- Paperback: 425 pages
- Publisher: Agreka Tm Llc (April 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1888106832
- ISBN-13: 978-1888106831
- Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 567 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,765,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From the Back Cover
"The history of our house has been greatly affected by the presence of the Normans. If I am honest, I will admit this right from the start: Ponthieu has been eclipsed by William Bastard and his brood..."
Thus begins the dictated history of Count Guy of Ponthieu, in the last year of his life, as he meets with monk historians at the abbey of Saint-Evroult. They have asked the aged Count of Ponthieu to commit his memories and observations to writing, for a great compiled history of the Norman dukes and kings of England. The year is 1100 A D. The Norman Conquest of England is the accomplished fact of the previous generation. Count Guy's generation.
He grew up, the younger son of Count Hugh, in a world being taken over by the aggressive Normans, the children of Viking invaders. Guy saw his brothers slain in battle against them. After he became Count of Ponthieu himself, Guy tried to avoid Norman entanglements. But the inescapable presence of William Bastard's meteoric rise to power and fame swept Ponthieu into his plans. Serving the ends of the Duke of Normandy cost Count Guy even more blood and sacrifices from his own family before he finally said "enough." But his decision was harder to live with than he had thought. Late in life, his own house is pulled irrevocably into the Anglo- Norman realm through marriage with the notorious house of Bellesme.
This is a tale of sweeping scope, passing through more than a century of intrigue, battles and alliances.
About the Author
Merlin Douglas Larsen has studied medieval military history for decades, and is writing an historical novel about The Crusades, a story set in the first decades of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The author acknowledges Marjorie Chibnall's book The World of Orderic Vitalis; the works of Catherine Morton and Hope Muntz, The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio; and Hope Muntz's superb novel The Golden Warrior; Elizabeth van Houts' edition of The Gesta Normannorum Ducum; and articles contained in the collected volumes of Anglo-Norman Studies, and Stephen Morillo's book, The Battle of Hastings.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reads like a true diary of the Norman Conquests,
By
This review is from: Jackals in Iron: A Novel (Paperback)
The authentic feel of this book only hints at the deep research author Merlin Douglas Larsen must have done into the life and times of Count Guy of Ponthieu, who writes his memoirs in the year 1100. Now, as all students know, the Norman conquest of England culminated in 1066 with the Battle of Hastings, where William the Conqueror struck Harold in the eye with a lance and won the battle. The elder military nobleman tells how he became intangled in the Norman invasions. The book is written as a tale told, so the action is all from Count Guy's point of view and reads almost as a diary. This, plus the well-researched background give this book the feel that it was written on parchment and really just unearthed underneath the altar of some abbey to be translated for scholars to argue over. But memoir-like tone aside, the book is packed with action, battles and political maneuvering. It will probably appeal to men a bit more than women, since this is a book about war and not a romantic-style historical drama. Readers who like such books as "Pillars of the Earth" will probably enjoy "Jackals in Iron."
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Compulsive Reader reviews Jackals in Iron,
By Merlin Douglas Larsen "Merlin the Mad" (West Jordan, Utah United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Jackals in Iron: A Novel (Paperback)
"Excellent storytelling. And excellent history. The heroes and villains...come alive for the reader. Their customs, power struggles, machinations, and alliances are all examined and fully explained. And when William the Conqueror arrives on the scene, he proves to be a formidable antihero who makes a worthy spiritual antagonist for Guy."In Larsen's book, personal history and public history are so intertwined that Jackals in Iron is not only a historical fiction, it becomes a study in storytelling as history. Recording of all kind pops up in the book. In one scene, Brother Turold, a dwarf, records a battle at the behest of a lord to some seamstresses who embroidered a tapestry which depicted a scene "the way Bishop Odo said William wanted the story of Harold's death portrayed. In another scene, in a discussion about perjury, witnesses, and moot discussions, one character tells another, "It would be pointless to examine minutia about every knight who might have struck a blow in battle." To which another character replies, "Not pointless at all. When do we decide that the truth is not to be pursued, and is to be replaced by hyperbole?"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stuff of which Hollywood movies are made,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jackals in Iron: A Novel (Paperback)
Set in England in 1100 A.D., a generation after the Norman Conquest, Jackals In Iron is a historical novel of oppression, survival, and vengeance. A dramatic saga, firmly rooted in history and events, of one man's struggle against an irresistible force. Author Merlin Douglas Larsen has deftly crafted an engaging saga of pivotal battles and strange alliances against a meticulously presented historical background. Superbly written, Jackals In Iron is one of those novels that is a riveting read from cover to cover. This is the stuff of which Hollywood movies and television mini-series are made!
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