Montfort The Early Years 1229 to 1243 [Kindle Edition]

Katherine Ashe (Author)

Book Description

Simon de Montfort, the founder of England’s Parliament, was the greatest knight and foremost military strategist of his time. Friend of Saint Louis, thorn in the side of the Plantagenets, he was chosen Viceroy by Prince Richard’s crusaders and the Christian lords of Palestine. He served as Senechal of France for King Louis’ heir, but rejected the Crown of England, championing instead the New Millennium of democracy preached by Dominican and Franciscan friars.

Was he also to father of King Edward I? It was the gossip of the time, and there is some
persuasive evidence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

When reading through the ample "historical context" notes that follow each volume of Katherine Ashe's utterly remarkable tetralogy of novels based on the life of 13th-century warrior-statesman Simon de Montfort, one thing becomes obvious: she could easily have produced the most authoritative English-language biography of her subject ever written. --Historical Novel Society

Ashe presents a jousting first installment of a four-volume fiction on the deeply contentious founder of parliament, Simon de Montfort. If the novel is thoroughly researched, as Ashe's is, ...it is all the more thoroughly imagined... lively, emotionally charged--Kirkus

A great read...a marvelous, almost cinematic epic -- Erika Funke, Art Scene, WVIA Public Radio

A marvelous work of literature, and a great story you have here--Bill Jaker, Off the Page, WSKG Public Radio

Ashe...could easily have produced the most authoritative English-language biography of her subject ever written... These are wonderfully assured novels... Ashe's dramatic sense brings the era to vibrant life in a way no history could--Historical Novel Society

If the novel is thoroughly researched, as Ashe's is... it is all the more thoroughly imagined--Kirkus

From the Author

The four volumes of Montfort are the product of 34 years of research. The author chose the novel form, rather than historical biography, because the original material from the 13th century is fragmentary and deeply biased, both for and against Simon. By exploring Simon de Montfort's life with the freedom of a novel, the motives and the possible (unrecorded) actions and circumstances that could have brought about the known events can be offered. This is informed speculation and differs from other authors' -- historians and novelists -- renderings of the subject. In the Historical Context section of each volume the author provides source references and the reasons for the causal thread of development that was chosen.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 854 KB
• Print Length: 332 pages
• Publisher: Wake Robin Press; First edition (March 17, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003CYKTLG
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,705 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 70 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down August 19, 2010

By E. Hollingsworth

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This thoroughly engrossing blend of historical fact and fiction (supported by historical fragments) brings to light the life of a man worth remembering. Almost eight centuries after his death Simon de Montfort's life and work still hugely impacts the world we live in. Katherine Ashe has done a remarkable job of bringing this 13th Century hero into focus as a human being of the ages. The first volume was well written and impossible to put down. To label this book historical fiction is like calling filet mignon meat-- true to a point, but inadequate. I am anxiously awaiting Volume 2. Thank you, Ms Ashe, for your delightful portrait of this remarkable man!

51 of 69 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Montfort: the Founder of Parliament April 12, 2010

By C. Reay

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I so loved this book!! It captures you in the first few pages and you fly along amazed and rivited. This book reads like one of those classic larger than life movies that sweeps you off your feet. I cannot wait till the next book. I could not put this one down.

Caroline Reay. Portland , Oregon

50 of 68 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars montfort April 1, 2010

By Allan Rubin

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it to others. It is very well researched and kept me interested in its details from cover to cover

More About the Author

Simon de Montfort would be hailed as the founder and champion of all the freedoms we hold essential -- were it not that his followers believed he was the Angle of the Apocalypse bringing in the New Millennium. To quell their revolution, the mere speaking of his name was made a hanging crime.

Like the painter who could not paint a sunset as gorgeously colorful as Nature spreads in the sky -- so no writer of fiction would dare devise a life so crammed with improbable battles, defeats and glories as Montfort's actual life presents -- culminating in so stunning an achievement as the creation of modern democracy.

Simon de Montfort's life, as recorded in the 13th century by his friends and mortal enemies, was so laden with conflict, adventure and unlikely reversals that interpreting the known events with clarity has led to my using the novel form as a laboratory for investigating possible causes. Each volume of Montfort includes an Historical Context section with my sources and the reasons for my interpretations.

Regarding myself: writing is my family's trade, my father was a staff writer for Cecil B. de Mille, my mother wrote poetry. What fascinated me about my father's work was the research -- though much of that never got into the films (The Ten Commandments, The Greatest Show on Earth and, for Samuel Bronston, El Cid.) Perhaps it was those bits and pieces of real history that didn't make it to the screen that have prompted me to be such an intent researcher, looking for those hints in old manuscripts that give insight into how the large events came about out of the day to day living of people's lives.