aka The John Dee Chronicles
J.A. Downes 
Elizabeth I and the Smallpox Crisis of 1562: The Illness That Changed a Queen Forever In the autumn of 1562, England came terrifyingly close to losing its queen. Elizabeth I, just four years into her reign and not yet thirty years old, contracted smallpox at Hampton Court Palace and fell so gravely ill that her … Read more
The Day Coventry’s Heart Went Silent: The End of the Mystery Plays in 1579 Imagine a city that had, for generations, been the beating cultural heart of the English Midlands. A place where thousands of pilgrims and travellers gathered each summer to witness spectacular theatrical performances that rolled through the streets on great pageant wagons, … Read more
From Absolution: A Question of Conviction: “Catherine’s hands trembled as she set the letter aside and lifted the small wooden box beneath. Normally she would have considered it quite a pretty thing; its wax-polished surface gleaming, and the edges were carved with delicate scrollwork. A single acorn motif centred on the lid gave her a … Read more
How Flemish Refugees Turned Norwich Into Tudor England’s Second City Imagine a city so transformed by an influx of foreign craftspeople that it rises from modest provincial town to become the second most important city in all of England. This is not the plot of a historical novel, though it would make a compelling one. … Read more
The Virgin Queen: How Elizabeth I Used Marriage as a Political Weapon Imagine holding the most powerful bargaining chip in sixteenth-century European diplomacy, yet never spending it. That, in essence, is what Elizabeth I of England achieved throughout her remarkable forty-five-year reign. The question of whom she would marry captivated courts from London to Madrid, … Read more
Anne Boleyn: The Queen Who Changed England Forever Of all the stories that emerged from the turbulent court of Henry VIII, none is more dramatic, more debated, or more devastating than that of Anne Boleyn. A woman of fierce intelligence and political ambition, Anne rose from courtier to queen in a manner that shook the … Read more
The Burial That Changed England Forever: Prince Arthur at Worcester Cathedral, 28 April 1502 Imagine the scene: a grey April morning in 1502, a solemn procession winding through the streets of Worcester, and the body of a fifteen-year-old prince being carried to his final resting place. The mourners who followed Prince Arthur Tudor to his … Read more
I have completed plotting out a 4-book mini-series to continue the Predestination series after Insurrection. The first book of the mini-series will be called Benediction (ie. it is book 4 of the Predestination series – Star Wars episode numbering springs to mind, I know – my apologies). The book opens with Rook in the Temple … Read more
The Day Elizabeth I Became Supreme Governor: How the 1559 Act of Supremacy Reshaped England Forever Imagine inheriting a kingdom torn apart by decades of religious upheaval, where your father had broken from Rome, your brother had pushed Protestantism to radical extremes, and your half-sister had burned nearly three hundred people at the stake in … Read more
The Sword That Fell on Tower Green: Anne Boleyn’s Execution and the Mercy Henry VIII Never Truly Showed On the morning of 19th May 1536, a young French swordsman raised his blade at Tower Green within the walls of the Tower of London, and in a single swift stroke, brought the reign of England’s most … Read more