Bernard Marshall (1)

This book was pretty easy read with enough ongoing adventure to keep things moving at a decent pace. There’s a lot of “justice shall triumph moments!” which were a little corny, but I enjoyed. Also, it had the word whelmed, which I don’t believe I’ve seen in a book before, so that was exciting. (My childhood was built on the wisdom of the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, in which there is a very deep conversation about being "whelmed", so I've been primed for years.)
Naively, I did not expect all the events to be leading up to the signing of the Magna Carta. (I do realize it’s fictionalized, but the history refresher was nice.) And I quite liked that the star of the show, Cedric, was not our narrator.
… (mer)

Narrated by Cedric's comrade-in-arms, Richard of Mountjoy, this book tells the story of the title character, a brave and valiant youth. It takes place in medieval times, when King Richard the Lionhearted was king and into the time when Prince John took over the throne. Cedric shows time and again his noble ways and bravery; he often fights for the rights of the common people, going against powerful leaders and friends in the process.

It kind of reminded me of something like Robin Hood, and I liked that the characters were young. The only not-so-great thing was the number of battle scenes--they were pretty boring in my opinion. I kind of skimmed those parts. But I finished, and I thought the end had a nice little surprise for the reader. I'd read it if you can find a copy, it's a nice story and a Newbery honor book from 1922, the first year they gave out the award; plus it's super-hard to find.… (mer)

Originally published in 1923, and long out-of-print, The Torch Bearers is the second of Bernard Marshall's books I have read, following upon his Cedric the Forester, which was chosen as a Newbery Honor Book in 1922. The story of Myles Delaroche, the younger son of a baronet with holdings in the west of England, whose family and religious background, as well as personal convictions, lead him to espouse the Parliamentary cause in England's Civil War, this is - loosely speaking - a sequel to Marshall's earlier work.

Readers familiar with Cedric the Forester will immediately recognize in the Delaroches and their estate at Grimsby the descendants and lands of Cedric. No doubt they will also recognize in Myles Delaroche the stalwart courage, belief in equality, and fairness of mind that characterized the founder of his house. Although a Puritan both by birth and belief, our hero is no unreasoning fanatic, and the first third of the novel is largely devoted to his adventures with Arthur Hinsdale, a Royalist friend and loyal supporter of King Charles I.

I cannot claim to be very well-versed in this period of history, but what I do know leaves me in little ambivalence, as it concerns the figure of Oliver Cromwell, who plays a major role in The Torch Bearers. I spent close to three months hiking through Ireland one summer, and can still call to mind the astonishing number of structures that lay - close to four hundred years later - in a state of ruins thanks to the actions of Cromwell and his armies. The idea of war-crimes may be a recent one, but the reality of them is anything but, and I have little patience with those who would lionize the "Lord Protector."

So it is that I approached Marshall's narrative with some trepidation, wondering whether - like Theodore Roosevelt's 1906 biography - it would offer a blindly flattering depiction of this most controversial figure. I was surprised and delighted therefore, to see that Marshall seems to have a better appreciation for the complexities of history than did Roosevelt, and he makes no effort to gloss over or excuse the zealotry and abuses of many who followed (or led) the Puritan cause. Cromwell himself, who in the course of the novel twice doubts Myles Delaroche's loyalty, and attempts to harm him, is depicted as a sincere but intolerant man, brilliant in warfare but misguided in philosophy.

After reading and enjoying Cedric the Forester, I was expecting a rousing adventure story, and The Torch Bearers did not disappoint. But this is more than just the story of a young man's derring-do. It is the tale of a man who goes to war for an ideal, only to discover, after fighting and sacrificing for that ideal, that it has not come to fruition, and I was surprised to discover how emotionally involved I had become by the conclusion of the novel. There were passages I found deeply moving, as when Myles discovers the body of his friend Arthur Hinsdale on the battlefield of Naseby, and, contravening the orders of his superiors, allows the Anglican burial service to be read over his grave:

"So standing by the mound with bared head and folded arms, the Puritan colonel listened while the old Hinsdale retainer recited the profound and beautiful lines to the sound of which the bodies of his countrymen for many generations past had been laid in the dust. The forester had a deep and resonant voice, and he spoke with utter earnestness. Like the music of a great funeral march, the cadences rolled forth on the evening air. The words seemed to fill the wide spaces about them as rolling chords of the organ fill the cathedral nave and transept. In another sense, they seemed akin to the sounds of the wind in the branches overhead or of the brook that murmured over mossy stones - as if it were the voice of Nature herself that uttered them.

In that moment, more clearly than ever before, Myles Delaroche understood the response of so many thousands of the sons of England to the rallying cry of Church and King. And he saw that no peace would be durable, on whatever victories founded, if those who triumphed sought to impose their sway upon the nation and to forbid all forms of worship save their own."

This ability, not just to see the other side, but to see the beauty in it, is one reason that Myles makes such an appealing hero. His bone-deep integrity and outright rejection of injustice are two more. Later in the story, while rescuing a man falsely accused of sorcery by Puritan demagogues, he reacts with fury: Then in the breast of Myles Delaroche welled up a mighty and uncontrollable rage. Torture! the thumbscrews! - used in the name of Justice in the land where he had dreamed that men should be free!"

In sum: a compelling read, emotionally involving and immensely entertaining. Recommended to readers who have read and enjoyed Cedric the Forester, or who are looking for children's stories about the English Civil War.… (mer)

Published in 1921, and chosen as a Newbery Honor Book in 1922, the first year that the Newbery Medal was awarded, Cedric the Forester is long out-of-print, and exceedingly difficult to come by. With not a copy for sale on-line, nor in my county's library system, I had to use the Inter-Library Loan program to request one, and it eventually came from Rochester - more than 300 miles away! Thank goodness for ILL, and for librarians!

Narrated by Sir Dickon (Richard) Mountjoy - a twelfth-century Norman nobleman whose family lands lie in the Western Marches of England - it details his lifelong friendship with the Saxon yeoman, Cedric of Pelham Wood, and their many exciting adventures together. Opening when Sir Dickon is fifteen, and his father is departing to serve the king (Henry II) in his campaign in Scotland, the narrative plunges headlong into fast-paced adventure - never slackening until the conclusion of the novel.

With Castle Mountjoy besieged by an old enemy in the very first chapter, and a surprising "ghostly" visitation in the second, the eponymous Cedric only enters the story in chapter three, when he and the narrator have a rather unfortunate first meeting in Pelham Wood. Reconciled to one another after Cedric saves Sir Dickon's life, the two young men become boon companions, and many adventures follow. From the terrible Outlaws of Blackpool, led by the bloodthirsty Monkslayer, to the fierce Welsh warriors under Prince Rhys, Dickon and Cedric have no shortage of enemies to fight, as they grow to manhood on the battlefield. Their final adventure, as grown men, comes with their involvement in the rebellion that leads to the signing of the great Magna Carta.

Set in the same time period traditionally assigned to the legendary Robin Hood, who is mentioned several times in the text, always in connection with skill in archery, Cedric the Forester features the same sort of Norman-Saxon tensions that are so prominent in tales of the outlaw of Sherwood. Bernard Marshall, whose consciously "archaic" language is somewhat reminiscent of Howard Pyle (lots of "thinkest thous"), is clearly a believer in the virtuous Saxon, and while the Mountjoys and others of the Normans are good people, it is clearly the "salt of the earth" Cedric - a fierce believer in the rights of all men, be they noblemen or thralls - who is meant to be the hero.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Marshall's story, as I had somehow internalized the idea, expressed in various venues, that most of the earlier Newbery Honor Books weren't worth reading. Whatever the general case may be, Cedric the Forester was an immensely engaging and entertaining book, and I tore through it. Marshall's language may have annoyed in a lesser author, but felt perfectly natural to me here. Then again, I grew up on Henry Gilbert's rather old-fashioned Robin Hood.

The depiction of the Welsh Prince Rhys as a "barbarian chieftain" will no doubt rankle with many contemporary readers, but I've certainly seen worse, when it comes to anachronistic nationalism and social views in vintage children's literature. I also wondered a bit about the chronology, as Henry II's major campaign in Scotland occurred in the 1170s, and the Welsh uprising under Prince Rhys in the 1190s, a period of time covered in three or four years in Cedric the Forester.

But despite these concerns, the book was well-written, well-paced, and well-told, and I kept wondering at the fact that no one has thought to reprint it! It is worth mentioning, moreover, that the engravings which decorate the book, done (I believe) by J. Scott Williams, greatly enhanced my pleasure in reading. In sum: I have come away with a desire to read more of Bernard Marshall's historical fiction for children - I guess it's time to try another Inter-Library Loan.… (mer)