The novel is set in
the last years of the life of Queen Elizabeth I. Even though nearly fifty years have passed
since the break with the Roman Catholic Church, numerous members of the lower
to middle nobility still rankle at the repression of Catholicism. Many of the families hid Jesuit priests in
their homes. The men they hid had to be
moved frequently because of gossip and rumors, which could quickly lead to a
raid by “pursuant.” The consequences of
hiding a priest could be arrest, torture, seizure of land and titles and even
death. As the queen’s health began to
falter, and her death seemed imminent, the succession to the throne became of
vital importance. The next in line was
the son of Mary Queen of Scots, a catholic daughter of Henry VIII, but she had
been executed by Elizabeth. Her son,
King James VI of Scotland became James I of England. He was a protestant, and while he promised to
relax prohibitions against the Catholics, when he was crowned, he did not keep
his word.
Thomas Percy was related
to the powerful Percy family, and achieved the status in the minor
nobility. Essentially, he was a debt
collector for his patron, and his imposing figure and large sword – forbidden
at the time – made him a powerful leader of a plot to kill James I and his
family. The aim of the plotters was to
restore Catholicism in England.
The novel starts off
a bit slow, and the English spoken sounds a lot like the Elizabethan English of
Shakespeare. Thomas has an intense
interest in the plays at the globe theater, and he makes several passing
comments about a particularly talented poet.
After visiting a “play that man had written, wherein a vengeful son
spoke to his father’s kingly ghost” (33), Tiffany writes, “Thomas’s mind turned
its slow wheels, and finally the thought came clear. It all fit together. A play about Purgatory. Essex, a playgoer, a friend to the Irish in
Ireland so green, and to Catholics at home.
Fiery Hotspur, bold challenger of monarchs, whom the fat Falstaff
pleased to call Gunpowder Percy, a corpse that might rise. Did these strands not combine in a tapestry
depicting one truth? And that truth was
that was that this playwright was one of the secret faithful, holding to the
old religion of Hotspur’s time, two hundred years before! Now, like the rest of them [Thomas] was
biding his time” (33).
These seeds of the
plot, and the passing reference to Hamlet
and Henry IV, along with Thomas’s
belief that Shakespeare was a Catholic, all add to the mystery, suspense and
intrigue. In his 2004 work, the
Shakespeare scholar, Stephen Greenblatt intimated that Shakespeare was a
Catholic and his family may have hidden Father Campion.
I have long been
fascinated by the Tudor period, and Grace Tiffany’s excellent novel, Gunpowder Percy, will interest anyone
with even a slight knowledge of English history. 5 stars.
--Chiron, 5/16/16
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