"One of the best uses of first person narrative I have seen." Nan HawthorneJust visit Smashwords and, when you go to checkout, enter the code for a 50% discount off the "cover" price.
LC69J
Coupon is good through May 31, 2011.
See the book trailer at http://youtu.be/ynh8eMa-KYM
THE TRUTH BEHIND THE CONFESSION OF PIERS GAVESTON
From the author's web site, http://www.brandypurdy.com
To those who know his name, Piers Gaveston is the dark power lurking behind the throne of the weak-willed and pliant king, Edward II, whispering in his ear, goading him on to further extravagance, an arrogant, avaricious Gascon, a commoner raised to glory, too high and too fast, like "a night-growing mushroom," a parasite feasting, like a leech, on the royal treasury. To others of a more romantic bent, he is one half of a pair of star-crossed lovers centuries ahead of their time, born into a world where homosexual love was a crime punishable by castration or burning at the stake. To yet others, Edward II and Piers Gaveston were devoted friends, who symbolically swore an oath of blood-brotherhood that has, from their own lifetime to the current day, been misunderstood and slandered with the base charge of sodomy. So what is the correct answer, who was Piers Gaveston really, and what was the true nature of his relationship with Edward II? To put it bluntly, we don’t know. The answers to those questions are lost in the mists of time.
Here is what we do know:
Piers Gaveston was presumably close to Edward II in age; therefore, he must have been born around 1284. We know his father was Sir Arnaud de Gaveston, a prosperous Gascon knight who served Edward I faithfully and even offered himself as a hostage on the King's behalf on more than one occasion. Thus, Piers was not the lowborn commoner of popular imagination. His mother was also well-born, Claremunda of Marcia or Marsan, spellings vary. Legend has it that she died a condemned witch, burned at the stake, a scenario too intriguing for many novelists, myself included, to resist. Whether factual or fantasy, the story was widely circulated, and an aura of witchcraft has always enshrouded Piers Gaveston. To quote one of the medieval chroniclers: "The King loved an evil male sorcerer more than he did his wife."
Piers Gaveston first appears on the pages of history when he joined the army of King Edward I in 1297. He made such a good impression upon the King that he was chosen to become a companion of the heir to the throne, Prince Edward (later King Edward II). Gaveston was handsome and vivacious, as proud as a peacock, and as splendid as one when it came to matters of dress. But he was much more than just a pretty boy, he was intelligent and skilled in the arts of war, and, when given the opportunity, displayed an admirable knowledge of military tactics. He had a quick and wicked wit, which he either could not or would not curtail, especially when it came to mocking those who considered themselves his betters. He assigned nicknames to the most powerful men in the land and apparently struck a nerve; it was an insult they would never forgive or forget.
In 1300 Gaveston joined Prince Edward's household. Of that first meeting, we know only this, from a medieval chronicler: "When the King's son saw him, he fell so much in love that he entered upon an enduring compact with him, and chose and determined to knit an indissoluble bond with him, before all other mortals."
But apparently in choosing Gaveston to be the Prince’s companion, the King got more than he bargained for. He soon became alarmed by the closeness that had developed between the two, and Gaveston was sent away, to France, with a pension from the King and a ship full of gifts from the Prince. But their separation was short-lived. When the old King died in 1307, the new King's first act was to recall his beloved “Perrot.” As one chronicler put it: "And so he had home his love, Piers Gaveston, and did him great reverence, and worshipped and made him great and rich. Of this doing fell villainy to the lover, evil speech and backbiting to the love, slander to the people, harm and damage to the realm."
Before he even set foot back on English soil, Gaveston was made Earl of Cornwall, an unprecedented and highly lucrative honor for one not of royal blood, and was betrothed to Edward's niece, Margaret de Clare. Whether Gaveston had any prior knowledge of these and the other honors about to be heaped on him we do not know.
Soon Gaveston was seen to have a stranglehold on royal patronage as a seemingly endless flow of titles, sinecures, jewels, manors, and all manner of costly gifts, were showered on him. The established nobility, with Gaveston's chief enemies the Earls of Lancaster, Warwick, Pembroke, and Lincoln, at the helm, greatly resented this but “the more virulently people attacked Gaveston, the more keenly the King loved him.” Gaveston's personality did nothing to salve the situation, as he paraded an insufferable pride and poked fun at his enemies.
When Edward crossed the channel to marry Princess Isabelle of France, he further enraged the nobility by leaving Gaveston to rule as regent, when the honor should have gone to a man of greater years and experience. And when the royal bride and groom returned, as soon as the ship docked, Edward ran down the gangplank and flung himself into Gaveston's arms, and then proceeded to forget all about his bride, he even gave her wedding jewels to Gaveston. At Edward's coronation that followed shortly afterwards, Gaveston appeared in royal purple encrusted with pearls instead of cloth-of-gold as befitted an earl. And at the banquet that followed, Edward had eyes and ears only for Gaveston. Soon Isabelle was writing home to her father that her husband was a stranger to their marriage bed, and for this she blamed Piers Gaveston.
Pressure was brought to bear on Edward, and Gaveston was banished, but not in disgrace. He was sent to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant or Governor, where he more than amply demonstrated his intellect and prowess as a military commander. But Edward was "lovesick for his minion" to quote the famous play by Christopher Marlowe, from which this story is probably best known, and soon Gaveston was back in England. Things went on much the same as always.
Eventually, the earls joined forces as the Lords Ordainers and sought to reform the land and, with such reforms, diminish Edward's power as king. After a campaign in Scotland failed, Gaveston was again banished, this time perpetually from the realm. But he did not stay away for long, he soon returned to England, some historians think to be present for the birth of his first and only legitimate child, Joan, born in 1312. (Controversy surrounds a possible bastard daughter known as Amy Gaveston.) This was, to use a more modern phrase, the straw that broke the camel's back, and soon the earls were amassing an army and civil war was a serious threat. Edward and Gaveston fled to Newcastle, and afterwards to Scarborough Castle, where Edward left Gaveston to go and try to raise an army of his own.
On May 19, 1312 Gaveston surrendered his person into the custody of the Earl of Pembroke, who, being the most honorable and less self-interested of Edward's nobles, swore an oath on all his lands, titles, and goods, that no harm would come to Gaveston while in his keeping. But Pembroke was not infallible. In the mistaken belief that Gaveston would be safe there, he decided to leave him at the rectory in the little village of Deddington while he went on to nearby Bampton to spend the night with his wife, who was in residence there. One night was all Warwick and Lancaster needed. They swept in, taking everyone unawares, and Gaveston, barefooted and wearing only his shirt, was forced to walk in chains and humiliation, to Warwick Castle, where he was thrown into the dungeon.
After a brief trial, where the verdict was a bygone conclusion, Gaveston was taken in the wee hours of June 19, 1312 to the top of Blacklow Hill where he was first stabbed in the heart and then beheaded. So ended the life, but not the legend, of Piers Gaveston.
As a novelist, some have taken issue with the way I have chosen to portray Piers Gaveston, his background, and relationship with Edward II. I have been accused of writing a historically inaccurate book and criticized for telling a story that goes against the grain of popular belief. It was my intention to try to show that, as Gaveston says in my novel, "there are two sides to every coin," and it is possible to interpret the "facts" in a different way, especially when there are great gaps in our existing knowledge and the unknowns far outnumber the knowns.
Another goal I hoped to achieve with my portrayal of Gaveston was to create an unreliable narrator, one who would make readers wonder how much of his version of the truth is actually true. Whenever someone sits down to write their autobiography they want to show themselves in the best possible light, sometimes they even lie outright or twist and tweak the truth, or leave out pertinent details. They may even contribute to their own legend. And when looking back on failed relationships it is sometimes hard to keep the anger and bitterness at bay. In the pages of my novel, Edward II does not emerge as a very likeable, much less lovable man, some have even called him caricaturish or stereotypical, but one must remember that Gaveston is writing his account of their relationship from the threshold of death; he is remembering a man whose love has helped make him notorious and "the most hated man in England." Under the circumstances, I think it is understandable if their affair doesn't emerge as one of the great romances of history. Had my novel been written from Edward II's viewpoint, it would have been a different story.
But, in the end, it is for readers to decide whether they like my book, and if I have accomplished what I set out to do.
* Purchase a print copy of The Confession of Piers Gaveston
by Brandy Purdy.
