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A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 · rating details · 375 ratings · 37 reviews

It is 1399. Henry Bolingbroke, unjustly banished and deprived of his inheritance by Richard II, returns to claim his rights and deposes the king to become Henry IV of England. He is aided by the powerful lords of Northumberland, especially by his friend, Harry Percy. But the triumph of his accession quickly turns sour in the face of ever-growing crises in his new kingdom,...more

Paperback, 378 pages

Published October 1st 1989 by Headline Book Publishing (first published 1972)

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Aug 07, 2012 Diana Wilder rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: indispensables, owned-by-me

This book is going to be a terrible disappointment to a great many modern readers who want to pick up a book and have a lively time that does not involve any intellectual input in the reading. The book's title, 'A Bloody Field', tends to raise expectations in the breasts of many readers of historical fiction - or, perhaps, the sort of 'historical fiction' that are currently popular - that it simply will not meet.

If someone picks up this book expecting the sort of read that is described as Packe...more

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Jun 19, 2011 Lori rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: medieval-fict

Although Pargeter's style is not conducive to an easy quick reading and many would even call it dry, she is very good at weaving together character and setting so that the reader understands the motivations of these people who lived so long ago. In this book, the reader comes to understand why Henry of Bolingbroke returns from exile to claim his own inheritance and in the process ends up taking the crown from Richard II. The reader empathizes with him as he struggles with the consequences of his...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Anne by: ancient and medieval History group read.

Shelves: england, historical

I did enjoy reading this interesting book about the relationship between King Henry IV, his son the future Henry V and their friend, "Hotspur" Percy. (How could you not like a man named Hotspur!) I found Hotspur to be a decent honourable man, devoted to his king and the king's heir. He gets caught up in the plight of wales and the desire of Henry IV to conquor Wales and make it part of England. Standing in his way is Owen, who is determined not to cede Wales to England. A young girl appears befo...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Bryn Hammond rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: imagined-fiction

Better than Shakespeare.

To be fair, the Henry IVs were never my line in Shakespeare. Richard II, yes, and I won’t say better than a few of his speeches, but... worthy to follow on, and she does, she does speech and soliloquies, with a bit of theatrical action, for a level of human portraiture that – how do I end this sentence? – you don’t find often, not in histfic, alas. This is a novel, if you know what I mean.

I get tired, in histfic, of a drab cynicism whereby we have to have a whole cast o...more Better than Shakespeare.

To be fair, the Henry IVs were never my line in Shakespeare. Richard II, yes, and I won’t say better than a few of his speeches, but... worthy to follow on, and she does, she does speech and soliloquies, with a bit of theatrical action, for a level of human portraiture that – how do I end this sentence? – you don’t find often, not in histfic, alas. This is a novel, if you know what I mean.

I get tired, in histfic, of a drab cynicism whereby we have to have a whole cast of rascals, frauds and worse folk, in order to be real. Sorry, that isn’t real. As if nobody ever believed in the knightly ideals, for example. Hotspur believes in them and lives them out, just a few years past their time; he’s a great-hearted innocent, like other innocents in fiction, though not batty like Don Quixote and with effectual clout. The Prince, future Henry 5, I visualise as flat-eyed as a fish (though that’s mostly towards his father): you cannot like him, or I can’t, but you can see the hatching of another, less kind sort of greatness. King Henry disgusted me and then snatched my sympathy: a man corrupted by his kingship, once a decent man, who does not recognise himself – I think he might be the subtlest portrait.

These people are written in such depth, and an encounter between them has the excitements of a battle. – Her battles aren’t bad, either. Psyches in conflict, whether it’s King Henry alone with his or these three in a breach.

To my eyes the book’s marred by a nonhistorical person who wanders about getting in the way – who doesn’t need to be there, and whose neatly-inserted presence at historical events threatens my conviction that I am on the field by Shrewsbury. I’ll even blame this person for letting a bit of potential-tragedy pressure leak away, at the culmination (right, the work-up-to-a-tragedy idea isn’t better than Shakespeare, and I’ll be sorry I said that).

Never mind. The lady can write. I reckon she writes just about perfectly: that is, with huge originality, but never for the sake of pretty writing. It’s in the service of her story.
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Sep 18, 2012 Stefaniab rated it 2 of 5 stars

I slogged through this book because I was interested in the historical period. Last year I read Shakespeare's Henry IV P1 and saw the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production of Henry IV P2. I was intrigued to read a novel that centered on Hotspur's betrayal of the Lancasters.

My biggest issue was with Pargeter's style. Yes, she was writing in the 1970s. But were run-on sentences grammatically correct in the 1970s? Pargeter's run-on sentences made the text so unclear--particularly painful when s...more

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Oct 31, 2011 Rosemary Prawdzik rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

There are very few historical novels that I feel are up to the standard of Sharon Kay Penman's writing. This one comes really close.
The four main characters, Richard II, Henry of Bolingbroke (King Henry IV), Henry of Monmouth (later King Henry V) and Henry Percy (Hotspur) are brought to livid life and the reader's sensibilities are engaged through their relationships to each other, shifting loyalties and eventual demise. Just like in reading "The Sunne in Spendour", the battle preparations cause...more

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Nov 02, 2012 Natalie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this for a book club, and really did not expect to enjoy it. For start, I like my historical fiction to be set before 1066, and featuring Romans if at all possible. I’d also heard that Ellis Peters’ writing was pretty heaving going.

The style is full of archaisms, and usually I find this very irritating, preferring contemporary language to be used in historical fiction. After all, at the time, people in the past would have sounded ‘modern’ to each other. But in fact, Peters’ style was so i...more I read this for a book club, and really did not expect to enjoy it. For start, I like my historical fiction to be set before 1066, and featuring Romans if at all possible. I’d also heard that Ellis Peters’ writing was pretty heaving going.

The style is full of archaisms, and usually I find this very irritating, preferring contemporary language to be used in historical fiction. After all, at the time, people in the past would have sounded ‘modern’ to each other. But in fact, Peters’ style was so internally consistent and fluid I found it really helped to build a coherent past world in the reader’s mind. The writing is stately and slow-paced, but it adds to the chivalric aura surrounding the central character, Hotspur. It also helps to create a pool of calm into which the reader can escape from the hectic pace of modern life.

Some reviews have mentioned the ‘romantic’ nature of the book, and it is true that this is an idealised picture of the late mediaeval world. Battle is depicted as a place for the display of honour, particularly for Hotspur – not as the confused, gory mess it so usually is. Despite the ‘Bloody Field’ of the title, go to Bernard Cornwell’s Azincourt if you want to see the real blood and guts of the time. But I have to confess that despite myself I fell in love with the beauty of the world created.

The novel displays acute psychological insight, and all the characters’ motivations are well-drawn. Hotspur is the model of the chivalry of the dying mediaeval age – unable to hide his feelings or act in any other way but in accordance with them, feeling disgust at the ‘new’ warfare of archery at a distance and preferring the honesty and directness of hand-to-hand combat. In contrast is Prince Hal, the future Henry V, thrust unexpectedly into the role of Prince of Wales and forced by his new position always to hide his true feelings and present a blank front to the world, especially to his father, Henry IV. Faced with distance and coldness from the king, Hotspur becomes a father-figure and mentor to him.

The invented character of Julian Parry, a Welsh woman in Shrewsbury, helps to bring out Hotspur’s role as chivalric defender of women, and shows his attractiveness to women as well as men. With the Prince, he helps rescue her from rape at the hands of her late husband’s nephew, and she then becomes his comrade in his efforts to negotiate with the Welsh freedom-fighter, Owen Glendower. Her romantic love for him, while he sees her as something like a cherished daughter, feels heart-breaking, and it is through her eyes that the reader feels the most sadness at Hotspur’s death. Looking at it in the cold light of reason, I doubt a battle-hardened soldier would have treated her so honourably in reality(he doesn’t take advantage of her despite spending a night out of doors under a shared blanket), but the unconsummated nature of their love adds to the melancholy beauty of the novel’s ending.

In summary, this is romantic escapism, but it is the best piece of romantic escapism I have ever read, and so it got five stars from me. I think I’m going soft in my old age.

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May 10, 2010 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Pargeter is one of the best historical novelists - my only disappointment with her is that she is deceased and thus will not be writing more books. This novel covers the lead-up to and the battle between Henry IV and Harry Hotspur at Shrewsbury in 1403. Pargeter's main concern is the relationships between Hotspur, Henry IV and Prince Henry: a fascinating triangle of loyalty, admiration, and affection held taught by tensions, jealousies, and anxieties. Hotspur comes off as a deeply honorable man...more

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Aug 07, 2010 Korynn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historicalfiction

An expanded portrait of historical characters more likely known through Shakespeare's historical plays. Henry the Fourth, the rise of Henry the Fifth, and most importantly, the motivations that caused Hotspur to break with his beloved Henrys, making new alliances with their political rivals resulting in a battle for the throne that was won on a bloody field. There are some fictional characters thrown in for color, the largest offense being the romantic interest Julian (did she exist? was she rea...more

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Nov 04, 2010 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

From my boook review blog Rundpinne.
..."Pargeter writes an in-depth, vividly detailed and brilliantly executed book which admittedly can be a tad bit difficult to get into, but honestly it is worth the effort and pays off after about 40 pages or so, creating an intriguing web of loyalty, treachery and history. Pargeter has masterfully captured a way to portray the late 14th and early 15th century England and Wales in such a manner..."... The Full review may be read here: http://www.rundpinne.com ...more

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Aug 13, 2010 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, myth-legend

I certainly have a weakness for Ellis Peters, but her take on Richard III/Henry IV/Henry V/Henry Hotspur is positively fascinating. The minor characters are possibly even more compelling than Henry, Hal or Harry who are so well deliniated that you never forget which Henry you're with.

This book took two starts as the first chapter and a half are a bit tricky if you've forgotten your history. By the end I felt sure I would never be able to read an actual history of the time without hearing the vo...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, medieval, 2013readingchallenge, read-in-2013

Languid and florid prose carry this novel of treachery, outrage, painful but necessary rebellion, and steadfast honor through to a sadly unfortunate but beautifully rendered conclusion.

Knowing a little going into this of Hotspur and the Battle of Shrewsbury, its motivations and outcome, I expected the compulsory movement to an inevitable ending so full of tragedy. But the journey there was beautifully told. Through this work we get to see the passions, loyalty, bravery, integrity, and tragedy o...more

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May 15, 2012 Marina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, favorites, owned_book_english, medieval

The year is 1399 and Henry Bolingbroke, unjustly robbed of his paternal inheritance, returns to England at the head of an army, deposes his cousin, King Richard II and becomes King Henry IV. His eldest son young Henry (Hal) is only twelve years old. He was very attached to Richard, living in his court and hardly knows his father, by whom he is now made Prince of Wales. At the coronation young Henry is impressed be the stature and the proud bearing of one of his father's oldest friends and chief...more The year is 1399 and Henry Bolingbroke, unjustly robbed of his paternal inheritance, returns to England at the head of an army, deposes his cousin, King Richard II and becomes King Henry IV. His eldest son young Henry (Hal) is only twelve years old. He was very attached to Richard, living in his court and hardly knows his father, by whom he is now made Prince of Wales. At the coronation young Henry is impressed be the stature and the proud bearing of one of his father's oldest friends and chief aides in conquering the crown, Henry Percy (Hotspur), son and heir of the Earl of Northumberland and it becomes his greatest wish to assume his Welsh responsibilities under Percy's protectorship.
The year is 1400 and Richard, imprisoned in the north, is pronounced dead by voluntary starvation. This death sows seeds of doubt of the King's involvment in both Hotspur and Hal, which, when resolved, will mark the end of innocense for both.
The year is 1402 when a young Welsh petitioner called Julian presents herself before the prince and his mentor in the border town of Shrewsbury on a family grievance. Like Hal before her, she sees in Hotspur her salvation and a chance for greater deeds. Hotspur himself is charged of trying to reach a peaceful resolution to the Welsh conflict with the 'true' Prince of Wales, Owen Glendower and becomes involved with Julian, her father and a family friend and rebel, Iago Vaughn. He also makes a new Scottish friend and is trying to release his brother-in-law, Edmund Mortimer, from the Welsh captivity.
The year is 1403. King Henry gets married, trying to recover the peace of mind he has quite lost since acquiring the crown, Prince Hal is still battling with his feelings about his father, while Hotspur, upon discovering some ugly thruths about his once friend the King, decides to join the cause of his new Welsh friends and support his young nephew's claim to the throne of England.
The year is 1403. The place is the border town of Shrewsbury. Present are - King Henry IV, Prince Henry, Hotspur, Julian Hussey and former King Richard (if only in spirit). One of them faces the consequences of his actions and mistakes, while making some new ones; one makes a choice (that was never a choice in the first place); one gets a chance at a new life and dies; one learns what it means to have power.

"A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury" is a wonderful book, slow (yes, it may be said too slow at times, but it sure kicks off at the first signs of conspiracy) and descriptive, written in a language, though English, that's quite gone from this world.
The author treats these characters like people, with deep motives and emotions and ghosts (unlike Shakespeare who made them into caricatures).
The novel was written in 1972 but is might as well been written in 1872 - it feels timeless, unlike so many modern historical fiction.(less)

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Oct 02, 2009 Richard rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Richard by: Themis-Athena

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction

I gave up on this early.

It took me a few pages to realize I knew the history that ends at Shrewsbury. Once the Prince of Wales was on the Welsh border with Hotspur, I realize I knew what was coming.

And that was a problem: if I'm going to read historical fiction, it had either better be riveting or as accurate as a historian can manage. Making up the quotidian life and internal monologues of actual historic folk is an iffy affair. If it is boring, it better be footnoted with references to diaries...more

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Jul 07, 2008 Robin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Edith Pargeter/Ellis Peters' medieval mysteries and historical fiction have held a revered place in my reading life for a lot of reasons, so I was surprised when I had to slog through much of this. The parts I didn't were gripping and moving, and her characterization of Henry 'Hotspur' Percy jumped off the page, and his relationship with young Prince Hal was poignantly wrought, but the rest seemed to be an extended psychological exploration of the hypothetical inner dialogues of these historical...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Marilyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle, medieval-historical

The story from a historical point was ok but the prose, while poignant, was old-fashioned. Parmenter too often fails to name the antecedent noun before going to the pronoun, hence the confusion sometimes as to who is saying what to whom. More than once I found myself backtracking to make sure whose voice was being quoted. Other than that, it's still a good tale of English history that was somewhat lacking on my part.

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Mar 29, 2013 Deborah Lewitt rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love this book. I'm not usually a fan of fiction about real people, but this was wonderful. It comes highly recommended. She takes these real historical people and brings them to life, you love them, you root for them and yes you cry for them. What a great way to get the history while still being a great novel.

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Jan 15, 2013 Neil rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wonderful book! Written forty years ago, it seems, possibly before Pargeter became Ellis Peters and found lasting fame with Brother Cadfael.
But this is no historical whodunit. It's a highly accurate but fictionalized version of the brief period between the murder of Richard II (we are spared the more lurid details, and told he was starved to death), and the ascent of Prince Hal to the English throne. The characters are brilliantly-drawn, and Hotspur and Owen Glendower are as swashbuckling a pair...more

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May 12, 2013 Dangermousie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: aaangst, historical-fiction, history, medieval, perfect

My favorite of Pargeter's works, this story of a clash between Henry IV and Henry Percy (known as Hotspur), with Prince Hal (the future Henry V) caught in the middle is poetic, tragic and pretty much damn perfect.

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Aug 20, 2009 Jack rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great historical fiction - I wanted to learn more about the Lancastrian Henrys, as background for reading Shakespeare's Henry IV and Henry V.

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Apr 01, 2013 Jill Bowman rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a very good book! I'm heading to Shrewsbury soon and wanted some background. I'd really rate it a 4.5. It wasn't a 5 because that is reserved for Sharon Kay Penman!

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Mar 14, 2013 Johanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Wanted to like this, since she is also Ellis Peters, and I enjoy those books, but could not get into it.

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Sep 01, 2012 Lee rated it 4 of 5 stars

I didn't want to put this book down. It has been decades since reading Shakespeare and I enjoyed how Pargeter presented the characters and their relationships to each other.

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Nov 21, 2010 Mystee rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Jan 10, 2010 Raymond added it

A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury by Edith Pargeter (1989)

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Feb 17, 2009 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Enjoyable, but a little too romantic for my taste.

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Oct 22, 2012 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-2012

Great story, but told very unengagingly.

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Aug 29, 2012 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Very good. It was much better than i thought it was going to be.

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Sep 15, 2010 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical

Review to come after it's been posted on the season site.

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Sep 29, 2012 Dawn rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: hf-middle-ages

Another book I didn't finish.

While this is a great period of British history, I found the writing style was more like a non-fiction book and the volume of information rather drowned out the fiction story.

It ended up being too boring for me to continue wasting my time.

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About Edith Pargeter

aka Peter Benedict, Jolyon Carr, Ellis Peters (later editions of her work are sometimes published under this pseudonym), and John Redfern

West Midlands Literary Heritage website biography

Novelist. Born September 1913 at Horsehay, Shropshire. Her father was a clerk at a local ironworks. Edith attended Dawley Church of England School and the Coalbrookdale High School for Girls. Through her mother, s...more aka Peter Benedict, Jolyon Carr, Ellis Peters (later editions of her work are sometimes published under this pseudonym), and John Redfern

West Midlands Literary Heritage website biography

Novelist. Born September 1913 at Horsehay, Shropshire. Her father was a clerk at a local ironworks. Edith attended Dawley Church of England School and the Coalbrookdale High School for Girls. Through her mother, she grew to love the history and countryside of Shropshire, her home for all of her life.

Before World War II she worked as a chemist's assistant at Dawley. During this time she started writing seriously for publication while gathering useful information on medicines that she would draw upon later when tackling crime stories. Her first published novel was Hortensius, friend of Nero (1936), a rather dry tale of martyrdom that was not a great success but she persevered and The city lies foursquare (1939) was much more warmly received.

During the war she worked in an administrative role with the Women's Royal Navy Service in Liverpool, a relatively brief period away from Shropshire, and for her devotion to duty she received the British Empire Medal. Many more novels appeared at this time, including Ordinary people (1941) and She goes to war (1942), the latter based on her own wartime experiences. The eighth champion of Christendom appeared in 1945 and from now on she was able to devote all her time to writing. She was particularly proud of her Heaven tree trilogy, which appeared between 1961 and 1963, which had as a backdrop the English Welsh borderlands in the twelfth century.

It was not until 1951 that she tackled a mystery story with Fallen into the pit, the first appearance of Sergeant George Felse as the investigating police officer. Her other great character, and the one for which the author will continue to be known the world over, Brother Cadfael, was to follow many years later. The first appearance of this monk at Shrewsbury Abbey was in A morbid taste for bones (1977) and he mixed his herbs and unravelled mysteries in this atmospheric setting for a further nineteen novels. This kept the author very busy for the remaining 18 years of her life, to the virtual exclusion of all other work.

The name "Ellis Peters" was adopted by Edith Pargeter to clearly mark a division between her mystery stories and her other work. Her brother was Ellis and Petra was a friend from Czechoslovakia. A frequent visitor to the country, Edith Pargeter had begun her association and deep interest in their culture after meeting Czechoslovakian soldiers during the war. This was to lead to her learning the language translating several books into English.

She won awards for her writing from both the British Crime Writers Association and the Mystery Writers of America. She was also awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire), an honorary Masters Degree from Birmingham University and the Gold Medal of the Czechoslovak Society for Foreign Relations. There is a memorial to her in Shrewsbury Abbey.

After her death in October 1995, The Times published a full obituary that declared that here was "a deeply sensitive and perceptive woman....an intensely private and modest person " whose writing was "direct, even a little stilted, matching a self-contained personality".(less)

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Books by Edith Pargeter

The Brothers of Gwynedd Quartet: Comprising Sunrise in the West, The Dragon at Noonday, The Hounds of Sunset, Afterglow and Nightfall

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“Well, do as you think best. That's every man's right and duty. But for me, I pledge you now I will not surrender one grain of my rights. What I took, I took and by God, I'll keep it, too. Take her home tomorrow, Archie, and never look back to watch what I do, for you know it before. I would not give him one knigh who had confided himself to me and none other, much less you. Only over my dead body," said Hotspur hardily, eye to eye with the friend he had made under Homildon Hill, "will King Henry ever claim you as his prisoner.” — 2 people liked it

“A dead eagle he might have buried, but he had chosen rather to light a fire for a phoenix.” — 2 people liked it

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