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The Lady for Ransom
From one of the best literary novelists of this century” ( Times Literary Supplement ) comes a fascinating novel set in the twilight of the Byzantine Empire. Through the tale of the ruthless nobleman, Roussel de Balliol, his wife Lady Matilda, and Rogerattached to Balliol’s forcewe receive a vivid and vital picture of 11th-century life. An extremely gifted writer who can move into an unknown period and give it life and immediacy.” New York Times .
260 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
About the author
Alfred Duggan
43 books45 followers"There have been few historical imaginations better informed or more gifted than Alfred Duggan’s" (The New Criterion).
Historian, archaeologist and novelist Alfred Leo Duggan wrote historical fiction and non-fiction about a wide range of subjects, in places and times as diverse as Julius Caesar’s Rome and the Medieval Europe of Thomas Becket.
Although he was born in Argentina, Duggan grew up in England, and was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. After Oxford, he travelled extensively through Greece and Turkey, visiting almost all the sites later mentioned in his books. In 1935 helped excavate Constantine’s palace in Istanbul.
Duggan came to writing fiction quite late in his life: his first novel about the First Crusade, Knight in Armour, was published in 1950, after which he published at least a book every year until his death in 1964. His fictional works were bestselling page-turners, but thoroughly grounded in meticulous research informed by Duggan’s experience as an archaeologist and historian.
Duggan has been favourably compared to Bernard Cornwell as well as being praised in his own right as "an extremely gifted writer who can move into an unknown period and give it life and immediacy" (New York Times).
Historian, archaeologist and novelist Alfred Leo Duggan wrote historical fiction and non-fiction about a wide range of subjects, in places and times as diverse as Julius Caesar’s Rome and the Medieval Europe of Thomas Becket.
Although he was born in Argentina, Duggan grew up in England, and was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. After Oxford, he travelled extensively through Greece and Turkey, visiting almost all the sites later mentioned in his books. In 1935 helped excavate Constantine’s palace in Istanbul.
Duggan came to writing fiction quite late in his life: his first novel about the First Crusade, Knight in Armour, was published in 1950, after which he published at least a book every year until his death in 1964. His fictional works were bestselling page-turners, but thoroughly grounded in meticulous research informed by Duggan’s experience as an archaeologist and historian.
Duggan has been favourably compared to Bernard Cornwell as well as being praised in his own right as "an extremely gifted writer who can move into an unknown period and give it life and immediacy" (New York Times).
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 12, 2024
A very interesting and - I believe - historically accurate tale of one of the byways of history: the Byzantine Empire in the decades before the First Crusade. It tells the true story of Roussel de Bailleul (or Balliol as Duggan spells it), a Norman adventurer and mercenary, through the eyes of a loyal follower and it brings the place and time vividly to life. It's almost like reading science fiction or fantasy, the culture is so alien to us today (the protagonists' reaction to the strange Byzantine custom of eating with forks is priceless) .
My only complaint (apart from wishing there were maps!) is that Duggan really can't do dialogue: his characters all speak in a very stilted way designed to convey information rather than emotion or character, and all his novels tend to be full of rather heavy-handed conversations that explain the political situation or contemporary customs and ways of thinking to the reader. Which is better, I suppose, than having the author address the reader directly and I have to admit that it's well done - there's always a legitimate reason for one character to be explaining the rules of chivalry, for example, to another. It's just that there's such a lot of it.
But it's a good read, as well as being educational, and I often come back to it.
My only complaint (apart from wishing there were maps!) is that Duggan really can't do dialogue: his characters all speak in a very stilted way designed to convey information rather than emotion or character, and all his novels tend to be full of rather heavy-handed conversations that explain the political situation or contemporary customs and ways of thinking to the reader. Which is better, I suppose, than having the author address the reader directly and I have to admit that it's well done - there's always a legitimate reason for one character to be explaining the rules of chivalry, for example, to another. It's just that there's such a lot of it.
But it's a good read, as well as being educational, and I often come back to it.
November 25, 2025
I read novels by Duggan in my teens. Listening to these detailed accounts of battles and politics I am impressed with my teenage literacy! An interesting novel, that shows how people thought differently in the past.
July 23, 2024
'As he hurried away he called out: 'Cheer up, lads. The envoys have arrived to discuss your ransom.' He was not a bad creature, though of course doomed to Hell.'
October 14, 2016
Alfred Duggan is an author who deserves a wider public; I came across his books at school in the 1970s and they remain surprisingly modern in their outlook and very readable. He was born in Argentina in 1902, the son of a wealthy third generation Irish immigrant and raised in London from the age of two when his father was appointed to the Argentine Legation.
After his father's death in 1915, his mother re-married Lord Curzon, a senior Tory politician who served as a memorable and highly controversial Viceroy in India, missed out to Stanley Baldwin in the 1923 Tory leadership contest and served as Foreign Secretary until his death in 1925.
I've mentioned this because despite a very conventional upper middle class upbringing (Eton and Oxford etc), Duggan remained something of an outsider, a perspective reflected in his books. He was friends with the authors Anthony Powell and Evelyn Waugh (who wrote his obituary when Duggan died in 1964) and worked as an archaeologist in Istanbul in the 1930s, so his later career as an author of historical novels appears a logical next step.
Lady for Ransom is chronologically the first in a series of novels set around the First Crusade and the Normans who fought over the decaying Byzantine Empire in the late 11th century. As with many of Duggan's books, the narrator is a minor character who observes events and the titular hero with a detached and sardonic commentary. Here, Roger serves Roussel de Balliol, a genuine historical figure and leader of a band of Norman adventurers in Southern Italy recruited to fight for the Emperor.
The novel covers the period shortly before and after the Empire's disastrous and ultimately fatal defeat by the Seljuk Turks at Manzikert in 1071 which led to the loss of Anatolia (now modern Turkey). Most of the book covers Roussel's subsequent unsuccessful attempts to found his own state in the anarchy that follows. Roussel's wife Matilda is the lady in question and again is a regularly occurring character-type in Duggan's novels ie a wife with greater sense and ambition than her husband.
Duggan was an excellent historian with personal knowledge of the area, so this is a well written and lucid imagining of that reality. My rating reflects the value of this work compared to his others - it isn't his best (Conscience of the King and Winter Quarters are my personal favourites) but it's still very good.
The other novels that cover this area and period are Count Bohemund (First Crusade to the capture of Antioch), Knight with Armour (capture of Jerusalem in 1099) and Lord Geoffrey's Fancy (the short-lived 13th century Latin kingdom of Greece). Winters Quarters covers the same general area but a thousand years earlier.
After his father's death in 1915, his mother re-married Lord Curzon, a senior Tory politician who served as a memorable and highly controversial Viceroy in India, missed out to Stanley Baldwin in the 1923 Tory leadership contest and served as Foreign Secretary until his death in 1925.
I've mentioned this because despite a very conventional upper middle class upbringing (Eton and Oxford etc), Duggan remained something of an outsider, a perspective reflected in his books. He was friends with the authors Anthony Powell and Evelyn Waugh (who wrote his obituary when Duggan died in 1964) and worked as an archaeologist in Istanbul in the 1930s, so his later career as an author of historical novels appears a logical next step.
Lady for Ransom is chronologically the first in a series of novels set around the First Crusade and the Normans who fought over the decaying Byzantine Empire in the late 11th century. As with many of Duggan's books, the narrator is a minor character who observes events and the titular hero with a detached and sardonic commentary. Here, Roger serves Roussel de Balliol, a genuine historical figure and leader of a band of Norman adventurers in Southern Italy recruited to fight for the Emperor.
The novel covers the period shortly before and after the Empire's disastrous and ultimately fatal defeat by the Seljuk Turks at Manzikert in 1071 which led to the loss of Anatolia (now modern Turkey). Most of the book covers Roussel's subsequent unsuccessful attempts to found his own state in the anarchy that follows. Roussel's wife Matilda is the lady in question and again is a regularly occurring character-type in Duggan's novels ie a wife with greater sense and ambition than her husband.
Duggan was an excellent historian with personal knowledge of the area, so this is a well written and lucid imagining of that reality. My rating reflects the value of this work compared to his others - it isn't his best (Conscience of the King and Winter Quarters are my personal favourites) but it's still very good.
The other novels that cover this area and period are Count Bohemund (First Crusade to the capture of Antioch), Knight with Armour (capture of Jerusalem in 1099) and Lord Geoffrey's Fancy (the short-lived 13th century Latin kingdom of Greece). Winters Quarters covers the same general area but a thousand years earlier.
August 26, 2016
This is an interesting historical novel, about Norman mercenaries in the service of the Byzantine empire. Fans of Harry Turtldove's Videssos books, particularly the ones about the Legion, might find it appealing.
September 17, 2010
Did not finish. Made to page 79 and made lot of skipping.
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October 16, 2016Interesting insight into the 11th century time period. Easy, quick read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews