John F. Shaw first edition - n.d. (1882)
This is the second of Miss Holt's books published in 1882 and it is the second to concentrate on the Wars of the Roses. However, this is a much more substantial novel, compared with At Ye Grene Griffin - hence the 5/- price (the latter book was 2/6d.) Their similarity lies in the earnest didacticism, piety and school-marmish writing of the author. In her Preface, the author writes: ...it would seem as though that eventful and terrible period of English history, known as the Wars of the Roses, had cleared the political air for the coming of the Reformation... Holt also falls into her usual vein of having to explain every aspect of 15th century life and customs to her young readers - one page details the various types of bread, another, the contents of breakfasts; a third, the gradations of rank in cooking.
The first chapter briefly relates the origins of the conflict from the time of Edward III; it also introduces us to the fictitious family around whom the novel is based. Lord Marnell of Lovell Tower, Lymington, in the right of his wife Margery. There were three daughters, Frideswide and Agnes, and their half-sister Dorathie. Frideswide is sent to wait on the Countess of Warwick at Middleham Castle, where she becomes friends with Warwick's daughter Anne - a lily among thorns, Agnes (and later, Frideswide) becomes maid to the Duchess of Exeter's daughter, Lady Anne. There is a rather tragic sub-plot involving the Exeters. The daughter being forced into a loveless marriage and early death; the father Henry spending all his time in hiding and meeting an untimely end at sea; the mother, a nasty piece of work (she is, after all Edward IV's sister), remarrying for wealth.
Holt has very decided views about the participants in the wars and is firmly on the side of the Lancastrians. The Battle of Barnet is soundly described in the chapter - The Mist on Easter Day - but, typically, Holt has to end her chapter castigating Edward IV: Did he imagine the House of York should escape the judgement of God - that the Jehu who had been raised up to destroy the innocent sons of Ahab, should be permitted to walk with impunity in the sins of Jeroboam? Late 19th century Sunday School goers would understand the Biblical reference. Prince Edward is killed at Tewkesbury; Gloucester is not directly accused of his murder but is condemned for Henry VI's - it was not until the last century (Walpole?) that it was ever questioned, and then by writers who were desirous to whitewash the decidedly black character of Richard III.
Cicely Neville, the Rose of Raby, would have "died tomorrow to be a queen to-day"... known as Proud Cis. And every act of her life tends to show the truth of the title. Of her three sons, Edward (28), George (19) and Richard (17) little good can be said.
Edward IV was an incorrigible libertine...irremediably lazy, and far weaker in character than either of his brothers. Elizabeth Woodville was a most designing woman - the truth was not in her: and she was pitiless to the sorrows of others.
George, duke of Clarence, really the worst of the three, for he was not merely an ingrained self-seeker, but also false to the heart's core. No atom of trust could ever be placed in him..."Every man for mineself", was the motto of George's life.
Richard, duke of Gloucester fares no better. From his early boyhood, Richard of York had loved Anne Neville; or rather, to put it more accurately, he loved himself, and he found in Anne Neville a plaything the possession of which was necessary to his happiness...like most human beings, looked upon love and persecution as exchangeable terms...and Anne did not want him. On the contrary, she intensely disliked him. It was not possible for her to compare to his advantage such a man as this, whose soul was ten times more crooked than his body, with her tender, brave, gallant young Plantagenet... (tells the story of her disguised as a cook for two years). And again - 'Tis Crookback Dickon. His soul is not as straight as his body. He eventually sat on a blood-stained throne.
Whereas Edward of Lancaster is positively portrayed: he was tall for his age, fair-haired, blue-eyed, and superlatively handsome. He falls passionately in love with Anne Neville and is betrothed to her at Amboise in July/August 1470. However, the percipient author has to weigh in: O blind eyes, which saw not the Angel of Death stand with folded wings behind the bridegroom! - which read not the scroll, written within and without, with desolation, and mourning, and woe, to be crushed into those few and evil years which were the portion of the bride!
Lollardy rears its positive, if clandestine, head - as usual in Holt's novels linked to the 14th-16th centuries. The Marnell girls and the Duke of Exeter are subscribers. The At the Parchment-Maker's chapter describes a secret Lollard meeting in London, with prayers and a long monition based on the 55th Psalm. The last chapter - The Last of the Silver Ring - hurries matters to a close, taking in the period 1475 to 1539 and the Suppression of Godstow Abbey, Oxford - where Agnes Marnell, a nun, lies dying.
Holt's sources include the Paston Letters, Philippe de Commines, Issue Rolls, Close and Patent Rolls. There is a 25 page Historical Appendix at the end of the novel, which details the Issues from all the major Historical characters.
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