Love, Honour and Royal Blood - Book Two: John of Gaunt
This second book in the trilogy LOVE, HONOUR AND ROYAL BLOOD covers the intense years when John of Gaunt managed to maintain his loyalty to his nephew, King Richard, in spite of the fact that Richard II was becoming an increasingly erratic and despotic ruler.It brings to life the social upheaval surrounding the very beginnings of the Protestant Reformation with John Wycliffe's revolutionary 'Back to the Bible' theology.Geoffrey Chaucer, John Wycliffe, and Archbishop William Courtenay (respectively: relative; friend; and adversary of mighty Lancaster) were creating a cultural revolution which swirled around John of Gaunt, and has continued down through the centuries. This period in history involved both John of Gaunt and Katharine Swynford in extremely perilous times, when a Lollard (Protestant) underground formed against a backdrop where both king and church were determined to rid the realm of heretics.This is not the dry reading of historical facts, but the heart stopping suspense of real people who lived in dangerous times, written by a woman who spent thirty years doing meticulous research so that she could answer one question to her own satisfaction. The question was - 'what really happened - what was John of Gaunt and Katharine Swynford's story?'Like millions of readers the world over, the author read Anya Seton's lovely novel Katherine at the pivotal age of seventeen - and was so intrigued by it that it inspired her to start on a research quest that was to last more than thirty years. Carol Sargeant set out to find what had really happened. What was it like to be in love with the all powerful Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt.The meticulous research of the author makes the interwoven stories of these  fascinating people come alive. LOVE, HONOUR AND ROYAL BLOOD needed to be a trilogy to contain the epic dramas of the time in which they lived. The Duke of Lancaster and his beautiful mistress Katharine were more often than not at the very centre of the turmoil engulfing the times. In fact, John of Gaunt and Katharine lived at a time when they were bombarded by the great events of history.It was the time when parliamentary democracy was being forged in the 'Good Parliament' (against Lancaster's strenuous opposition). It was when the 'Back to the Bible' philosophy that would lead to the Protestant Reformation was being shaped by John Wycliffe (and spread under the sheltering influence of John of Gaunt's arm). It was also the time when Katharine's brother-in-law, Geoffrey Chaucer, was painting word pictures of his times that endure to this day.This is John of Gaunt's story.