Character guide

Richard Holland

major

Also known as Tall Richard

Richard has spent years in the East, assumed his half-brothers' surname, and received Glyndwyr's summons that England is now fit pasture for the White Hart. He proposes to wait, disguised and apparently unguarded, at Caer Idion so that Henry of Lancaster will come in person to make sure of his death — a trap Glyndwyr's hundred men will close. Yet Richard himself has grown indifferent to whether the scheme succeeds, insisting no man can rule otherwise than abominably; that weary skepticism, set against Glyndwyr's undimmed hatred, is what makes his gamble so strange and so compelling.

Osmund Heleigh

major

Also known as Messire Heleigh, young Osmund Heleigh

Messire Osmund Heleigh is the Queen's escort on a journey that requires them to pass as wandering minstrels, and he procures the viol, the clothes, and the long falchion himself. He is lank, white-thatched, humorously peevish, fretted by the sword tapping at his ankles, and he calls her mon bel esper because he wrote the phrase thirty years ago and has not forgotten. Against her appetite for vengeance — she laughs at Falmouth's coin because she knows she will have his head — Osmund's dry, beaten-child tenderness gives their flight its peculiar ache.

John Copeland

major

Also known as Master Copeland, Copeland

Sir Gregory Darrell is bound by a promise — a truth once spoken may not be disowned — to perform a lengthy ditty detailing the Queen's treacheries, adulteries, and assassinations without stuttering. He delivers it desperately, countersigning his own death warrant, yet the song's vigor seems to please its contriver, and he adds a new peroration about a boy and a girl and his own bewildered heart. The Countess of Farrington, listening, cuts a fly in two with her dagger and coolly proposes that Ysabeau might make the singer her master — a suggestion that turns the performance into a wager on his life.

Edward Maudelain

major

Also known as Messire Edward, Maudelain

Edward Maudelain, once the Blessed Evrawc, is visited by an emissary in flame-colored satin who brings a message — Time is — and a lock of hair that should have been dust five years since. He scatters it hair by hair, prizes up the hearthstone for a leather bag, and buys a horse and sword that same day, riding eastward in secular apparel. His physical resemblance to his half-brother Richard the Second enables an imposture that carries him to Pontefract, where Piers Exton's men close the door and tell Sire Richard to eat his fill, since he will not eat again.

Antoine Riczi

supporting

Also known as young Antoine Riczi, Riczi

Riczi's desires clutch like starving persons at the sorry sustenance of a love he cannot have, since Jehane is married to old Jehan the Brave; he asks her to bid him live, and she prays she may be denied even Judas's one bleak night of ease if she falters. She does not weep, and he remembers that through long years of severance. Summoned to Lyonnois as his uncle's heir, he declines the Demoiselle de Nérac and every subsequent candidate, dwelling at Montbrison in stubborn singleness until Duke Jehan's death in 1401 sends him riding for Vannes with no unhallowed joy.

Lady Katharine

supporting

Also known as Dame Katharine

Lady Katharine meets Alain, a harper bound for Milan to take Duke Filippo's service, when his hunt for a chicken-stealing fox leads him to her wall; they talk two hours as if seated on the loftiest turret of Paradise, and he tells her destiny brought him. She goes to her apartments singing an inane spring song and bursts into tears, reflecting that hosts of women-children are born every day who are not princesses and therefore need not marry detestable kings. At dawn she is in the orchard under a cloudy sky, watching coppery light flare against the gray like embers swaddled by ashes.

Sir Gregory Darrell

supporting

Also known as Gregory Darrell, Darrell

Darrell moves through Lord Berners' fief of Ordish at his own discretion during the choppy warfare between Sire Edward and Queen Ysabeau, notoriously an adherent of the captured King. Brought fettered before the Queen and condemned, he refuses to soften his defiance, and when pressed to sing he delivers a scurrilous ditty cataloguing her adulteries and assassinations with incisive gusto, countersigning his own death warrant. His reckless candor and his stubborn loyalty set the moral stakes of the tale's early movement, where love and faith are weighed against survival.

Rosamund Eastney

supporting

Also known as Rosamund

Rosamund is the desire of Sir Gregory Darrell's heart, the woman for whom he risks his life riding past the Queen's gates toward Ordish, and she is contracted to marry the Earl of Sarum, a four-times-widowed goat of great wealth, shortly after All Saints' day. Her pledged marriage and Gregory's hopeless devotion form the private knot beneath the public warfare, and her name alone is enough to make a condemned man confess why he could not leave England. She matters because the story's early tension between domnei and matrimony is embodied in her betrothal.

Dame Jehane

supporting

Also known as Jehane

Jehane sits enthroned among applauding courtiers while Antoine Riczi, her sworn servant in domnei, reminds her of the May morning in Pampeluna when first he kissed her. Drunk on wealth and power, she insists that Jehane is dead, yet her heart rages when Riczi accepts her cruel command to go to England as her proxy and marry the King in her place. Her refusal to renounce the chain of rank, and the oath she breaks, make her the story's sharpest study of love traded for station.

Queen Philippa

supporting

Also known as plump Queen Philippa, Philippa

With King David's Scots ravaging the north and the island defenceless, Philippa faces lords shouting for a ship to entreat Sire Edward's return, and answers them with the flat question of who commands here. She knows her husband has always had a fancy to conquer France, and she will not vex him with disappointment even at the cost of being butchered, choosing instead to let John Copeland's lute and her own nerve steady the room. Her stubborn, unthrifty love, set against Catherine de Salisbury's cool self-interest, drives the tale's central examination of what a queen's affection costs a nation.

King Charles

supporting

Also known as Charles

Charles belongs to the world of kings who have their policies and wars wherewith to drug each human appetite, while their consorts are denied such makeshifts and must play the game of life upon a loftier, ruthlessly illuminated table. His campaigns and his absence set the stage on which Queen Philippa must choose, and his royal preoccupations stand as the counterweight to the women's more portentous stakes. He matters as the frame of the book's argument: that grandeur sells itself at a hard price, and that a queen's least movement wagers lives and happiness she will never know.

Queen Ysabeau

supporting

Also known as Ysabeau

Ysabeau sits in her carven chair, a handsome woman stoutening from too much wine, and regards her fettered prisoner with lazy amiability while Adam Orleton and the Earl of March croak for his death. She has harried the King's party out of England, and when Darrell confesses he rode for Ordish to see the desire of his heart, her face darkens and she tells him she would have pardoned anything save that. Her treacherous, adulterous, and assassinating career, catalogued in Darrell's song, makes her the tale's presiding image of power without faith.

Prince Edward

supporting

Also known as young Prince Edward of Caernarvon

Edward is heir to a kingdom stripped of its men-at-arms, with the Scots pouring south and his father, King Edward III, far away besieging France. His mother Philippa must choose between recalling her husband and holding England together, a decision made harder by her husband's notorious devotion to the Countess of Salisbury. The prince's fate gives the early chapters their stakes: whatever Philippa decides, it is his inheritance being wagered.

Sang Miguel de Rueda

minor

Also known as Miguel de Rueda, Miguel

A character, Sang Miguel, who appears in the narrative.

Dame Alianora

minor

Also known as Alianora

A lady, Alianora, who appears in the story.

Branwen

minor

Also known as lithe Branwen

A character, Branwen, who is near to someone's heart.

Messire Gwyllem

minor

Also known as Gwyllem

A knight, Messire Gwyllem, who appears in the narrative.

Queen Jehane

minor

Also known as spirit Queen Jehane, proud Jehane

A queen, Jehane, who appears as a character in the story.

Nicolas de Caen

minor

Also known as old Nicolas, Messire Nicolas de Caen

An old knight, Messire Nicolas, who appears in the narrative.

King Richard

minor

Also known as Richard, the second monarch of that name

King Richard II, a historical figure appearing in the story.

Gui Camoys

minor

Also known as Camoys

A character, Gui Camoys, who appears in the narrative.

Messire de Gâtinais

minor

Also known as de Gâtinais

A knight, Messire de Gâtinais, who appears in the story.

Princess Jehane

minor

Also known as young Jehane

A princess, young Jehane, who appears in the narrative.

Gloucester

minor

Also known as Openly Gloucester

A character, Gloucester, who appears in the narrative.

Dame Blanch

minor

Also known as Blanch

A lady, Dame Blanch, who appears in the story.

Lord Hastings

minor

Also known as Hastings

Lord Hastings, a character appearing in the narrative.

Owain Glyndwyr

minor

Also known as Glyndwyr

Owain Glyndwyr, a historical figure appearing in the story.

Marquess of Hastings

minor

Also known as The Marquess of Hastings

The Marquess of Hastings, a character in the narrative.

Vicomte de Montbrison

minor

Also known as de Montbrison

The Vicomte de Montbrison, a character appearing in the story.

King Henry

minor

Also known as Henry

King Henry, a historical figure appearing in the narrative.

Lady Ellinor

minor

Also known as Ellinor

The Lady Ellinor, a character in the story.

King Edward

minor

Also known as the unworthy son of Dame Ellinor

King Edward, a historical figure and character in the narrative.

Count Manuel

minor

Also known as Manuel of Poictesme, old Manuel

Count Manuel of Poictesme, a character appearing in the story.

Earl of Neville

minor

Also known as Neville

The Earl of Neville, a character appearing in the narrative.

Queen Anne

minor

Queen Anne, a character appearing in the story.

King Alphonso

minor

Also known as Alphonso

King Alphonso, a historical figure in the story.

Duke Jehan

minor

Duke Jehan, a character appearing in the story.

Isabel of Valois

minor

Also known as the Valois

Isabel of Valois, a historical figure in the narrative.

Queen Isabeau

minor

Queen Isabeau, a character appearing in the story.

Henry of Lancaster

minor

Also known as Sire Henry

Sire Henry of Lancaster, a historical figure in the story.

Dame Meregrett

minor

Also known as Meregrett

A lady, Dame Meregrett, who appears in the narrative.

Messire Alain

minor

Also known as Alain the harper

A knight and harper, Messire Alain, who appears in the story.

Dame Ysabeau

minor

Also known as Ysabeau

A lady, Dame Ysabeau, who appears in the story.

Lord Berners

minor

Lord Berners, a character appearing in the narrative.

Sire Richard

minor

Also known as Richard

Sire Richard, a character in the story.

Messire Lionel

minor

Also known as Lionel

Messire Lionel, a knight appearing in the narrative.

Madame Philippa

minor

Also known as Philippa

Madame Philippa, a character in the story.

Catherine de Salisbury

minor

Also known as the Cat, Madame Catherine

Madame Catherine de Salisbury, a character in the narrative.

Lord Falmouth

minor

Also known as Falmouth

Lord Falmouth, a character appearing in the story.

Piers Exton

minor

Also known as Exton

Piers Exton, a character in the narrative.

Jehan Kuypelant

minor

Also known as young Jehan Kuypelant, Sang Jehan Kuypelant

Sang Jehan Kuypelant, a character in the narrative.

Dame Anne

minor

Dame Anne, a character appearing in the story.

Messire Peyre de Lesnerac

minor

Also known as de Lesnerac

Messire Peyre de Lesnerac, a knight in the narrative.

David Bruce

minor

Also known as the Bruce

David Bruce, a historical figure appearing in the story.

King Philippe

minor

Also known as King Philippe the Bold

King Philippe the Bold, a historical figure in the narrative.

King David

minor

Also known as Davie

King David, a character in the story.

Harry of Derby

minor

Also known as Henry of Derby, that squinting Harry of Derby

Harry of Derby, a historical figure in the story.

Hubert Frayne

minor

Also known as Frayne

Hubert Frayne, a character in the narrative.

Sire Philippe

minor

Also known as Philippe

Sire Philippe, a character in the narrative.

Alfonso Henriques

minor

Also known as Alphonso

Alfonso Henriques, a historical figure in the story.

Avenel de Giars

minor

Also known as de Giars

Avenel de Giars, a character appearing in the narrative.

Count William of Hainault

minor

Also known as great Count William

Count William of Hainault, a character in the narrative.

Sang Ysabeau

minor

Also known as Ysabeau

Sang Ysabeau, a character appearing in the story.

Madame de Farrington

minor

Also known as Farrington

Madame de Farrington, a character in the narrative.

Alain Maquedonnieux

minor

Also known as Alain

Alain Maquedonnieux, a character in the narrative.

Duke Filippo

minor

Duke Filippo, a character appearing in the story.

Dame Isabeau

minor

Also known as Isabeau

Dame Isabeau, a character in the narrative.

Edward Plantagenet

minor

Edward Plantagenet, a historical figure in the story.

Ralph de Belomys

minor

Ralph de Belomys, a character appearing in the narrative.

Sang Sir Gregory

minor

Also known as Sir Gregory

Sang Sir Gregory, a character in the story.

Madame Gertrude

minor

Madame Gertrude, a character appearing in the narrative.

Messire de Berners

minor

Also known as de Berners

Messire de Berners, a knight in the story.

Roger Mortimer

minor

Also known as blustering Roger Mortimer

Roger Mortimer, a historical figure in the narrative.

Dame Philippa

minor

Also known as Philippa

Dame Philippa, a character appearing in the story.

Long Simon

minor

Also known as Simon

Long Simon, a character in the narrative.

Alixe Riczi

minor

Also known as Demoiselle Alixe Riczi

Demoiselle Alixe Riczi, a character appearing in the story.