![]() Closest to Llewelyn is Ellen, daughter of Simon de Montfort, whose marriage to him is unconsummated for weary months, serving as she does as Edward's lure in a diplomatic game plan. Around the two, and back and forth, is a motley group: dangerous-to-loyal kin, rumbling nobles and wily clergy, women in love and in terrible grief. ![]() The focus here, much seen through the eyes of a young squire, is on the tactics of two rulers-Edward I of England and his cousinly kin (a genealogical table-a necessity!-will be included) Llewelyn ab Gruffydd, Prince of Wales-judicious, devoted to his land and people, but not one to underestimate Edward's hunger for absolute English supremacy and his ability to achieve it. This is the story of the deadly reckoning, the final defeat of the descendants and allies of Simon de Montfort (whose rebellion against kingly power is chronicled in the first two novels) as well as the tale of the end of an independent Wales. Third in Penman's ambitious and admirable trilogy (Here Be Dragons, 1985 Falls the Shadow, 1988) centered on the medieval maelstroms of power, passions, and terror during the reigns of England's King John, weak Henry III, and, here, that ``Hammer of the Scots,'' pounder of the Welsh and any others threatening the supremacy of the Crown-Edward I. ![]()
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