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Cædwalla: The Saxons in the Isle of Wight
PREFACE.
In writing a story of the Isle of Wight in the seventh century, which shall at the same time be suitable for young people as well as historically truthful, there are many difficulties. The authorities for this period are Bede and the Saxon Chronicle. The former obtained his information of the South Saxons and the Wihtwaras from Daniel, Bishop of Winchester, who was evidently well-informed of the state of the southern people during the later half of the seventh century. Eddius, Asser, Ethelweard, Florence of Worcester, and Henry of Huntingdon all supply information, more or less accurate, as they are nearer to or more remote from the time of which they treat; and the valuable remarks of the modern specialists Dr. Guest, Kemble, and Lappenberg, are useful in leading the student to a right judgment of the facts. The historians, Dr. Milman, Dr. Lingard, and Mr. Freeman are also important helps, especially the first-named writer. Neander's "Memorials of Christian Life" and Montalembert's "Monks of the West," have been consulted, with a view to becoming acquainted with the theology and religious fervour of the times; and Mallet's "Northern Antiquities" has been largely laid under contribution for a clue to the mythology of the period, although properly belonging to a later time, and to the Scandinavian form of Teutonic religion. The author has also had the learned assistance of the Rev. J. Boucher James, M.A., Vicar of Carisbrooke, and late Fellow and Tutor of Queen's College, Oxford, whose antiquarian knowledge of the Isle of Wight is accurate and profound.
The scenes are all well known to the writer, who has many times threaded the channels at the entrance to Chichester Harbour, and climbed the steep slopes of Bembridge and Brading Downs.
As the story has been written for young people, sentiment has been entirely omitted, the ideas of the author differing from those of other writers who make their youthful heroes and heroines suffer the sentimental pangs of a Juliet and a Romeo.
The mode of spelling the Saxon names has been carefully thought over, and the most commonly received method has been generally adopted.
The name of the outlaw, West Saxon King, and enthusiastic convert to Christianity, Cædwalla, himself, has offered considerable difficulties, since there are many ways of writing his name, and probably not a few of pronouncing it. Cæadwalla, Cædwalla, Cadwalla, are the most common forms; while perhaps the most correct pronunciation would be represented by Kadwalla.*
In writing a story of the Isle of Wight in the seventh century, which shall at the same time be suitable for young people as well as historically truthful, there are many difficulties. The authorities for this period are Bede and the Saxon Chronicle. The former obtained his information of the South Saxons and the Wihtwaras from Daniel, Bishop of Winchester, who was evidently well-informed of the state of the southern people during the later half of the seventh century. Eddius, Asser, Ethelweard, Florence of Worcester, and Henry of Huntingdon all supply information, more or less accurate, as they are nearer to or more remote from the time of which they treat; and the valuable remarks of the modern specialists Dr. Guest, Kemble, and Lappenberg, are useful in leading the student to a right judgment of the facts. The historians, Dr. Milman, Dr. Lingard, and Mr. Freeman are also important helps, especially the first-named writer. Neander's "Memorials of Christian Life" and Montalembert's "Monks of the West," have been consulted, with a view to becoming acquainted with the theology and religious fervour of the times; and Mallet's "Northern Antiquities" has been largely laid under contribution for a clue to the mythology of the period, although properly belonging to a later time, and to the Scandinavian form of Teutonic religion. The author has also had the learned assistance of the Rev. J. Boucher James, M.A., Vicar of Carisbrooke, and late Fellow and Tutor of Queen's College, Oxford, whose antiquarian knowledge of the Isle of Wight is accurate and profound.
The scenes are all well known to the writer, who has many times threaded the channels at the entrance to Chichester Harbour, and climbed the steep slopes of Bembridge and Brading Downs.
As the story has been written for young people, sentiment has been entirely omitted, the ideas of the author differing from those of other writers who make their youthful heroes and heroines suffer the sentimental pangs of a Juliet and a Romeo.
The mode of spelling the Saxon names has been carefully thought over, and the most commonly received method has been generally adopted.
The name of the outlaw, West Saxon King, and enthusiastic convert to Christianity, Cædwalla, himself, has offered considerable difficulties, since there are many ways of writing his name, and probably not a few of pronouncing it. Cæadwalla, Cædwalla, Cadwalla, are the most common forms; while perhaps the most correct pronunciation would be represented by Kadwalla.*
246 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1897
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August 19, 2013
This book was written in the late Victorian age and is very much a product of it's time and so the 3 star rating is as a result of giving some allowance for this. It is also a book which was written with "young people" (I assume teenagers) in mind.
I haven't yet managed to find ANY other work of historical fiction based upon the story of King Cædwalla of Wessex and Sussex. This really is a shame as the bare bones of the story as we know it from sources such as Bede and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are intriguing to say the least.
The story concentrates around two other characters, Ædric and Wulfstan, who are the teenage sons of the Earldorman Ælfhere from the Wihtea (the Isle of Wight). Cædwalla and St Wilfrid appear as other characters who these two protagonists interact with rather than as the central characters.
The style of writing seems very strange in contrast to the modern historical fiction novel. The narrative is naturally written in a very Victorian style of writing, but it openly discusses the unfolding story in relation to how life was different to what was the norm in Victorian England. The dialogue is stranger still as the characters are speaking in what could only be called "ye olde Englishe" as if they were from the time of Shakespeare rather than the 7th century!
Perhaps because of the intended audience when the book was written, the characters are quite two dimensional and the dialogue as such seems forced. The narrative reveals the way that Victorians saw the Anglo-Saxons as savage barbarians and the period between the end of the Roman occupation and 1066 as a "Dark Age". Today very few authors would be so careless as to dismiss the rich culture of the Anglo-Saxon world in such a way, but here the Saxons are portrayed as primitives who needed to be taught how to farm and fish let alone read and write! Th e author also goes off on long rambling passages of narrative and dialogue which pontificate about the glories of christianity rather than the traditional pagan religions still common in Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the 7th century. This all seems a bit preachy to me and I didn't like this at all. Particularly I found the repeated suggestion at the end of the book that the people of the Isle of Wight were peacefully converted to Christianity and were glad of it to be disturbing in the extreme. The reality was that the people were forced to convert at the blade of the sword.
Despite all of this, I did still enjoy the book. It's a good story and it moves along at a good pace. Hopefully a 21st century writer will soon pick up the story of Cædwalla and give us a more modern interpretation of his fascinating life.
I haven't yet managed to find ANY other work of historical fiction based upon the story of King Cædwalla of Wessex and Sussex. This really is a shame as the bare bones of the story as we know it from sources such as Bede and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are intriguing to say the least.
The story concentrates around two other characters, Ædric and Wulfstan, who are the teenage sons of the Earldorman Ælfhere from the Wihtea (the Isle of Wight). Cædwalla and St Wilfrid appear as other characters who these two protagonists interact with rather than as the central characters.
The style of writing seems very strange in contrast to the modern historical fiction novel. The narrative is naturally written in a very Victorian style of writing, but it openly discusses the unfolding story in relation to how life was different to what was the norm in Victorian England. The dialogue is stranger still as the characters are speaking in what could only be called "ye olde Englishe" as if they were from the time of Shakespeare rather than the 7th century!
Perhaps because of the intended audience when the book was written, the characters are quite two dimensional and the dialogue as such seems forced. The narrative reveals the way that Victorians saw the Anglo-Saxons as savage barbarians and the period between the end of the Roman occupation and 1066 as a "Dark Age". Today very few authors would be so careless as to dismiss the rich culture of the Anglo-Saxon world in such a way, but here the Saxons are portrayed as primitives who needed to be taught how to farm and fish let alone read and write! Th e author also goes off on long rambling passages of narrative and dialogue which pontificate about the glories of christianity rather than the traditional pagan religions still common in Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the 7th century. This all seems a bit preachy to me and I didn't like this at all. Particularly I found the repeated suggestion at the end of the book that the people of the Isle of Wight were peacefully converted to Christianity and were glad of it to be disturbing in the extreme. The reality was that the people were forced to convert at the blade of the sword.
Despite all of this, I did still enjoy the book. It's a good story and it moves along at a good pace. Hopefully a 21st century writer will soon pick up the story of Cædwalla and give us a more modern interpretation of his fascinating life.
Displaying 1 of 1 review