BOOKS AND
READING
BY
HILDEGARDE HAWTHORNE
Romances of five kings
NEVER has the story of England been more romantic and adventurous than under the early Plantagenet kings. Then was the day of the Crusades, when nobles, knights, and princes led the flower of the land to incredible hardships far oversea; then, too, was the day of Robin Hood, gallantest of outlaws, gentlest of robbers, lover of fair play and the fresh out of doors. Norman, Saxon, and Dane were being slowly intermingled to make the English nation, and the contrasts and surprises of every-day life were dazzling. The wayfarer you encountered on any highroad
The tender story of Fair Rosamond belongs to this time, as well as the pitiful tale of little Prince Arthur. And Magna Charta, that shining leaf in the great hook of freedom, was signed under John, the third Plantagenet. In fact, the mere record of the history is thrilling; so that it is easy to understand that many a rousing story can be told of those days.
And so there has been. Scott laid several of his finest romances in Plantagenet times, beginning with “The Betrothed,” which belongs in the reign of Henry II, and is by many people thought to be the very best of the Waverley Novels. The stir and turmoil of the Crusades beat through it, though it is chiefly interested in revealing the troubles that followed taking so many fighting men away from England to the Holy Lands. The heroine has many adventures and hardships, the scenes occurring in many parts of England and Wales, and a great variety of life is given to us with much spirit and power.
Another book that tells of the same period is Maurice Hewlett’s “Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay.” Richard is the hero of this story, to be sure, but most of it takes place while he is still a young prince, and there is a fine portrait of Henry, his father, as well as of his sly brother John, who succeeded Richard when the latter was killed by one of his subjects. The book is thrilling reading and extraordinarily alive. The character of Richard is different from the one usually attributed to him, but it is convincing, and for all its faults there is a reckless manliness, something kindly and gallant in the man, that makes you forgive his vacillation, his cruelty even; certainly he is made very real, and so too is the motley population over which his father rules, and rules well. You won't forget the England of Henry II after reading this book.
It was under this same Henry that Robin Hood is first heard of. He is not a true historical character, since he has come down to our day only in the form of popular ballads and legends, and story-tellers use a good deal of freedom in bringing him into their books; but it seems probable that he drew his famous longbow somewhere about the end of the twelfth century.
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