Hubert's Arthur
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Hubert's Arthur is an alternative history novel by the eccentric English writer Frederick Rolfe ('Baron Corvo') posthumously published by A. J. A. Symons in 1935. It started as a collaboration between Rolfe and Harry Pirie-Gordon, but in the event the latter only supplied the copious heraldic details pertaining to the characters.
In the novel, Arthur I, Duke of Brittany defeats his uncle John, King of England and rises to the English throne. With Henry III killed in combat by Arthur, Arthur is the king who faces the rebellion of Simon de Montfort in the novel's version of the Second Barons' War.
The novel is controversial for its antisemitism. It depicts the Jews of England offering Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln and other boys as human sacrifices.
Plot[edit]
The novel is presented as the lengthy narrative of the aged Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, who is supposed to have saved the life of Arthur I, Duke of Brittany and accompanied him on crusade to the Holy Land, where Arthur becomes King of Jerusalem and eventually returns to England, defeats his uncle King John of England and kills his son Henry Plantagenet (the historical Henry III) in single combat. The remainder of the book details the prosperous reign of King Arthur, his defeat of the Barons under Simon de Montfort, and his eventual miraculous death.
Of all Rolfe's novels this one has never been reprinted, perhaps because of the strong strain of anti-semitism, which draws upon the myths of Christian boys martyred by Jews, such as St. Hugh.
Historicity[edit]
Arthur was guarded by Hubert de Burgh at the Chateau de Falaise after captured by John in Battle of Mirebeau. According to contemporaneous chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall, John ordered two of his servants to blind and castrate the duke. De Burgh could not bring himself to let Arthur be mutilated. Fearful of John, de Burgh leaked news that Arthur had died of natural causes. [1] The following year Arthur was transferred to Rouen, under the charge of William de Braose. Arthur vanished in April 1203, in the background of several military victories by Philip II of France against King John,[2] presumably murdered by John.
Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany elder sister of Arthur, presumably captured along with him, was also imprisoned, albeit under honorable treatment due a princess. When Hubert acted as the regent of Henry III from 1219 to 1227, he showed no more special care to her than other periods, as well as in 1230 when he was appointed Constable of Bristol Castle, where Eleanor was held from 1224; in contrast during his regency multiple instructions were made to add, appoint, monitor and change her guards and staff, and several certain expenses from 1225 to 1227 on locks and keys of Bristol Castle implied that she was once shut up in her tower or room.[3][4]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Jones 2014, p. 164.
- ^ Jones 2014, p. 166.
- ^ G. Seabourne. "Eleanor of Brittany and her Treatment by King John and Henry III", Nottingham Medieval Studies, Vol. LI (2007), pp. 73–110.
- ^ 'ad Alienoram cognatam domini r[egis] … salvo in predicto castro custodienda': RLC, 187. (1227).
Sources[edit]
- Jones, Dan (2014). The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England. Penguin Books.
- 1935 British novels
- Novels set in 13th-century Plantagenet England
- Works published under a pseudonym
- British alternative history novels
- Novels published posthumously
- Cultural depictions of John, King of England
- Cultural depictions of Henry III of England
- Antisemitic novels
- Second Barons' War
- Fiction about human sacrifice