Some secrets of "Edward" revealed.
It is normal for novelists to do their research before they write the book. “Edward” is not a normal novel, and I was faithful to the visions Edward gave me. It was obvious, even when writing, that his spirit was sometimes economical with the truth, as I say in the book, and my research has been done after writing the visions down. Any other method would have tainted the story, how would we have known what I wrote wasn’t a simple echo my reading? There is research in the book, but until now I have respected Edward’s shyness about many issues, particularly his family.
Here then I shall open more of the truth about Edward.
The flour store fight: at first I was reluctant even to admit the scene took place at Alnwick Castle; it gives away too much of the story. Now let us reveal the young man who tried to kill Edward, and why.
“Henry Algernon Percy was well looked after and brought up at the court of Henry VII, while his sisters' marriages were the object of careful negotiation. He was made K.B.21 November 1489, at the time when Prince Arthur was created Prince of Wales.”
So says Wikipedia, but it fails to give a full flavour of this young man, who would become 5th earl of Northumberland and whose life somewhat paralleled Edward’s own.
It is normal for novelists to do their research before they write the book. “Edward” is not a normal novel, and I was faithful to the visions Edward gave me. It was obvious, even when writing, that his spirit was sometimes economical with the truth, as I say in the book, and my research has been done after writing the visions down. Any other method would have tainted the story, how would we have known what I wrote wasn’t a simple echo my reading? There is research in the book, but until now I have respected Edward’s shyness about many issues, particularly his family.
Here then I shall open more of the truth about Edward.
The flour store fight: at first I was reluctant even to admit the scene took place at Alnwick Castle; it gives away too much of the story. Now let us reveal the young man who tried to kill Edward, and why.
“Henry Algernon Percy was well looked after and brought up at the court of Henry VII, while his sisters' marriages were the object of careful negotiation. He was made K.B.21 November 1489, at the time when Prince Arthur was created Prince of Wales.”
So says Wikipedia, but it fails to give a full flavour of this young man, who would become 5th earl of Northumberland and whose life somewhat paralleled Edward’s own.
|
Henry was a little over a year older than Edward. His father, the 4th earl, had been killed by a mob, possibly in revenge for the death of Richard III, when Henry was 12 years old.
The Percys had been as powerful in the North as Edward’s family had been in the Welsh Marches, the vacuum in government left by the 4th earl’s death was filled by a council under the earl of Surrey, acting as lieutenant to the king’s son, Prince Arthur. It would be very many years before Henry could gain personal control. |
|
So why should Alianore’s brother try to kill Edward? It is certain Alianore and Henry knew what Lady Margaret had just discovered about Eadie, they had probably known about the relationship much longer. Alianore was jealous, and her younger brother Henry was under her thumb. If it seems a poor reason for Henry actually to want to kill, that is what Father Joseph thought also, and a very much less relaxed reaction followed an undeniable assassination
attempt by strangers.
Although Henry was not a royal prince as Edward was, there is a question why two magnates with such similar interests never became closer political allies, and certainly Henry VIII feared it, he imprisoned Henry in 1512 because he might stand too close to Edward. Perhaps the reason for coolness was the returning of the knife at Alnwick, as great a stain on honour as if the Northumbrian had disarmed Edward at Brecon.
A small thought about the host at Alnwick, ‘my lord’ might have been Surrey but, as Father Joseph spoke of ‘business between this house and the Church,’ I believe it might more properly have been ‘my lord arch-bishop,’ indeed Thomas Savage, archbishop of York, took over Henry’s council from the earl of Surrey in 1494.
attempt by strangers.
Although Henry was not a royal prince as Edward was, there is a question why two magnates with such similar interests never became closer political allies, and certainly Henry VIII feared it, he imprisoned Henry in 1512 because he might stand too close to Edward. Perhaps the reason for coolness was the returning of the knife at Alnwick, as great a stain on honour as if the Northumbrian had disarmed Edward at Brecon.
A small thought about the host at Alnwick, ‘my lord’ might have been Surrey but, as Father Joseph spoke of ‘business between this house and the Church,’ I believe it might more properly have been ‘my lord arch-bishop,’ indeed Thomas Savage, archbishop of York, took over Henry’s council from the earl of Surrey in 1494.
A matter of 2 murders
The Kama Sutra, which I and so many others read as a teenager, is not merely a manual for sexual practice; it is a manual for life and relationships. According to this ancient work, the very worst relationship is a marriage between a female of superior quality and a lesser male. In these present days of gender equality a mismatch of this sort can be damaging to the superior person, whether female or male. In a wider sense, a marriage between an inferior ruler and a superior nation is damaging to the whole population. Those of higher karmic standing are held back and limited, maybe even perverted, by bonds of loyalty to that inferior ruler.
In Tudor times this was graphically demonstrated. In the reign of Henry VIII by the lives of Polydore Vergil and Sir Thomas More, who were perverted, and Erasmus and John Collett, who were held back. In the reign of Henry VII it was Edward Stafford who was held back and certainly there were attempts to pervert his nature.
One such attempt is described in “Growing Up,” Edward’s forced complicity in the judicial murder of Sir William Stanley. You can see how his loyalty in this was rewarded by being made a Garter Knight – you can also see why Thomas was unimpressed.
There was another, similar episode. As I was writing Edward’s story, I was constantly prompted to mention Edward, earl of Warwick – and to explore Edward Stafford’s fear and guilt over the Earl’s death. Taking part in the judicial murder of Warwick may have saved Edward’s own life, but this was a matter of high politics, to remove a legitimate and dangerous claimant to the crown. Edward did not rebel. A writer has a duty to exercise economy, let Stanley stand for both himself and Warwick, and let this admission exorcise Edward’s guilt over both their deaths.
In chapter 1, I like to think Edward's soul smiled, in that second vision, because, in being murdered by Henry VIII, the karma of the deaths of Edward, earl of Warwick and Sir William Stanley was redeemed.
The Kama Sutra, which I and so many others read as a teenager, is not merely a manual for sexual practice; it is a manual for life and relationships. According to this ancient work, the very worst relationship is a marriage between a female of superior quality and a lesser male. In these present days of gender equality a mismatch of this sort can be damaging to the superior person, whether female or male. In a wider sense, a marriage between an inferior ruler and a superior nation is damaging to the whole population. Those of higher karmic standing are held back and limited, maybe even perverted, by bonds of loyalty to that inferior ruler.
In Tudor times this was graphically demonstrated. In the reign of Henry VIII by the lives of Polydore Vergil and Sir Thomas More, who were perverted, and Erasmus and John Collett, who were held back. In the reign of Henry VII it was Edward Stafford who was held back and certainly there were attempts to pervert his nature.
One such attempt is described in “Growing Up,” Edward’s forced complicity in the judicial murder of Sir William Stanley. You can see how his loyalty in this was rewarded by being made a Garter Knight – you can also see why Thomas was unimpressed.
There was another, similar episode. As I was writing Edward’s story, I was constantly prompted to mention Edward, earl of Warwick – and to explore Edward Stafford’s fear and guilt over the Earl’s death. Taking part in the judicial murder of Warwick may have saved Edward’s own life, but this was a matter of high politics, to remove a legitimate and dangerous claimant to the crown. Edward did not rebel. A writer has a duty to exercise economy, let Stanley stand for both himself and Warwick, and let this admission exorcise Edward’s guilt over both their deaths.
In chapter 1, I like to think Edward's soul smiled, in that second vision, because, in being murdered by Henry VIII, the karma of the deaths of Edward, earl of Warwick and Sir William Stanley was redeemed.