Take it away Carol!
The character of Sir William
Bradfer, an Apulian knight, is not based
on a celebrity or anyone I’ve met. He
is one of those heroes who appeared out of nowhere and forced his way into
print!
William is the hero of the second novel
in the Palace Brides trilogy, and he
was as much a surprise to my long-suffering editor as he was to me. (Originally we had agreed that the Palace Brides mini-series would be a
duo.) You know how it goes, you have everything
planned out and then…wham!...you are faced with a new hero, one who’s completely
irresistible. William first appeared
in a very unlikely and dark place. An Italian knight, he was standing on the
slave-block in Constantinople. He was up for sale. To a Byzantine, Sir William was a barbarian simply because of his
birth. All foreigners were
thought of as barbarians and he was born outside the Empire. Here’s the book blurb:
HER WARRIOR SLAVE
Bound in chains, enslaved barbarian Sir
William Bradfer stands proud in the Constantinople slave market. As a warrior,
he’s trained in the art of survival. Lady-in-waiting Anna of Heraklea is
betrothed to be married—against her will. Catching sight of the magnificent
William, she finds a rebellious half plan forming in her mind. Anna can offer
this captured knight freedom in return for his hand in marriage!
Palace Brides
Beauties of Byzantium—claimed by
warriors!
Medieval Byzantium is a fabulous place to set a story. The capital, Constantinople, now Istanbul was
renowned for its wonders, some of which still can be seen today. In the eleventh century, the Imperial Palace
was walled off from the rest of Constantinople, a large area containing many, many
buildings. Walk through the gates and
what would you find? There are glittering
palaces where the walls gleam with gold mosaics. There are chambers and stairways lined with
marble; there are bathhouses and any number of great halls, some of which have
fallen into disuse at the time of William’s story. In the plan below there’s a hall known as
the Hall of the Nineteen Couches. (It’s a
long building just below the Hippodrome – marked as ’19 Accubita’.) Emperors had given banquets in the Hall of the
Nineteen Couches, where everyone ate in the Roman manner, lying on couches. As mentioned, at the time of the novel, the
Hall of the Nineteen Couches has fallen into disuse, but my hero finds a new
use for it…
When we visited Istanbul, we couldn’t find any traces of the Hall of
the Nineteen Couches, but here’s a section of the wall of the Boukoleon Palace,
the Imperial seaside residence at the centre of the trilogy. The Boukoleon Palace had its own harbour and,
from the upper stories, views over the Sea of Marmara. Might William and Anna have looked out over
just such a window?
For more about Carol’s Byzantine
trilogy and her other medieval romances, please see her blog site:
Hi
ReplyDeleteOops! Sorry about the lack of pictures! I don't know why they aren't showing, will try and get that fixed ASAP.
Best wishes
Carol