Prologue and Chapters 1-2 Summary

Falls the Shadow follows Here Be Dragons in Sharon Kay Penman's medieval trilogy. This novel picks up several years before the end of the previous novel, including many of the characters from the first novel. However, this novel focuses on two new characters, Simon de Montfort and Llewelyn ap Gruffydd.

In the Prologue, February 1231, Simon de Montfort, a second born son of a French man, comes to the home of the Earl of Chester to ask for the return of the earldom of Leicester taken from his family by King John. As Simon waits for the Earl of Chester, he meets Nell, the wife of the Earl of Pembroke and sister to King Henry III. When the Earl of Chester comes to meet with Simon, he finds Simon to be a brave man and agrees to give...