Sir Walter Scott
THE BETROTHED  (1825)

Reviewed by Patrick Killough

 I. REVIEW for http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Reviewer: Patrick Killough, who can't get enough of Sir Walter Scott.

TITLE OF THIS REVIEW: THE BETROTHED is a many-layered,              many-splendored thing.

RATING by Reviewer: FOUR STARS  * * * *

To read Walter Scott is to see that every landscape is layered with history.

 THE BETROTHED begins at Christmas 1187 on the borderland (marches) of England and Wales. It ends in 1191 on the same warlike frontier. We are reminded that Celts (especially Welsh) had once predominated there along with their religion of druids and sacred trees. Then came Romans, Germans, Vikings, Normans and latterly and locally a small settlement of Flemish artisans. Romans left some traces of their clothing among the warlike Welsh. Germans and Normans alike contributed to the infant English language. Toward novel's end we are briefly introduced to King Henry II, who reigned from 1154 - 1189, and his two sons Richard and John, who had appeared six years earlier in IVANHOE.

There is a footnote by Scott that stays in my mind for his method as much as for his imagination at work. In Chapter IX, the teen-age heroine Eveline Berenger and her young Flemish maid Rose Flammock are standing nighttime duty on the walls of their besieged castle Garde Doloreuse, hoping for relief by nearby Norman borderers from the Welsh besiegers who had just killed Eveline's father. First Eveline and then Rose hear faint sounds of approaching armed knights. Walter Scott's footnote makes us imagine, just as he must have done, how very loud that sound would have been compared with the much more lightly armed troop of dragoons in which he had been a volunteer during the threatened invasion by Napoleon. Called 'Rattle of Armour,' the note's two sentences read:

"Even the sharp and angry clang made by the iron scabbards of modern cavalry ringing against the steel-tipped saddles and stirrup betrays their approach from a distance. The clash of the armour of knights, armed cap-a-pie, must have been much more discernible."

 The story is about the chaste put passionate and widely misconstrued romance between Eveline Berenger (a Norman, but whose paternal grandmother was Saxon) and the 20 year old esquire, Damian de Lacy. Damian is nephew of 40-something Hugo de Lacy, Constable of Chester, who had been pledged to marry Eveline by her father. Hugo's troops break up the siege of Garde Doloreuse and in gratitude (reinforced by a vow to the Virgin), Eveline agrees to marry the older man. Hugo leaves Damian in charge while he goes on a three year crusade to Palestine, with the marriage to be performed on his return. Eveline falls victim to an old curse of the Saxon side of her family and only after many setbacks is finally given in marriage to Damian in the presence of King Henry II, who in reality was dead by then.

At least one, possibly four Italian operas derive from THE BETROTHED. Most notable is Giovanni Pacini's 1829 Il Contestabile di Chester or I Fidanzati. Eighty-five operas are known to derive from the works of Sir Walter Scott. Many, like I Fidanzati, were performed during Scott's lifetime. -OOO-

Also recommended:
--Jerome Mitchell, THE WALTER SCOTT OPERAS, MORE SCOTT OPERAS.
--Walter Scott, IVANHOE, THE ANTIQUARY.
--Iain G. Brown, ABBOTSFORD AND SIR WALTER SCOTT.

Black Mountain 12/11/2006
=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=

II. Review for http://www.amazon.com

Reviewer's Rating of THE TALISMAN: * * * *  (Four Stars)

Title of this Review: An aging Crusader entrusts his teen age fiancee to his 20 year old nephew,
December 21, 2006

Reviewer:    T. Patrick Killough (Black Mountain, NC United States) - See all my reviews
 
Like so much that Sir Walter Scott wrote, THE BETROTHED gets better the more often we read it. It is in debt to the Arthurian tale of Tristram, nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, and his love for his uncle's wife Isolde. And Scott's novel is full of the history of Britain, with relics of Celts, Romans, Saxons, Normans and prosperity-bringing Flemish artisans recently settled on the warlike Marches of Wales. Nor would it be a Gothic tale without an unfortunate female ghost, a family curse and a happy ending when boy improbably gets girl after a chaste but widely blamed romance.

There is much more.

THE BETROTHED is a novel in which characters believe both in fate and in freedom and willingly give up their freedom through vows or promises made under influence of strong emotion or strong drink. They may soon regret those impulsive commitments against self-interest. But even Flemish common sense cannot argue proud Normans out of the superstitions of the age of Catholic chivalry.

No Scott novel is complete without dwelling lovingly on curious technology of days of yore. In the low castle of the Norman heroine's Anglo-Saxon great aunt hours of darkness are illuminated by "long waxen torches, one of which was graduated for the purpose of marking the passage of time." Wax melts, embedded metal balls then fall from candle into a brazen basin. And thus host and guests know when it is time to go to bed (Ch. XIV).

There is scattered through the text folksy wisdom reminiscent of Ben Franklin's POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC.

-- In the INTRODUCTION, one of Scott's characters accuses the Author of Waverley of forgetting "... that he is the greatest liar since John Mandeville." To which an anonymous Scott replies,
"Not the worst historian for that ... since history, you know, is half fiction."

--A down to earth Flemish miller counsels his dubiously generous daughter: "Rose -- Rose, those who would do what is better than good sometimes bring about what is worse than bad!" (Ch. XXVI) (As Nostradamus might have forecast, albeit less clearly, of certain wars of the 21st Century.)

--Finally, one old commoner soldier says to a mate, after the beautiful teen age heroine has shamed them into riding off in the impractical cause of chivalry:

"Ah! Evil luck be the women's portion! they govern us at every turn, Stephen, and at every age. When they are young, they bribe us with fair looks and sugared words, sweet kisses and love tokens; and when they are of middle age, they work us to their will by presents and courtesies, red wine and red gold; and when they are old, we are fain to run their errands to get out of sight of their old leathern visages." (Ch. XXVII)

Politically, THE BETROTHED shows us Welsh anarchy pitted in vain against Norman organization and lust for land. Loyalty to local lords contends with fealty to the King. Self-interest, among Normans at least, often loses to the lure to wrest the sepulcher of Christ in Jerusalem from Muslims.

Delightful are cameo appearances of King Henry II and his two sons, Richard, already lion hearted but not yet so named, and his cowardly younger brother John, long before he caves in to the proud barons in Magna Carta. -OOO-

===-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

III. For http://www.epinions.com

REVIEW'S TITLE: a young nephew in charge of an aging and absent uncle's fiancee
Dec 21 '06

Author's Product Rating: * * * *  FOUR STARS (better than average)

Pros
Every character is memorable, jumping out of the pages warts and all to delight you.

Cons
Scott is famous for slow starts to provide historical context. History is not bunk.

The Bottom Line
Read this book if you like the DA VINCI CODE. THE BETROTHED brings to you the world of chivalry, the Crusades and the faith behind the Holy Grail.

Full Review

THE BETROTHED is one of several novels by Sir Walter Scott about the Crusades. An aging Norman noble, Hugo de Lacy, honors his vow to take the Cross and fight to save Jerusalem. Before he departs he is formally betrothed to recently orphaned 17 year old Eveline Berenger, leaving her under the protection of his 20-year old nephew Damian. All this on the wild frontier of Wales. Evelyn is kidnapped by Welsh bandits, saved by Damian who recuperates from his wounds in her castle. With so many noble Normans away, the Saxon peasants grow restless and rebel. Damian's forces desert him. A wily cousin, Randal de Lacy, persuades King Henry II that Damian is a traitor. The King, accompanied by his sons, Prince Richard and Prince John besiege Evelyn's castle.

Eveline and Damian struggle in the toils of a family curse laid on Eveline by a Saxon great aunt, which only Eveline's chastity and courage can undo.

This is a tale of freedom and fate, of self-interest in conflict with idealism and chivalry, of Normans at odds with Anglo-Saxons and Welsh, and of a one-way romance between January and May. Scott proclaims his faith in the unity of Britain while reminding that the island is an amalgam of Celts, Romans, Saxons, Normans and even some Flemings. A rollicking good yarn.

Recommended: Yes
=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Black Mountain, NC 12/21/2006