A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury

by Edith Pargeter

Paperback, 1974

Status

Available

Call number

Fic Historical Pargeter

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Sphere (1974), Paperback, 344 pages

Description

"Outstanding...a tale compounded of romance, stirring adventure, and subtle psychological insight." -Publishers WeeklyHenry Bolingbroke knows that he should be king of England. It's his God-given destiny, and the young Richard II had no right to banish him and claim the throne. With the help of the powerful lords of Northumberland, especially Harry "Hotspur" Percy, Henry triumphantly overthrows Richard and imprisons him. But the thrill of becoming Henry IV of England fades as trouble brews in Wales. Rebellion is in the air, and the question of how Richard II really died lingers, poisoning the court.Henry IV will need all his strength to defend the crown, but the relationships between the king, Hotspur, and the king's son Prince Hal contain the seeds of their own destruction. The king's powerful enemies are poised to pounce as the three men are drawn to bloody collision some two miles from Shrewsbury. Filled with the glorious historical detail that fans of Edith Pargeter have come to expect, A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury is a skillful tapestry of the feuds, loves, and triumphs of Henry IV."Chivalry, treachery, conflict of loyalties...are the rich threads in the tapestry...the clash of wills is as stirring as the clash of steel." -Observer"A vivid portrait of Hotspur...one of the last knights-errant of the age." -Sunday Telegraph… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Chatterbox

This novel (an old favorite that I first read when it was republished in the late 1980s) is one of the historical novels written by Ellis Peters under her "other" name, Edith Pargeter. It tells a fascinating story, that of the three-way relationship between Henry of Lancaster, who became Henry IV

after seizing the English throne from Richard II, his son and heir (who would become Henry V), and a third Henry, Henry Percy, aka Hotspur, who was the equivalent of the idol of the masses, known for his valour & chivalry. (If you've read Shakespeare's novels, you'll have a sense of this.)

The novel opens when young Hal returns from the care of Richard to his father's new court, and is entrusted to Hotspur's guardianship and tutelage. As the years pass, Richard dies in captivity, apparently making Henry IV secure on his new throne. But Henry is becoming old before his time; he can no longer trust after he has betrayed the trust of his cousin Richard and taken the throne. When that distrust becomes too large to contain, it leads him to actions that Hotspur and his family can't tolerate, and civil war looms, putting young "Hal" in the midst of a conflict.

Pargeter does an exceptional job here, from writing about battle (both the adrenaline and the aftermath), to the psychological impact of estrangement between fathers and sons. There's an odd kind of romantic sub-plot here which is perhaps a bit unbelievable (although it offers some insights into the links between the Welsh and the English in the Marches at the time, and the lives of young women in the very early 15th century). A more difficult hurdle is the language: it is even more convoluted and flowery than that found in the Cadfael novels, so you have to be able to tolerate phrases such as: "They made their own terms of reference; she, perhaps with knowledge and calculation; the man, after his kind, by impulse and the blind brilliance of his own nature." This somehow works better in historical novels (I've not been able to read a trilogy of Pargeter's set in WW2, because of the language, although had oddly little trouble with the same flowery style in her modern mysteries written as Ellis Peters and featuring George Felse, the detective) but you have to be able to immerse yourself in it and somehow ignore it.

For me, as a historical fiction nut, it's worth it: in this, as in the massive Brothers of Gwynned series she wrote, Pargeter has taken what was an overlooked tale and turned it into a compelling saga. Sharon Penman owes a lot to her; Penman's novels of the last Welsh princes followed Pargeter's and while they are without the flamboyant, flowery style, they also don't have the same sense of time and place. Recommended to those interested in historical novels and the period. 4.1 stars. If you like this, look for "The Brothers of Gwynned" -- be warned, it's a quartet of novels... -- and "The Marriage of Meggotta", another bittersweet novel featuring a manipulative and deceitful monarch.

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