Where Warwick Makes the Kings

The last of the barons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing book. Definitely 5 stars.

Bulwer-Lytton tells the story here of Richard Nevile, the Kingmaker, known better as Earl Warwick, and his support for King Edward that turned to rebellion against him. There's a huge cast, including the king and his family, Warwick's family and many relatives, the deposed King Henry's family and allies in France, along with many named servants, middle-class merchants, peasants, soldiers, and so on. The most sympathetic characters for me were a poor young woman of noble blood, Sybil, and her scholarly father, along with a goldsmith relative of Warwick's who fell in love with the young woman. Another Nevile in the story is Sir Marmaduke, a rustic warrior who becomes a stalwart defender of Warwick, his relative, and though he's sometimes a figure of fun, he eventually makes himself a hero. (He reminds me of the Sir Duncan character in the Game of Thrones spinoff called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms--honest but dumb. Same guy.) But the bigger story is how Warwick worked to uphold Edward IV's reign until the king dishonored his daughter, turning Warwick against him, leading to the back-and-forth of kings and supporters of York and Lancaster that marked the midpoint in the War of the Roses.

(The ending comes later, about 15 years after the novel, with Edward's brother Richard, known before as Gloucester, and the last of the York lineage falling to the Tudors.)

The prose here is dense, more elevated and complex even than Sir Walter Scott (who I also love), and many years ago I would have passed on this book, but if you can get into the rhythm of this kind of 19th century storytelling, it's great. Here's a typical passage, where a leading rebel from the peasant class lays out the complaints against the government of Edward of York:

With clear precision, in indignant, but not declamatory eloquence, he painted the disorders of the time: the insolent exactions of the hospitals and abbeys; the lawless violence of each petty baron; the weakness of the royal authority in restraining oppression; its terrible power in aiding the oppressor. He accumulated instance on instance of misrule; he showed the insecurity of property; the adulteration of the coin; the burden of the imposts; he spoke of wives and maidens violated; of industry defrauded; of houses forcibly entered; of barns and granaries despoiled; of the impunity of all offenders, if high-born; of the punishment of all complaints, if poor and lowly.

This passage also clarifies one of the major themes of the book, which is that the people suffered under unchecked barons, and they hoped that a more centralized government under a stronger monarchy would rein them in. (It was a pretty dream.) In places, the tone is lighter, even playful, and in others we see characters speaking in the courtly language of the time, with knights trying to win fair ladies or courtiers trying to influence the king. But there's also a lot of direct action, including battle but not exclusively so, forcibly rendered. The last 10% of the book is Edward's campaign to take back his kingdom, which ends with a long, vivid description of the Battle of Barnet in 1471, when the Kingmaker, Warwick, and his brother, Montagu, are both killed, ending the rebellion. (Sorry! Spoilers!)

Bulwer-Lytton famously started another novel with the words "It was a dark and stormy night." That language has made him an object of fun, but anyone who read this book--with it's excellent research, scholarly footnotes, and brilliant plotting over the length of about 250,000 words--would maybe reconsider their opinion.

I loved it. Fantastic historical novel. Recommended.

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