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Henry Treece (1911-1966) was a British poet and author. He was much more successful as an author of historical novels for children, set in ancient Greek, Roman, and medieval times. He also had experience as a teacher and editor of poetry collections. Though he was 28 years-old at the start of World War II, he did serve as a Royal Air Force (RAF) intelligence officer. Five of his novels are reviewed below, set in times ranging from the Trojan War to about 1400 AD. The pen and ink illustrations for each book are excellent. Please see my earlier review for Treece’s fascinating non-fiction book, The True Book of Castles.
The Windswept City is a wonderful re-telling, incorporating some of the author’s imagination, of course, of some of the later events of the siege of Troy, as seen through the eyes of Asterius, a 12-year-old Greek slave boy. Asterius was taken to Troy, the windswept city, to serve Helen, whose choosing Prince Paris of Troy over her husband Menelaus of Sparta was one of the causes of the Trojan War. The historical preface to the book is a wonderful condensation of the known or speculated facts, and should be read first. The several maps in the book are beautifully clear and helpful to refer to as one reads through the novel. The map in the frontispiece of the book serves to precisely show the geography of the war. I learned a lot from careful perusal of this map, which alone is worth checking out this book! The Windswept City would serve as an excellent introduction to the events of the Illiad, at a late elementary to middle school level. The beautiful pen and ink illustrations by Faith Jaque really help in visualizing the events of the story.
War Dog jumps forward in time by over a thousand years and in space by almost two thousand miles, from Troy to Britain in 43 AD, when it is invaded by the Romans under Emperor Claudius, who has just taken over from the mad, evil Emperor Caligula. The main character is Bran, a war-dog of a Celtic tribe. These large dogs were trained to fight wolves and bears and enemy soldiers. His master is killed in battle and, after many hardships, he is adopted by a young Roman tribune. The transfer of allegiance of Bran from Celtic warrior to Roman soldier is symbolic of the gradual merging of the two peoples to form Roman Britannia, a loyal Roman colony for the next three hundred years. A very fine story, told well, with a realistic portrayal of life in Britain during the Roman invasion. War Dog would be appropriate for middle school or high school readers. I recommend that the historical afterword be read before reading the story.
After almost 20 years since the Roman legions conquered much of Britain, a great rebellion broke out in 61 AD, led by the warrior queen, Boudicca, sometimes written as Boadicea. Her name meant “Victory”, so her name was similar to that of the famous British Queen Victoria, 1800 years later. The Centurion is set in this ancient time, with the main character being Drucus Pollio, a centurion who has just retired from the Ninth Legion, which was based in what is today’s York. The Romans called it Eburacum. He was a good soldier but now he just wants to be a farmer, at peace with Roman and Celt alike. He is a follower of Mithras, whom many Roman soldiers worshipped, still a false god but with more good attributes than the Roman gods. Set in unlovely times, this is a lovely story, mostly because of the honesty, bravery, and integrity of Drucus Pollio. The history, as far as I know, is accurate. This is an excellent book for middle schoolers, with an instructive historical preface, which should be read first, and a useful glossary. Beric the Briton, by G.A. Henty, also covers these great and terrible events (see my review).
Perilous Pilgrimage, a story of the Children’s Crusade, is set in 1212 AD. This is a sad but adventurous story, based on a historical incident, where tens of thousands of children from all over France followed Stephen of Cloyes, a 12-year-old shepherd boy who had messianic delusions. He prophesied that an army of children would be able to walk across the Mediterranean Sea, dry-shod, since God was going to part the waters for them, and go free the Holy Lands from the Saracens. Whether dark power enabled him to lead so many to death and slavery, or whether this historical incident is just another illustration of the evil of men and the fact that people are sheep, is not clear from 800 years away. There is also a minstrel, whose flute seems to play an almost Pied Piper role in the story. The hero and heroine of the story, Geoffrey and Alys, noble-born brother and sister, have a happy ending after they join the Children’s Crusade – almost all the rest of the children do not. The good and evil Islamic men that they meet are realistic. I think this is a good story to read for middle-schoolers to teach them to be careful about those claiming spiritual revelations that disagree with the teachings of the Bible and those who allow a personality cult to be built up around them. These points are brought out several times in Perilous Pilgrimage, which is also an excellent evocation of the times of 1212 AD and an interesting story.
Ride into Danger takes place in around 1346 AD. The hero is David Marlais, the son of Sir Gervase Marlais, master of a small manor in Wales, near the border with England. The book is in three parts. In Part 1, the main characters are introduced and David goes to London to ask King Edward for help against his greedy and cruel neighbor. In Part 2, he is caught up in Edward’s campaign in France and fights in the famous Battle of Crecy. He then is forced to learn the art of using cannon, which were introduced into European warfare around this time, in the siege of Calais and wins the favor of the Black Prince, Edward’s son. In Part 3, David sails back to Wales to rescue his stolen sister and defeat his evil neighbor, Sir Fulk, with a homemade cannon and a gift of gunpowder from the Black Prince. Ride into Danger is a stirring story, with much detail about the medieval times and setting and the interaction between England and Wales and France. The rigors and sometimes cruelty of medieval war is treated plainly but without needless detail. The history behind the fiction is accurate and much will be learned by the upper middle school to high school reader about this state of English history.