Conscience of the King (novel)
Encyclopedia
Conscience of the King (1951) is a historical novel
by the English author Alfred Duggan
. The novel follows the speculative exploits of Cerdic Elesing
, legendary founder of the Anglo-Saxon
kingdom of Wessex
, from his birth in 451
AD
of Germanic
and Romano-British
descent through his rise to power as first king of the West Saxons in England until his death in 534
.
It is written in the style of an autobiography or personal memoir, and the character is portrayed as a conquering antihero who is not above acting against those who pose a threat to his independence and power, including members of his own family, and who even leads a marauding Germanic army to conquer his own native city and massacre its inhabitants. The title (taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet
) is thus completely ironic. Cerdic does occasionally remark that he is worried that if either the gods of the Germanic tribes (who regard kinslaying and treachery as unforgivable crimes) or the Christianity in which he was brought up are true, he will spend eternity in Hell
but he concludes dismissively that even if this is the case "It was fun while it lasted".
During his journeys he is accompanied by his son Cynric
who shows great promise as both a warrior and the future heir to his father's throne, and is the only person in the entire book towards whom the writer/narrator shows any kind of genuine affection, partly because Cynric is simple-mindedly honest and faithful to his father, even failing to grasp Cerdic's occasional hints that Cynric should kill his younger sons so that they will not be rivals to his eldest son (as Cerdic was to his own elder brother). Cerdic comments, however, that if Cynric had exhibited any signs of the same political cunning that he possesses himself, he would have dealt with him as he did with his own kin and with his troublesome wife (Cynric's mother).
A recurring theme is the decline of civilisation; Cerdic often comments on the illiteracy of the Saxons and their simple adherence to custom, and on the advantages which his late Roman education gives him in thinking out his moves in advance. He also notes the decay of Roman buildings as they are abandoned and plundered and the dirt and unccleanliness of even Saxon nobles (whereas Roman nobles such as Cerdic himself in his youth bathed frequently). In his old age Cerdic sometimes thinks he would have preferred to be a Roman nobleman even though he would not have enjoyed as much personal freedom.
, written four centuries after his time. Thus, an author seeking to write a full-length novel about him must fill enormous gaps with guess-work.
Many historians believe Cerdic's name to be a variety on "Caratacus
", the name of the Celtic chieftain who opposed the Roman invasion of Britain. From this and from several of his ancestors having had names which appear more Celtic than Germanic, it is deduced that he was descended from a Romano-British
noble family, which had set up a petty principality after the disintegration of Roman rule and which after the arrival of the Saxons became germanized and/or intermarried with the invaders. Duggan theorises that he was descended from an earlier Germanic ruler who settled in Britain with his people as mercenaries in the Roman service.
This, however, contradicts the statement of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that Cerdic had landed in Britain with three keels (boats) manned by Saxon warriors - which would argue that he was a Germanic chieftain with no previous ties to the country.
Duggan reconciles this difficulty by assuming that Cerdic was brought up as a Romano-Briton, but that having quarrelled with his family he fled and went over to the Saxons, and eventually recruited them to come back as a conqueror - a plausible scenario, of which examples could be found at various times and places in history, though not attested in any historical source about Cerdic. However, a person capable of leading bloodthirsty foreign warriors to conquer his own homeland must be quite ruthless and amoral or immoral - and as such did Duggan portray Cerdic.
On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also mentions Cerdic as closely cooperating with his son Cynric - and it is an unquestioned fact that he was the founder of a dynasty which endured for five centuries. From this it can be assumed that, even if Cerdic cared little for other people in general, he did make an exception with regard to his son - and that is made a central feature of the book's later parts.
In all, it can be said that Duggan has taken a historical novelist's liberty of inventing where historical facts are lacking - but his reconstruction is compatible with the scanty known facts.
- who in Duggan's depiction was in fact not a king but rather the leader of a band of Cataphract
s (heavy cavalry) which helped the surviving Romano-British rulers in their efforts to resist the tide of Saxon invasion. In Cerdic's version of events Artorius had served as a soldier in the Eastern Empire and received training there before returning to Britain, and operates primarily in what is now Northern England. The Battle of Mount Badon represents the defeat of an attempt by Cerdic to extend his kingdom along the Severn as far north as Chester; though defeated Cerdic escapes destruction through his strategic skills and the unwillingness of the British kings to co-operate fully with Artorius because they are jealous of him and one another. Artorius initially attracts warriors who share his ideological commitment to defeating the Saxons because they are heathen barbarians, but his successors attract a more mercenary element. The war-band eventually breaks up after a breach between Artorius and his second-in-command. (Cerdic says this is supposed to have been over the lieutenants affair with his leader's wife, but he suspects it was really over loot; it should be noted that Cedric's own attitude to women is brutally instrumental). Artorius ends his days as a hermit. Cerdic also attributes Artorius' eventual failure to inability to maintain the breed of heavy horses necessary to carry an armoured man in battle.
This would account for the later Medieval depiction of Arthur and his followers as knight
s - since the cataphracts were, indeed, similar to the Medieval knights in their weaponry and manner of fighting.
Duggan follows the assumption made by many historians - but by no means conclusively proven - that Cerdic was the leader of the Saxon army which Arthur is said to have defeated at Mount Badon.
The above makes Duggan's book unique among the very considerable corpus of Medieval and modern Arthurian literature, in depicting Arthur from the point of view of his Saxon foes.
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
by the English author Alfred Duggan
Alfred Duggan
Alfred Duggan was an English historian, archeologist and best-selling historical novelist during the 1950s. Although he was raised in England, Duggan was born Alfred Leo Duggan in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a family of wealthy landowners of Irish descent. His family moved to England when he was...
. The novel follows the speculative exploits of Cerdic Elesing
Cerdic of Wessex
Cerdic was probably the first King of Anglo-Saxon Wessex from 519 to 534, cited by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the founder of the kingdom of Wessex and ancestor of all its subsequent kings...
, legendary founder of the Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
kingdom of Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
, from his birth in 451
451
Year 451 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marcianus and Adelfius...
AD
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
of Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
and Romano-British
Romano-British
Romano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...
descent through his rise to power as first king of the West Saxons in England until his death in 534
534
Year 534 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Iustinianus and Paulinus...
.
It is written in the style of an autobiography or personal memoir, and the character is portrayed as a conquering antihero who is not above acting against those who pose a threat to his independence and power, including members of his own family, and who even leads a marauding Germanic army to conquer his own native city and massacre its inhabitants. The title (taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
) is thus completely ironic. Cerdic does occasionally remark that he is worried that if either the gods of the Germanic tribes (who regard kinslaying and treachery as unforgivable crimes) or the Christianity in which he was brought up are true, he will spend eternity in Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
but he concludes dismissively that even if this is the case "It was fun while it lasted".
During his journeys he is accompanied by his son Cynric
Cynric of Wessex
Cynric was King of Wessex from 534 to 560. Everything known about him comes from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. There he is stated to have been the son of Cerdic, and also to have been the son of Cerdic's son, Creoda...
who shows great promise as both a warrior and the future heir to his father's throne, and is the only person in the entire book towards whom the writer/narrator shows any kind of genuine affection, partly because Cynric is simple-mindedly honest and faithful to his father, even failing to grasp Cerdic's occasional hints that Cynric should kill his younger sons so that they will not be rivals to his eldest son (as Cerdic was to his own elder brother). Cerdic comments, however, that if Cynric had exhibited any signs of the same political cunning that he possesses himself, he would have dealt with him as he did with his own kin and with his troublesome wife (Cynric's mother).
A recurring theme is the decline of civilisation; Cerdic often comments on the illiteracy of the Saxons and their simple adherence to custom, and on the advantages which his late Roman education gives him in thinking out his moves in advance. He also notes the decay of Roman buildings as they are abandoned and plundered and the dirt and unccleanliness of even Saxon nobles (whereas Roman nobles such as Cerdic himself in his youth bathed frequently). In his old age Cerdic sometimes thinks he would have preferred to be a Roman nobleman even though he would not have enjoyed as much personal freedom.
Historical background
Historical information on Cerdic is scanty and unreliable, mainly derived from the Anglo-Saxon ChronicleAnglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
, written four centuries after his time. Thus, an author seeking to write a full-length novel about him must fill enormous gaps with guess-work.
Many historians believe Cerdic's name to be a variety on "Caratacus
Caratacus
Caratacus was a first century British chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who led the British resistance to the Roman conquest....
", the name of the Celtic chieftain who opposed the Roman invasion of Britain. From this and from several of his ancestors having had names which appear more Celtic than Germanic, it is deduced that he was descended from a Romano-British
Romano-British
Romano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...
noble family, which had set up a petty principality after the disintegration of Roman rule and which after the arrival of the Saxons became germanized and/or intermarried with the invaders. Duggan theorises that he was descended from an earlier Germanic ruler who settled in Britain with his people as mercenaries in the Roman service.
This, however, contradicts the statement of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that Cerdic had landed in Britain with three keels (boats) manned by Saxon warriors - which would argue that he was a Germanic chieftain with no previous ties to the country.
Duggan reconciles this difficulty by assuming that Cerdic was brought up as a Romano-Briton, but that having quarrelled with his family he fled and went over to the Saxons, and eventually recruited them to come back as a conqueror - a plausible scenario, of which examples could be found at various times and places in history, though not attested in any historical source about Cerdic. However, a person capable of leading bloodthirsty foreign warriors to conquer his own homeland must be quite ruthless and amoral or immoral - and as such did Duggan portray Cerdic.
On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also mentions Cerdic as closely cooperating with his son Cynric - and it is an unquestioned fact that he was the founder of a dynasty which endured for five centuries. From this it can be assumed that, even if Cerdic cared little for other people in general, he did make an exception with regard to his son - and that is made a central feature of the book's later parts.
In all, it can be said that Duggan has taken a historical novelist's liberty of inventing where historical facts are lacking - but his reconstruction is compatible with the scanty known facts.
The Arthurian Connection
In the later parts of the book, there is considerable attention given to ArthurKing Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
- who in Duggan's depiction was in fact not a king but rather the leader of a band of Cataphract
Cataphract
A cataphract was a form of armored heavy cavalry utilised in ancient warfare by a number of peoples in Western Eurasia and the Eurasian Steppe....
s (heavy cavalry) which helped the surviving Romano-British rulers in their efforts to resist the tide of Saxon invasion. In Cerdic's version of events Artorius had served as a soldier in the Eastern Empire and received training there before returning to Britain, and operates primarily in what is now Northern England. The Battle of Mount Badon represents the defeat of an attempt by Cerdic to extend his kingdom along the Severn as far north as Chester; though defeated Cerdic escapes destruction through his strategic skills and the unwillingness of the British kings to co-operate fully with Artorius because they are jealous of him and one another. Artorius initially attracts warriors who share his ideological commitment to defeating the Saxons because they are heathen barbarians, but his successors attract a more mercenary element. The war-band eventually breaks up after a breach between Artorius and his second-in-command. (Cerdic says this is supposed to have been over the lieutenants affair with his leader's wife, but he suspects it was really over loot; it should be noted that Cedric's own attitude to women is brutally instrumental). Artorius ends his days as a hermit. Cerdic also attributes Artorius' eventual failure to inability to maintain the breed of heavy horses necessary to carry an armoured man in battle.
This would account for the later Medieval depiction of Arthur and his followers as knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s - since the cataphracts were, indeed, similar to the Medieval knights in their weaponry and manner of fighting.
Duggan follows the assumption made by many historians - but by no means conclusively proven - that Cerdic was the leader of the Saxon army which Arthur is said to have defeated at Mount Badon.
The above makes Duggan's book unique among the very considerable corpus of Medieval and modern Arthurian literature, in depicting Arthur from the point of view of his Saxon foes.