to safeguard his family and its future – but lying is a sin. Yet she has no option but to maintain her husband’s falsehood...
Margaret’s companion, Matilda Fletcher, decides that the truth about young Dickon’s birth really must be told, if only to Thorkell Boune, the man she’s set her heart on winning. But Matilda’s “honesty” serves only her own interests, and she’s oblivious to the potential for disaster.
For Thorkell won’t scruple to pursue exactly what he wants, by whatever means are necessary, no matter who or what gets in his way…
If you enjoy well-researched, immersive historical fiction, with strong female characterisation and a real sense of authenticity, you’ll love De Bohun’s Destiny, the third Meonbridge Chronicle, set in the mid-14th century, in the turbulent and challenging years that followed the social devastation wrought by the Black Death. Discover for yourself if, in Meonbridge, it is Margaret or Matilda, right or might, truth or falsehood, that wins the day...
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Mediaeval
women…
The
Meonbridge
Chronicles
series is set in the 14th
century, in the years following the devastation caused by what we
call the Black Death, the terrible plague that killed up to half of
all people in England (and Europe and Asia too). “Meonbridge” is
a fictional village in southern England, on a manor that, at the
beginning of the first Chronicle,
Fortune’s Wheel,
still retains a broadly feudal structure of a lord and his tenants.
In practice, by the time the Black Death arrived in England
(1349/50), the feudal system was already breaking down, but the
plague greatly hastened its end.
Times
of social change are always interesting, and the great upheaval in
society brought about by the plague was the inspiration for Fortune’s
Wheel. The
main conflict in Fortune’s
Wheel is
between the men of Meonbridge, but I wanted to reveal the story
mostly through the voices of women, if only because women in history
often do get not get much opportunity to “speak”. It was also
their lives that interested me most. So, what were mediaeval women
like?
Generally,
peasant women had little status in the 14th century
society. If they were married, they had no say in village life, for
their husbands spoke for them. But, if they were landowners and
widowed or unmarried, they had more control over their own affairs
and might play some part in village affairs, such as attendance at
the manorial courts. All unfree peasants were tied to the manor,
owing not only rent, fees and taxes, but also regular week-work, and
women fully shared this burden.
Ordinary
women had to work, as today, because married women needed to
contribute to the household budget and single women had to earn a
livelihood. Again as today, marriage by no means meant that a woman
had to devote herself entirely to her home, and many women supported
themselves or ran businesses independently from their husbands. Rates
of pay for women were generally lower than for men, however, the
general shortage of labour after the Black Death gave women more
power to claim higher wages, just as it did for men. The social and
economic changes brought about by such a huge loss of life must have
had an impact on everyone but, as I understand it, many women both
benefited from the changes, and did to some extent throw off their
“shackles”.
In
the Meonbridge
Chronicles,
I have several “ordinary” peasant women, among them Alice,
the middle-aged widow of a moderately affluent peasant; Eleanor, a
young free woman, orphaned by the plague and now thrown onto her own
resources; Emma, on the lowest rung of the social ladder, scratching
a living from whatever work she can get; and Agnes, a carpenter’s
wife, who sees that the social upheaval brought by the plague might
give her the chance for “more”.
In
some ways the status of the wealthy woman was little better than that
of a peasant: she was still the chattel of her father, and then her
husband, and often had little control over her life, even if it was
relatively comfortable. She might be married as a child to someone
she did not know, in order to seal an economic deal, and might be
sent away from home at an early age. However, many of these women
were far more active and competent than the “chattel” status
might imply. Some 14th century literature might suggest
that she was the romantic, lovely and capricious lady of chivalry,
but she was, in practice, more often an extremely hard-working woman.
The real 15th century Margaret Paston, who lived in
Norfolk, was a ‘lady of the manor’ who was often left in charge
of the manor while her husband was away. She managed his property,
collecting rents, keeping accounts and even outwitting enemies. My
character Margaret de Bohun is modeled on such a lady.
In
all the Meonbridge
Chronicles,
the lives of many women from different positions in society, rich and
poor, young and old, free and unfree are woven through, and central
to, the stories. Even though women were undoubtedly “second-class
citizens” in the 14th century, there is considerable
evidence that many women were not down-trodden chattels but, like the
doughty ladies of the manor, competent peasant housewives and
efficient business women, were strong and capable. So my Meonbridge
women are strong too but nonetheless, I hope, clearly “mediaeval”.
She has written creatively for most of her adult life, but it was not until her children grew up and flew the nest several years ago that writing historical fiction took centre stage in her life. She has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Portsmouth University and a PhD from the University of Southampton.
De Bohun’s Destiny is the third novel in the MEONBRIDGE CHRONICLES series. A fourth novel is under way.
You can connect with Carolyn through her website www.carolynhughesauthor.com and social media:
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