Revenger (John Shakespeare #2) by Rory Clements

urlThe second book in the John Shakespeare series, Revenger, is a terrific and taut addition to what’s fast becoming one of my favourite Elizabethan series.

While the first book was set in 1587, this one moves ahead five years in time to 1592. Sir Francis Walsingham has been dead two years, the Spanish Armada defeated in 1588 and the Earl of Leicester, the queen’s favourite, dead four years. Two groups of people now contest the reigns of power, headed by two men who loathe each other: the Earl of Essex on one side and Robert Cecil on the other. These men are ones that John Shakespeare, retired from spying and now a schoolmaster, hopes never to have to deal with again – or so he claims.

Summoned by Cecil to not only solve the mystery of a young woman from a missing colony in the New World who has suddenly appeared on English shores, as well as find papers the Earl of Essex has upon his person and intends to use to bribe the queen, and solve the death of two young lovers at a wedding, John, along with the loyal and able Boltfoot Cooper, is dragged back into intelligencing.

Forced to confront old enemies and make some new deadly ones, John is nothing if not persistent.

In the meantime, his marriage to Catholic Catherine is falling apart as he struggles with her Papist tendencies and the danger it poses for not just his beloved wife, but their whole family. How can he protect them when England needs him too?

And, watching and waiting in the wings to pounce, is the psychopathic Richard Topcliffe who would like nothing better than to slowly and tortuously kill both John and his beautiful wife.

But when John uncovers the extent of the plot that’s brewing and understands the players involved, he realises the queen is facing the biggest threat to her safety yet. Only, exactly who poses the biggest threat isn’t yet clear for there are those claiming to be working for her that seem to have their own interests at heart, interests that if curtailed pose great danger to not just the realm, but John and his family.

Once more, Clements captures the era authentically and with a storyteller’s flair. The plot is fast-paced, the writing wonderful and the characters believable. Sometimes compared to C.J. Sansom (my absolute favourite Tudor historical fiction writer – his books are brilliant) and the Shardlake series, I’m not convinced the unfavourable comparisons are fair or accurate. For a start, the Shardlake books are set during Henry’s reign, Shardlake is a lawyer and the entire tone and pace is very different to what Clement offers.

I enjoy both series, which though set a few decades apart, reflect the eras they explore with accuracy and beauty, demonstrating that from one generation to the next there were huge ideological and social changes affecting and defining England and its people.

I think both writers do their chosen material great justice and bring so much pleasure to readers.

Again, I finished Revenger and moved straight on to the next in the series, Prince. A terrific read.

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God’s Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England by Jessie Childs

God’s Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England is a tour de force of research and wonderful prose. Reading like a novel, this non-fiction book explores the plots and plans of one particular family of desperate Catholics, the Vauxes of Harrowden Hall, during the reign of Elizabeth First and James Ist of England and VI of Scotland.

imgres-6Elizabeth came to the throne during a tumultuous period and she not only set about restoring the Protestant faith to her land, but tried to keep foreign Catholic enemies at bay – enemies who were encouraged by the Pope himself to bring down the heretic queen. Managing to stave off assassination attempts, facilitated by a Papal Bull that granted absolution to anyone who should murder her, the slaughter of Huguenots (French Protestants) in Paris (and beyond) and constant religious turf wars in the Low Countries as well, Elizabeth and her council’s tolerance for Catholics decreased over time. Faith, in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, was no longer a private matter but a very public and political one.

In their attempt to practice their beliefs without being deemed heretic or treasonous while also providing refuge to outlawed priests whose intentions were not always so noble – as many set about “harvesting souls” for the Catholic cause, the Vauxes become a template for the position in which many loyal English subjects but devout Catholics found themselves, especially against this volatile and hostile backdrop where suspicion was rife.

There are a number of historians who explore this fascinating period of history and the tumultuous events but I’ve yet to strike one who does it through the lens of one family and over a few generations, years which saw them alter from being loyal to the throne (yet refusing to abandon their faith), to offering succour to those whom Sir Francis Walsingham and other members of the Queen’s Privy Council sought to capture (Jesuit priests mainly, many of whom were quite defiant if not militant), before turning to downright activism if not terrorism when it came to the Gunpowder Plot during the reign of James Ist.

What I particularly enjoyed about this book is how Childs’ is at pains to explain that in most instances, the differences between Catholics and Protestants (for all that over 200 Catholics were executed, many more imprisoned and others crippled by heavy fines – fines that increased throughout Elizabeth’s reign as Catholicism became outlawed) were never as black and white as is sometimes depicted. That is, just because you remained true to the Old Religion didn’t mean you were against the Queen or country. Many Catholics, including some Vauxes and the various branches of the family, never saw themselves as disloyal to either Elizabeth or England, even though they hid their faith. In fact, they had no choice but to keep it secret because of the zealotry and assumptions of high-ranking and influential Protestants and the punishments meted out to recusants. Continued pressure and assumption of guilt may have pressured some Catholics into open defiance, but many did not seek to harm the queen or want their country threatened. They simply wanted to be left alone.

The book also takes us into the heart of homes with priest-holes, escape routes; where clandestine masses were said, Jesuits hidden and disguised and it even dedicates a few chapters to the amazing women of the Vaux family – women who were either hailed as heroes and martyrs or condemned as viragos who were little more than whores to the priests they served and protected, depending on which side of the religious fence one sat and who was recording history.

Powerful, moving, at times difficult to read because of the injustice served or foolish decisions made, this is a terrific, action-packed and intelligent exploration of the schism that rendered England throughout Elizabeth’s reign and into that of her successor. It also offers a really erudite insight into a wealthy family’s choices, sacrifices and risks all because of faith during these times.

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Treason: A Catholic Novel of Elizabethan England by Dena Hunt

This was a really interesting read if for no other reason than it examined the paranoia and cruelty extant around recusants during the latter part of Elizabeth 1st’s reign – 1581. Focussing on a small cast of mostly Catholics, who are hiding their faith and the various rites that form part of their belief system from tTreason: A Catholic Novel of Elizabethan Englandhe Protestant majority, the novel, which occurs over a few days, explores their desperation and fear.

There are two principal characters around which the rest of the cast orbit: a young woman who desires to be a nun but was forced into marriage with a Protestant to protect her, and a freshly minted priest sent to English shores by the Society of Jesus to offer solace to English Catholics and convert other souls.

Because it’s told from the Catholic point of view alone, it does read like propaganda, the reign of “Bloody Mary” – where a few hundred “heretic” Protestants were put to death, and the mass slaughter of the Hugenots across France and other parts of Europe – conveniently forgotten. Likewise, the fact two Popes issued Bulls against Queen Elizabeth, offering to pardon anyone for murdering her, as she was a heretic, thus encouraging civil war and worse, is overlooked as the tragedy and betrayal of these good Catholic folk is portrayed.

With few exceptions, Protestants are very much the villains in this novel. They’re either bloodthirsty hunters of Catholic souls or vainglorious and self-righteous about Catholics and gloating in the deaths and exposure.

In the end, this is what troubled me; how black and white the book appeared. I didn’t mind reading about the whole religious schism and fears of plots and heretics and what it signified for the Queen and government from a Catholic point of view at all. Writing in this period myself and having spent now almost two years immersed in it, the whole question of religion and how political as well as personal it was is utterly fascinating and distressing. Knowledge of the early Renaissance (and other historical periods) also reveal how many wars and injustices, as well as bloody murder, have been committed in the name of God. This is by no means a modern phenomenon. We really haven’t learnt from history. What I didn’t like was the reductive way in which both sides of the religious coin were portrayed – as simplistic “goodies” or “baddies” – even though some of the characters themselves were really interesting beyond and because of their faith. While the novel is mostly historically accurate, a few more shades of grey would have also reflected the actual period, as well as the politics and even religion better as well.

Nonetheless, it was interesting to read about this fraught time from a different, if very myopic religious, point of view.

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