Plantagenet Shade

Welcome to Plantagenet Lampshade! Current events sometimes have historical echoes, and that has barely ever been more true than it was this past week with the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of King Charles. The incident brought immediately to mind the arrest and ultimate execution of another troublesome royal sibling, George, Duke of Clarence in 1478.

Ahead of the broadcast of FX's new limited series based on James Clavell's 1975 novel, Shōgun, we read the book, talked about its historical setting, chatted a little about the rest of Clavell's Asian saga, and discussed Shōgun's cultural impact. We also talked briefly about the 1980 miniseries based on the novel.

We finally talked about the Tudor era, using Hilary Mantel's brilliant novel, Wolf Hall, as our starting point.

In line with the coronation of King Charles III this month, Plantagenet Shade looks back 70 years to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 through the eyes of Jennifer Robson's novel, Coronation Year.

In the first episode of Season 2 of Plantagenet Shade, we visit England in the 1440s to take a closer look at the events that led to the War of the Roses and the important personalities of that era via Conn Iggulden's Stormbird.

For this episode, we visit imperial Russia and revel in the splendor of St Petersburg through the eyes of Empress Maria Feodorova, the protagonist of C.W. Gortner's novel, The Romanov Empress. Non-fictional resources referenced in this episode: 1. Robert K. Massie, Nicholas and Alexandra: An Intimate Account of the Last of the Romanovs and the Fall of Imperial Russia (1967). 2. Simon Sebag M...

On the anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth, Chelle and RK talk about Richard III, the last Plantagenet monarch, through the lens of two novels, The Sunne in Splendor, by Sharon Kay Penman and The Seventh Son by Reay Tannahill. Other Ricardian fiction referenced in this episode 1. Anne Easter Smith's This Son of York (and other War of the Roses novels): https://anneeastersmith.com/this-son-o...

Chelle and RK talk about The Anarchy and the framing of the era in historical fiction through the lens of two novels, When Christ and His Saints Slept, by Sharon Kay Penman and Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. (https://audioboom.com/posts/8064557-philippa-gregory-and-the-cousins-war/edit) 00:56 Thanks to everyone who listened to our first episode! 4:03 We discuss the White Ship Tragedy a...

Chelle and RK talk about the War of the Roses and the framing of the era in historical fiction through the lens of Philippa Gregory's Cousins' War series.