The Myth of Morgan la Fey by Kristina Pérez

He was crowned at the tender age of nine but only survived until his fifteenth birthday.Ī crisis of succession swiftly followed that saw Mary and Elizabeth united against their cousin Lady Jane Gray for the right to rule. Prince Edward replaced both his sisters as legitimate heir to the throne. His third wife, Jane Seymour, finally gave the king his longed-for son. He married Anne, banished Catherine from court, and stripped Mary of her title of princess.Įlizabeth was then named heir - but Henry still wanted a son. The pope refused his request, leading the king to break with the Catholic Church in Rome and establish the Protestant Church of England - a bold move for the time. In time, Henry became infatuated with the much younger Anne Boleyn and sought to have his marriage to Catherine annulled. Henry was therefore desperate for a son to ensure the Tudor succession. Although Mary was heir presumptive to the throne, there was no established precedent for a female ruling as queen in her own right. Mary Tudor was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Perhaps the most famous feuding sisters in history are Mary I and Elizabeth I of England.

Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I of England The Trưng Sisters committed suicide rather than accept defeat. Unfortunately, the Chinese regrouped, and the Han emperor sent an overwhelming military force to retake Vietnam. Nhi was reputedly the better fighter and commanded the kingdom’s military. The Trưng Sisters then declared themselves to be an independent kingdom, and Trắc was named queen. Within a year, they had seized 65 citadels and forced the Chinese to flee. It’s also said they rode elephants into battle! They chose women, including their own mother, to be the generals of their new army. In response, the Trưng Sisters took up the mantle of the independence movement and amassed an 80,000-strong army. Trắc, the elder of the two sisters, married a Vietnamese noble who was then assassinated for plotting to overthrow their Chinese overlords.

Belonging to an aristocratic family, the sisters learned the art of warfare and trained in the martial arts. Sisters Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhi led a rebellion against the Chinese Han dynasty.

Nearly two thousand years ago, in the first century, Vietnam had been conquered and incorporated into the Chinese empire. Here are three sets of my favorite real-life sisters who changed the course of history: In my reimagining, it’s Branwen’s sisterly love for the princess that sets the tragic events in motion, changing their world forever. Although the novel is a retelling of the star-crossed legend of Tristan and Iseult, my protagonist is Branwen: best friend and cousin to the princess. Being an only child, the complicated and passionate nature of sisterhood has always intrigued me, and it’s a theme I explore in my debut YA fantasy, Sweet Black Waves.

The Myth of Morgan la Fey by Kristina Pérez