Peter Carroll is the author of Queen of Misfortune – A Lady Jane Grey Novel. For more information, see his website.
One of the most exhausting tasks for historians and writers has to be the delving searches for factual material. Given the aid of modern technology the job has been made easier, and there is an abundance of information given the last century or two.
But the printed word becomes rarer the further one goes back and so called fact so very often differs, to get as close to the truth as possible it is often necessary to draw the line and draw a feasible conclusion as to what was most likely given the period.
I was amazed to learn that John Prince’s invaluable volume Worthies of Devon was the only work to be printed in book form during the author’s lifetime.
Prince gives credit to John Hooker (1525-1601) who’s Synopsis Chorographical of Devonshire which was never published. And there were others too who never made the press or, in the case of William Pole (1561- 1635) – who scrupulously gathered together a large collection of manuscripts appertaining to Devon’s history, were mainly lost in the Civil War.
In the search for material we are fortunate indeed that Prince had the ingenuity to jot down all those facts about the gentry of old. He was vicar of Totnes from 1675-1681 and then, at the invitation of the Duke of Somerset, was made vicar of Berry Pomeroy, a post he held for over forty years
I can imagine him spending hours in the vicarage compiling what must have been a mammoth task, it must have been very daunting for him searching for a publisher at that time, because the general reason such books were scarce was due to the fact they were not a viable commercial project thers being few who could read, least write -and the most favoured books that did reach print were bibles and other devotional texts.
And there were many writers who wrote just for the fun of it, those country folk who wrote primarily for their own amusement and that of their friends and not seeking publication.
But indeed Prince’s work has given many an insight to his life-span 1643-1723, a peek through the annals of time, and how it must have been for many who could never have envisaged the world we know today . A work, wherein the lives and fortunes of the most famous divines, statesmen, swordsmen, physicians, writers, and other eminent persons, natives of that most noble province, from before the Norman conquest, down to the present age, are memorized…out of the most approved authors, both in print and manuscript.
In his endless efforts to publish his work he submitted to the weakness of the flesh ( as so described) and was victim to a frivolous scandal ‘not at all becoming to a man of the cloth’ regarding a secret rendezvous with a loose woman which was never made clear. But temporarily deprived him of his living and gaining that aspired publication.
Prince was over-ambitious in his work. The alphabetical entries from A to H fill half the book, while L to Z are squeezed into the final quarter, as the above problems took their toll on his inclusions.
Not to be outdone; a second volume, detailing 115 entries chosen by Prince to redress the balance, was unfortunately never published.
The book most read today is that of the new edition printed in 1810 – which can be read online and which has to be a must for those who are interested in how Devon ticked in that period.
I love the way in which he describes his subjects, some being of gentle and tender disposition and others in the vaults of misery and hopelessness, but generally he gives extraordinary clear and memorable accounts of the many he mentions in great detail that it is almost like they still live.
Wonderful stories to of how many so called greedy land and property owners like the famous Cary family of Cockington, were not that bad after all; they built alms-houses for the homeless, afforded them a shilling per week and supplied them with clothing at Christmas
In 2001 Todd Gray published the court depositions of ‘that scandal’ of Prince’s church trial as The Curious Sexual Adventure of the Reverend John Prince, which awakened interest in Prince. The records had gone unpublished, partly due to the coarse language used by some of the witnesses; which now has become less shocking.
In 2005 the book was adapted as a play The Tale of John Prince, performed by the South Devon Players theatre company, and written and directed by Laura Jury. The Company performed the play at two venues relevant to the story: The Seven Sisters Hotel in Totnes (next door to the former site of Angel’s inn); and also in Berry Pomeroy Church.
Advertisement
QUEEN OF MISFORTUNE
A Lady Jane Grey Novel by Peter Carroll
A Love Story of Shakespearean Dimension!
Queen Of Misfortune is the fictional story of Lady Jane Grey as told by her beloved tutor, John Aylmer. At the time of her execution a stranger is recorded to have assisted her when, blind folded, she lost her way upon the scaffold. Was it the same strange who was also recorded to have visited her when she was imprisoned in the Tower? Little is known of this unfortunate girl who was beheaded for treason in the 16th Century. She was only 16. She is omitted from the list of monarchs but was actually queen for nine days. Author Peter Carroll, in his novel, follows John Aylmer’s close relationship with Jane as her tutor and later, as she grows up, her lover. [More...]
Available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.
