Envoy Extraordinary [Hardcover]

Nigel G. Tranter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

Patrick of Dunbar was more interested in encouraging the trade generated by the great wool production of his sheep-strewn Lammermuir Hills than in warfare and matters of the state. But these are troubled times, and his trading links are threatened.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Patrick of Dunbar, of noble lineage, was a family man, less interested in warfare and matters of state than in the welfare of the folk of his earldoms and his thriving wool trade. Despite his modest ambitions, however, Patrick was born to play a major role in Scotland¹s affairs. These were troubled times, and the Scottish king, Alexander III, was but a child. Finally, it was the Norsemen and Vikings and their domination of the Scottish islands that drove Patrick to action. Tranter vividly recreates the story of a reluctant hero who summoned all his ingenuity and courage to protect his beloved Scotland. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton; 1st Ed. edition (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340739231
• ISBN-13: 978-0340739235
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,867,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The skirl of the pipes!, December 27, 2002

By 

Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Envoy Extraordinary (Paperback)

After a break of some years,I read Envoy Extraordinary and was swept right back into 13th century Scotland. While accepting the fact that probably only devotees of actual history (as opposed to historical fiction) will read this book, it's the absolute magic of Nigel Tranters writing that transports you back to those difficult and rather savage times. He can take a relatively minor figure of that era and cause the reader to view history in the making. Patrick, Earl of Dunbar and March, becomes one of the panel of regents to the child king,Alexander the 3rd and later, his special envoy to other kingdoms.This takes place at the very end of an era where,hereafter, rebellions and movements against the aggressions of Edward Plantagenet,king of England, and the covetous eyes of the Vikings and Norsemen who laid claim to Scotland, came into being.It's a great read for the history buff and for anyone with Scottish blood in their veins.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scotland Before the Storm, June 28, 2001

By 

James Paris "Tarnmoor" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Envoy Extraordinary (Hardcover)

Nigel Tranter's historical novels are so many windows into Scotland's tragic history, ranging from the days of the Druids through the Middle Ages and the struggles for independence to our own time. Typically (the Robert the Bruce trilogy is a notable exception), he takes either a minor or even fictional character and makes him the lens through which the characters and deeds of the times are experienced.

ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY is no exception. Patrick, Earl of Dunbar and March, is made to serve as a mirror to the short reign of Alexander III (1249-1286) -- the last legitimate monarch before Edward I of England ("The Hammer of the Scots") asserted his claims over the realm, leading to the Wars of the Bruces and the short career of William Wallace. As such, a pall of doom hangs over the story as Alexander's reign winds to a close.

Things begin hopefully enough: Despite a long and troubled regency after the sudden death of his father in the Western Isles, Alexander asserts himself by winning a decisive victory over the Norse and their Hebridean allies at Largs (1264), after which Norway renounced all claims to the Hebrides: Never again would Viking raids be a major threat to the Scots. It is the growing aggressiveness of Edward I to the south that become ever more worrisome to the young monarch.

The anxiety finds a focus in the historical character of Thomas Learmonth, known as Thomas the Rhymer or True Thomas, whose prophecies of doom clouded Alexander's last days as he sees his hopes for maintaining his dynasty crumble before his accidental death from falling off a horse. Earl Patrick serves his monarch well to the end, and then sadly returns to his lands resolved to involve himself no longer as an envoy for the monarchy. In a brief epilogue, Tranter describes how the end of the dynasty led directly to the Wars of Independence.

While not the best of Tranter's work (the Bruce Trilogy takes that honor), ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY is a great read for those who, like me, prefer a large dollop of history with their fiction.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ambassadorial travels of the merchant Earl of Dunbar, December 23, 2000

By 

David L Bradford (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Envoy Extraordinary (Paperback)

An interesting tale of Patrick, the 7th Earl of Dunbar, merchant and errand-man for Alexander III, King of Scots. The story follows Patrick's royal service to Scotland starting from the time of Alexander's ascension to the throne as a boy. Patrick is a skilled Scottish merchant-lord, who also puts his worldly knowledge and shipping resources to use as one of Alexander's most successful ambassadors. The story, and Patrick's service to Alexander, ends with the unlucky king's untimely and bizarre death, setting the stage for the period in Scotland's history so colorfully (if not completely accurately) portrayed in the movie "Braveheart".

Compared to its prequel, "Sword of State", this book has more the flavor of a novel due to better use of character dialogue. It's an easier read, with not quite as flat a coverage of the historical facts as was the prior book. But Tranter's masterpiece is still "The Bruce Trilogy", which has that "can't put it down" quality that this book doesn't quite manage.