In the Island of Angels Series, Book 2
(Can be read as a standalone)
Historical Fiction
Date Published: 10-28-2024
Publisher: The Book Guild
1580.
Nelan Michaels is a young Flemish, Protestant immigrant who seeks to right the wrongs committed against his family by Catholic Spain, the most powerful nation of the time.
On the way to delivering a message to Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, Nelan finds a plough head buried in the ground. It sparks a premonition that shapes his future.
Nelan sets out to find Eleanor, his long lost love. During his search, he meets a Gypsy shaman who prophesies that he’s to become a Fyremaster and play a leading role in the unfolding destiny of the Island of Angels.
In 1588, Nelan meets his destiny on the night of the Harvest Moon off Calais in France. It was midnight when it happened. His mysterious intervention changed the course of the sea battle between the English fleet and the Spanish Armada, and changed England’s destiny.
It was a midnight of eights.
The Midnight of Eights is the final book in The Island of Angels series: a two-book saga that tells the epic story and secret history of England's coming of age during the Elizabethan era.
In Book 1, The Mark of the Salamander, Nelan is pressed onto the Golden Hind. During the circumnavigation, he embarks on a voyage of discovery of himself, and learns the arcane arts of the salamander, the mysterious spirit of fire.
This guest post relates to the historical background of my novel, The Midnight of Eights. The genesis of any single historical event is always multiple, a combine compound of different influences, some obvious, some subtle, So, in this short space, the best I can do is paint some broad brush strokes.
The novel culminates in the repulse of the Spanish Armada, but what led up to King Philip of Spain’s fatal decision to build and despatch a fleet of 130 warships to invade England in 1588 AD?
Let’s start in 1556. That was when Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, abdicated and passed his territories to his son, Philip, who inherited the Netherlands. The Dutch were mostly Protestant, but were now under the control of a Catholic monarch. Philip sent the Duke of Alba to suppress any revolt and impose Catholic rule.
In England in 1570, the Protestant Queen Elizabeth suppressed the Catholic-inspired Northern rebellion and for her troubles was excommunicated by Pope Pius V. In a Papal Bull entitled Regnans in Excelsis, he declared her to be a heretic and “the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime.” Significantly for English Catholics, the Pope released all of her subjects from any allegiance to her and excommunicated any that obeyed her.
In December 1585, Elizabeth and the Privy Council finally responded to the Dutch call for help, and the Queen sent English troops and vessels to support their resistance.
The Papal Bull persuaded many English Catholics to plot against Elizabeth. One was Sir Francis Throckmorton, a Catholic noble. He planned to depose Elizabeth and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary, the Queen’s cousin, was Catholic, and a distant heir to the English throne. Francis Walsingham, the Queen’s spymaster, with the help of Nelan Michaels, the hero of the novel The Midnight of Eights, uncovered his plot and had Throckmorton executed at Tyburn in London in July 1584. The Tyburn Tree, a nickname for the gallows at Tyburn, was a prominent site for public executions in London and was given the chilling epithet, ‘the tree that was never green.’
Anthony Babington was the next English Catholic noble to attempt to depose Elizabeth and replace her with Mary. But when her letters to Babington were intercepted by Walsingham’s spies, proving her involvement to depose Elizabeth, Mary, Queen of Scots, was tried and executed in 1587. For King Philip, Mary’s death was the tipping point. He decided to despatch the Armada and bring England and its heretic Queen to heel once and for all.
During the fleet preparations in Cadiz, Philip ordered his admirals to search for women on board the ships and remove them, in order that God’s will prevailed.
In April 1588, the Pope blessed the Armada emblem, the Madonna, and all the Spanish mariners watched in holy awe as it fluttered high on the masts of the galleons, galleasses and supply ships.
The Armada was not just a fleet of ships. As far as the Spanish were concerned, it was primarily a holy instrument to remove evil from the world.
Justin Newland
28th April 2025
Photo #1: Pope Pius V, courtesy of Wikipedia
Photo #2: The Tyburn Tree, courtesy of Wikipedia
About the Author
JUSTIN NEWLAND’s novels represent an innovative blend of genres from historical adventure to supernatural thriller and magical realism.
Undeterred by the award of a Maths Doctorate, he conceived his debut novel, The Genes of Isis (ISBN 9781789014860, Matador, 2018), an epic fantasy set under Ancient Egyptian skies.
His second book, The Old Dragon’s Head (ISBN 9781789015829, Matador, 2018), and is set in Ming Dynasty China in the shadows of the Great Wall.
Set during the Great Enlightenment, The Coronation (ISBN 9781838591885, Matador, 2019) speculates on the genesis of the most important event in the modern world – the Industrial Revolution.
The Abdication (ISBN 9781800463950, Matador, 2021) is a mystery thriller in which a young woman confronts her faith in a higher purpose and what it means to abdicate that faith.
The Mark of the Salamander (ISBN 9781915853271, Book Guild, 2023), is the first in a two-book series, The Island of Angels. Set in the Elizabethan era, it tells the epic tale of England’s coming of age.
The latest is The Midnight of Eights (ISBN 9781835740 330, Book Guild, 2024), the second in The Island of Angels series, which charts the uncanny coincidences of time and tide that culminated in the repulse of the Spanish Armada.
His work in progress is The Spirit of the Times which explores the traumatic events of the 14th Century on the Silk Road and featuring an unlikely cast of Genghis Khan, the Black Plague, all shrouded in the mystery of a nursery rhyme that begins ‘Ring a-ring a-roses’.
Author, speaker and broadcaster, Justin gives talks to historical associations and libraries, appears on LitFest panels, and enjoys giving radio interviews. He lives with his partner in plain sight of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England.
Contact Links
Twitter @JustinNewland53
Pinterest @jnewland0711
Purchase Links
https://mybook.to/TheMidnightofEights
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Thanks for hosting this stop on the tour!
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