03 December, 2015

Ten Years of the Edward II Blog! And a Book Giveaway!

Unbelievably, the Edward II blog is now exactly ten years old! Yes, I wrote my first post here on 3 December 2005. Ten years, 627 posts and 1.3 million visitors later, Edward and I are still here.  And intending to go on and on and on for another ten years, or more.  I still have tons I want to write about; I never run out of material!

Thank you so much, all of you, whether you visit the blog regularly or just occasionally or if this is the first time you've ever been here. Without you reading, I wouldn't have the motivation to go on.  And lots of you do visit, which is great. An average of around 1000 visitors a day, in fact, with my record being just over 41,000 in a month. The countries with the highest number of visitors are, not unexpectedly, the US and the UK, with Germany in third place. I have to say this really surprises me, but there it is, I get between 3000 and 5000 visitors from Germany every month. Russia is also really high on the list, and I often see the blog linked to Russian history forums and other sites.

To celebrate the blog's tenth anniversary, I have two free, signed copies of the new paperback edition of my Edward II: The Unconventional King to give away to two lucky readers! To enter the draw, simply leave a comment here with your email address (so that I can get in touch with the winners), or if you prefer, email me directly at edwardofcaernarfon@yahoo.com. Doesn't matter where you are in the world, as long as you have a postal address to receive the book! The closing date is Saturday 12 December. Best of luck!

31 comments:

Katarzyna Ogrodnik-Fujcik said...

10 years of excellent job at King Edward's court! Congratulations, dear Kathryn!

Anonymous said...

Happy 10th anniversary ... and may you have many more!

Esther

Kathryn Warner said...

Thanks so much, Kasia and Esther! I really appreciate all your support!

Alison Bahmüller said...

Wow! Congratulations, Kathryn! Happy 10th anniversary! Now you have a visitor from Malta as well.
Alison
(larsb@onvol.net)

Kathryn Warner said...

Thank you, Alison! (And welcome to Twitter, by the way! :) I see you're there now!)

Diana Cosby said...

*Hugs* Kathryn, you did a tremendous job on writing Edward II: The Unconventional King!!! Thrilled for you, and I can't wait to read your next release!!!
Sincerely,

Diana Cosby

Kathryn Warner said...

Thanks so much, Diana! So grateful for all your support!

Unknown said...

Congratulations on your 10 years. Thank you for introducing me to the "real" King Edward. Looking forward to many more fascinating, well researched blog posts. Here's to many more years of your brilliant blog. From your biggest fan in Georgia, US Marsha :)

Kathryn Warner said...

Thanks so much, Marsha. I so appreciate all your support over the years <3

Anerje said...

Congratulations on 10 years - all that research! Here's to many more posts!

Unknown said...

thank you so much for the opportunity to win this book. Congratulations for the 10 year anniversary of writing your blogs. good luck to everybody but I hope that I win. Lol

Unknown said...

I forgot to leave my email address so here it is...oldsexy50@gmail.com...... Again thank you

Bookhound said...

Happy Decade! Love reading the blog...benregis1@gmail.com

Kathryn Warner said...

Thank you, everyone! :)

Jerry Bennett said...

Congratulations Kathryn. The depth of research that goes into this blog is outstanding - how do you find the time? It's both very informative and very interesting.

Good luck for the next ten years.

Kathryn Warner said...

Thank you, Jerry!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your (and Edward's) 10th Anniversary! Your blog and your book are such treats, I am so happy to have discovered both. Here's to the next ten years!

Greetings from Denmark!

Susanne

Kathryn Warner said...

Thank you, Susanne! Nice to have a reader in Denmark :) (Actually two - Ulrik, who wrote a guest post for me a few weeks ago, is another:)

Niall O'Brien said...

Very well done Kathryn. A wonderful blog = keep up the good work = and all the best for the future = thanks for all the posts.

Kathryn Warner said...

Thank you, Niall, really appreciate your support!

sami parkkonen said...

This is the One history blog for me. I am looking forward the next tens years and beyond. Thank you very much for all the work you have done in the past and my very humble well wishing to you, Kathryn.

Vesper said...

Congratulations on the anniversary - only discovered your blog a couple of years ago. Look forward to reading more

meikleblog at gmail dot com

Sarah Callanan said...

Loads of congratulations Kathryn - great blog and your book is a revelation! All the very best

harpo_groucho at hotmail.co.uk

Anonymous said...

Very much enjoy your blog, Edward has always gotten a bad break from history. He certainly wasn't an able ruler but neither was he a monster.

nsltexas@yahoo.com

Kathryn Warner said...

Thanks so much, Sami, Vesper, Sarah and Anon! Really appreciate your kind words!

Julia Ergane said...

I have been enjoying your blog for around two years. Congratulations on your 10 year anniversary! Many years ago when I was an undergraduate history major I heavily considered mediaeval studies for my follow-on. However, life happened; so instead I served in the USAF (earning a MBA at the same time). Later on I earned a MLS and went on to academic psychiatry and medicine. Now, I am retired but I will return to Classical Studies. Edward II has definitely proved to be very fascinating.

julia.ergane@gmail.com

HotspurSam said...

10 yrs - very well done indeed Kathryn 👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you for imparting your incredible knowledge on to us all.
Hope I win the autographed book 😄👍

Kathryn Warner said...

Thank you for your support, Julia and Sam! ;) Julia, best of luck with your Classical Studies - I'm sure it'll be great!

Doreen Agutter said...

Dear Kathryn,
Only a dedicated, enrthusiatic historian like you would have persevered with a Blog over 10 years as there must have been times when you felt disspirited, may be if only because you had a bad cold! I found your blog by chance when researching material on Elizabeth de Burgh who held lands in Warwickshire and have not missed reading your contributions since, even this year when I was seriously ill in isolation in hospital. In fact I ran out of money on my phone re reading what you said! I too specialised in medieval history at school and university but there are so many fresh, exciting interpretations I have difficulty in keeping up to date with all of them. Thanks to your hard work I can at nearly 80 take my ease now and again. I only have a standard work on Edward that does not subscribe to many modern theories.
Kind Regards,
Doreen Agutter (Mrs doreen@aguttersquick.com

Unknown said...

Congrats Kathryn on your great writings of this glorious generation of people who left memorable unique and interesting facts of their lives as if they had written it themselves. I didn't find out about you until Sunday night while searching my geaneology on geni and your name came up. Since Sunday the 6th of December 2015 I have read a little of your works, but am amazed on the way you write and very much interested in reading of these people, because they are my family. King Edward the first was a great grandfather of mine and his wife Eleanor of Castile my great grandmother. Her father Ferdinand the third the saint, king of Castile my great grandfather. Sybil Fitzalan (Fe Montagu) 1330-1381 a great grandmother. Her father, my great grandfather was William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury and my great grandmother his wife Catherine de Montagu, countess of Salisbury. I'm sure you know he was king of the Isle of Man. He died in Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England. I am so thankful for these grandparents who now have made their presence known in my life. I am grateful for who they were and what they accomplished and the impact they have given me and to the entire world. Thank you too for your talented writing of gifted words that give so much info on bringing this family to life again and letting ones who like me their family down the line can know more about what their lives were like and the way they lived. Life is short and life is beautiful. We all live or have lived in different periods of time. These ancestors were real, they lived, loved and made a serious impact to many lives hundreds of years past their living here on earth. They left their marks in history to carry on forevermore. Please carry on with your work for years to come. I would love to have copies of your creative works to hand down to my own children and grandchildren. My name is Daphne Johnson Dunn and I live in Laurinburg, North Carolina USA. My husband and I both have family from all of the Celtic countries, England, Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain and others. We do a lot of geaneology research and are thankful for all our ancestors from any country. We also have Native American heritage which we are proud to be a part of. God is so good to us all and made us all united and connected in some fashion. By having such diverse cultures and ancestry we feel extremely gifted and thank God for this each day. Thank you Kathryn for letting my families history be heralded and read and enjoyed by thousands. You keep their spirits alive in all those who read and study their past. God bless all your endeavors with this, and may you have a Merry Christmas and an amazing New Year! Sincerely, Daphne Dunn

Gabriele Campbell said...

Happy Bloggiversary, Kathryn.

I've been a reader of this blog from the start and I learned a lot about Edward II and his time. Here's to the next ten years. :-)

BTW, my blog is pretty popular in Russia, too. There seems to be a pretty large audience interested in history.