In reading Sharon Kay Penman’s Here be Dragons and her Justin de Quincey mystery novels, I came across the character of Kings Richard I and John’s bastard half-brother, William Longsword (or Longespee), but his wife Ela barely rated a mention. This novel redresses that omission, for as the author notes Ela was a countess in her own right and was one of only two or three female medieval sheriffs and a founder of two religious houses.
We pick up her story when she is nine-years-old and has just become the Countess of Salisbury upon the death of her father. Her uncle, coveting her inheritance, spirits her away to evade King Richard I’s taking her into wardship. The king does, however, gain custody and assert his right to her wardship and marries her to his half-brother William. Ela is an outspoken and politically savvy child—perhaps too much so to be believable. She is wary of William based on his initial remark on meeting her that she might be a shrewish wife, but when they finally begin their married life together they prove to be a happy and loving couple. William is loyal to his brother John (up to a point), and is often away from Ela and their children (they do manage to have eight or nine) for long periods to support his brother militarily and politically. Ela abhors many of John’s actions as does William, and they both must tread a cautious path so as not to incur John’s wrath. At times the novel reads more as a catalog of events, and only a few pages are devoted to Ela’s accomplishments which occurred only after William’s death.
The author at times has trouble keeping straight the names of Ela’s attendants. At one point, William tells Ela’s maid Muriel to leave. Ela realized “we were alone—at least until Emma returned.” Another time, “Felyse would come with me, while Mabella would stay to oversee minor household tasks; . . . Setting out in the early hours . . . Mabella and I made good time to Ewell.” Unimportant but annoying errors that are uncharacteristic of this author.
Overall, however, this is an interesting story about an impressive woman.