They are around Worcester in this novel and it is Gaetan who gives them lands around Chester, which is referred to in the Lords of Thunder series.įun fact: William the Conqueror and Harold Godwinson were cousins. The Roman origins of de Shera (Shericus) were mentioned in The Thunder Lord, but in this novel we actually get to see how the House of de Shera came about. The House of de Shera is born in this book. Gaetan’s name was shorted by his men to “Gate” at times, which is how Gates de Wolfe in Dark Destroyer got his name – he was named for Gaetan. There is lots of coal in the area of Wolverhampton (called the Black Country), which is how the de Wolfes end up making their money. King Wulfhere founded the city of Wolverhampton in 659 AD – the Duke of Normandy thought it would be perfect for de Wolfe to subdue and rule because of the name, so that’s the how and why of the de Wolfes ending up in Wolverhampton. William was given the title Baron Kilham and eventually Earl of Warenton by Henry III. William de Wolfe was the third son of his father, however, and his eldest brother, Robert, inherited the title and passed it down through his children. William de Wolfe (THE WOLFE) comes from the House of de Wolfe – and it was Gaetan who was given the title 1st Earl of Wolverhampton, as explained in The Lion of the North. Edward I built massive trebuchets for his battles in Scotland and named the machines Warwolfs (Lupus Guerre), after the de Wolfe ancestor (that is mostly true – Edward I really did build machines named Warwolf, but it’s the Le Veque imagination that put the backstory behind it). Warwolfe is mentioned in Swords and Shields. A few things of note for the sharp-eyed reader:

But because there is so little documentation about the details of the battle (surprisingly), that’s where I begin to weave my fabric of fiction. Everything else – from the location of the Norman landing to the details of Harold’s death are fact. The details of the Battle of Hastings are accurate but for the fact that I added a group of knights that helped the Duke of Normandy win the battle. There’s so much to say about this novel that it’s hard to know where to begin.

A Time Of End by Kathryn Le Veque