The Mists Of Middleham

A review of The Mists of Middleham by Pauline Calkin. Reposted from the Richard III Society page.

 

The Mists of Middleham – An Alianore Audley Novel by Brian Wainwright.

Readers may remember Alianore Audley as the wise-cracking, no nonsense Yorkist Intelligence operative who gave us her first-hand account of the reigns of Edward IV and Richard III in The Adventures of Alianore Audley. Since its publication, additional writings by Alianore have been uncovered in which she recounts some rather strange happenings that occurred while performing a commission for King Edward. At the time Alianore and her husband, Sir Roger Beauchamp, were in the household of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester at Middleham. Alianore was officially a lady-in-writing to the Duchess, Anne Neville, but also served with some reluctance as an intelligence officer, keeping Duke Richard and the King apprised of developments along the Scots border.

It is during the Christmas season, 1478 (a particularly boring one according to Alianore) that she and Roger receive a commission from the King to search for the Holy Grail. Alianore thinks that the superstitious Edward must have listened to his so-called wife or one of her lunatic relatives to believe that the Grail could be found within his realm. For her part, she doubts it exists, or can be found, but she and Roger embark on the search – it is a royal command, after all. Besides, she plans to submit a detailed and padded expense account. Alianore soon begins to have visions – the first one seems to be a sort of shrine to Richard but without candles or offerings, or attendant monks – and Roger says some strange things, such as asking an innkeeper for a Bacardi and Coke, whatever that is, and speaking about something called a space-time continuum. By the time they reach London, Alianore is so concerned that dark forces are at work that she consults Bishop Russell who concludes that Roger’s condition is a clear case of demonic possession. He recruits (to Alianore’s horror and over her objection) Bishop Morton to aid him in an exorcism, which seems to be successful.

However, Alianore and Roger are not pleased when Lord Hastings explains that the quest for the Grail is a cover story in order for them to travel into Wales and Cornwall to learn about a rumoured landing by Jasper Tudor in the summer. Roger is disillusioned that the noble quest for the Grail (an ultra-knightly goal) is merely a dirty spying mission. He feels like seeking an audience with the King and telling him to ‘stick the whole thing where the Sun in Splendour doesn’t shine’. Edward charms him instead, and the couple set off on the quest which takes them to Wales and to Warwick and Guy’s Cliff where they encounter not only John Rous and a boggart but Ursula Plantagenet. That’s right, Edward and Richard’s younger sister who was thought to have died in infancy. She is much into mysticism and insists on being called Crystal Plantagenet.

Alianore gets homesick for Middleham. Keep in mind that she has always disliked the place – bone chilling cold and boring, but that is irrelevant now. She tells Roger that she needs Middleham. She needs Richard and Anne, for reasons she can’t explain. And she has another vision that she is at King Arthur’s court, where Guinevere bears a striking resemblance to Anne Neville, an the more she looks at Arthur the more he starts to resemble Richard of Gloucester.

I won’t bother to relate all the twists and turns the plot takes but, eventually, the search for Uncle Jasper and that for the Holy Grail merge, with powerful unseen forces influencing the characters’ actions. Richard and Roger are both put under spells, and are rescued by Alianore and Anne and the spells are lifted only by the Grail’s power. This is an immensely entertaining work, which can be enjoyed on several different levels. Filled with humour and memorable one-liners, it has an intriguing plot and plenty of adventure. On another, more serious level the ever sceptical Alianore discovers a need in herself to believe in something or someone; she finds that in Richard. Some may think that the comparison between Richard and King Arthur is over the top. I lapped it up!