G.A. Henty's 'A Knight of the White Cross' 1896

 

Blackie & Son first edition - 1896

It's a long time since I read a Henty novel; in fact, it was as a young lad (all Henty's heroes are 'lads') that I feasted myself on his tales of derring-do in the far reaches of the British Empire. The hero was nearly always attached to a real life leader of pluck, such as Wolfe or Lee; Drake or Clive; or Bonnie Prince Charlie. Over the past two decades, I have looked out for not-too-expensive first editions, but only for those stories based mainly in Britain. They include In Freedom's Cause (1885); St. George for England (1885); The Dragon and the Raven (1886); Beric the Briton (1893); Wulf the Saxon (1895); At Agincourt (1897); A March on London (1898); and Both Sides the Border (1899). A Knight of the White Cross (1896) crept in because the first two chapters were set in the England of the Wars of the Roses.

This time, I have only read these first two chapters, as I am concentrating on the way these nineteenth century novelists have portrayed Richard of Gloucester, later King Richard III. Henty like his laddish hero Gervaise, is keen to get on to the main thrust of his story - the defence of Christian Europe against Islam (what's changed?). As with the authors of my most recent Blogs, Henty is of the Lancastrian persuasion. The first chapter commences at the royal chateau of Amboise in June 1470. Queen Margaret is wrestling with her conscience about linking up with her erstwhile enemy, the Earl of Warwick. Sir Thomas Tresham, Gervaise's father, is counselling her to do just that. Henty's usual approach to writing a novel, was to summon factual History books to his table, from whence he would copy huge chunks - this he now does in explaining the course of the Wars of the Roses to date. The Battle of Barnet is summarily dealt with and Warwick and Montague are no more. An atmospheric black and white illustration has an armoured Sir Thomas Tresham informing his wife (with a splendid upturned cornetto headgear) of the lost battle. 

The second chapter is entitled The Battle of Tewkesbury. Prior to this, Gervaise is told that, if his father falls, he is to be sent, via the grand prior in  London, to Rhodes to join the Knights of St. John. The Battle itself is adequately described; the duke of Gloucester is mentioned as commanding the Yorkist vanguard. After the battle, the Lancastrian prince Edward is taken before King Edward IV. Edward struck him in the mouth with his gauntlet, and his attendants, or some say his brothers, at once despatched the youth with their swords. Gervaise, with his mother, go to London; his mother dies in the knowledge that her son will be on his way to Rhodes and glory. Good lad!` Only in the final pages do we read that the adult Gervaise made, with his wife, occasional journeys to England, staying on his estates in Kent. However, he preferred to concentrate on his great estates in Italy and merely gifts his second son the English property.