Bernard
Cornwell is probably best known for Sharpe the adventures of the titular hero
fighting for the British in the Napoleonic wars. In Harlequin he goes back to
the start of the 100 years’ war where England had a claim on lands in Britany and
fought bitterly with the French crown for their control.
Thomas
of Hookton is a young man in an inconsequential village on the south coast of
England whose world is turned upside down when the entire town is wiped out by
a mysterious French Lord looking for a saintly relic. He swears revenge and
joins the armies of Edward III who set off for France to claim back the lands Edward
believes are his by birth right.
The
Hellequin were the war bands of English soldiers who ravaged the French lands,
named after a mythical demonic group who were said to roam causing havoc and
mayhem wherever they went. This is medieval warfare as it actually would have
been, dirty, brutal and vicious. There’s very little room for the mythologizing
of courtly knights and deeds of virtue. The only reason to leave an opponent
alive would not be chivalric but purely if you could ransom him to his family.
I
have to declare an interest here as I am a keen archer, in fact my wife
actually shoots a longbow very similar to those described in the novel. Times
may have changed but there are still people flinging bits of wood at targets
and the description not only of the shooting but the use of mass ranks of
archers in battle are excellent. Well worth a read especially if you enjoy his
other books or history in general.
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