Hilary Mantel - Reith Lectures 2017

An excellent thought-provoking set of talks from Hilary Mantel, the historical novel author.  Very worth listening to or reading the transcript.  Particularly good for those thinking of doing History at university as she ponders on the nature of history and historical fiction.  Enjoy!

Review: 'When Christ and His Saints Slept' - Sharon Penman

The so-called Anarchy of the 12^th century – the civil war in England and Normandy between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda - is an exciting yet surprisingly neglected period of history. It often appears only as a background for the story of Henry II, Matilda’s son, or as a brief sidenote in Tudor history textbooks, using Matilda to comment on the perceived calamities of having a Queen Regnant.

In the second half of the 20^th century, with the discovery of the second half of the Gesta Stephani (a very important contemporary chronicle) and the subsequent publication of RHC Davis’ King Stephen, still considered to be the ‘Bible of the reign’ (Jim Bradbury, 2004) the Anarchy has finally received a bit more attention.

Sharon Penman’s When Christ and His Saints Slept isn’t the only popular work of literature to be set during the period. It is portrayed reasonably accurately in  Ellis Peter’s Cadfael series, and less accurately in the nevertheless acclaimed novel The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. At a hefty 900 or so pages, Penman’s novel is the first to focus on the key political players rather than characters on the periphery, and does so with commendable accuracy.

The narrative begins in 1120, with the sinking of the White Ship, a disaster that claimed the life of William the Æthling, the only legitimate son of Henry I, thus throwing the royal succession up in the air. In 1126, King Henry ordered the barons to swear an oath of fealty to Matilda (known in the novel by the vernacular version of the name: Maude) as his heir. She was then married to Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, enemy of the Normans. Fears of being ruled by a woman, and of having an Angevin as the King, the barons did not offer Maude their support when Henry I died in 1135. Instead, they offered it to her cousin Stephen, who quickly sailed from France to claim the crown for himself.

The novel then details, from various perspectives, the 19 year civil war that ensued. Two thirds of the way through, our attention switches to France, to Eleanor of Aquitaine. Having heard snippets of her story through the gossip of other characters, we now see for ourselves marriage to Louis IX disintegrate, and Henry of Anjou’s successful bid to wed her himself. The novel closes with the death of Stephen the accession of Henry and Eleanor as King and Queen of England. Saints is actually the first novel in a trilogy about Eleanor of Aquitaine, so it finishes with an annoyingly prophetic ring of triumph for dramatic effect.

The 21^st century has already seen significant progress in revising Stephen’s reign and the extent of the chaos it caused. Published in 1994, Saints obviously doesn’t include this, meaning that behind the heavy research woven through the text, there remains the underlying assumption that Stephen was a kind man but an utterly hopeless King. In its bare essence, this is true, but it would have been nice to see a more open attitude to the Scottish truce in 1148, or the appointment of Theobald of Bec as Archbishop of Canterbury. Stephen had sensible reasons for making these decisions, no matter how disastrous the consequences. There is also some debate as to the strength of Maude’s power base, and the equal weighting Penman gives to Stephen and Maude may not have been strictly the case, but the lack of evidence and a division of historical opinion for some leeway here.

Obviously, Penman is a novelist, not an historian, so perhaps this nit-picking on my part is unfair. However, she researches her novels better than most other novelists, and so I feel inclined to raise the bar.

Something that intrigues me about Penman’s writing is her decision to switch suddenly between fiction and non-fiction at the end of chapters. Occasionally, she will give us an overview of what happened, accompanied with a quotation from a contemporary chronicle. Sometimes this works to the novel’s advantage, allowing the reader to consolidate what they know, and reminding them that these are not merely characters, but historical figures. It encourages reflection and caution when reading. At times, however, all it serves to do is pull the reader out of the narrative. Also, I’m a great lover of monastic chronicles, and they aren’t nearly as inaccurate as some people make them out to be, but planting extracts in the novel creates unhelpful melodrama. England was not completely desolated by the Anarchy, and the chronicles give the opposite impression.

One of the peripheral characters in the novel is Ranulf, an illegitimate son of Henry I and staunch supporter of Maude, though his past in Stephen’s service allows him to be more open-minded than some of the other characters. Ranulf does not exist in the historical record, but is an original creation of Penman’s. As she writes in her author’s note: ‘Since Henry I is known to have sired at least twenty illegitimate children, I decided one more wouldn’t hurt!’ Thankfully, his presence does not upset the historical narrative. Instead, he is a charming and relatable character, who endears himself to us early in the novel. Even I – who tend to dislike original characters in historical fiction – found myself growing rather attached to him.

The problem comes when Ranulf runs away to have adventures on his own. These adventures in Cantebrigge (now Cambridge) and Wales were entertaining in their own right, but as someone who picked up the book to read about the actual historical personalities involved, it did grow tiresome when none of them appeared for 50 pages at a time. I didn’t come to the novel for romance and heroism – as important as those things were in the 12^th century anyway – but for political intrigue and siege warfare. Thankfully, these were also in abundance, and were covered in extraordinary detail. The pages dedicated to the Rout of Winchester were a tour de force in world-building.

Another aspect in which Penman has done an admirable job is in naming her characters. The medieval nobility were notoriously unimaginative in naming their children, and Penman has managed to juggle four Matildas, two Henrys, two Theobalds and an uncountable number of Williams around in such a way that one is rarely confused. It took a while for me to accept that the Empress was called Maude, not Matilda, but I had 900 pages to warm to the idea.

Historical novels are always a drag when you already know the story, a fact that is not helped when the book is heavy enough to use as a weapon. It’s heavy-going, but if you’re fond of the period, Saints is definitely worth a read.

V.G

Hilary Mantel wins the Booker Prize...again

Hilary Mantel won the Booker Prize last night with "Bring up the Bodies", her sequel to "Wolf Hall" which itself won the prize three years ago. Both books cover the life of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's Chief Minister, with the second installment covering the events in 1535 that led to the execution of Anne Boleyn.  It is an exciting time for historical fiction, and will hopefully lead to more readers being introduced to Tudor History through her work. Mantel is planning a 3rd book, "The Mirror and the Light" and "Wolf Hall" is being adapted for television and will be shown on the BBC next year.

You can read more about Mantel and her analysis of Cromwell here, a review of Bring up the Bodies here, and an article by Mantel about Anne Boleyn here.

One to watch - Hilary Mantel

The BBC's Culture Show has devoted a whole programme to the historical novellist Hilary Mantel.  Catch it on BBC iplayer.  She has written some fantastic historical novels including the recent and much acclaimed Wolf Hall and A Place of Greater Safety about the main protagonists of the French Revolution.  Give them a go.

Historical Novels

The summer holidays are almost here, and hopefully this will bring a chance to do a bit of reading, particularly for those who are thinking about their personal statements. Here is an article from the blog that has some non-fiction recommendations, and here is a list of 10 historical novels recommended by the author Andrew Miller. They cover a wide range of periods, from Rosemary Sutcliff's Roman epice "The Eagle of the Ninth" through to "The Siege of Krishnapur" by J G Farrell, set during the Indian Mutiny. He also includes Hilary Mantel - not for her most recent Tudor novel "Wolf Hall", but instead for "A Place of Greater Safety", set during the French Revolution, with many famous figures from the period featuring within it.

Please let us know if you have any recommendations of your own - we would gladly welcome some book reviews!

PS: The image above of the Tennis Court Oath was taken from this surprisingly helpful "How Stuff Works" article on the French Revolution.

In praise of historical fiction

Wolf Hall's success continues to keep the journalists busy. Here is an article celebrating the best in historical fiction, giving recommendations from Mary Renault's The King must Die (set in Ancient Greece) through to Patrick O'Brien's Hornblower novels (set during the Napoleonic wars). There are also plenty of readers' recommendations in the comments section.

PS: Here is a video of Hilary Mantel explaining how she came to write about Thomas Cromwell

PPS (20 October): Here is more from Hilary Mantel about writing historical fiction

Mixed signals

The weekend has thrown up two contrasting stories about the state of History at the moment. The Booker prize shortlist has been announced and is entirely made up of historical fiction, including "Wolf Hall",Hilary Mantel's account of the rise of Thomas Cromwell. Clearly there remains a great interest in popular history within the general public and amongst more serious literary figures.

However, the same edition of the Observer also announced that the teaching of history as a standalone subject is declining, with 30% of schools now combining it with other subjects to create "humanities" lessons or similar. The Historical Association, which organised the report, has announced that "History faces Extinction" unless action is taken. (Futher comment from the editor of History Today here)

Is this an exaggeration? Should history teachers be worried? Or will the British public always have a fascination with the past, whatever they learn at school?

Fact v fiction?

An excellent special edition of Front Row on radio 4 here discussing the value of historical novels and history's place in today's publishing including famous writers such as Tristram Hunt, Antonia Fraser, Hilary Mantel and Margaret Macmillan.