D. H. Morris, The Girl of Many Crowns (New Classics Publishing 2024)
A saga of the royal families of pre-Norman Francia and Brittania
Baldwin ‘Iron Arm’ of Flanders is on his way to Senlis to enter the service of Charles ‘the Bald’, king of the western Franks. Seneschal Gauzlin has a special assignment for him.
Baldwin becomes arms master to Prince Louis, whom the king will place as ruler of Neustria. In the process he catches the eye of Princess Judith, and he feasts at the king’s table. He makes the acquaintance of the scholar John Scotus.
Major worries of the rulers at the time were the Pestilence and the Danes, and marriage alliances of their princes and princesses were another. Judith marries King Aethelwulf of Wessex. She teaches Prince Alfred to read. The Franks teach the Wessex men the tradition of kings’ cakes, and the English teach them wassailing.
Aethelwulf and his son Alfred arrive, returned from their pilgrimage to Rome, and hear the news that Alfred’s older brother Aethelbald has usurped the throne of Wessex, and his brother Louis the German threatens Charles’ reign. We see the constant shifting of land borders as warring brothers fight over their patrimony, and incursions of Vikings further disrupt the unity.
After two unhappy marriages, to king Aethelwulf, then his son Aethelbald, Judith, age 17, chooses for herself, Count Baldwin, relinquishing her crowns, and they plot a daring elopement. Louis and Charles also make their own choice of bride.
There is more dirty laundry in the royal family. Lothar, king of Lotharingia, seeks a divorce from his queen Theutberga, accusing her of incest with her brother, a trick to be used again in the future by Henry VIII.
There is not really any one protagonist. We begin with Count Baldwin, then the story is carried by other POV characters—Judith, Archbishop Hincmar, the sons of Charles the Bald—only returning to Baldwin halfway through.
The writing style is straightforward. The major events and personages seem to be roughly in keeping with history, and the discussions between the king and his advisors about politics seem authentic. We see famous names from history—Charles the Bald, Judith of Flanders, Aethelwulf of Wessex—become real people.
Baldwin Iron Arm was my 33rd great-grandfather.
Susie Helme 
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