The Archer's Tale [Mass Market Paperback]

It is the story of Thomas, an English archer, and his involvement with the English army in France during the several months leading up to and then at the famous battle of Crecy in 1346. Based on what I know, it is historically accurate. The campaign and the battle took place pretty much as the author describes it. Historically, the battle was significant because it proved that infantry could be used, in combination with archers, to defeat disciplined cavalry units.

The battle scenes themselves are terrific. There is a load of graphic blood and gore, and the author is very knowledgable about weapons and tactics and armor and that sort of thing. The last thirty or forty pages of the book, the battle itself, are very exciting.

But it is the leading-up-to which leaves a lot to be desired. People in the middle-ages were very poorly educated. Only a very few could read or write, and all were riddled with superstition, fear and stupidity. There is no sense of that in this book. The Catholic church was dominant, and most men were in dreadful fear of it. There is no sense of that in this book either.

The nobility portrayed here are venal and vicious. There is no sense anywhere of the chivalraic code. Now, the author does comment in his afterward that there was no nobility in the fighting of a desperate battle, and he is right, but what about the rest of the time? Did the nobility really take advantage of women--and I mean take advantage in the most thorough sense--at every opportunity? Isn't this exactly the opposite of what the chivalraic code stood for in the first place? Here is Sir Simon, when asked why he is in the French camp. "Money, food, land, women," he says. Well, the author makes it clear that Sir Simon is a bad, bad man, but still, not ONE of these nobles ever talks of honor, which is, after all, what the nobility is supposed to be about.

Our hero, separated from the army, meets, then rescues a French countess. They spend an idyllic month or two wandering around the French countryside, sleeping in abandoned huts and having sex. Yes, they are lovers. Their religion doesn't seem to get in the way of this, nor does the fact that she might, you know, get pregnant, nor does the fact that they are both acting dishonorably, nor does the fact that he is from a social class which is significantly inferior to hers. Is this really the 14th century? It sure doesn't look like it to me.

Look, if you like Clive Cussler, Jeffrey Archer, or Ken Follett, by all means, read this. I'm sure you'll be enthralled.

But if you really want to know about the Middle Ages, forget this junk. For realistic adventure, read Doyle's White Company, or Sir Nigel, or The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. If you're looking for strict realism, read Zoe Oldenbourg. But this thing, bleeeeeaackhh.

"The Archer's Tale" opens with a horrifyingly brutish assault by the French on the small village of Hookton, which protects a mighty relic through its tiny size and complete lack of importance. The relic, the black lance used by St. George to slay the Dragon, is seized by the Harlequin, and the town razed. The Harlequin also kills his uncle, an old priest with a murky past. Cornwell's description of the destruction and rape of Hookton is masterful in its economy and its clarity -- this book quickly establishes that it is not for the squeamish!

Thomas, the archer, escapes the sack of Hookton through his mastery of the bow, which is the dominant military weapon of the era (the late 1300's). Contrary to common perception, archers were not the small wimps who hung out in the rear while the mighty swordsmen and cavalry fought the battles. An archer was fantastically strong owing to years of stringing their mighty bows, and Thomas is an archer's archer. He vows revenge on the man who has brought destruction to Hookton.

Possessing more lives than a cat, Thomas journeys to France and plays a crucial role in the sack of a French village. Earning the respect, love, or hatred of those whom he encounters (he inspires strong feelings, does our Thomas), Thomas uses his wits, his skill with a bow, a good head for warfare, and just plain blind luck to journey from battle to battle, from siege to siege.

Cornwell brings the Middle Ages alive with his vivid descriptions of life in small villages as well as his depiction of the mighty French city of Caen. We get a good sense of the world Thomas inhabits, from the critical role of religion to the importance of allegience to a lord to the harsh realities of losing a battle. Cornwell does not shy away from the consequences to the elderly, to women, and to children if their defenders lose to the foe, whose army is more likely to be made up of murderers and rapists than heirs of the Knights of the Round Table. Life on the losing end was nasty, brutish, and inevitably short.

Of course, life isn't much better for the men, who throw themselves into battles worthy of "Braveheart" in their horrors. While he never gets heavy-handed, Cornwell shows the terrors of war, from the disembowelments, beheadings, boilings, and other gruesome deaths, to the terrible cost in horses and the thankless role of the mercenary.

Through it all, Thomas pursues his oath of vengeance, although not with the singlemindedness that would make him boring. Hounded from time to time by a friendly cleric and fatherly commander, Thomas often seeks the solace of a quiet life with an attractive woman (he meets more than a few) in the midst of the carnage of war, and it rarely works out.

While not as titanic as Colleen McCullough's "Masters of Rome" series or as detailed, "The Archer's Tale" is a riveting story set in a harsh era. Short on intrigue, long on battles, "The Archer's Tale" is an entertaining read that seems much shorter than its 380-odd pages.