The Dark Fortress

By Roger Burnage

Fourteenth Century England was in turmoil. The human population decimated. Famine, war, disease and violence were rife. Rumours of Cannibalism and infanticide commonplace. Consecutive Kings won and lost wars, land and power. The reign of Edward II was a disaster. Unlike his Father "A King to inspire fear and respect", Edward II lacked the competence or desire needed to reign. He managed to keep the Welsh repressed, but lost land to the Scots after defeat by Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn. The Great Famine came in 1315, killing millions and halting two centuries of prosperity. Edward II could not feed his garrisons and was abandoned by his men then deposed and murdered by his own Wife, Isabella of France and her lover Roger Mortimer. Three years later, the true successor - seventeen year old Edward III - seized power, executed Mortimer but left his mother unpunished. As King, Edward III determined to win lands lost in France and establish England as a formidable military power. Emboldened by a successful campaign in Scotland and securing the North, he laid claim to the Crown of France. It was an act that finally led to the Hundred Years' War. Victories at Cr cy and later at The Battle of Poitiers against much larger French forces proved the might of English Archers and the Kingdom of England. Despite the successes of the Crown, decades of war, starvation and the Bubonic Plague left people living in terror. Roving bands of thieves, murderers and discharged soldiers, took whatever they could with no regard for law or life. Sir Tristan de Romenal, a young Knight returning from Poitiers, finds his family dead and lands occupied by one such band. With his devoted comrades he sets out to win back his estate.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1979578575
• ISBN13: 9781979578578
• Release Date: November 2017
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 118 Pages
• Weight: 0.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"