The Shining Company by Rosemary Sutcliff
Welsh History
I've recently been looking back at my Rosemary Sutcliff novels and realised that I hadn't actually read all of her work although she has been a part of my reading life since I was a child.
I sent for The Shining Company which is based on the great bard Aneurin's song of The Gododdin. Given the nature of the song, Sutcliff had to fill in the gaps, as it were, and it makes for a wonderful and moving story. It's also of interest to members of the Roman Group as the great final battle takes place at Caractonium or Catraeth in the Brythonic language (now Catterick and still a military installation after nearly 2000 years).
The tale starts in Gwynedd, where Prosper (our hero) is reading Herodotus's account of the Battle of Thermopylae. The magic number is of course 300; the same number of warriors that accompanied Artos the Bear (Arthur) at Bedon. Arthur is long gone but still lives in the hearts of the Britons and it's now nearing the end of the 6th century AD.
In what is now Northumberland, the Saxons are gathering and strengthening their hold on that area with a view to taking over more of the country. Prosper and his bondservant, Conn, go to Dyn Eidin (Edinburgh) fromGwyneddto join the Lord Gorthyn at the King Mynyddog's castle. Prosper is to be Gorthyn's squire. With Mynyddog's promise that other men, from other kingdoms, will join them in the battle, the 300 warriors and their men are trained in battle and then travel down to Catraeth to face the Saxons. Aneurin accompanies them, portrayed by Sutcliff as a former fighting man himself, as well as something of a healer.
Of course, we all know what happens but Sutcliff's writing is quite magical, particularly when the warriors leave the fort for the final encounter with the Saxons - the description of the men in their wolfskin cloaks riding through the mist is haunting. Throughout in Prosper's mind the words on the plaque at Thermopylae repeat themselves: "Go tell the Spartans, oh stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie", so there's a sense of doom from the start but it's still a wonderful story.
Rosemary Sutcliff had a very special way of evoking the Roman and pre-Saxon period and I think she had a real respect for the Celtic period, its language(s), history and mythology. While people of any age can appreciate her books, there are certainly worse ways of learning the history of Britain for children and young people.
updated by @gaynor-madoc-leonard: 11/11/15 10:38:14PM
