The Conqueror [Hardcover]

Georgette Heyer (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: William Heinemann; reprint edition (1951)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000KFTDQW
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Author of over fifty books, Georgette Heyer is the best-known and best-loved of all historical novelists, making the Regency period her own. Her first novel, "The Black Moth," published in 1921, was written at the age of fifteen to amuse her convalescent brother; her last was My Lord John. Although most famous for her historical novels, she also wrote eleven detective stories. Georgette Heyer died in 1974 at the age of seventy-one.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, well-written historical fiction, April 12, 2006

By 

NY film buff "A reader from NY, NY" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Conqueror (Paperback)

Georgette Heyer, best known for her formulaic Regency and Georgian romances, strayed from her usual path long enough to turn out this excellent, entertaining novel. The narrative follows the life and achievements of William, duke of Normandy--better known as William the Conqueror--through the eyes of one of his young knights, the fictional Raoul de Harcourt. Major events of William's life, from his illegitimate birth to his coronation as king of England in 1066, are described with fine period detail. Heyer's rousing treatment of the Battle of Hastings is particularly good, and for the most part, she sticks to the facts. Of course there are a few inaccuracies--credit for the creation of the Bayeux Tapestry, for example, is given to William's wife Matilda of Flanders, although it is known to have been made by the English not long after the Conquest. And did William really beat Matilda in her father's house?! That legendary event probably never took place, but here it makes for a lively episode in the account of William's courtship.

All things considered, lovers of medieval history should find this book, with its colorful descriptions of eleventh-century France and its well-drawn characters, a pleasure to read.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine blending of history and romance, May 27, 2007

By 

Amanda Bartels (Eltham, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Conqueror (Paperback)

This story is a refreshing change to the usual Heyer formula; if you are tired of buckskin breeches and oriental neckcloths, dive into The Conqueror for an entertaining glimpse of the Norman Conquest seen through the eyes of a fictional knight in William of Normandy's retinue.

Written in 1931, the narrative takes William, the title character, from his birth and cradle, through his constant struggles to retain hold on the Duchy of Normandy against rival dukes and the French King himself (her depiction of the defeat of King Henry at the ford of Varaville is particularly well written) to the infamous wrangle over the English crown between himself, Harold Godwineson and Edgar Aetheling and the eventual battle of Hastings.

Like her narrative of the events at Waterloo in An Infamous Army, Heyer is masterly in her battle descriptions; she never shies away from the brutality of war which is quite graphically depicted, and can switch easily from broad sweeping action scenes to intimate close-ups of battle from a individual viewpoint.

William comes across as ruthless and single-minded, which he must have been, but his motivations are understandable due to the circumstances of his illegitimate birth (a sore point with him, evidently) - even though you may despise his cruelty you cannot help but admire his courage and generalship.

The romance between him and Matilda of Flanders shows two equally fierce lovers, and according to historical accounts their devotion and fidelity is accurately written by Heyer, which would have been unusual at a time when heroic love, not courtly love, prevailed. Marriages were arranged to unite kingdoms and cement political alliances. It is an interesting romance of equals which could have been further developed, but unlike most of Heyer's other books, it takes up only a small portion of the story.

The fictitious Raoul de Harcourt, who takes allegiance with William when both are nineteen, is the Conqueror's most devoted knight and becomes his closest friend. Heyer seems to be ambivalent about her title character, as if unsure how the Duke's occasionally unpalatable character will be received: Raoul's observations and feelings are distinctly modern, and he becomes the mediator between the Duke and us, the modern audience. Heyer endows Raoul with a lot of modern sensitivities as a result, to the point where Raoul becomes almost an anachronism in the brutal times in which he lived. Unfortunately Raoul as a device does not let us see more deeply into the mind or heart of the Duke: we end up knowing more about Raoul than his lord, who remains a mystery up to his coronation at the end of the book.

Raoul may be tied to William by both loyalty and true friendship, but he is not slavish - some of William's cruelties sorely try his devotion, and one wonders what he would have made of the Harrying of the North which followed the Conquest a few years later. This is a compliment to Heyer's skill, though; if characters can inspire speculation over fates NOT in the book, then they are well-written.

My other criticism of Raoul is his somewhat formulaic romance with a Saxon lady Elfrida, sister of his friend Edgar, a follower of Harold. It never comes across as convincing, and some of the plot devices to bring them together are too forced to make me care much about their fates.

The problem is that Heyer has made a much warmer and engaging tale of love (in the heroic sense) between her hero and his boss; but then felt it necessary to balance this with a female love interest to woo Raoul away from William's side. Unfortunately Elfrida is so shallowly-drawn you end up wondering if she would have been able to keep him for long anyway.

Her brother Edgar, who is sent as hostage to Normandy and becomes a member of the Norman court, is a far more likeable character, and he brings the necessary Saxon perspective to the tale without being purely a plot device. His inevitable meeting with Raoul on the battlefield at Hastings is sad and quite poignant.

I think Heyer enjoyed writing this book - the pace is excellent and her paintings of the main characters assured. She balances her historical narrative with individual stories and romances, weaving them in and out of each other, so you get a good feel for not only the events surrounding the Norman conquest, but how it affected the lives of both Normans and Saxons and their families.

Occasionally the language comes across as stilted: one can only take so many "by the Rood of God!"s but this is a difficult problem to overcome in any true historical novel and it doesn't threaten the enjoyment of the story. The religious aspect of Norman and Saxon society is handled very well in general, it's there but it doesn't overwhelm.

Overall, an excellent read if you are interested in this part of English history, and want a reasonably true depiction of the Conqueror's life and the times in which he lived, and the events leading up to the Norman Conquest. If you are after a pure romance, though, you may be disappointed. The story is far more biography than romance.

Note: this story has so much of the flavour of Mary Stewart's Arthurian saga of Merlin that I wonder if Stewart read it and became a fan.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent! Breathtaking account of the Invasion of England, October 21, 1999

By 

JAZZ EDZUAN ([e-mail]) (Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Conqueror (Paperback)

History textbooks should all be like this! Heyer's lovely potrayal of William the Conqueror is breathtaking, full of magnificence and romance. It is a story of war, a story of friendship and of love and sorrow. A tale set in a time when chivalry was not dead and the sound of the bugle signalled the start of galloping destriers charging to battle. A fine read and I would recommend it to all out there who have ever believed in knights and damsels in distress.