Lymond Chronicles
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The Lymond Chronicles is a series of six novels, written by Dorothy Dunnett, which were first published between 1961 and 1975. The series is set in mid-sixteenth century Europe and the Mediterranean and tells the story of a young Scottish nobleman, Francis Crawford of Lymond, from 1547 through 1558.
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[edit] Overview
The Lymond Chronicles is a suspenseful tale of adventure and romance, filled with action, intense drama, and high comedy. As the story proceeds, the interweaving of the intricate plot with the psychology of the richly developed, multi-layered characters becomes increasingly complex. Dunnett's prose is striking and often poetic, filled with allusions to literature, music, philosophy, religion and myth.
[edit] Francis Crawford of Lymond
Over the course of the six volumes, readers follow the life and career of the charismatic Francis Crawford of Lymond, the younger son of the Crawfords of Culter, members of the landed aristocracy of the Scottish Lowlands. Brought up according to the Renaissance ideal of an educated autodidact, he is a polyglot, knowledgeable in literature, philosophy, mathematics and the sciences, a practitioner of all the martial arts, a spell-binding musician, a talented thespian, and a master strategist with a genius for imaginative tactics.
An intensely private but very public man, he is a non-conformist who is suspicious of causes, political or religious. He is driven by his demanding personal code of behavior and responsibility regardless of whether he meets society's expectations or rules. Though a cosmopolitan military leader, diplomat or spy, he has an abiding feeling for his home country of Scotland. Despite his reluctance to relinquish his cherished independence and align permanently with any nation's ruler, Lymond's professional reputation increasingly makes him a sought-after ally, or a foe to be avoided, by most of the crowned heads of Europe. Still, it is only for goals he believes in strongly that he will deploy his glittering and commanding persona, quicksilver mind, talent for dissembling what he thinks or feels, and rapier tongue; and once he dedicates himself to a goal, his will is implacable.
In his personal life, Lymond has an unusual ability to inspire intense loyalty and even love in those who are attracted to him. But the Crawford family's history begins to produce more and more tensions, and these conflicts are exacerbated by the weakness, shared by Lymond with most of his family, of immense pride and a stubborn refusal to explain the reasons for their actions.
As a whole, the Lymond Chronicles is an odyssey: the story of how an arrogant, brilliant, but troubled individualist, though increasingly successful professionally, becomes alienated and isolated as a result of searing experiences in battles with forces he can't control as well as with himself; and how he ultimately becomes reconciled with his country, his family and friends, and himself.
[edit] History in the Lymond Chronicles
Dunnett paints on a large historical canvas, with fine details based on meticulous research in hundreds of primary and secondary sources. In addition to a compelling cast of original characters, the novels feature a large number of historical figures, often in important roles.
The historical setting, which provides many plot elements and prominent characters for the novels, is the incessant jockeying for position through treaties, alliances of convenience, political marriages, wars, and even piracy, among the English Tudors, the Holy Roman Empire of the Habsburgs, the French Valois, the Ottoman Empire of Suleyman the Magnificent, and their respective secular and religious allies, including the Stewarts of Scotland, the Knights of St. John, the corsairs of North Africa, and even Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Each of the six books has several theatres of action with the exception of the first, The Game of Kings, which takes place almost exclusively in the Scottish Lowlands and the Borders with England.
The novels examine the high politics and culture of each court and its nobility as monarchies centralized their power; the intensifying controversies over the Reformation; implications of the Age of Discovery for political and economic power and knowledge; and the blurred boundaries between faith and reason in religion, esoterica such as alchemy and astrology, and science. In addition, the large number of women in positions of political power during this period -- as rulers in their own name, as regents, as strong wives or mistresses of kings, or as heirs to thrones -- offers fascinating female historical characters for the exploration of women's roles.
[edit] The Series and The House of Niccolò
Although each of the six books has a distinctive structure and style, the six books together are a single story and are best read in chronological order to appreciate both plot and characters. However, each of the first two books can be read as a self-contained novel. The endings of the third, fourth and fifth novels have no real resolution; they are quasi-cliffhangers that lead directly to the story taken up in the next book. Later books also contain major plot spoilers for earlier books.
The six parts of the Lymond Chronicles are part of what Dunnett viewed as a larger fourteen-volume work, which includes the eight novels of The House of Niccolò series. The House of Niccolò, which was written after the Lymond Chronicles, tells the tale of Lymond's ancestors in the previous century and includes allusions to events in the Lymond Chronicles. Dunnett recommended readers begin with the Lymond Chronicles and then read The House of Niccolò. As with the Lymond Chronicles, the The House of Niccolò features a number of historical persons, many as important characters. Both the historical and fictional characters are, however, taken from a wider variety of occupations and social classes than in the Lymond Chronicles. There are significant differences in narrative approach and writing style between the series, reflecting in part the very different personal journey taken by the central character in each.
The six novels in the series are as follows:
- The Game of Kings (1961)
- Queen's Play (1964)
- The Disorderly Knights (1966)
- Pawn in Frankincense (1969)
- The Ringed Castle (1971)
- Checkmate (1975)
[edit] The Game of Kings (1961)
Living mostly by his wits and his sword-arm in 16th-century Scotland, Francis Crawford of Lymond is a charismatic figure: polyglot scholar, soldier, musician, master of disguises, nobleman -- and accused outlaw. After five years wandering the world, Lymond has recently returned to Scotland, in defiance of Scottish charges against him for treason on behalf of the English and murder, and has assembled a private band of mercenaries and ruffians who follow his ruthless, despotic leadership. The reader only gradually learns that Lymond has returned for a single goal: to prove his innocence and restore his name, he must find the man who framed him and condemned him to two years as a French galley slave until he managed to escape.
The novel is constructed as a clockwork mystery: an intricate web of many moving parts, punctuated by set pieces of adventure, high comedy, or intense drama. The suspense is whether Lymond will prove himself innocent, die in the attempt, or be captured and hang. The mystery is "who is Lymond?" Dunnett reveals only gradually, with tantalizing hints and small details, Lymond's motives and his true relationships with the other characters. Lymond leaves no one indifferent to him: some of the key characters -- such as Richard Crawford, third Baron Culter and Lymond's older brother, and Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox -- are one-time friends or intimates who become his mortal enemies. Betrayals and double-crosses, both potential and actual, abound. The pieces of the mystery only fit together late in the story as revelations at a trial.
As an established part of the minor landed aristocracy, the Crawfords cannot avoid becoming entangled in the complex politics between England and Scotland, the Anglo-Scottish wars and Scotland's alliance with France, or in the conflicts among the residents of the Borders region between the two kingdoms. Context for plot purposes of The Rough Wooing and assured Scots, French alliance, and young Queen Mary's betrothal to the Dauphin and escape to France.
One sentence for each of main subplots, i.e. -- Sybilla's hidden help; Christian-Lymond-Tom Erskine; Will Scott's coming-of-age; Richard-Mariotta-Dandy triangle; Richard and Lymond; the English and Sir George; Margaret Douglas; Maxwell and Agnes; the Somervilles.
A number of historical persons appear in the novel, many as important and well-developed characters. They include members of the Scott clan -- Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, his wife, Janet Beaton, and his son William Scott of Kincurd, who becomes Lymond's second-in-command in his band of outlaws; Mary of Guise, the Queen Dowager of Scotland and her young daughter, Mary Queen of Scots; and members of the Douglas family -- including Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, his brother Sir George Douglas, his daughter Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (niece of Henry VIII who was the brother of Margaret's mother Margaret Tudor, widow of James IV, and mother of James V), and Margaret's husband Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, a potential claimant to the Scottish throne in case of the death of the young Mary Queen of Scots. The English military leaders responsible for prosecuting the war of The Rough Wooing, Sir William Grey and Lord Thomas Wharton, also have prominent, and often comedic, roles.
[edit] Main Fictional Characters
- Francis Crawford of Lymond, Master of Culter
- Sybilla Crawford, Dowager Baroness Culter
- Richard Crawford, Third Baron Crawford
- Mariotta Crawford, Baroness Crawford
- Christian Stewart
- Jonathan Crouch
- Gideon Somerville
- Kate Somerville
- Samual Palmer
[edit] Main Historical Characters
- Mary de Guise, Queen Dowager of Scotland
- Tom Erskine
- Wat Scott of Buccleuch
- Janet Beaton
[edit] Main Locations
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Stirling, Scotland
- The Lowlands of Scotland (including the fictional Midculter Castle)
- Northumbria, England (including the fictional Manor of Flaw Valleys and Hadrian's Wall)
- Threave Castle, Scotland
[edit] Queens' Play (1964)
[edit] The Disorderly Knights (1966)
[edit] Pawn in Frankincense (1969)
[edit] The Ringed Castle (1971)
[edit] Checkmate (1975)
[edit] See also
Nicholas de Fleury and Francis Crawford of Lymond - Family Tree
[edit] Reading Aids
Dunnett helped in the compiling of the The Dorothy Dunnett Companion (1994) and The Dorothy Dunnett Companion II (2002), by Elspeth Morrison. These books provide background information to historical characters and events featured in the Lymond Chronicles and The House of Niccolò, as well as explanations of classical allusions and literary and other quotations used in the two series, notes to sources of these citations, and many maps. The second volume also contains a bibliography of many of the hundreds of primary and secondary sources Dunnett used in her historical research.
Nancy Wright: A Translation Guide to the Lymond Chronicles, a booklet providing translations of virtually all the foreign phrases, poems and songs in the Lymond Chronicles.
Nancy Wright: Family Tree for Niccolò and Lymond, a printed Family Tree which links the House of Niccolò with the Lymond Chronicles. Contains plot spoilers!
