title: Love, Honour and Royal Blood: Book Three: Rose Red, Royal Blue Lancaster
author:  Carol Sargeant 
description: Katharine Swynford, as the mother of the Beauforts, is the ancestress of every British sovereign since the Yorkist kings, including the Tudors and the Stuarts, up to and including the present Royal Family.<br /><br />Katharine Swynford is truly the girl who married a prince and founded a dynasty. <br /><br />Since Katharine lived, breathed and loved, only the Lancastrian kings did not descend directly from the fruit of her body. But even though her blood did not flow through his veins Henry IV, the first Lancastrian king considered Katharine Swynford his mother. Henry IV referred to Katharine always, as 'the king's mother'. <br /><br />Whether Katharine influenced the history of her time, or merely interacted with her friends and family, we will never know with absolute certainty. But Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt lived in a world peopled by some of the movers and shakers of history - Geoffrey Chaucer; John Wycliffe; Richard II; Henry IV and Henry V to name just a few. Katharine Swynford lived a life that was truly more remarkable than fiction could ever be. The powerful people in Katharine's world literally changed the course of history! She interacted with them, was affected by them, argued with them, loved or hated them. Katharine Swynford's world was truly an amazing period in the history of the world. Layered behind her romance with John of Gaunt, lies the untold story of the first shoots of the Protestant Reformation, and the danger faced by those who dared to support John Wycliffe's worldshattering ideas.<br /><br />Katharine may have fallen in love with John of Gaunt, the man, but she found herself living in the world of intrigue, danger, and compromise that was inhabited by the Duke of Lancaster.<br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />This is John and Katharine's story.
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  ![Cover for Blood Red](image/cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  TITLES BY MERCEDES LACKEY
  
  
  available from DAW Books:
  
  
  THE NOVELS OF VALDEMAR:
  
  
  
  
  
  THE HERALDS OF VALDEMAR
  
  
  ARROWS OF THE QUEEN
  
  
  ARROW’S FLIGHT
  
  
  ARROW’S FALL
  
  
  
  
  
  THE LAST HERALD-MAGE
  
  
  MAGIC’S PAWN
  
  
  MAGIC’S PROMISE
  
  
  MAGIC’S PRICE
  
  
  
  
  
  THE MAGE WINDS
  
  
  WINDS OF FATE
  
  
  WINDS OF CHANGE
  
  
  WINDS OF FURY
  
  
  
  
  
  THE MAGE STORMS
  
  
  STORM WARNING
  
  
  STORM RISING
  
  
  STORM BREAKING
  
  
  
  
  
  VOWS AND HONOR
  
  
  THE OATHBOUND
  
  
  OATHBREAKERS
  
  
  OATHBLOOD
  
  
  
  
  
  THE COLLEGIUM CHRONICLES
  
  
  FOUNDATION
  
  
  INTRIGUES
  
  
  CHANGES
  
  
  REDOUBT
  
  
  BASTION
  
  
  
  
  
  THE HERALD SPY
  
  
  CLOSER TO HOME*
  
  
  
  
  
  BY THE SWORD
  
  
  BRIGHTLY BURNING
  
  
  TAKE A THIEF
  
  
  EXILE’S HONOR
  
  
  EXILE’S VALOR
  
  
  VALDEMAR ANTHOLOGIES:
  
  
  SWORD OF ICE
  
  
  SUN IN GLORY
  
  
  CROSSROADS
  
  
  MOVING TARGETS
  
  
  CHANGING THE WORLD
  
  
  FINDING THE WAY
  
  
  UNDER THE VALE
  
  
  
  
  
  Written with LARRY DIXON:
  
  
  
  
  
  THE MAGE WARS
  
  
  THE BLACK GRYPHON
  
  
  THE WHITE GRYPHON
  
  
  THE SILVER GRYPHON
  
  
  
  
  
  DARIAN’S TALE
  
  
  OWLFLIGHT
  
  
  