The young Prince was hated by his father, his powerful cousin, and challenged by a personal foe known only to his wife, his priest, and his alchemist.This is the story of the resolute dreamer Louis and his supporters, who saw a nation s unrealized potential and its way to greatness. Renowned author Lawrence Schoonover weaves a vibrant story of an inspirational victory over tremendous odds.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Lawrence Schoonover, successful author of highly popular historical and biographical novels, passed away in 1983, but left a legacy of exceptionally readable and thoroughly researched works of great interest to lovers of history, adventure, and romance.Schoonover was born in Iowa and graduated from the University of Wisconsin before moving to New York to work for a large advertising agency. In the spring of 1948 he began research for what was later published as The Burnished Blade, the novel which immediately won him critical accolades and was chosen as a Literary Guild selection. This success allowed Schoonover to continue his writing. Many editions and millions of copies of his works have been printed and translated into eight languages including Spanish and Norwegian. Among his highly acclaimed works are The Spider King, a novel of King Louis XI who united France, The Queen s Cross about Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile and their reconquest of Spain, and Gentle Infidel which tells the story of the son of a Venetian merchant who grows up to become a Turkish Janissary during the Turkish conquest of Constantinople.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excllent biographical novel of Louis XI of France,
By
This review is from: Spider King: A Biographical Novel of Louis XI of France (Hardcover)
The Spider King is a wonderful account of the life of Louis XI of France, a very modern king at the end of the feudal age. This organizational genius established the borders of France, and France as a country, basically as we know it today. His intitiatives resulted in a strong central government with participation by the people, the destruction of feudalism, an excellent road system, reliable postal service, and uniform laws. However, his real gift was for intrigue, hence, his nickname, the Spider King. He used a network of spies not only in the upper echelons of governments, but also among the people themselves. By this method, he incited uprisings in the states of rival lords, funded foreign states in wars against his enemies, assassinated pretenders to the crown and won the hearts of his subjects. All this he accomplished in spite of having physical deformities and epilepsy in an age when these were viewed as demonic. Mr. Schoonover's account is historically accurate, but has enough embellishment to make the inhabitants of the 15th century real to the reader.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
excellent biographic novel about Louis XI, the Spider King,
By A Customer
This review is from: Spider King: A Biographical Novel of Louis XI of France (Hardcover)
This is an historical novel about Louis XI, a king of France in the 15th century. It was slow going at first for 2 or 3 chapters where Louis (or the dauphin) is born and grows. From the moment he is defeated by Charles VII-his father, the ineffectual fool surrounded by able ministers and his struggles to reform first his land Dauphiny, and then all of France, I could not put the book down. This gives glimpes into the court lives of the 15th century, and the furious scheming and politics of the time. Louis-ascetic, serious, secretive-does not seem to have been a really likable sort, but you cannot help sympathize with him. This is a wonderful book and not least the fact that you want to find out more about Louis XI proves this.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well-done fictional account of a fascinating life,
By
This review is from: The Spider King (Paperback)
Schoonover was a popular historical novelist in the 1950s but is largely forgotten today, unfortunately. His first novel, The Burnished Blade, set in France in the mid-15th century, was a bestseller. This one shares the same time and place, more or less, but with an entirely different set of characters -- except for the great financier, Jacques Coeur, who was a major figure in the earlier book, and has only a minor supporting role in this one. The subject is the life of King Louis XI, son of Charles VII (the monarch whom Joan of Arc crowned and otherwise a complete waste of space), one of the first "modern" monarchs, a progenitor of the Renaissance and of Humanism -- though he likely wouldn't have understood either term, really. But he knew the difference between the old, feudal way of ruling and the new, practical way. Louis preferred winning the battle over fighting chivalrously and losing. He was a courageous fighter in his youth, and if he found himself unable to defeat an enemy knight in combat, he would kill the enemy horse, then dispatch the knight on his way to the ground. Machiavelli later thought highly of his methods. The story follows Louis's progress from childhood through early manhood, when his father learned not to trust him (he was far more intelligent than his old man, who was made uncomfortable by the fact) and forced him into internal exile in the Dauphiné. Louis reformed the province, made it run efficiently, gave the people a certain amount of self-government, revolutionized its economy and its military (he was in love with the new technology of artillery), and made both admiring friends and deadly enemies. His father finally attacked the Dauphiné and Louis had to flee to his uncle, Duke Philip "the Good" of Burgundy -- one of the most glittering courts of the age. Philip's son, however, Charles "the Bold," became a lifelong enemy of France and that enmity took up a large portion of Louis's life. But Louis won it all in the long run, pushing his country's borders out to their present extent, centralizing the government, breaking the power of the great aristocrats, and (though he was a thorough autocrat) laying the groundwork for government by the people. Most of the historical interpretation is reasonable, though the author naturally dramatizes events that might not have been so eye-catching in real life. Nearly all the players, too, are real people, with the notable exception of Henri Le Clerq, Louis's chief of artillery, whose bastardy adds a thread of intrigue to the story. The narrative style is very much that of a storyteller and even if you already know, in a general way, what's going to happen, you won't want to put it down until you -- and Louis -- both reach the end.
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