Why I wrote The Du Lac Chronicles…
By
Mary Anne Yarde
I grew up
in the land of myths. In the early morning, I would watch transfixed as the
Fata Morgana, the mist, rose up over the ancient Isle of Avalon. The only thing
visible was the Tor, and that floated on a sea of clouds. Growing up near
Glastonbury it was easy to believe in King Arthur, and his Knights, all I had
to do was look around, and there he was.
Arthur is
timeless. It matters not if he was a general in the Roman Army or a Dark Age
warlord. What matters is that he fought for his people, for God, and for his
knights. As a child, I was captivated by the stories of Arthur. He was
everything heroic. Everything good. But, there was one aspect of the story that
I never really understood. King Arthur’s final battle was at a place called
Camlann, and it was there that he was fatally wounded. His famous sword was
thrown back into the lake, never to be seen again, and that was the end of it.
No more King, no more Knights —although there was a vague promise that Arthur
would rise again if England were in peril. Ironically, with the death of
Arthur, Briton was left defenceless against the Saxon invaders and the rest, as
they say, is history. I hate that ending. It is too abrupt, too final. Not all
the knights died at Camlann, if we believe the tale, Lancelot wasn’t even
there, so what on earth happened to them? The great poets, of the Middle Ages,
gave us an answer. The knights disappeared, entered monasteries and became
hermits. The story is wrapped up. There is no more to tell.
Monasteries?
Hermits? Really?
 |
| The Death of Arthur, by John Garrick (1862) |
Something
was wrong here. So I started to research the life and times of King Arthur.
However, Arthur is a phantom, a ghost, living between two worlds. He is both a
factual man and a myth. Separating the two is difficult, almost impossible. But
then I got distracted. A name kept popping up, and I became intrigued, and my
research went off in another direction.
I became
very interested in a Saxon called Cerdic. Cerdic’s life was extraordinary, he
landed in Hampshire at the end of the fifth Century, and then he got to work.
He wasn’t content with conquering the one kingdom. He was ambitious, he wanted
it all, and for the most part, he got it. Cerdic became the first West-Saxon
King of Britain, if, you believe The Anglo Saxon Chronicles. Quite an
achievement.
But here is
where it got interesting for me because the legend tell us that this was the
time of Arthur. History clashes with myth and the results are interesting. Some
even go as far as saying Cerdic’s army and Arthur’s met at Badon Hill. As a
writer, I could run with this idea. I asked myself why not mix the historical with
Arthurian legend?
The Du Lac
Chronicles series follows — through the eyes of Lancelot du Lac’s sons — Cerdic
of Wessex’s campaign to become High King. The world the du Lac’s had known was
to be changed forever by this one man’s determination to enslave the kingdoms
under the Saxon yolk. In my story, the spirit of Arthur lives on and these men,
these knights, do not die easily, and they certainly do not become hermits!
About the book…
A generation after Arthur Pendragon
ruled, Briton lies fragmented into warring kingdoms and principalities.
Eighteen-year-old Alden du Lac ruled
the tiny kingdom of Cerniw. Now he half-hangs from a wooden pole, his back
lashed into a mass of bloody welts exposed to the cold of a cruel winter night.
He’s to be executed come daybreak—should he survive that long.
When Alden notices the shadowy
figure approaching, he assumes death has come to end his pain. Instead, the
daughter of his enemy, Cerdic of Wessex, frees and hides him, her motives
unclear.
Annis has loved Alden since his
ill-fated marriage to her Saxon cousin—a marriage that ended in blood and
guilt—and she would give anything to protect him. Annis’s rescue of Alden traps
them between a brutal Saxon king and Alden’s remaining allies. Meanwhile,
unknown forces are carefully manipulating the ruins of Arthur’s legacy.
Links for purchase
About Mary
Anne Yarde
Mary Anne Yarde is the Award Winning
author of the International Best Selling Series — The Du Lac Chronicles. Set a
generation after the fall of King Arthur, The Du Lac Chronicles takes you on a
journey through Dark Age Briton and Brittany, where you will meet new friends
and terrifying foes. Based on legends and historical fact, The Du Lac
Chronicles is a series not to be missed.
Born in Bath, England, Mary Anne
Yarde grew up in the southwest of England, surrounded and influenced by
centuries of history and mythology. Glastonbury — the fabled Isle of Avalon —
was a mere fifteen-minute drive from her home, and tales of King Arthur and his
knights were part of her childhood.
Connect
Images
Glastonbury Tor ~ https://morguefile.com
The Death Of Arthur ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur
The Sword ~ https://pixabay.com
The Death Of Arthur ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur
The Sword ~ https://pixabay.com
Posts
