The Spanish Match - Book 32

The Spanish Match by Brennan Pursell reminded me of a good Georgette Heyer historical novel, only a little cruder; I guess this makes it more in line with contemporary sensibilities. I found it quite riveting, though it could have been a bit shorter and still have told a good story.

The story centers on what happened when Charles, the Prince of Wales (he became Charles I), is sent by his father James I to try to woo the sister of Philip IV, the Infanta, Maria. Basically, James and Charles want to ally themselves with the Hapsburgs in order to maintain a kind of peace in Europe to avoid the catastrophe that became the Thirty Years War. Charles and his aide, the Duke of Buckingham, rode secretly across France and into Spain and surprised the Spanish court there. He stayed for several months trying to win a match, but in the end, his mission failed. He later married Maria Henrietta, the sister of the King of France of the Bourbon dynasty, and the Thirty Years war continued unabated, one of the most horrific wars ever.

Pursell included some known facts about the incident, for instance Charles surprised the Infanta in a garden one day and quoted lines from a famous romantic Spanish play, but apparently we don't know much of what happened except that the engagement failed, probably due to a dispensation the Pope issued with an untenable codicil attached to it. Spain was Catholic and had been the sworn enemy of England, who had broken away from the Church under Henry VIII. Catholics had been openly persecuted; fined, oppressed, hunted down, tortured and killed in England. The Pope would only allow the marriage if the English stopped persecuting Catholics. Alas, in the end, that was too much to ask! The situation was actually a bit more complicated than that, but that is the gist of it.

Pursell writes very well. The story is told from the point of view of Charles I. He's young (only 22 at the time), insecure and overpowered by the personality and manipulative genius of the Duke of Buckingham (who later in life gets assassinated back in England - he is very evil so no sympathy there!). Charles has decent impulses and he wants to be noble and wise, but he falls short rather pathetically. He simply isn't as smart or evil as the Duke! (You know what happens later in life to poor Charles, don't you? He is the only king to be beheaded in all of English history. The Puritans took over, with Oliver Cromwell at the helm. He died in 1658. Two years later, on the 12th anniversary of Charles I execution, they dug up old Oliver and beheaded him and hung his head up for all to see! Tired of the Puritan's cruelty, they got rid of Richard Cromwell after a year and restored the kingship. That's a very simplified version of the story, but Georgette Heyer did write a really good historical novel set in that period about Charles II (Bonnie Prince Charlie) called Royal Escape.

The Spanish Match is very well researched and replete with accurate historical and cultural details. Pursell is a historian by trade. This is his first attempt at a novel. He does really well! It's also a romance and a murder mystery! So it's got everything you want!

Two thumbs up if you are in the mood for a nice thick novel that will transport you back to the days of European royalty.

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