Mark Parks

Hammerstone Mark Parks

About the Book



Hammerstone 1148 picks up where Hammerstone 1147 left off. Robert de Courtelaine is now the Earl of Malton. He has taken Maken (daughter of Myles the Saxon) to be his wife, thus ending his late father's planned partnership with Sir Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leiceister.

Sir Robert is not long making his presence felt in the north. His scandalous marriage to a lowly Saxon, his forming a troop of Saxon archers, and his banishment of the infamous Sir Roger, soon sets the young Earl at odds with his Norman neighbours. Robert, with trusty Barclay installed as the new steward of Hammerstone Castle, begins to reshape the notions of how a feudal lord behaves.

Robert, raised in the twentieth century in the age of great democracies and expansion of human rights, find himself oddly comfortable with the idea of all powerful lords making all the rules. While Robert enjoys the perks of absolute power, Sir Roger joins the Knight's Templar. The Temple, ever in need of warriors, especially a champion of Roger de Courtelaine's stature, not only welcomes Sir Roger but elevates him to a "man marked for great things".

Robert soon discovers just how ruthless Sir Simon de Montfort can be when he runs afoul of this powerful Earl. Perceiving a weakness in the young Earl of Malton, de Montfort's brother, Sir Howard, forges an alliance with Sir John dé la Mere and his Free Companions. Together the two vow to storm Hammerstone castle and take it's treasure and the life of it's young Earl.

The first book in the series, Hammerstone 1147, is available for sale from Trafford .