 ...storytelling ...forms a layer in the foundation of the world; and glinting in it we see the trace
elements of every tribe on earth.
Frank Delaney
“Ireland< /st1:place>”
By Frank L. Kaplan
This expansive and timely historical novel should not be taken lightly or read hastily. For the narrative – jam-packed with facts; heraldic and military titles; extrinsic place names and dates; and an assemblage of real and fictional characters — reads in places more like a text book than a literary work. This stems from the author’s evident extensive research about the empires, events, territories and communities that serve as the novel’s setting — southeastern Europe in the mid-15th century.
The importance of the period Wells acknowledges from the onset: “This book is an attempt to reveal the events, which led to the Age of Discovery and the rise of nationalism in the European consciousness, in a different light than ‘official’ history teaches us.”
Wells’ protagonist is Lorian Comosicus, heir to his dead father’s knighthood. In his teens when we first meet him, Lorian lives with his grandfather in a mountain village called Silverfir in a part of today’s Romania.
As the curtain rises on this engaging tale, the village chieftain summons Lorian and entrusts the youth with taking an “epistle” across the Carpathian Mountains and delivering it to the castellan of the Red Tower, a fortress in Transylvania. He’s accompanied on the perilous journey by his younger brother Silvan.
On route the brothers become entangled in numerous adventures and chance upon sundry characters, including Sir Gregor Dhar Atair, “one of the most valiant knights of Christendom,” and member of the Exubitors. This “mysterious brotherhood” believes that “no one should be allowed to absolutely predominate over the world.” Its members, as a result, are committed to preventing such an event from happening.
In Sir Atair’s company, the brothers continue their journey until they ultimately end up in the city of Hermannstadt, a leading administrative and trading hub about to be besieged by Ottoman armies.
To the unsuspecting reader, the initial chapters may seem baffling due to the staggering array of foreign and unfamiliar terms that pepper the narrative. Wells, however, provides a 29-page glossary that allows readers to navigate through the maze of old-world titles, military terms and ranks and place-names of old.
While the novel on the surface reads like an adventure story, also present is a strong undercurrent reflecting present-day somber realities about religion and religious truths, and those who covet the power to interpret them.
At one point, for example, after witnessing a barbaric scene perpetrated by Ottoman soldiers outside one of Hermannstadt’s gates, Lorian expresses a strong desire to “sending Sultan Murad to hell where he belongs.” In response, Sir Altair mentors the young squire that “to indulge in judging who’s right and who’s wrong is a fallacy of the worst kind, for the chain of evil deeds goes deep into the maze of time and cannot be traced to its beginning.”
“In their struggle,” the knight explains, “both Muslims and Christians allow themselves to be allured by the same error. Both judge the other and demand retribution for the wrongs they have suffered. Neither can bear the truth that, on both sides, men driven by religious fervor and the uncontrollable desire for power and possession committed evil deeds. . . .
“The sultan must be stopped,” he says, “not because of the barbarism you saw” but because “a world possessed by divisiveness and intolerance is fertile ground for those men whose nature it is to wage war until nothing is left in front of them.”
A native of Romania, Wells spent much of his boyhood in the rugged mountains and forests of Transylvania. In a recent interview, the author mentioned that while living with his grandparents in a modest forest cottage in this harsh, yet beautiful, expanse, he acquired a love for history, particularly of the Middle Ages with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe. He also determined “to become a writer one day.” His determination stemmed largely from being inspired by Jack London’s writings. But there was a qualifier: Wells would not write in his native language; and not until he emigrated to the United States and learned English would he begin to write.
The reason for this delayed entrance into the literary world was that he grew up during the Cold War, in a country that was part of the Soviet Commonwealth. And while Romania, under Ceausescu’s rule, seemed outwardly less influenced by Moscow’s authority, compared to some other satellites in its orbit, it nonetheless was a Communist state where freedom of speech did not exist. Wells knew he would not be able to write freely, without official interference, until he moved to the West.
This work of fiction (and the volumes to follow) is a testament to the author’s dedication to and fondness for medieval history.
This fervor for historical knowledge among the peoples of the region, especially history of the Middle Ages when many of the small nation-states now comprising central and south-eastern Europe had reached their zenith of prominence, has helped them to sustain their respective languages and national consciousness and to survive the subsequent prolonged periods of domination by powers that emerged in the western parts of the Continent.
Readers who relished “The Sword and the Shield of the Realm” will do doubt welcome the second novel in the series, “The Field of the Blackbirds,” which is scheduled to be published by year’s end.
Frank L. Kaplan is a retired professor who writes from Wheat Ridge, Colorado
(kaplanf@colorado.edu)
|
