Good King Wenceslas (First Books)

Celebrated British artist and illustrator Pauline Baynes turns to the subject of Bohemian king and saint, Wenceslas, the subject of the beloved nineteenth-century Christmas carol penned by J.M. Neale, in this picture-book biography. The elder of two brothers born to the royal family of Bohemia in

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the early tenth century, Wenceslas was raised a Christian by his grandmother, Queen Ludmilla. Despite the assassination of his grandmother at the behest of his non-Christian mother, Wenceslas kept to his new faith. He was credited with many good deals - the gift of food and fuel to a poor peasant, which makes up the subject of the famous carol, amongst them - and many brave ones as well. At fourteen he led an army against the Duke of Bavaria, and at eighteen he seized the throne from his mother. He is said to have once fought the leader of an opposing army in single combat, to spare his troops from bloodshed. This desire to avoid slaughter led him to agree to terms of tribute to Saxony - five hundred pieces of silver and one hundred and twenty oxen per year - rather than go to war again, an unpopular decision that led to his own assassination by his younger brother, the pagan Boleslav...

King for only four years, Wenceslas would probably have slipped into obscurity, had he not been made the patron saint of Bohemia. Even then, he might not have become so well-known in the English-speaking world, were it not for J.M. Neale's carol. Be that as it may, he is certainly an interesting personage, from a historical perspective, and I enjoyed learning more about him in this slim picture-book. I would be interested to know what historical sources Baynes used - no bibliography is included - and how accurate her narrative is. Given the frequent description of various incidents as "legends," and the use of words like "probably," it is clear that many of the details of Wenceslas' story simply might not have definitive historical evidence to back them up. The question of Wenceslas' page, for instance, who is here called Poidevin (rather than Stephen, which I have often seen elsewhere), and who is said to have been hanged after his master's death, for defending him against his attackers, and managing to kill one of the assassins, I found myself wondering whether there was evidence of such a figure, or whether he too was legendary. Leaving such issues aside, this was an enjoyable and informative book. Although the carol is reproduced at the front of the book, with both musical notation and complete verses, it is not simply a picture-book presentation of that carol, but an exploration of its subject. The artwork is lovely - the cover hardly does it justice - with a medieval feeling entirely appropriate to the story. I was reminded, while reading, of how much I have enjoyed Baynes' artwork in other books, such as C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham, and Rumer Godden's The Dragon of Og. Highly recommended, to Pauline Baynes fans, and to anyone looking for children's books exploring the history of St. Wenceslas.

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