FFW Medieval Romance Newsletter

Flair For Writing
Medieval Romance Newsletter

Editor: Megan Rose Princess Megan Rose 10 Years
Assistant Editor: Angel Angel

Hello Everyone:
How are you? In Indiana, it is 60 degrees. No snow! Yes! Angel lives in Illinois and we get the same weather. Angel loves making her beautiful images and she keps spoiling me with the ones she makes for me. We decided to a do a newsletter about Medieval Romance. I love the Medieval Times and I like to think I am a Princess as all women do at one time or another. Angel found some images and made two for the newsletter. So are you ready to go back in time? We hope you will enjoy this newsletter. We love writing these.

Angel wanted to include a Bio about Eleanor of Aquitaine. So we will talk about Eleanor who lived in the twelfth century. Eleanor of Aquitine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful woem in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. She was the Duchess of Aquitaine as well as queen consort of France and queen consort of England. She was the patroness of literary figures such as Wace, Benolt de Sainte-More and Chretien de Troyes.

Eleanor suceeded her father suo jure Duchess of Aquitaine and Countess of Poitiers at the age of fifteen and was the most eligible bride in Europe. After her accession, she married Louis VII whose guardian was King Louis VI. Eleanor participated in the failed Second Crusade. After the Crusade was over , Eleanor and Louis VI dissolved this marraiage. It probably wasn't a marriage of love which is sad. They had two daughters and their rotal marriage was annulled on the grounds of consanguinity. Louis got the daughters and Eleanor got her lands back.

Eleanor became engaged to Henry II, Duke of the Normans who was eleven years younger then her. She married him eight weeks later after her annullment to Louis.
When Heney became King of England, Eleanor became Queen. She and Henry had five sons and three daughters. Henry and Eleanor became estaranged. She was imprisoned for supporting her son's revolt against the King.

Eleanor was widowed July 6, 1189. Her husband was succeeded by their son Richard the Lionheart. He released his mother from prison. Eleanor acted as a regent for her son while he went off on the Third Crusade. Richard died and her youngest son John became King. Eleanor outlived all her children except for King John and Eleanor, Queen of the Castle. Angel and I found this interesting and we hope you did as well.

Medieval Romance. We love to read it and I am sure a lot of us love to write it. How do we write a Medieval Romance? Where do we start? First, reaserch the time period you are writing about. You can't write that the knight pulled out his cell phone and called the Princess or the Duchess. Cell phones weren't around back then. Cell phones have only been around fifteen or twenty years.

You need to research the clothes worn in the Medieval Times along with the food, entertainment and events that happened back then.

You need a hero and herorine. A handsome knight, noble man or any man of royalty. The herorine a woman who is beautiful and a member of royalty. Keep in mind that the one person may be of royal blood and the other one a pirate, peasant, gypsy or someone of lower blood. The key word is love. The couple are in love. A royal couple or the medieval couple fall in love and get the King's blessing or father's blessing, they get married and have a happy ending. Boring!

You have to have a couple in love. You will need a conflict. The royal father has someone else picked out for the Princess or Prince to marry. How do the couple in love over come this and be together? Do they run away? Does the other person the King has chosen do something bad against the King or the land? The King sees that person for who he is and lets his Princess be with the man she loves. The Princess or herorine is kidnapped and saved by her Prince or knight. The couple in love only have eyes for each other. Someone else may be in love with the hero or heroine but nothing or no one can tear them apart. In the end, make sure your couple end up together.

What elements are needed to write a Medieval romance?

A couple in love. A beautiful woman and a handsome man. Hero and Herorine. Both of royal blood or one of lower blood. A couple destined to be together no matter what.

Conflict. A father who tries to tear the couple apart. A war or evil people or circumstances that interfer with the couple. Does the herorine get kidnapped? Was she forced to marry another? If she was forced to marry another, you usually have to kill the other person off as divorces and annullments weer rare in those days. Do the couple in love have to run off to another country to be together? Like we said earlier, did the King find out that the man chosen for his daughter by him was evil and let his daughter be with the man she loves in the end. A confilct has to be resolved for the couple to find happiness.

How was the conflict resolved? This will the last few pages of the ending of the story you are writing. Maybe the couple in love doubted each other but found out that the person really does love them. Make this a happy, tears of joy ending. As a writer, you have to be a hopeless romantic!

I hope this helps those of you who write Medieval romance. Don't forget to include the Balls, stolen kisses in the hallways where no one is around. Another nice place is the garden and maybe secret rooms in the castle where couples in love can get away. When you write a romance of any kind, be passionate about it and you may want to include the love making scenes. The choice is yours. Make your readers love the couple and want them together.Remember, a woman can be of royal blood in love with a pirate, gypsy or someone of lower class. Love doesn't go by stations or social circles. Love happens to everyone. Write from the heart!

Angel and I hope you have enjoyed this newsletter as much as we liked writing it. Thank you for reading. Have a Happy Spring!