In this book, Marijane Osborn translates into modern English nine lively medieval verse romances, in a form that both reflects the original and makes the romances inviting to a modern audience. All nine tales contain elements of magic: shapeshifters, powerful fairies, trees that are portals to another world, and enchanted clothing and armor. Many of the tales also feature powerful women characters, while others include representations of “Saracens.” The tales address issues of enduring interest and concern, and also address sexuality, agency, and identity formation in unexpected ways.
Empire of Magic offers a genesis and genealogy for medieval romance and the King Arthur legend through the history of Europe's encounters with the East in crusades, travel, missionizing, and empire formation. It also produces definitions of "race" and "nation" for the medieval period and posits that the Middle Ages and medieval fantasies of race and religion have recently returned. Drawing on feminist and gender theory, as well as cultural analyses of race, class, and colonialism, this provocative book revises our understanding of the beginnings of the nine hundred-year-old cultural genre we call romance, as well as the King Arthur legend. Geraldine Heng argues that romance arose in the twelfth century as a cultural response to the trauma and horror of taboo acts--in particular the cannibalism committed by crusaders on the bodies of Muslim enemies in Syria during the First Crusade. From such encounters with the East, Heng suggests, sprang the fantastical episodes featuring King Arthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's chronicle The History of the Kings of England, a work where history and fantasy collide and merge, each into the other, inventing crucial new examples and models for romances to come. After locating the rise of romance and Arthurian legend in the contact zones of East and West, Heng demonstrates the adaptability of romance and its key role in the genesis of an English national identity. Discussing Jews, women, children, and sexuality in works like the romance of Richard Lionheart, stories of the saintly Constance, Arthurian chivralic literature, the legend of Prester John, and travel narratives, Heng shows how fantasy enabled audiences to work through issues of communal identity, race, color, class and alternative sexualities in socially sanctioned and safe modes of cultural discussion in which pleasure, not anxiety, was paramount. Romance also engaged with the threat of modernity in the late medieval period, as economic, social, and technological transformations occurred and awareness grew of a vastly enlarged world beyond Europe, one encompassing India, China, and Africa. Finally, Heng posits, romance locates England and Europe within an empire of magic and knowledge that surveys the world and makes it intelligible--usable--for the future. Empire of Magic is expansive in scope, spanning the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries, and detailed in coverage, examining various types of romance--historical, national, popular, chivalric, family, and travel romances, among others--to see how cultural fantasy responds to changing crises, pressures, and demands in a number of different ways. Boldly controversial, theoretically sophisticated, and historically rooted, Empire of Magic is a dramatic restaging of the role romance played in the culture of a period and world in ways that suggest how cultural fantasy still functions for us today.
From one of romance’s most celebrated talents comes a sweeping medieval tale of the danger, mystery, and magic that bring together a chivalrous knight and a ravishing seer. Rhys ap Griffyn is handsome, determined, and fearless. After gallantly serving in King Richard’s crusade, he has rushed back to England to claim his inheritance. And although it is Beltane Eve, a night wrought with evil and magic, nothing will stop him on his quest to gain what is rightfully his. But Rhys encounters more on this spooky night than ghosts and ghouls: He finds Sasha, the only person with the power to distract him. He agrees to help this raven-haired beauty, but his help comes with a price. Seemingly blessed with a sharp wit, bewitching looks, and the “gift” of second sight, Sasha lacks the one thing that she most desires: her father’s lost kingdom, to which she is heir. Through her gift, she has sought out Rhys in the hopes of striking a deal: She’ll spend a night in his arms in exchange for his assistance reclaiming her birthright. Both Rhys and Sasha have something to gain, but neither foresees the result of this provocative arrangement: wild, unstoppable passion. Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from these Loveswept titles: The Devil’s Thief, Paradise Café, and The Perfect Catch.
DIVDeep in Radnor Forest, the magic of a captivating seeress is no match for unbridled, blazing desireDIV /divHer heart belongs to the five children she has raised, all of them orphans from the Welsh-English war. Her beauty as enchanting as her magic, the proud Wynne ab Gruffydd, Seeress of Radnor, would wage war to protect her children, regardless of the cost to herself. When Sir Cleve FitzWarin is dispatched to Wales to reclaim his liege lord’s orphaned offspring—and secure the handsome riches that come with his success—he meets Wynne head-on and quickly finds himself ensnared in her magical trap. But Cleve has ungodly powers of his own—powers that lay siege to Wynne’s heart and threaten her resolve. Girded for battle, they vow to vanquish each other, but will raw, consuming passion defeat them both?DIV /div /div
A stunning Medieval romance by the author of Speak of Love. Leandra of Lyonesse secures a potion from a witch that guarantees her betrothed Reginald Tremelyn will fall in love with her--and cease mourning his first wife's death. But her plan goes awry when Reginald sends a knight from a dishonored family to escort Leandra to her new home.
Crusading knight Rolfe de Viandin wants only to be home for the Yule. Instead, he finds himself cursed to become a wolf by day and skeptical that love can break the curse-until he meets Annelise de Sayerne, a bold and beautiful maiden determined to save him. Can she succeed before her own past pursues her and puts them both in peril?
Five medieval romances from USA Today Bestselling Author Demelza Carlton that will sweep you away to a land of castles, knights and kings where fairytales can come true. Including: Wish: Aladdin Retold Melt: Snow Queen Retold Spin: Rumpelstiltskin Retold Kiss: Frog Prince Retold Hunt: Red Riding Hood Retold Wish: Aladdin Retold: A sultan's daughter. A pretend prince. Can a genie make all their wishes come true? Once upon a time... When Princess Maram and street rat Aladdin meet in the marketplace, sparks fly, and Aladdin swears to move heaven and earth in order to make the lovely courtesan his wife. He steals a magic lamp with a genie inside, thinking all his troubles are over...only to find they have barely begun. Can Aladdin win the princess's hand without losing his head? Melt: Snow Queen Retold: An enslaved enchantress. A magic mirror. Whose match will be made next? Once upon a time... When Queen Briska is accused of treason, she flees to the mountains, building an icy wall around her broken heart. But she cannot flee her punishment - she is forced to help other couples find love. A tough task, when the man she loves is dead. Amani knew his life was over the moment he was enslaved to a magic lamp. But when a strange twist of fate frees him from the lamp just as he discovers the woman he loves still lives, Amani sets out to find her, and free her, too. Will the power of love be enough to melt two frozen hearts? Spin: Rumpelstiltskin Retold: A miller's daughter. A cursed knight. The power of a name. Once upon a time... Molina has one desire: to see her inventions spread throughout the kingdom. When Prince Lubos offers to take her to the capital as his bride, she jumps at the chance. But impressing the king may take more than a simple spinning wheel. To marry Prince Lubos, she will need to work a miracle. Molina enters into a desperate bargain with a mysterious man who turns all he touches into gold. A man with a tragic tale of his own, all tied up in his family name. The future hangs in the balance, but will either of them live to see it? Kiss: Frog Prince Retold: A desert princess. A cursed prince. Can a kiss break the spell? Once upon a time... When Anahita picks up a pet frog on her way to marry a distant sheikh, she laughs at his claim to be a prince under a curse that can only be broken by a kiss. Until he transforms into a man in her tent. With one man in her bed as she's preparing to marry another, what's a desert princess to do? Hunt: Red Riding Hood Retold: A witch’s vow. A knight’s quest. A wolf hunting to kill. Once upon a time… Six years ago, Rosa lost her family to a wolf attack during the coldest winter in living memory. But now the wolf is back, as bloodthirsty as ever, and she vows vengeance. Work is hard to find in the dead of winter, and Sir Chase welcomes the chance to slay wolves if it means he’ll have a warm bed and food for the winter. He never counted on having to compete with a woman for his prize. When the wolf proves more than one hunter alone can handle, can the unlikely pair join forces to defeat the menace?
Young widow seeks true love amid the turmoil of Chaucer’s England. In fourteenth century Britain, Dame Audrey cherishes her independence as the widow of a wealthy cloth merchant. But some of the wealthier traders covet her profitable business and she fears they will invoke the Abbot’s authority to compel her to marry a man of their choice. Her worst nightmare is suffering under a cruel husband like the hateful jeweler, Henry Goldsmith, who has threatened to curb her lively spirits. Audrey joins a pilgrimage to Glastonbury to pray for guidance. The holy relics give her no inspiration nor do her fellow travelers. On the homeward journey, she aids the dying victim of a brutal robbery. She wins the stranger’s blessing and a gold brooch with a green dragon. Back in her hometown, the faerie brooch attracts trouble from thieves of all ranks and the attentions of a handsome yeoman, Selwyn Drake. As her nightmare looms nearer, she grows desperate to preserve her freedom. Can the magic brooch help Audrey evade the schemes to force her into wedlock or must she submit to a husband’s will? A sweet, realistic story about second chances for love in medieval England. Historical fiction; medieval romance and fantasy; quest for true love; medieval mystery; strong female lead; faeries; magic
When needs and desires come crashing together on a Beltaine Night, Highland magic weaves a spell of love and destiny. . . Lovers in a Dream . . . Damian St. Giles has awoken with a sore head from too much drink before; only imbibing in Pictish Mead proves to be a different experience. Once he comes to, he finds himself naked and leg-shackled to a bed post, and no idea where he is or how he got there. When the flame-haired beauty comes to him in the moonlight, he hardly knows if she is real, or a fantasy born of his deepest desires. Be Careful What You Wish For . . . Lady Aithinne Ogilvie has an urgent need to get with child to protect her lands from the greedy King Edward. So she sends forth her brothers to fetch her a man-one to do the deed. Instead of finding some common serf, they abduct the cousin of the feared Black Dragon-Julian Challon! Now, she has more troubles than she can handle. She knows she must treat this handsome stranger as little more than a stud. Yet, she cannot deny the instant bond between them-one that speaks to her heart. "Like a bard of old, Macgillivray spins a tale of myth and magic, sexual tension and classic captive/captor romance." - The Romantic Times "Deborah Macgillivray enchants romance fans and Medieval enthusiasts alike. As readers, watching this series unfold in the Dragons of Challon and the Ogilvie figures, we see the birth of a Medieval legend being created in today's world." - Medieval Book Reviews
