News & Updates
JuLY 2026
Book VII: Work in Progress
The seventh volume is underway. It opens the Dirk III arc, set in the years following 993, and presents a transition I have been thinking about since finishing Book VI. Dirk III inherits a county that has just been stripped by the emperor after the catastrophe of Calsloot; the dramatic register must shift from the personal tragedy that closed the Arnulf trilogy to something harder and more political — a young count rebuilding authority under constraint.
The chapter datelines are being laid out now. The horizon event is the siege of Vlaardingen in 1018, which I am treating as the structural climax of the arc. Research is focused on the imperial court of Henry II and the documentary record of Holland in the early eleventh century, which is sparse but not empty. No release date yet.
JULY 2026
The History Section Is Open
The History section of this site is now live. It opens with the Historische achtergrond material — the historical background essays adapted from Books I through VI. The first articles cover the county's origins under Gerolf and the early Theodoric counts, the political geography of the Rhine delta in the ninth and tenth centuries, and the relationship between the county and the bishopric of Utrecht. Both English and Dutch versions are available. Further articles will be added as the series progresses.
JULY 2026
Book VI — Published in English and Dutch
Book VI, "The Count Nobody Wanted" / "De graaf die niemand wilde," is published. Both the English and Dutch editions are available in Kindle and paperback. This volume completes the Arnulf trilogy — Books IV through VI — and covers the years 977 to 993: Arnulf's full reign, the Italian campaign of 981, the charter of 985 that defined the county's southern boundary, and the final catastrophe at Calsloot that ends his line's dominance. Readers who have followed the series from Book I will find this the darkest volume.
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