Two beautiful young women from the minor gentry are entered, against their will, as novices in Shaftesbury Abbey before their father goes off to join the Fourth Crusade. Follow the professional jouster, Sir William of Palermo, and his troubadour companion, Sir Roger de Purbeck, as they attempt to extricate Angelina and Laurentia de Melbury from “the squinting walls of a provincial nunnery” and transport them to “a place of surety in sunny Sicily”.
The plot is based on a real incident. In 1285 Sir Osbert Gifford, a Wiltshire knight, was convicted of “stealing two nuns from a nunnery” and in consequence stripped of his knighthood and publicly whipped for three successive Sundays both in Wilton Church and Shaftesbury market. Sebastian Hayes brings sound historical knowledge and a sympathetic understanding of the cultural ethos of this exciting era to produce a charming and often hilarious Mediæval RomCom.
Two beautiful young women from the minor gentry are entered, against their will, as novices in Shaftesbury Abbey before their father goes off to join the Fourth Crusade. Follow the professional jouster, Sir William of Palermo, and his troubadour companion, Sir Roger de Purbeck, as they attempt to extricate Angelina and Laurentia de Melbury from “the squinting walls of a provincial nunnery” and transport them to “a place of surety in sunny Sicily”.