A Bloody Field By Shrewsbury - Edith Pargeter

1972; 378 pages.  Genre : Historical Fiction.  New Author? : No.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

    It's 1399 AD, and uneasy rests the head that wears the English crown.  King Henry IV has deposed his cousin, Richard II.  Henry's son, Hal, is now the Prince of Wales.  But Hal's only 14 years old, so the king sends a close friend and ally, Harry Percy (aka "Hotspur") to Shrewsbury with Hal, to be his mentor.

    But the Royal Treasury is broke, Richard II dies under suspicious circumstances, the French are hostile, and Wales and Scotland are revolting.  What more could possilby go wrong for the King?

What's To Like...
    Edith Pargeter (who uses the pen-name Ellis Peters when she writes Brother Cadfael stories) is a fine historical fiction author.  All the characters are 3-dimensional and evolving; and none of them is all-white or all-black.  Like a Shakespearean tragedy, our main hero (Hotspur), although noble, has some far-reaching character flaws.

    The main battle only starts on page 332, so until then you have to be entertained by a couple of skirmishes and a lot of history, politics, and personal drama.  The book succeeds at this nicely.  There's even a little bit of romance for the ladies, but it's (seemingly) hopelessly doomed so guys can tolerate it.

Kewlst New Word(s)...
Two of them, just for a change.  Shriving : hearing the confession of, and assigning penance to (someone).  Sikker : certain; safe; secure.

Excerpts...
    "Doubts?  Ay, have I, and many and grievous, too!  Do you think there's one of us that is not looking back now in torment of mind, questioning at every move what we did well, and what was ill-done?  Death makes every man turn his head and re-examine his conscience."  (pg. 24)

    As what would she remember him?  She was not dependent upon love and lovers as women are wont to be.  She had married, and sickened of marriage, and chosen of her own will to look towards other satisfactions, this being soiled and spoiled for her, though not, please God, eternally.  You cannot die of disillusion at twenty, not with such a spirit in you.  (pg. 328)

"Every man's death is treading hard on his heels every day of his life. ... Yet it will not overtake until he flags."  (pg. 329)
    As with her Brother Cadfael series, Pargeter/Peters gives you a feel for everyday life in medieval England.  The people are real, their actions are believable, and their surroundings vividly detailed.

    If you aren't a history buff, A Bloody Field By Shrewsbury may not be for you, as Pargeter takes very little literary license with the historical facts.  But if you like knights and kings, and castles and calamities, then you will probably enjoy this book.

    The history recounted here will most likely be new to most American readers.  But Shakespeare found it important enough to write a tetralogy of plays about it : Richard II, Henry IV - Part 1, Henry IV - Part Two, and Henry V.   If it's good enough for the Bard, it's good enough for me.  8 Stars.

Sunrise In The West - Edith Pargeter

1974; 340 pages. Book 1 of the "Brothers of Gwynnedd" tetrad. Genre : Historical Fiction. New Author?: Yes. Overall Rating : 6½*/10.

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Militarily, how do you resist an irresistable foe? That's what Llewelyn the Last, the protagonist of Sunrise in the West, is confronted with. He strives to unite 13th-Century Wales against King Henry III of England, who is trying to consolidate his realm as well. But the Welsh are an obstimate lot. They waffle between kowtowing to Henry and pleading for Llewelyn to come to their aid. Their lords keep hunkering down in their own separate castles; and Llewelyn's three brothers keep trying to carve out their own little niches of power in Wales.

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What's To Like...

The events of SITW are historically accurate, and the author uses Samson, a trusted attendant of Llewelyn's to flesh out the action with careful dialogue and canny insight. None of the characters are all black or all white, including King Henry. That's a nice change from the "Braveheart" sort of English tyrant.

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The book starts out slow, as Ms. Pargeter fills in the backstory and introduces you to everybody. But if you stick with it, things come together nicely. I found it helpful to read the Wiki article about Llewelyn the Last, which you can find here.

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There are some quibbles. There's a nice family tree at the beginning to help you keep track of all the nobles. But SITW is mostly about Llewelyn traipsing all over Wales trying to unite the clans, and a map sure would've come in handy. Also, the back cover blurb leads you to believe this is about two brothers, Griffith (who is Llewelyn's father) and David and their internecine struggles. It isn't. They're both dead and buried within the first third of the book.

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Kewl New Words...

Appanage : a source of revenue (usually land) given by a sovereign for the maintenance of a member of his family. Lout (vb.) : to bow or curtsy. Gobbet : a chunk of raw meat. Seneschal : the chief steward of a great household. Lief : gladly; in a willing manner. Traduced : bad-mouthed. Paynims : pagans; heathens. Trammel : to shackle. Bracken : an area overgrown with ferns. Loth (adj.) : contrary; here : "...and never speak loth word..."

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Exceerpts...

For we in Wales had then borrowed very little from this crowding English life that pressed in on our flank, that used coined money, and markets, of which we had scarcely any, and lived in stone houses that could not be abandoned at need, for they were too precious, and grew ordered crops that tied men to one patch of soil. And above all, few of us had ever seen what the English called a city. (pg. 36)

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'Your grandsire and mine had a vision of Wales that I learned from him, Wales united under one prince and able to stand up to all comers. There's no other way of fending off England for long. I went with my uncle not against our father, but against England, and sorry I was and am that we could not all stand together. Now you come running with the same old ruinous devotion to a right that will dismember Gwynedd, let alone Wales, and feed it to your king, whether you mean it or no, gobbet by gobbet until he has gorged all. And if I can prevent you, I will.' (pg. 94)

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'You have no right,' said the Lady Senena severely, "to speak so of either the king or the earl. It would do you more credit if you showed a greater respect for your elders."

He smiled at her placatingly, but he was unmoved. 'They are men,' he said, 'like other men'. (pg. 127)

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A few words about Edith Pargeter...

1913-1995; the Wiki article about her is here. She was a British author with Welsh ancestry, who wrote history, historical fiction, murder mysteries, and translated Czech classics. She penned her mysteries under the name of Ellis Peters, and her most-famous series, set in 12th-Century western England, features Brother Cadfael as a sleuthing monk. My local library has about a dozen of these Brother Cadfael books. I expect to read at least one of them before the year's out.

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A whale of a Wales tale...

Sunrise in the West is a great story, but I admit it dragged in spots for me. Maybe it gets better in the next three books. At 340 pages, this was just the right length. The publishers have now combined all four books into one, and it comes to a whopping 800+ pages. I fear that would drag me under. I'm glad I found this as a stand-alone book. 6½ Stars.