Review: Philippa of Hainault/John of Gaunt by Kathryn Warner

Serendipitously, the paperback version of Philippa of Hainault and the hardback version of John of Gaunt (Philippa's son) came out at similar times, and the lovely people at Amberley sent me copies of both.

Of course, I started with the biography of Philippa. I found Warner's approach refreshing, and very much enjoyed reading the personal story of the wife of Edward III, beginning with what is known of her childhood and the very difficult early years of her marriage when she and Edward were very much in the shadow of his mother and her co-conspirator Mortimer.

What came across so strongly in Warner's narrative is the personalities of those involved in the stories. Whilst the author debunks many myths, including the claim that Isabella and Mortimer were lovers, she imbues her story with anecdotes and snippets which give glimpses into the characters of the people involved. I was left with a clear impression about the nature of Philippa and her husband and they are presented as rounded personalities, while the author remains analytical, sticks to the known facts and cites primary sources without wandering off into any reveries about what they might have done/thought/said. Warner is a skilled narrator indeed.

I felt, however, that the author might have their work cut out in endearing me to John of Gaunt. To me he's never been an attractive character, but it's so rare to be able to read a biography about one historical character and then straight away dive into one about their son, that I was intrigued. Warner gives John of Gaunt a fair treatment, by which I mean all the reasons for his unpopularity are laid out but again, we are given touching little details, such as his proven devotion to his mother. Also detailed and interesting was the examination of Gaunt's relationships with Blanche of Lancaster and Katherine Swynford.

Both of these books are excellent history books, but they are more than that. They are stories of real people, who come to life. I'd not read works by Kathryn Warner before. She is now one of those whose books I'll automatically read, regardless of the title, because I'm so impressed by the way she approaches her subject matter.

Many thanks to Amberley for providing review copies.

Find the author's books here

Skills Workshops: How to Handle a Gladius with Alison Morton's Carina Mitela

Last year, I invited a number of authors to send suitable characters from their books to interview for an imaginary job in my imaginary company. Now a New Year is upon us, and as CEO of this company I've decided that my workforce needs to learn new skills for 2022. I've invited some more characters along to the blog, this time to deliver some workshops, and my employees have gathered in the gym for the last of the sessions.

In charge today is a Roma Novan captain and two of her centurions. Please stay behind the safety ropes until instructed otherwise and Simons, that does mean you, too...

Over to you, Captain!

[Photo below courtesy of Britannia www.durolitum.co.uk]

Salve! I’m Captain Carina Mitela from the Praetorian Guard Special Forces of Roma Nova and Dr Whitehead has asked me to come along today to show you some basics about using a Roman gladius. Although as a 21st century military unit we use state of the art weapons, we ‘encourage’ all our soldiers to train with the gladius as it hones close quarter battle skills and survival instincts. 

With fifty centimetres of carbon steel meanness coming at you, you learn to move fast!

Which books am I in?

I feature in four thrillers set in an alternative timeline. INCEPTIO where I start as a sporty but basically innocent civilian hunted by a crazy person and then flee to Roma Nova, my late mother’s homeland. Next, in CARINA, I undertake my first overseas mission as a rookie officer in the Guard. It was supposed to be simple, but you know how these things go… In PERFIDITAS, there’s betrayal – personal, professional and political – and nobody comes out of it particularly well. Last, in SUCCESSIO, I face the worst – heartbreak, conspiracy and a vicious wrecker who threatens my family and Roma Nova itself. 

As we’re descendants of Romans, we use Latin. But don’t worry, we’re good with working in English. And you can no doubt hear my New World accent. I was raised in the Eastern United States – that’s the part east of the Mississippi stretching to the Atlantic coast. West of the river belongs to the Indigenous Nations until you get to the Spanish Empire states on the Pacific coast. 

Centurions Livius and Servla here to help me also have good English. He’s the tall one with blond curls; she’s the short one with the serious look. 

Okay, let’s get to it.

Using a gladius effectively is not an easy skill and it takes constant practice. However, it gets younger soldiers over the mental leap of being in close personal contact with their opponent, something that goes against our natural social inclination against invading another human being’s personal space. 

Today, we’re going to demonstrate some techniques and then invite you to try some of them yourselves. We’ve brought a dozen practice swords, lightweight helmets with hinged mesh masks and leather protective vests lined with Kevlar. The vests will stop a serious wound, although you may get a few bruises. But I understand you’ve all signed the waiver. [AW looks around for the HR representative, who nods assurance.]

You’ll see round shields on the bench which are a similar type to those used by fourth century Romans. The traditional curved rectangular scutum used a few hundred years before weighs between eight to ten kilograms, so we thought adding that into a first training session might be a little ambitious. Maybe another time. 

You’ll notice the three of us instructing are wearing the lorica, a chain mail shirt. It’s lighter than the ancient version and it’s also lined with Kevlar. It’s our standard training wear for gladius practice but weighs about four to five kilograms. Anybody wish to try one? No? Very sensible. Your leather and Kevlar vests will work well enough today.

Okay, some safety rules:

• It’s fine to hinge the mesh mask up when watching at the side, but the minute you come to practice, the mask goes over the face.

• Do not pick the sword up and wave it around like a klutz. Even the training gladius has a sharp enough edge to draw blood.

• Never turn your back on anybody holding a sword.

• If you need to stop for whatever reason, shout ‘pax’. Nobody will think any the less of you. If you feel emotions getting too much, also fine to withdraw.

• Lastly, forget all the crap you saw in the movies.

Okay, first six buckle up. Get into pairs and check each other. Check all the tabs are firmly closed on the vests and the safety buckles on.  Ditto the helmets and chinstraps. Then fall back into a line behind the yellow marker and one metre apart. That’s three feet in old money.

Livius and Paula will demonstrate the front jab, the classic legionary move. Right foot forward, left foot at an angle to stabilise. Not a lunge or you move too far out of line and risk falling on your face. You also leave your comrade’s flank exposed. The gladius is short, so you don’t need to pull your arm back exposing your armpit – a really vulnerable point. Nor does a jab mean you have to swing your arm to get momentum as you do with a heavier, longer weapon, also meaning you expose that same armpit and often the neck.

At the end of the jab, you twist to horizontal. This can be to cause more damage in your enemy’s flesh or to free it from a dead one’s body. Twist strengthens your wrist but is for practice only, unless some idiot is trying to kill you. Then all that practice pays off.

[Students practice jab in a line]

Using the shield

Now, two volunteers, take a shield each, get a good grip on the handle on the inside with your left hand and try a jab at my colleagues. Don’t hold back!

[Students end up on the floor.]

Okay, that was a little unfair – I apologise. But as you can see, the shield is also a good weapon. It’s not just for defence.  The momentum is directed forward from your left hand, through the metal boss protruding from the front. A targeted shove will knock your opponent off balance or even push the opponent onto the ground where you can finish them off with your sword. Or a shield thrust can Practiced warriors can use the shield to force a chin up and break a jaw or slice and disable legs, arms or anything else. Livius and Servla will demonstrate.

Okay, second six, some jabbing practice, then shields.

[Five minutes allowed]

Okay, stop now. That’s good.  A word about slashing with the edges. The gladius is also very effective for this, but the jab was the key move for Ancient Romans, at least until it got into the dirty and personal part of the battle. A tight line of close-ranked and disciplined soldiers moving as one and with a regular row of lethal weapons was a machine for killing. Each soldier protected the one to their left and could concentrate on bringing the fight to the enemy. But it takes nerve and training to fight effectively that close. Shall we give it a try?

Remember, have faith in your comrade to the right who is protecting you with their shield and use the shield on your left arm to protect your comrade to your left. Okay, move in closer to each, gladius up to the middle of the edge of your shield. Now advance steadily, and jab! Retract swords, advance three more steps, and thrust.

Now, to finish, get into pairs, each with a shield and gladius and have a go at each other. No fatalities, please!

[Five minutes allowed]

Okay well done. Bring your gladius to your side, point down. On my mark, turn toward the wall with the door, then walk slowly toward the bench and lay swords on the bench and shield underneath. Then step over to the table and take the protective vest and helmets off.

Well done, everybody. I hope you enjoyed today. Servla, Livius and I certainly did. 

[AW: Particularly glad to see that Simons has not injured himself, or anyone else.] 

Just to finish, here’s an excerpt from SUCCESSIO when I was practising a specialist manoeuvre with Livius:

I heard cheering, shouting of bets placed, heckling, but filtered most of it out. I had to concentrate on Livius’s weapon slicing the air and jabbing at me and his attempts to defeat me. I was used to the merciless force, but he was wearing me down. Sweat ran down my back and between my breasts with the effort of thrusting and dodging.

I must have been crazy to do this. I felt a rush of fear mixed with adrenalin as I leapt over the chain to avoid a vicious stab. Gods, he was furious now, his eyes as hard as stones. As I dodged faster and faster, I missed my step, he tripped me and I crashed to the ground. As I went down I pulled him to earth with me. As he fell, I used the momentum to throw him over my head while I rolled away. We both scrambled up, panting, measuring each other up.

The violence in his eyes, now tearing with the dust we’d raised, made me determined to finish this quickly. As we sprang up, I feinted to the right, distracting him, leapt into his now opened guard area. Using my whole body, I felled him and landed hard on his chest. Within nanoseconds I had jerked my elbow up to the grey sky, my wrist and arm in one straight hard line. I took a quick shallow breath. The tip of my sword grazed his throat. My hand was poised ready to thrust downwards.

For a few seconds I thought he was going to try something stupid like bringing his sword up from behind and slash my unguarded flesh. His hand was trapped under his body, but his right hand was still free holding the lethal blade. 

‘Drop it.’ I pushed the sword tip harder against the stretched tan skin of his throat, just nicking the surface. A tiny spot of red seeped out.

His eyes narrowed, making them darker. His mouth was still a single hard line. The shouting and heckling from the audience had died. Intense stares lapped at us, but nobody moved.

‘C’mon, Livius,’ I whispered. ‘Give it up. I’m dying for a drink.’ 

The rigid body under me seemed to harden. Suddenly, it relaxed, and I was sitting on softening flesh. The fire in his eyes subsided and a ghost of a grin flitted across his lips. He uncurled his hand and released his blade. 

I stood up and brandished mine in the air with a shout of ‘Victis’. Flavius came forward and, mildly pompous like any referee, declared it finished. I ignored the applause and exuberant shouting around us.

I glanced down at Livius. ‘Friends?’

‘Of course,’ he replied. He smiled then shrugged.

Goody bag!

Don’t forget to pick up your gift bag which contains amongst other things a certificate for today plus a voucher from the Roma Nova tourist office which entitles you to a free pass to all the sites if you visit. Which I hope you will. Thank you for your attendance and for your immaculate and safe performance.

More about our adventures

You can find them here: https://www.alison-morton.com 

and buy my first adventure, INCEPTIO, here: https://books2read.com/INCEPTIO

And that concludes this series. Our previous guest was Fred Kung and you can see his Q&A session here.