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The Middle Ages. Younger Children. 2
Sir Edmund Dowe has a pack of hunting hounds –– mastiffs. Tullo is his huntsman and Brind is his kennel boy. Brind even sleeps in the kennels with the dogs.
Then Sir Edmund is called to serve his King and to go and fight for England in the Thirty Years War. He goes and takes his pack of hounds with him and also Tullo and Brind. He takes only the dogs. He leaves the bitches at home. Sir Edmund cannot afford new armour. He has to be content with heavy, old fashioned protection. He cannot afford to bring many men with him either. But he does have an original idea by which he can play his part. He has some special spiked collars for the dogs so that they can become dogs of war. He puts this plan into operation at the Battle of Crecy. But in the excitement of the battle Brind cannot hold Glaive, the pack leader. Glaive pulls free of his lead and rushes into the battle. Leaderless the rest of the pack are cut to pieces.
Brind goes in search of Glaive. He eventually finds the dog gravely wounded. He nurses the dog back to health and then he is reunited with his master, Sir Edmund, who had been taken prisoner at Crecy. When Sir Edmund’s captor is killed then Sir Edmund and Brint decide to try to return to England. But there is someone else looking for them. This is Tullo. He wants to kill them both then he will go back to England and tell Sir Edmund’s wife that she is now a widow. Tullo intends to make himself her steward so that he will be able to live in comfort instead of living in the huntsman’s hovel. So Brint and Sir Edmund have danger from the treacherous huntsman to contend with as well as the dangers of a worn torn country. To add to their problems the knight Sir Richard also wants Brint for his own kennel boy. But Brint and Sir Edmund find an unexpected ally in the French orphan girl Aurelie.
This book shows the futility of medieval warfare. When looking out his armour, Sir Edmund could hardly lift his shield it was so heavy. And then a full set of plate armour cost a fortune. Later we see the peculiarities of the ransom system where two opposing knights would try to kill each other on the battlefield and later, the one taken prisoner would be treated as an honoured guest. To say nothing of the misery and suffering caused to the ordinary inhabitants of France.
The background of the Thirty Years War may be realistic but I am not so sure about the dogs. Sir Edmund is desperate to get Glaive back to England so that he can continue breeding his own particular line. Glaive is now the only dog he has. This would have been very unlikely. He would have been bound to have had pups and young dogs which had not finished their training and which could not have been taken to France.
An unusual viewpoint on the Battle of Crecy.
11+
This is the sequel to Brint and the Dogs of War. Back home in England, Lady Beatrice is stricken with the plague. While she is dying Dowe Manor is visited by the evil witch hunter masquerading as a man of God -- Brother Rohan. He tells Sir Edmund that Aurelie is a witch and that Brind is the Devil's boy. Distraught by the death of his wife Sir Edmund accepts this. Brind is sent off into the forest while Aurelie is imprisoned. Aurelie escapes and rejoins Brint who has Glaive and his puppy son Gabion with him. They think of Sir Edmund left defenceless in Dove Manor and decide to go to Lady Alice, Lady Beatrice's sister in the desperate hope that she will be able to help.
But their journey is fraught with danger. They meet up again with the evil Brother Rohan. Then Aurelie falls victim to the plague herself. Finally they fall into the hands of a gang of outlaws.
But back at Dove Manor Sir Edmund finally comes to his senses and he sets out with his pack of hunting mastiffs. At the Battle of Crecy the dogs had been massacred but has Sir Edmund learned the lesson of Crecy? And this time do the hounds manage to save Sir Edmund, Brind and Aurelie?
This sequel gives an interesting picture of England during the plague years. The fear and superstition of the peasants and villagers is shown when Brother Rohan tries to have Brint drowned for being a plague-bringer. Also when he shuts Aurelie in a coffin with the bones of a saint so that the demon would be driven out of her. The devastation caused by the plague is shown by the fact that there are now so few labourers left to work the land that Sir Edmund has to help to clear a ditch himself. And the band of outlaws are only one example of the bands of unpaid soldiers returning from France who had to find some way of supporting themselves.
England during the plague years is brought to life by means of this unusual story.
11+
This book is the first in a medieval mystery series for young readers of from eight to twelve.
The books are all set in Glastonbury in 1190 and in the years after. There is one mystery to be solved in each book. But there are also a number of other mysteries and strands which are carried on throughout the series. So although one mystery is solved in the current book there are still some unsolved mysteries to tempt readers to later books in the series. Partly because of this I doubt if the separate books in this series can be regarded as stand-alones.
The two main characters, a sister and brother, are the children of the innkeeper in Glastonbury. Every day, as part of their duties, they take food and ale to the stonemasons who are rebuilding the abbey. So in this way Gwyneth and Hereward form a link between the village and the abbey. They meet and befriend the strange hermit Ursus. Who really is Ursus and what is his story? This is one mystery which is carried on throughout the series.
And then there is also something strange about the embroideress Marion le Fevre –– although here many readers should be able to make an educated guess quite early on.
Another ongoing strand in the Abbey Mystery stories concerns Henry of Truro. He tried to have King Richard murdered but Richard pardoned him and sent him to Wales. But now Richard is away on Crusade and Glastonbury is just across the border from Wales. Will Henry of Truro use Richard’s absence as an opportunity to cause trouble?
But the main theme of the Abbey Mysteries is given in two lines of an old rhyme at the beginning of the first chapter.
This refers to the legend that King Arthur lies sleeping with his knights under the Tor which overlooks Glastonbury. And he will wake and arise when his country needs him. The caves under the Tor play an important part in the whole series.
In the first book, The Buried Cross, times are hard in Glastonbury. Six years ago a fire destroyed the abbey and since then pilgrims stopped visiting Glastonbury. Gwyneth and Hereward's father father fears he may have to sell the inn as there are fewer people staying at it.
Then a coffin is dug up at the abbey. With it is a cross which suggests that the bones may be those of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. This would bring the pilgrims flocking back to Glastonbury again. But the cross and bones are stolen. Gwyneth has her first mystery.
Very readable and really holds the interest. Moreover it has a real medieval ’feel’ about it.
Comes with a sketch map of Glastonbury but it could also do with some historical notes.
Very highly recommended.
8-12
Medieval mystery with a touch of fantasy. The second in the Abbey Mysteries series.
There is a visitor to the Abbey -- the wealthy Lord Robert Hardwycke with his young son Edmund. Edmund is very ill. He suffers from the 'falling sickness' and when Sir Robert finds that Brother Padraig, the abbey infirmarian, cannot cure him Sir Robert leaves at once saying that if his son is going to die then he shall die at home.
Shortly after this Eleanor, the little daughter of the king's steward and overseer of the rebuilding of the abbey goes missing. Suspicion falls on Bedwyn, a newcomer who is working with the stonemasons. Bedwyn is a huge man but he cannot speak and so he cannot defend himself. He is arrested and imprisoned. He could even be hanged.
But Gwyneth believes firmly in his innocence and she persuades Hereward to help her prove it. Their search for the truth lead them to Sir Robert's castle thus giving an opportunity to contrast the lives of the wealthy with the humble villagers of Glastonbury.
All this is set definitely in the every day world but about half way through the fantasy element starts to emerge with the magic cauldron of Bran the Blessed. And at the very end Gwyneth and Hereward learn the secret of the cave under the tor and Bedwyn's true identity.
Further developes the themes started in the first book of the series and strengthens the link with the legends of King Arthur.
8-12
This is the second book in the Magic Tree-House series.
Jack and Annie have found a tree-house in the woods near their home. It is filled with books. They know that if they open a book at a page with a picture, point to that picture and make a wish they will be taken back to that time in history. To get back home again they just have to find the book with the picture of their own home and wish to be back there.
This time Annie finds a book with a picture of a knight and wishes she could see him. At once the children are taken back to the Middle Ages and find themselves before a huge castle. The adventurous Annie dashes across the drawbridge and again Jack has to follow his young sister.
They peep round a doorway and see a great feast in the banqueting hall. Then they are surprised, captured and accused of being thieves or spies. They are thrown into the dungeon. Then follows an escape attempt which involves both the parapets of the castle and the moat.
Do Jack and Annie manage to reach the safety of the tree-house?
Illustrated in black and white throughout.
An adventure story for the very young which does contain a surprising amount of information about medieval castles.
5-7
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