{"id":11915,"date":"2019-05-29T14:09:54","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T18:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=11915"},"modified":"2025-07-02T16:19:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T20:19:50","slug":"the-summer-of-the-danes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11915","title":{"rendered":"The Summer of the Danes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Summer of the Danes<\/em><\/a> (1991) Ellis Peters<\/a><\/p>\n

\"the-summer-of-the-danes\"<\/a>Set in England in 1144.<\/p>\n

Cadfael and Brother Mark travel to Wales, to meet with (and support) two new bishops. But they end up caught up in an unexpected fight: Prince Owain Gwynedd and his brother Cadwaladr. <\/p>\n

\u201cBrothers have been the ruin of Welsh princedoms through all ages,\u201d Cadfael observed ruefully. \u201cWelsh princes should have only one son apiece. The father builds up a sound principality and a strong rule, and after his death his three or four or five sons, in and out of wedlock, all demand by right equal shares, and the law says they should have them. Then one picks off another, to enlarge his portion, and it would take more than law to stop the killing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They also come across a young woman who is being married off so that her father can advance in the church.<\/p>\n

I am a reminder of a marriage the bishop says was unlawful and sacrilegious. In his eyes I never should have been born! Even if my father remains celibate the rest of his life, I am still here, to call to mind what he wants forgotten.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In case you were unaware, for centuries married priests were the norm and celibacy was the exception.<\/p>\n

For centuries now priests had lived as decent married men and raised families like their parishioners. Even in England, in the more remote country places, there were plenty of humble married priests, and certainly no one thought the worse of them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also, birthright was fluctuated throughout history.<\/p>\n

It struck Cadfael as ironic that one so plainly signed with his father\u2019s image should be regarded by the cleric who sat beside him as illegitimate, for he had been born before Owain\u2019s marriage, and his mother, too, was an Irishwoman. To the Welsh a son acknowledged was as much a son as those born in marriage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is such a fascinating series, all the historical bits and religious bits and everything.<\/p>\n

It is a blessed thing, on the whole, to live in slightly dull times, especially after disorder, siege and bitter contention.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It took me awhile to read this, but that’s mostly because I’ve been busy.<\/p>\n

Published by MysteriousPress
\nRating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Summer of the Danes (1991) Ellis Peters Set in England in 1144. Cadfael and Brother Mark travel to Wales, to meet with (and support) two new bishops. But they end up caught up in an unexpected fight: Prince Owain Gwynedd and his brother Cadwaladr. \u201cBrothers have been the ruin of Welsh princedoms through all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,30,190,292,33,8,41,26],"tags":[120,119,549,877,878],"class_list":["post-11915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-5-10","category-british","category-cozy","category-ebook","category-historical","category-mystery","category-reread","category-romance","tag-brother-cadfael","tag-ellis-peters","tag-high-middle-ages","tag-medieval","tag-the-anarchy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-36b","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6170,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6170","url_meta":{"origin":11915,"position":0},"title":"The Summer of the Danes","author":"Michelle","date":"November 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Summer of the Danes (1991) Ellis Peters Set in Wales in 1144. This story is quite different from others in this series. Like the first, it is set in Wales, but instead of a peaceful search for a saint, there is a possibility of a fight between brothers and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"the-summer-of-the-danes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/The-Summer-of-the-Danes.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24200,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24200","url_meta":{"origin":11915,"position":1},"title":"The Summer of the Danes","author":"Michelle","date":"January 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Summer of the Danes (1991) Ellis Peters (The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #18) Set in Wales in 1144 It is a blessed thing, on the whole, to live in slightly dull times, especially after disorder, siege and bitter contention. Have you ever seen the sea?\u201d \u201cNo. How could I?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Summer of the Danes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/The-Summer-of-the-Danes.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6106,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6106","url_meta":{"origin":11915,"position":2},"title":"A Morbid Taste for Bones","author":"Michelle","date":"October 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A Morbid Taste for Bones (1977) Ellis Peters Set in England and Wales in ~1137. I picked this up on sale--and by accident. I'd confused Ellis Peters with Peter Tremayne (whose real name was Peter Berresford Ellis, so it's not that ridiculous of a mistake) and so picked up a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"a-morbid-taste-for-bones","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/A-Morbid-Taste-for-Bones.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11123,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11123","url_meta":{"origin":11915,"position":3},"title":"Dead Man’s Ransom","author":"Michelle","date":"September 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dead Man's Ransom (1984) Ellis Peters Set in England in 1141. The war between Stephen and Maud still flares across the countryside, and in one of the battles Gilbert Prestcote, the sheriff of Shrewsbury, is wounded and taken prisoner by the Welsh. Meanwhile, a band of Welsh raiders have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Dead-Mans-Ransom.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23901,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23901","url_meta":{"origin":11915,"position":4},"title":"The Sanctuary Sparrow","author":"Michelle","date":"August 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Sanctuary Sparrow (1983) Ellis Peters (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #7) Set in Shropshire England in 1140 \u201cIf the law itself were here, there is no power can now take away this man from the sanctuary he has sought. You should know the right of it as well as I,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Sanctuary Sparrow","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/The-Sanctuary-Sparrow.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23583,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23583","url_meta":{"origin":11915,"position":5},"title":"A Morbid Taste for Bones","author":"Michelle","date":"May 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A Morbid Taste for Bones (1977) Ellis Peters (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael) Set in England in 1137. The herbarium in particular was his kingdom, for he had built it up gradually through the fifteen years of labour, and added to it many exotic plants of his own careful raising, collected\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Morbid Taste for Bones","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/A-Morbid-Taste-for-Bones.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11915\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}