Robert the Wayward Prince Trilogy
A full-blooded medieval saga of diplomacy, crusade warfare, betrayal, & legacy.
William the Conqueror had a son, his eldest son, who never became King of England. This is his story, a life of adventure.
Robert is a man born into the powerful world of medieval nobility, yet never entirely accepted within it. Dismissed by his father because of his stature, he discovers that diplomacy, intelligence and determination can be just as powerful as the sword.
Across three novels, his journey takes him through political intrigue, military campaigns, the First Crusade and ultimately a bitter struggle over family, loyalty and inheritance. The trilogy explores the life and legacy of a figure caught between royal ambition, personal betrayal and the violent politics of medieval Europe.
A World of Princes, Kings & Crusaders
Medieval Europe was a world shaped by dynastic ambition, shifting alliances and constant struggles for power.
Princes could find themselves negotiating one day and fighting the next. Family relationships were inseparable from politics, while questions of inheritance could determine the fate of entire kingdoms.
The First Crusade
The trilogy also enters the extraordinary world of the First Crusade, when armies from across Western Europe travelled thousands of miles towards the Holy Land.
Against this turbulent historical background, Robert's abilities as a diplomat and cavalry leader are tested in ways that will shape his reputation and his legacy.
Follow Robert's Journey
List of chapters included in the ebook
Book 1
The Wayward Prince
The first installment of a gripping historical saga.
But the victory brings only fresh challenges for the Norman – with Scottish and Welsh nobles to keep in order as well as potential Saxon rebels to stay on top of. And there are dangers lurking everywhere in Europe for any monarch in these turbulent medieval times.
It is too much for one man – and William needs the help of his princely sons. None more so than Robert, Prince (Duke) of Normandy.
But forever at odds with his cantankerous father, Robert ploughs his own furrows most of the time without regard to the Conqueror’s wishes. Queen Matilda watches patiently as Robert lives his own life and supports her rebellious son without the knowledge of her husband.
When they are on speaking terms, the king sends Robert off on some impossible tasks: first as a diplomat, to persuade the Scots back inside their border; then as a stud, to try and forge an alliance with the Welsh through a liaison with a Welshwoman, then to try the same with an Italian Contessa, in order to complete the Norman domination of Italy.
Robert’s strategies swing from formal persuasion to erotic encounters in the bedchamber, with varying degrees of success.When then king dies, Robert must deal with his treacherous and scheming brothers, William Rufus and Henry. Then the pope calls for a holy war to liberate Christians in Jerusalem – and the rest is history…
The Battle of Hastings is won and William the Conqueror now rules England.
The Wayward Prince is the story of the Conqueror’s eldest son, living within the family from hell, where greed and treachery go hand in hand with love and loyalty. A very modern tale from the 11th century plucked straight from the pages of history and brought to life in a very exciting way.
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Book 2
Warriors of the Cross
Book two in the thrilling historical saga
He ordained that anyone who helps in the venture will be blessed in the afterlife, and many leave Europe to make a pilgrimage to the area.
Prince Robert of Normandy leaves Brindisi, Italy, headed first for Constantinople, then Jerusalem, bringing both knights and soldiers and pilgrims to Jerusalem. Travelling with him are his brother in law Stephen of Blois, a rich man who Robert’s sister Adela made go to secure her afterlife, Robert of Flanders and Duke Allen of Brittany. Fulcher of Chartres has been sent along by his bishop to record events of the passage.
Prince Robert is 45 years old. He has children with a woman named Tegwin, but her Welsh heritage makes her unsuitable for marriage, although her children are nominated for high office in England and Wales.
Robert’s brother is King William Rufus, the pair agree that Robert should marry to secure the bloodline, Rufus is gay and the young Henry is side-lined.
Robert’s father had tried to marry him off to Matilda, but although they had a strong connection, Matilda would not marry him, thinking their union not advantageous to her. Matilda has Normans to the south, Germans to the north, and a reputation to keep inviolate with the Church.
There is much passion between the two.On the three-year journey they visit Matilda, who tells Robert she thinks that she has found him a suitable wife, Sibyl of Conversano, who is sixteen and very beautiful, very marriageable, and suitable to be a Queen of England. A union between Robert and Sibyl would strengthen the Norman position in the south of Italy and Sicily.
He meets Sibyl in Conversano, and indeed she is beautiful. But will she wait for him, a middle-aged man setting off on battle?
The voyage is hard. All the way from Constantinople to Jerusalem the Turks attack, and battles are waged with many lost, but Robert and his men help defend the eastern empire from the Turks. They continue, reaching Jerusalem and laying siege to the city, wanting to get to the final prize, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus died.
As the purpose of the journey plays out, Robert thinks about the problems he faces when he returns. He loves Tegwin, the mother of his children, but he will marry the young Sibyl and put aside the attraction to Matilda.
Seeing his reflection one day on the journey back to Constantinople he worries if Sibyl will still want the battle-hardened warrior he has become. As Robert deals with the emotional aftermath of the bloodshed he witnessed in Palestine, he can’t help but wonder what awaits him in Normandy, if he lives to tell the tale.
It’s 1097 AD and a battle is brewing for control of the Holy City of Jerusalem after Pope Urban II issued a call to arms for it to be to rescued from the hands of the Moslems.
Set during the time of the First Crusade, The Wayward Prince is an energetic saga filled with historical details, political intrigue and romance.
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Book 3
The Vengeful Son
The final book in the gripping historical saga
This after another younger sibling, William Rufus, who succeeded the Conqueror ahead of Robert, was mysteriously killed by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest…
Robert is returning from Palestine as the hero of the First Crusade, mounted in answer to Pope Urban II's plea to Christendom to rescue Jerusalem from the infidel. In an age of dynastic marriages of convenience and royal mistresses galore, Robert’s travels take him to Italy where he claims as his prize Sibyl, the nubile nineteen-year-old daughter of Geoffrey, Count of Conversano.
The newly-weds set off to install the lady as Duchess of Normandy – and potentially, Queen of England. There was also a substantial dowry sufficient, together with the riches bestowed upon Robert by Byzantine emperor Alexios Comnenus, to reclaim his duchy from his brother.
Thus began a journey filled with love, anticipation and expectation – and soon the couple have a child, a son they name William. But after Sibyl dies shortly after delivering the child. Then, Robert is reunited in England with an earlier lover, Tegwin, the mother of his other children, one of who, Richard, was killed in the same mysterious circumstances in the new Forest only a few weeks before William Rufus met his fate.
After an act of treachery by the distrustful and scheming Henry has Robert and his Welsh noble lady kept under a sort of house arrest while young William is spirited away to Flanders. Meanwhile Normandy is the prize that the greedy Henry has set his sights on – and he will stop at nothing.
As the years roll by, can Robert ever escape his brothers’ clutches and protect his birthright? Will William grow into a warrior strong enough to help fight his father’s battles on his behalf. What further tragic events will befall the blood-soaked Norman dynasty as the balance of power in Europe shifts and alliances swing one way then another? Who else is lurking in the shadowy forests with death at their fingertips?
Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, is the eldest son of William the Conqueror, yet it's his younger brother, Henry, who is now king of England.
Austin Hermon’s The Vengeful Son is the final book of a trilogy, and another illuminating, earthy and warm-hearted depiction of how the English have been shaped. It challenges again the myths by shining a spotlight on a man he believes history has short-changed.
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Chronicles & Curious Facts
Brief journeys into the bizarre, dramatic, and surprising truths of the medieval world.
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