My Lady, Rich and Fair: The Story of Edith Swannhesa - Margaret Carradus - Bog

In the Eleventh Century England was a bright jewel on the edge of the continent; wealthy, sophisticated and desired by all who knew of it. The constant threat of invasion hovered over the Earls and Thegns who bent their knee to its king. Everyone wanted their slice of power and they guarded it with guile and ruthlessness. Their stories are told, in the Chronicles and sagas, names known to every schoolchild; Edward the Confessor, King Harold and William The Conqueror. But what of the women? What of those shadowy figures who flit across the pages of history, just beyond the reach of knowing? Without the strength, wealth and connections of these wives history might have been so different. And how can anyone understand the minds of the great lords whose lives collided so shatteringly in 1066 without a little insight into the women who supported them through it all. None of these women is more difficult to know than Edith Swannhesa, handfasted wife to Harold of Wessex and one of the most beautiful women in England. She stands in history's shadow, only in the spotlight on the terrible killing feild of Hastings, where she alone had to identify the fallen body of the man she must have shared so much of her life with, mother to his children and condemned by the victors to be reviled as nothing more than his mistress. The only other tantalising glimpse of her is as the possible founder of the Shrine of Walsingham. She must have been a woman of wealth and power in her own right, and a perfect partner for a great Earl from a large and troublesome clan. Theirs is a love story; long standing and tragic in its ending but much more than that. It is the story of the status of women in Anglo Saxon England, when women held wealth and land in their own right and had the freedom to decide and manage their own futures. Edith must have made her own choices, must have decided to stay with Harold whichever way the tides of politics washed them: even when he married another to try to keep the nation together. Such a woman would be strong, independent, fierce, loving, generous of spirit and brave enough to give up all she held dear for the safety of the nation and its king. This is the story of how her tale might have woven itself, using what little is known of her and the family she and Harold were part of. It is the story of a land in fear for the future and a king willing to gamble everything he had to keep England safe. It is the story of Edith Swannhesa and her love, Harold ll of England