Priscilla Royal

Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the smell of death still hangs over the land. In the small priory of Tyndal, the monks and nuns of the Order of Fontevraud long for a return to routine....

For Prioress Eleanor, dark times arrive early in Norfolk. The head of her order has sent Father Etienne Davoir from their headquarters in France to inspect all aspects of Tyndal Priory....

In the winter of 1271, death stalks the corridors of Wynethorpe Castle on the Welsh border....

The summer of 1276 at Tyndal Priory is peaceful - until Kenelm’s corpse is found floating in the millpond....

The summer of 1273 is peaceful for most of England, except in the village of Tyndal....

In the late summer of 1274, King Edward has finally been anointed England’s ruler, and his queen contemplates a pilgrimage in gratitude for their safe return....

When one of her company falls ill on a return journey to Tyndal, Prioress Eleanor accepts lodging at a nearby manor....

As the autumn storms of 1271 ravage the East Anglian coast, Crowner Ralf finds the corpse of a brutally murdered soldier in the woods near Tyndal Priory....

In the spring of 1277, Prioress Eleanor goes on a pilgrimage to a famous East Anglian shrine....

In March 1279, Edward I takes a break from hammering the Welsh and bearing down on England's Jews to vacation in Gloucestershire....

November 1283. Prioress Eleanor’s cousin, the earl of Ness, visits with his wife, Eda. When his unloved spouse is murdered in the priory chapel with his knife, he becomes the prime suspect. Another murder follows. Eda’s quiet priest is killed in the same chapel....

May 1283. The roads near Tyndal Priory are filled with happy pilgrims returning from St. Walstan’s feast day, but not all in Tyndal Priory and village are joyful. Signy, the local innkeeper, is quarrelling with her suddenly rebellious foster son....

Baron Herbert’s return from crusade should have been a joyous occasion. Instead, he grows increasingly morose, withdraws from his family, and refuses to share his wife’s bed....

It is May 1272, and Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal, recovering from a near-fatal winter fever, journeys to Amesbury Priory to visit her aunt in time for the Feast of Saint Melor....