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Gilded Spurs
The story of Guy of Warby, a young armorer who has the chance to become a knight when he meets his true father, a baron . He must struggle with mercenaries, a disordered household, and a father who was raised by a witch, and wants his son to join him. He also meets the daughter of his father's neighbor and enemy, a bastard like Guy, and a bond develops between them.
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First published January 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 10, 2021
Oh, how I enjoyed this book. It does not come close to my love for Red Adam's Lady, but it was well researched historical fiction with lots of detail and well-executed elements of chivalric love thrown in. There were some seriously hoot-worthy moments and the devil worship was something I did not see coming. It is genuinely a one of a kind book and I wish there were more like it. If you enjoy this genre, I highly recommend it.
July 6, 2011
If you have read "Red Adam", this is the next one you should read. I thought it was a much better book than RA and is on my keeper shelf.
August 8, 2019
Guy is an armourer in twelfth century Bristol. He has always dreamed of becoming a knight, but being from the craftsman class, this doesn't seem likely. Guy knows that he is the product of the rape of his then-teenaged mother by an equally teenaged peer of the realm, but he never dreams he will be able to leverage this to be trained as a knight until he comes face-to-face with his birth father. Moving from the city to his father's castle to take up a knight's training, he discovers that the estate is a hotbed of witchcraft and is filled with evil, centered on his father and his father's old nurse. Guy is resilient, though, as over the course of a year, he wins various members of the household over, not the least of whom is his seven-year-old legitimate half brother. The excellent descriptions of castle life, knightly training, 1150s English politics, and even the intricacies of the feudal system all add to the atmosphere of this novel. A stone circle and a rivalry with a neighboring demesne play key roles in the narrative. I found this novel highly entertaining.
July 22, 2024
I didn't enjoy Gilded Spurs as much as Red Adam's Lady, mainly because of the protagonist. I don't think that Guy was very compelling (most of the book involves Guy compromising on moral issues again and again because he wants to be a knight and get those coveted gilded spurs), and while his love interest Helvie was interesting, she was more sparsely developed than either Julitta or Adam in RAL. Guy has a very loyal dog, but...you can guess what happens.
I'm also not sure I buy that the bad guys were Satanists, because while historical writers loved to throw that accusation around I don't think anyone actually did so? Wulfrune's reasons for revenge and evil deeds made sense (upset at all her family lost during the Norman invasion), but her chosen religion felt very "1970s author writes about 11th century England." I could possibly see lingering pagan/Druid beliefs, but not this.
I'm also not sure I buy that the bad guys were Satanists, because while historical writers loved to throw that accusation around I don't think anyone actually did so? Wulfrune's reasons for revenge and evil deeds made sense (upset at all her family lost during the Norman invasion), but her chosen religion felt very "1970s author writes about 11th century England." I could possibly see lingering pagan/Druid beliefs, but not this.
January 17, 2022
WONDERFUL BOOK!
February 21, 2016
This is a 1970's historic fiction that has ages exceptionally gracefully. While the cover describes it as "A spellbinding story of chivalry and passion" I suspect that that was the standard catch phrase of the 70's editors whenever a historic fiction crossed their desks. Gilded Spurs is so very much more than that description. In fact, I suspect that the person who attached that title to the cover had neither read the book nor spoken to anyone who had.
I will grant them the 'spellbinding' as I found it very hard to put down. The main character Guy, is a young man brought up to be a blcaksmith by his mothers husband whom he likes and respects who treats him as a firstborn son even though Guy's mother was already pregnant when they wedded.
Guy's mother had been raped by a Lord, and when Guy accidentally falls into the lords hands and admits his begetting the lord, who has no sons offers to take him into his household, teach him knightly ways and knight him. Guy's dream is to be knighted and with trepidation he accepts. This section might be the bit the cover refers to as 'Chivalry' and like I say, I doubt the person who coined the phrase read it. The lord of the castle is not chivalrous and treats all around him with neglect and casual cruelty he is also a 'witch' in that he hates the church and conducts strange ceremonies at night around the local standing stones. This portion of the book was fascinating because of the wealth of detail about the living conditions in a castle. This was what I adored in Ingram's other book and why I have been searching for this one for years. The details of castle life, small routines, habits of the era, all these fascinating me completely.
What else? Oh, of course the 'passion' advertised on the cover, I nearly forgot, probably because it is an idiotic word to apply to this book. 'Passion' makes it sound like a bodice ripper and it isn't our main hero does fall in love with and eventually win the hand of a lady but it is not the way it sounds. The romance is a very minor part of the plot it is very rational and both participants are likable. A bodice is indeed ripped. The leading lady has hers ripped off her by a mercenary who is about to rape her and as a plot building event it does NOT qualify it into the genera.
This novel has dated surprisingly well, a lot of thing written in the seventies have dated badly but I think this is so well set in its own era that when it was written does not matter.
When is it set? The actual date is never described that I noticed, like Ingram's other novel the affairs of the realm intrude on the lives of the people in the novel in only a peripheral way but it is clearly toward the end of Stephens rule in England. Henry, the Angevin who would become Henry II has just landed in England so it is about 1153 I guess.
Anyhow, it is thoroughly enjoyable for the story and the minutiae of medieval life. I didn't give it five stars because the plot gets a bit lost around the middle of the book and meanders somewhat, but I reserve the right to up the stars on re-readings. There will definitely be re-readings.
I will grant them the 'spellbinding' as I found it very hard to put down. The main character Guy, is a young man brought up to be a blcaksmith by his mothers husband whom he likes and respects who treats him as a firstborn son even though Guy's mother was already pregnant when they wedded.
Guy's mother had been raped by a Lord, and when Guy accidentally falls into the lords hands and admits his begetting the lord, who has no sons offers to take him into his household, teach him knightly ways and knight him. Guy's dream is to be knighted and with trepidation he accepts. This section might be the bit the cover refers to as 'Chivalry' and like I say, I doubt the person who coined the phrase read it. The lord of the castle is not chivalrous and treats all around him with neglect and casual cruelty he is also a 'witch' in that he hates the church and conducts strange ceremonies at night around the local standing stones. This portion of the book was fascinating because of the wealth of detail about the living conditions in a castle. This was what I adored in Ingram's other book and why I have been searching for this one for years. The details of castle life, small routines, habits of the era, all these fascinating me completely.
What else? Oh, of course the 'passion' advertised on the cover, I nearly forgot, probably because it is an idiotic word to apply to this book. 'Passion' makes it sound like a bodice ripper and it isn't our main hero does fall in love with and eventually win the hand of a lady but it is not the way it sounds. The romance is a very minor part of the plot it is very rational and both participants are likable. A bodice is indeed ripped. The leading lady has hers ripped off her by a mercenary who is about to rape her and as a plot building event it does NOT qualify it into the genera.
This novel has dated surprisingly well, a lot of thing written in the seventies have dated badly but I think this is so well set in its own era that when it was written does not matter.
When is it set? The actual date is never described that I noticed, like Ingram's other novel the affairs of the realm intrude on the lives of the people in the novel in only a peripheral way but it is clearly toward the end of Stephens rule in England. Henry, the Angevin who would become Henry II has just landed in England so it is about 1153 I guess.
Anyhow, it is thoroughly enjoyable for the story and the minutiae of medieval life. I didn't give it five stars because the plot gets a bit lost around the middle of the book and meanders somewhat, but I reserve the right to up the stars on re-readings. There will definitely be re-readings.
April 1, 2023
See Deborah I.'s review, below, tho I disagree with her on a few minor points.
Guy [the] Armourer of Bristol's lifelong dream was to become a knight, foregoing his apprenticeship to become an armourer, and his book-learning, and to do that, being a bastard, he must apprentice to his vicious father Lord Reynald of Warby "Lord Reynald, [together with] the witch Wulfrune, practices black magic in dreadful ceremonies in the sacred stone circle; and torturing and killing men for sport." (From the dust jacket). He learns quickly whom he can trust, and cleverly manipulates those around him to his own advantage.
I felt lost and angry when his dog (the Slut, for Heaven's sake!) was killed, plus his faithful horse, Dusty, and then his stepfather Kenric, tho he honored them all for some time afterward. No wonder knights were lonely guys! But he had the Lady Helvie -- small consolation to my mind!
He matures throughout the book. When he gets his gilded spurs (not even gold), the mark of a knight, he finds that it is a small thing, compared to his experiences.
Guy [the] Armourer of Bristol's lifelong dream was to become a knight, foregoing his apprenticeship to become an armourer, and his book-learning, and to do that, being a bastard, he must apprentice to his vicious father Lord Reynald of Warby "Lord Reynald, [together with] the witch Wulfrune, practices black magic in dreadful ceremonies in the sacred stone circle; and torturing and killing men for sport." (From the dust jacket). He learns quickly whom he can trust, and cleverly manipulates those around him to his own advantage.
I felt lost and angry when his dog (the Slut, for Heaven's sake!) was killed, plus his faithful horse, Dusty, and then his stepfather Kenric, tho he honored them all for some time afterward. No wonder knights were lonely guys! But he had the Lady Helvie -- small consolation to my mind!
He matures throughout the book. When he gets his gilded spurs (not even gold), the mark of a knight, he finds that it is a small thing, compared to his experiences.
May 8, 2021
I found the works of Grace Ingram on the library shelves as a young teen. And I mean that literally. I would wander the library aisles looking for books that might appeal. Reading the first few pages in the aisle to see if I wanted to check the book out.
I enjoyed both books. This one slightly less than Red Adam's Lady. Partly because it's from a male perspective. Good female perspectives were rarer and thus more valued by me. But mostly because neither the lead character nor the situation were as engaging.
My favorite character, the dog Slut, is killed. The anti-knight makes a more hateful villain- but the trappings of Satanism- always seemed too fantastic to take seriously.
Still this volume survived the libraries renovation purge and I reread it regularly at least through college. I doubt I could quote from it but I could still detail most of the plot specifics.
Definitely worth a read. Or a reread.
I enjoyed both books. This one slightly less than Red Adam's Lady. Partly because it's from a male perspective. Good female perspectives were rarer and thus more valued by me. But mostly because neither the lead character nor the situation were as engaging.
My favorite character, the dog Slut, is killed. The anti-knight makes a more hateful villain- but the trappings of Satanism- always seemed too fantastic to take seriously.
Still this volume survived the libraries renovation purge and I reread it regularly at least through college. I doubt I could quote from it but I could still detail most of the plot specifics.
Definitely worth a read. Or a reread.
October 26, 2017
Not quite as good as Red Adam's Lady by the same author, but still a really good read.
September 28, 2012
Wishlist from paperbackswap. YAY!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews