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Housecarl

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HOUSECARL is a fitting tribute to the housecarls of Saxon England, argueably the finest infantry of Europe at the time. Their most effective battle tactic being the shield wall, housecarls were the professional bodyguards of the king and other nobles and formed the core of Saxon armies. While HOUSECARL is not a great novel, lacking the deeper-etched characters and more intricate subplots of better fiction, it is a decent read and a good way to learn about a fascinating time in English history. Perhaps the best novel about the events of 1066 and one told from the Norman point of view is Cecelia Holland's THE FIREDRAKE. Mr. Brown offers an excellent historical note at the end of the book, which discusses intriguing aspects of the history behind the story. One wonders, had Mr. Brown had written a history instead of a novel, if we might have had a very fine book indeed. With these caveats, I recommend HOUSECARLS, especially to those who know little of the period.

This story of Harold II and the Battle of Hastings is told from the perspective of one of the king's housecarls (fighting men with sworn loyalty to the king to fight for him till their deaths). Ranulf has spent his life fighting and most of the book deals with the nature of the housecarl position in 11th century England. A tiny bit of romance is added to the story, but only to the effect that it humanized Ranulf. He has sworn to fight to the death - but now has someone else for whom to live. Other housecarls are also introduced - each with a personal story that, again, humanizes the men behind the shield wall. So many books and movies have amazing battle scenes. You watch the "many" fight and die but the story hinges almost exclusively around one key figure and it's his life or death that intrigues...no one else really matters. Laurence Brown has given you characters (however fictional) that help you to grasp the battle from the perspective of the fighting man. Naturally, you get a great deal of story dealing with Harold, William, Edith and all of the 1066 regulars. One noticeable absence was Aldith (his legally wedded queen). I enjoyed the deletion from the story. I think that the love triangle often overshadows the true leader and military tactician that was King Harold II of England

As Edward the Confessor, the Saxon king of England, lies dying in his palace, he gives the nod for kingship to Harold Godwinesson, his brother-in-law and oldest son of his old enemy, Earl Godwine of Wessex. But Edward had been raised in Normandy and, years before, had promised the succession to his cousin, the young Norman Duke William, called the Bastard for the unfortunate circumstances of his birth. When William learns of Edward's reversal and Harold's accession to the throne, he takes the matter rather badly, thinking his claim better than Harold's. Complicating things, the Norwegian king Harald Hardraada (Harald Hard-Counsel), a giant of a man who has never lost a battle and spent his youth as a mercenary captain in the service of the Byzantine emperor, also covets the throne of England.

And so the stage is set as this book opens, recounting the events of the fateful year, 1066, when Harold Godwinesson became king of England, at the Confessor's death, and two strong-willed Viking descendants opposed him. The new king of England was himself part Danish so he, too, counted Vikings among his forbears. This novel gives us the events immediately leading up to the two fateful battles Harold Godwinesson would fight to defend his throne, the first in the north against a ruthless Viking monarch and the second in the south, at a place called Hastings, against a bastard duke who would come to be called William the Conqueror and would thereby change the course of English history.

It's a sad and tragic tale of ambition and high-mindedness as brother betrays brother and the last English king of the old order lurches down a pathway to his own destruction, driven by pride and events beyond his control. The story follows the actions of the king's champion, Ranulf, as he struggles to serve his king honorably, even while discovering love with a local tavern maid, a love that threatens to unman him at a time of his greatest need. Although the first 100 pages are a bit slow, this tale of the dual invasion of the English coast and Harald's desperate attempts to confront and defeat the foreigners, carries you along. The final battle at Hastings alone is worth the price of this book. It is vivid and bloody and tears your heart out. Though we know how it must end, the sorrow at a king's fall is in no way diminished . . . a well-told tale out of English history, the tragic turning point that made England the land it was to be!

It's 1066, the last time that England will ever be invaded by foreign troops. King Edward the Confessor has just died, and Anglo-Saxon England will never be the same.

On his deathbed, the venerable Edward has bequeathed the crown to young Harold Godwineson. Harold is eager to assume the royal mantel and for a few moments, it appears as if the sovereign state leadership will pass easily from one to another. Alas, as history and as Laurence J. Brown have it, it is not to be. For across the Channel another awaits the call. William the Bastard, later to be called the Conqueror, had also been promised the crown by Edward. Thus begins perhaps one of the most famous years and military events in Western Civilization-the Norman Invasion.

Brown, however, makes "Housecarl" more than a history lesson. The title is the name of the king's specially-trained and favorite warriors ("the cream of the English army") and Harold's personal champion Ranulf Redbeard sets out to recruit others, as he knows that Harold will need all the help he can get. The author presents expertly and candidly the complexities of this famous year, from Harold and William on down to the peasant stock. Everyone is involved in the impending invasion from Normandy. Even with a myriad of personal intrigues among the two central powers, yet there are others. The King of Norway also feels he should be king of England (through a convulted network of genealogy) and even Harold's own brother Tostig seeks the crown.

Ah, what a tangled web we weave. Graphic and colorful, suspenseful and atmospheric, "Housecarl" not only gives us a very readable accounting of 1066 but of the individuals involved, real or otherwise. It is a book not easily forgotten. And a good read!

I recently have become an enthusiast of historical re-enactment. I came across this book while searching for information to help me with the Saxon Huscarl personna. There is a lot of historical data out there but so far, I haven't found much to help with how it was. This book is fantastic because it is a historical fiction novel, it puts you right there in the thick of things with real emotions and backgrounds of what led up to the battle of Hastings. I now feel as though I can accurately portrait a Saxon Huscarl because I not only understand the history but have been able to "experience it" to some extent thanks to this fantastic book.
Completely recommend it to anyone who likes to be entertained, regardless of your interest in histor.

This is another worthy story about Harold I & William of Normandy which will culminate into the Battle of Hastings, October 14, 1066. The characters are realistically portrayed, even the fictional ones, such as Ranulf Redbeard, personal champion and housecarl of King Harold. Several events led up to the inevitable historical battle of 1066 and the characters endure almost all of them.

King Harold is beset by dreams that would unfortunately come true. After being held prisoner by William in Normandy in 1064 for several months his only escape becomes coercion by William that he swears allegiance, on holy relics, to him especially when he comes to claim the English throne. As a short amount of time passes he is called to Edward the Confessor's deathbed and is bequeathed the throne.

He takes the throne uneasily knowing he has promised William his loyalty. This thought plagues him throughout his short reign. He is a king besieged by conscience and another major battle with Harald Hardraada, the warrior King of Norway. If Harold hadn't had to fight him and then accomplish a forced march back south to confront William, English history would have been forever changed.

This was a truly engaging story even though; I like many others know the tragic outcome. This novel was deserving of better editing, however, so there wouldn't have been glaring proofreading, grammatical and historical errors. I sincerely want to read more of this author's work without these types of errors. I highly recommend HOUSECARL.

[...].

It took several months for my copy of "Housecarl" to arrive, and my anticipation was keen. The story itself is riveting, with overwhelming historical significance. How different would our world be, had the Norman invasion met a Saxon army that was rested and up to strength? We know the outcome, so the suspense must derive from our concern for individual characters. This is the novel's strength and weakness: intriguing portraits of the doomed Harold and an admirable hero, the housecarl Ranulf, are diminished by sideplots involving characters that seemed either too modern or entirely irrelevant.

While I enjoyed the book, Housecarl would have benefited from better editing, not to mention decent proofreading and typesetting. There was hardly a page that didn't contain a typo, missing indentation or line space, or some grammatical glitch. Mr. Brown deserves a better publisher next time around.

This book was recommended to me by a friend and I have to admit to being sceptical about reading what I thought was a history book,(not my scene). Prepare to be proved wrong all those who think (like I did) that a book about the Battle of Hastings will be boring.
The author has done an excellent job of combining fact with fiction in such a way that will make you want to keep on reading. The battle scenes are described so vividly that you could almost be there.
After reading this book I certainly want to visit the site of Hastings, knowing that with the authors attention to detail, I will be able to imagine how it must have looked and felt to be standing there ready for battle in 1066.
I thank Mr Brown for not only providing me with a very good read, but also for teaching me a bit of history about my home country.
I look forward to any future books that Laurence J. Brown will be writing and can guarantee they will be on my wish list.

I was eagerly anticipating the arrival of this new book, but was disappointed in it as soon as I began reading. The first paragraph described in various sentences a screaming, evil, elemental, mocking, driving, blinding, and stinging wind. I had a sinking feeling, and prayed that the rest of the book wouldn't be written in such overheated prose. Alas, my hopes were dashed. This book could have -should have- been so much better. I'd heard the year 1066 mentioned often as a major turning point in Western history, and only had some vague ideas as to what really happened. By writing a historical novel, Mr. Brown has done a marvelous job at making the events understandable and easy to remember. But the writing style gets in the way. Florid adjectives, and worn-out stock phrases abound. It reads like a bad romance novel. But, in spite of all that, I'm glad I read it to the end. The book gives a clear picture of the times. In fact, the book is primarily visual in the way it conveys information, as if it were describing a movie. Perhaps the authors greatest talent lies in painting vivid word-scenes rather than in the nettlesome task of wordsmithing.