I am reviewing this book as the British stage of the Around the World Tour organised by Alaine (Queen of Happy Endings). Thanks Alaine for setting this up!
It is so easy to forget, when studying political and constitutional history, that the first concern of barons was with wives and children, with mothers, cousins, nephews, with manors, castles, and estate boundaries. Because chronicles tell of the politics of the king’s council we tend to forget the politics of the bedchamber. A baron’s ambition for his heir, his concern for his widow if he died in war, his conversations with his brother-in-law, are no less important, no less a part of the warp and weft of the past, just because we know so little about them.
W.L. Warren, King John
If you want to know about the politics of the bedchamber in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, you can’t do better than read an Elizabeth Chadwick novel. This one tells the story of Mahelt Marshal, favourite daughter of the powerful William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. At fourteen Mahelt is married to Hugh, eldest son of Roger and Ida Bigod. Hugh’s half-brother is William of Salisbury (known as William Longespee), and his half-brother is King John. The book is all about divided loyalties: Hugh and Longespee have an uneasy relationship and Mahelt finds herself caught between the family she was born into and the one she married into. As the country descends into civil war, Hugh and Mahelt find themselves on the opposite side to Longespee and to Mahelt’s beloved father.
I wasn’t sure at first how much I would like Mahelt, who is very headstrong, a little spoiled and begins the book with a lot of growing up to do. But while she does have the occasional Fallon Carrington moment, once she married Hugh I found myself totally on her side. A paradox of historical fiction is that while readers usually prefer feisty heroines, in the past assertiveness was not appreciated in women and strong-willed females usually suffered for their lack of pliability. While Mahelt develops into a very appealing heroine, she pays the price for her rebelliousness more than once.
The theme of rebellion comes to the fore in the years leading up to Magna Carta, as the king’s relationship with his barons steadily deteriorates. While this novel is written from the point of view of the barons driven to breaking point by King John’s abuse of his power, Elizabeth Chadwick brings balance to the narrative by allowing us to glimpse John’s point of view. My favourite character was Longespee, who is caught between his identification with his royal heritage, his loyalty to John and the connection he feels to his Bigod relatives. Longespee can’t manage to break free from his rivalry with Hugh, and this leads him into some misbehaviour, so I was glad that he eventually gets the opportunity to redeem himself.
According to the author interview at the back of the book, this novel went through six drafts: as a result, the text is as smooth and rich as hot chocolate, and just as delicious. Here’s Mahelt preparing, much against her will, to receive King John at the Bigod castle of Framlingham. You’ll notice she is dressed much as she is on the cover:
Mahelt felt the weight of responsibility drop on to her shoulders like a lead cope. She was both Bigod and Marshal and had the reputations of the two families to uphold. It didn’t prevent her from imagining putting poison in John’s dinner. To have him enter here and not leave. To rid everyone of this tyrant. She had to make a concerted mental effort to push such notions to one side and focus instead on being the perfect hostess to a man she loathed.
Her best gown was of a ruby silk damask that enhanced the lithe lines of her body whilst still being demure. She didn’t favour the low necks of the French court, and great dangling sleeves just got in the way, so hers were a modest length, and trimmed without fuss in a contrasting shade of rich blue entwined with garnet beads and gold thread.
‘The colour won’t show blood,’ Mahelt said to Hugh only half in jest as she smoothed the dress over her body and turned to him. As Ida’s proxy, she was wearing the jewelled coronet of the Countess of Norfolk, and she could almost feel the power flowing down through her body from the filigreed goldwork and sapphires.
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Elizabeth Chadwick author website
To Defy A King: The Akashic Sessions
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My copy of To Defy A King was lent to me by Alaine (Queen of Happy Endings).
Tags: elizabeth chadwick, king john, magna carta, to defy a king
This book sounds fantastic . . . I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Great review!!
Excellent review, thank you. I really loved the tension between Huge and Longespee (let alone his relationship with John). I Want More!
I love the reference to Fallon Carrington!!
I’ve been watching third-season Dynasty so she was the first comparison which sprang to mind. Fortunately, though, Mahelt’s marriage to Hugh turns out better than Fallon’s to the long-suffering Jeff!
Fantastic review, I’m so glad you liked the book. Can’t wait to read it.
Great review! And it’s a damn fine book too, there were sections that just blew me away. Like the shoes.
Thanks for the review, Moppet. I’d already decided to buy it, but now I think I’ll move it up on my list. It truly sounds fascinating. I have to agree with you regarding your first observation: I think Elizabeth is the best author for politics of the bedchamber in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This is both a blessign and a curse: It sometimes makes me feel as if I’m reading more of a romance novel set in the past rather than a historical novel.
For that reason, I believe I usually prefer Sharon Kay Penman’s books – as historical novels, they’re much more detailed and balanced (no offense meant to Elizabeth, of course). Compare Sharon’s Here Be Dragons with any book of Elizabeth’s which deals with John – in Here be Dragons, John is a much more complex character, wheres in Elizabeth’s books, he is often simply cast as a villian, as we see only from the point of view of those who dislike him. Your description gives me hope that this book might be different.
Meneldur, can’t compare this to HBD as I haven’t yet read it, but I agree that Sharon always goes into a lot of detail – but then her publishers give her the space to do that, fortunately for us. TDAK doesn’t feel like a romance novel to me. It explores three marriages – Salisbury and Ela, Roger and Ida and most importantly Mahelt and Hugh – but not with a romance-type arc and not with the artificial misunderstandings/barriers you used to find (don’t know if you still do) in the romance genre. I’d say it’s weighted more towards the domestic than the political but at this time and for these people, the two are inextricably intertwined.
John is most definitely the villain and you don’t see things from his POV – but you do from Longespee’s, and he is deeply loyal to and protective of John. When it comes to John making a decision which horrifies even Longespee (spoilers below in italics)
Eg the Welsh hostage situation. John himself makes the point that his enemies wouldn’t have any mercy on his children. And we learn independently that indeed rumours are flying round that conspirators are going to kill John’s young sons. And the point is made (by one of the other characters) that the Welsh, I think Llewellyn, were the original aggressor in this case. (Of course, if you wanted to justify that you’d make the point that Llewellyn is just trying to conquer and consolidate, like any other medieval ruler). So although most of the book is from the POV of people who loathe John (especially Mahelt), there is some counterbalance.
Can’t go into much more depth so as to avoid spoilers, but I’m really looking forward to discussing this with you when you’re done!
I actually felt the romance was most obvious in The Scarlet Lion and The TIme of Singing. It seems that Isabelle and William Marshal and Roger and Ida Bigod have many misunderstandings throughout these books, nearly all of them on the political field. To me it seemed like those books concentrated more on the fight and eventual resolution of it rather than on the event itself, which was far more important. In Here Be Dragons, I felt the arguements were tied in deeply with the event causing them, so that until the event had passed or been resolved, the disagreement had not been resolved either.
But I guess a longer discussion of this will have to wait until I read To Defy a King and you read a few more of Sharon’s books.
So glad you enjoyed this one too.
I read a few Chadwick novels earlier this year and found I really enjoy her writing. I can’t wait to get this one.
Great review!! I’m starting my first Elizabeth Chadwick book, “For the King’s Favor.”