Lord Henry de Percy, Baron of Clavering, died in Constantinople in 1203.
When his faithful squire-turned-knight arrived back in England to deliver the news, the family chose not to announce that Henry had died of over-enthusiastic bloodletting (in treatment of a hardened liver) instead of ‘gloriously on the battlefield for God and King’.

His wife Mary, after semi-appropriate public mourning, began to go by her given name – Muireann – and moved promptly back home to Rath Oinn. To the great surprise of several distant cousins and other obsequious arrivistes, King John allowed the title and land to pass to Percy’s one legitimate child: Millicent.
Millicent was already known amongst the nobility…even if only for the whispered speculation about how often she was seen in John’s company over the years. She hardly cared, so long as her lands and people remained safe and, preferably, wealthy. The ends will justify the means.

When some of her fellow barons – including her liege lord of Essex – rose up against the King, Millicent chose her side out of pure pragmatism: better the devil you know than the one that you don’t. She knows John, and how to get what she wants from him. Whoever comes next may not be as easily persuaded.

The Barons War has only just begun. With ever-opportunistic France watching like a circling falcon, the few and the brave must band together to protect their country from being weakened by traitors and overthrown by enemies. Clavering stands ready to do whatever is necessary to win – are you?