{"id":5728,"date":"2014-09-14T20:06:48","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T00:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=5728"},"modified":"2018-08-24T15:36:33","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T19:36:33","slug":"two-excellent-historical-novels-by-v-m-whitworth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=5728","title":{"rendered":"Two Excellent Historical Novels by V. M. Whitworth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u00c6thelfl\u00e6d<\/a>

\u00c6thelfl\u00e6d as depict\u00aded in the car\u00adtu\u00adlary of Abing\u00addon Abbey<\/p><\/div>\n

V. M. Whitworth\u2019s The Bone Thief <\/em>(Ebury, 2012), and it\u2019s sequel The Traitor\u2019s Pit<\/em> (Ebury, 2013) are exem\u00adplary his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal nov\u00adels. The author is known, by anoth\u00ader name, as a medieval his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan. I read the first book mere\u00adly out of curios\u00adi\u00adty, because I knew her schol\u00adar\u00adly work. But, after a few pages, I was hooked. The set\u00adting is Eng\u00adland Before Eng\u00adland Was, the reigns of \u00c6thelred, King of Mer\u00adcia and Edward of Wes\u00adsex, who was soon to uni\u00adfy the two king\u00addoms and make con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable inroads on the Danelaw. The future Eng\u00adland has long been split between Pagan and Chris\u00adt\u00adian kings, but the Norse Gods are fad\u00ading as the Scan\u00addi\u00adna\u00advian con\u00adquerors are adopt\u00ading Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty (with vary\u00ading degrees of sin\u00adcer\u00adi\u00adty), and the two cul\u00adtures are merg\u00ading. The action of the first book is inspired by an inci\u00addent record\u00aded in the Anglo-Sax\u00adon Chron\u00adi\u00adcle<\/em> as occur\u00adring in the year 909. The fic\u00adtion\u00adal hero is Wulf\u00adgar, a young cler\u00adic in the ser\u00advice of his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal \u00c6thelfl\u00e6d, who is one of the more inter\u00adest\u00ading women known from the peri\u00adod. For years, \u00c6thelred has been too ill to rule, and The Lady of the Mer\u00adcians rules in his stead. In The Bone Thief<\/em>, she sends Wulf\u00adgar on a secret mis\u00adsion into the Viking-con\u00adtrolled Five Bur\u00adroughs, to obtain the bones of St. Oswald, which she hopes will ral\u00adly peo\u00adple to the Mer\u00adcian cause. The bones have been lost, but are buried anony\u00admous\u00adly behind Bard\u00adney Abbey (which in 2014 is noth\u00ading more than a few stony lumps in a field north\u00adwest of the vil\u00adlage of Bard\u00adney \u2014 see image below). Wulf\u00adgar is a timid soul, and is soon over\u00adwhelmed by the con\u00adspir\u00ada\u00adcies, treach\u00aderies, and bru\u00adtal\u00adi\u00adty of roy\u00adal pow\u00ader pol\u00adi\u00adtics. He has been cho\u00adsen for the task pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly because he speaks some Dan\u00adish. No adven\u00adture-seek\u00ader, he has a na\u00efve belief in most of the things he was taught, which oth\u00aders around him regard as use\u00adful fic\u00adtions or dis\u00adpos\u00adable for\u00admal\u00adi\u00adties. In the sequel, he is assigned yet anoth\u00ader mis\u00adsion, while at the same time try\u00ading to prove the inno\u00adcence of his elder broth\u00ader, who has been charged with par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpat\u00ading in an attempt on the life of Edward. This leads into even more con\u00advo\u00adlut\u00aded pol\u00adi\u00adtics, vio\u00adlence, and tragedy. In both books, Wulf\u00adgar is con\u00adstant\u00adly men\u00adaced by his neme\u00adsis, a bul\u00adly\u00ading and bru\u00adtal half-broth\u00ader, and con\u00adstant\u00adly aid\u00aded by a fierce and rogu\u00adish Dano-Eng\u00adlish female adventurer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, those are the bare bones of the books, but it\u2019s the exe\u00adcu\u00adtion that mat\u00adters. The his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal nov\u00adel\u00adist is con\u00adfront\u00aded with a num\u00adber of very dif\u00adfi\u00adcult choic\u00ades, even before start\u00ading a nov\u00adel. The first is: how much his\u00adto\u00adry and how much fic\u00adtion? It is tempt\u00ading to sim\u00adply stuff the book with every his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal detail one can find, which makes for a fat book, demand\u00ading a patient read\u00ader. You might call this the McCul\u00adlough Effect. Or you can sim\u00adply take a quick glance at the ency\u00adclo\u00adpe\u00addia, then assem\u00adble a plot that could fit into any era, rely\u00ading on the clich\u00e9s and the sword\u00adplay to keep the read\u00ader from notic\u00ading that you actu\u00adal\u00adly know noth\u00ading about the peri\u00adod. Strik\u00ading a sat\u00adis\u00adfac\u00adto\u00adry bal\u00adance between the two is hard\u00adest of all. A lit\u00adtle while ago, I read a lit\u00adtle vol\u00adume of his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal short sto\u00adries by the now for\u00adgot\u00adten Cana\u00addi\u00adan writer Thomas H. Raddall.[1] Each sto\u00adry is a lit\u00adtle gem, which brings 18th<\/sup> and 19th<\/sup> cen\u00adtu\u00adry Nova Sco\u00adtia to life with a few, care\u00adful\u00adly cho\u00adsen his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal details, slipped in so deft\u00adly that you scarce\u00adly notice them as you are caught up in the char\u00adac\u00adters and their actions. The well-timed appear\u00adance of a phrase, an object, a cus\u00adtom, or an atti\u00adtude, inte\u00adgral to dra\u00adma, reveals a sophis\u00adti\u00adcat\u00aded analy\u00adsis of the his\u00adto\u00adry. Robert Graves also had this knack, and while his inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtions of his\u00adto\u00adry were some\u00adtimes eccen\u00adtric and out of the main\u00adstream, nobody can fault him for mas\u00adtery of his sources. I rec\u00adom\u00admend his Count Belis\u00adar\u00adius<\/em>, for any\u00adone who wants to lose them\u00adselves in a his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal nov\u00adel that is true art. Whitworth\u2019s books dis\u00adplay this same skill. Her ear\u00adly Tenth Cen\u00adtu\u00adry is entire\u00adly believ\u00adable, and vivid\u00adly drawn, but there are no lec\u00adtures or stag\u00adnant pas\u00adsages inter\u00adrupt\u00ading the rapid move\u00adment of the sto\u00adry and her remark\u00adably pre\u00adcise, com\u00adpact prose.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anoth\u00ader ques\u00adtion fac\u00ading the his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal nov\u00adel\u00adist is how to rep\u00adre\u00adsent past lan\u00adguages. We are all famil\u00adiar with the sil\u00adly 1950\u2019s Roman Empire movies where the Roman Sen\u00ada\u00adtors speak in Pub\u00adlic School British Eng\u00adlish, the cen\u00adtu\u00adri\u00adons speak Mid\u00adwest\u00adern Amer\u00adi\u00adcan, and the slaves speak Cock\u00adney. In these two nov\u00adels, there are a mul\u00adti\u00adtude of lan\u00adguages and dialects rep\u00adre\u00adsent\u00aded. Anglo-Sax\u00adon is rep\u00adre\u00adsent\u00aded by mod\u00adern Eng\u00adlish, with\u00adout stilt\u00aded, pseu\u00addo-medieval archaisms, but flavoured with a few well-cho\u00adsen words drawn from mod\u00adern Eng\u00adlish dialects to con\u00advey the impres\u00adsion of dialects in Anglo-Sax\u00adon, as, for exam\u00adple, the Anglo-Sax\u00adon of Mer\u00adcia, Wes\u00adsex, the Five Bur\u00adroughs and Northum\u00adbria, and the pecu\u00adliar Anglo-Sax\u00adon which would have been spo\u00adken as a sec\u00adond lan\u00adguage by the Norse set\u00adtlers. Whit\u00adworth employs very fine judge\u00adment in this process. The results nev\u00ader jar the read\u00ader, nev\u00ader break the spell of look\u00ading through a mag\u00adic mir\u00adror into the past.<\/span><\/p>\n

Final\u00adly, there is the ques\u00adtion of psy\u00adcho\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal and moral anachro\u00adnism. I quick\u00adly grow impa\u00adtient of his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal nov\u00adels with an ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal agen\u00adda, or those which wor\u00adship pow\u00ader and mil\u00adi\u00adtary might. The cult of the king-fuhrer-super\u00adman is strong among his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal nov\u00adel\u00adists. Bru\u00adtal, mur\u00adder\u00adous gang\u00adsters like Julius Cae\u00adsar and Alexan\u00adder of Mace\u00addon have been turned into beat\u00adi\u00adfied fan\u00adta\u00adsy heroes by many a writer who would not be able to get away with it if it was Kim Il-Sung or Rein\u00adhard Hey\u00addrich they were writ\u00ading about. In some nov\u00adels, the hero, in order to be accept\u00adable to a mod\u00adern audi\u00adence, is rep\u00adre\u00adsent\u00aded as hav\u00ading val\u00adues that they sim\u00adply could not have had in the peri\u00adod. Sen\u00ada\u00adtors in ancient Rome spout the Unit\u00aded Nations Dec\u00adla\u00adra\u00adtion of Human Rights. The mod\u00adern desire to have strong female char\u00adac\u00adters fills nov\u00adels with an improb\u00ada\u00adble num\u00adber of woman war\u00adriors and pow\u00ader\u00adful queens, and a pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion that seems to react to them as if they were the norm. It hap\u00adpens that \u00c6thelfl\u00e6d was<\/em> an able politi\u00adcian and led armies into bat\u00adtle, but Whitworth\u2019s nov\u00adels put this in a believ\u00adable, his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly plau\u00adsi\u00adble con\u00adtext. Nor does she soft-ped\u00addle or ignore the casu\u00adal bru\u00adtal\u00adi\u00adty, vio\u00adlence, and class-rank\u00ading of the day. She is very good at pic\u00adtur\u00ading a soci\u00adety where loy\u00adal\u00adties are large\u00adly per\u00adson\u00adal, but can mutate into col\u00adlec\u00adtive loy\u00adal\u00adties. Her hero, Wulf\u00adgar, is drawn sym\u00adpa\u00adthet\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, but dis\u00adplays many atti\u00adtudes that we would frown on today, such as an abject devo\u00adtion to an unat\u00adtain\u00adable woman. His chron\u00adic pup\u00adpy love for every beau\u00adti\u00adful woman he meets, sim\u00admer\u00ading with\u00adin the stew-pot of his reli\u00adgious duties, is hard for a mod\u00adern read\u00ader to empathize with, and it\u2019s a spe\u00adcial mer\u00adit of the books that they con\u00advey it effec\u00adtive\u00adly. Again, believ\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty is the author\u2019s strong suit. Her tech\u00adnique is to embroil her char\u00adac\u00adter in so much dan\u00adger and con\u00adfu\u00adsion that we can\u00adnot help but root for him, even if he is a bit of a thicky, sometimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The site of Bard\u00adney Abbey today<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014
[1] At the Tide\u2019s Turn and Oth\u00ader Sto\u00adries<\/em>, by Thomas H. Raddall.
24562. (V. M. Whit\u00adworth) The Bone Thief
24575. (V. M. Whit\u00adworth) The Traitor\u2019s Pit
[Both were pub\u00adlished by Ebury, an imprint of Penguin\/Random House, and are eas\u00adi\u00adly avail\u00adable through Amazon.]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

V. M. Whitworth\u2019s The Bone Thief (Ebury, 2012), and it\u2019s sequel The Traitor\u2019s Pit (Ebury, 2013) are exem\u00adplary his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal nov\u00adels. The author is known, by anoth\u00ader name, as a medieval his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan. I read the first book mere\u00adly out of curiosity, \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,942],"tags":[1400,1399,1393,1402,1396,1397,1403,1398,1404,1401,1394,1392,1395],"class_list":["post-5728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-bm-reading-2014-2","tag-bardney","tag-bardney-abbey","tag-bone-thief","tag-count-belisarius","tag-mercia","tag-mercians","tag-robert-graves","tag-st-oswald","tag-tenth-century","tag-thomas-h-raddall","tag-traitors-pit","tag-v-m-whitworth","tag-aethelflaed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5728"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7462,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5728\/revisions\/7462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}