New and available now, the book Strange Country: Sir Gawain in the moorlands of North Staffordshire.

Buy now in 6 x 9″ paperback. $35 U.S., with 40% introductory discount for a limited time

Preview PDF: Cover, table of contents, first page, and main index. In the purchased book there is also another index, for all the new discoveries.

Blurb: This book makes a clear case that one of the most famous works of English literature, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, belongs to North Staffordshire. Obvious new candidates for both the Gawain-poet’s patron and Bertilak’s castle are suggested, and these are found to fit naturally and almost exactly when compared with the expected dates of the poem, the features of the castle, the known dialect locations, and the patron’s likely social status and life-story. A wealth of surrounding detail is also explored, such as: the history and role of the King’s Champion at the royal coronation; English contacts with full-blooded paganism during the Prussian crusades; the two lavish medieval courts at Tutbury; and the rich history and poetry of the Manifold Valley and the Peak. This 220-page book is well illustrated and copiously referenced with footnotes. There is a bibliography and index. 60,000 words.