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MATILDA
OF ARGYLL
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Sarah Chloe BURNS ISBN 1-931948-64-X 2007 |
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Angers, France, 1136 A.D. “Ah, mon dieu! Mon dieu! Je m’appele Matilda! Je suis le fille d’Henri, le rex tres magnifique d’Angletaire y Normande,” Empress Matilda screamed into the night air from her balcony overlooking the city of Angers. “The throne of England belongs to me and my heirs! Father promised, and Stephen agreed officially, in writing. Now that thieving underhanded cousin of mine has shown his true colors, n’est-ce pas? My father’s favorite nephew, and he expresses his gratitude in this knave-like manner! I tell you, I won’t stand for it any longer, Geoffrey. Did I not agree to this asinine union of ours for the very purpose of producing an heir to the throne? Have I not endured the languor of our marriage bed and the dreadful pangs of childbirth three times just so that Father’s direct heirs might continue to rule England and Normandy, as he and my grandfather before him? And now I’m forced to accept this double humiliation while ma petites, Henri, Geoffrey, and William, rot in this prison-like fortress of Angers,” Matilda fumed, as her bored and equally unassailable spouse listened in practiced self-control.” The Yorkshire Dales, Late Spring, 1638 “The sound of horses’ hooves and clashing swords could be heard all around her as Matty raced across the boggy landscape. Her heart was pounding as she glanced feverishly from face to face trying to find…the man. She was unsure of his appearance, but she knew she would recognize him when they made eye contact. She was also uncertain of their connection, but she instinctively knew that would be clarified when they met. Amidst the hordes of armor-clad soldiers, she fought to maintain her wits. The wind was driving her, and she understood that her destiny was at stake. How could anyone be recognizable, covered with so much armor? Matty climbed breathlessly up a great mound, toward a high and lengthy stone wall, feeling a strange pull, as if she had been here before. “At that moment, in the far distance, a single solitary figure raced toward her along the walled walkway… As Matty screamed at the disappearing figure, she stepped into a deep bog and crashed face-forward, tumbling down the hill. Rolling down, down into a deep gully, she forced herself to look heavenward again, but the only vision there was a bright four-pronged star, perched, as it were, above a large cross…..” “Matty’s eyes flashed open, and she jumped in her seat, bumping her head against the roof of the coach. She looked feverishly around as her mother made eye contact and assured her she must have been dreaming.”
Ardvreck Castle, Loch Assynt, Highlands, Scotland Photo: Marek Gierlinski
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“Matilda of Argyll is a bold and dramatic adventure, ripped from the pages of history, seen through the eyes and told from the heart of those who lived through this epic period. Historian Sarah Chloe Burns reaches back in time to recap the blending of French and English royalty following William the Conqueror’s victory at the Battle of Hastings (1036 A.D.). Chapter one begins with a conversation which might have occurred between his granddaughter Matilda and her husband—Geoffrey Plantagenet—in Angers, France (1136 A.D.). The true story of this historic Matilda sets the backdrop for a dramatic tale which could have connected her bloodline to the future, fictional Matilda of Argyll. As Matilda Campbell’s story begins in1638, this high-spirited and intelligent nineteen-year-old Scot is unwilling to accept society’s rules and barriers regarding gender and class. Her penchant for independent thinking will take her far—eventually across the ocean to Jamestown, Virginia—but at what cost? There, she will witness race and class distinction of a manner she could never have imagined. Stretching from London City, England to the Scottish Highlands; from Mali, Africa to the West Indies, the story lines of Scottish, English and African peoples of many classes will intersect in an intensely dramatic fashion. What makes Matilda a truly entertaining and enlightening experience is the manner in which Burns weaves the pages of recorded history, and the footsteps of those who made that history, with her colorful fictional characters. A golden braid of history, myth, and storytelling, Matilda of Argyll offers the reader an abundance of riches, both intellectual and erotic.” STEVEN CARTER, Ph.D. Author of Leopards in the Temple: Selected Essays 1990-2000
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“Sarah Burns brings the early years of American history and its links to England and Scotland to life through the melding of lives so different yet so intimately linked. From the mythological founding of the family lines through African captives, French royalty and Highland families to the settlements at Jamestown, Matilda’s line produces strong women who deal with whatever life gives them. These women are bound by social conventions but gifted with hearts and minds that need more. This was a hard time for women. Childbirth often brought a mother’s death. Social conditions forced women into prostitution and the lack of effective birth control made abortions commonplace and life-threatening. A “respectable” gentleman had his whore on the side, but no “respectable” woman even thought about any man but her husband. The records of history are filled with great battles and meetings of the powerful, but it is the day-to-day events that define a people. The interweaving of the families, their lives, their dreams, and their desires all seasoned with the oversight of the gods and goddesses paints a fuller picture than I have ever read before.” THERESA HORNSTEIN, (Lake Superior College)
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“Those of us engaged in Women’s History realize that much of our work involves reading and interpreting the silences. The story of women and their place in society over the ages is often called the underside of history. In her new edition of Matilda of Argyll, Sarah Chloe Burns has once again managed to weave vast slices of recorded history with the stories of fictional characters who are richly and lovingly drawn. The work of revising, the painful task of letting go of some cherished sections of the original while expanding the historical context, has yielded an eminently readable and engaging story. Sarah Chloe Burns continues to help a wider audience to appreciate this important but still under-explored dimension in the evolving story of humanity.” MARIE A. CONN, Ph.D., Author of Noble Daughters. Unheralded Women in Western Christianity, 13th to 18th Centuries.
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Sarah Chloe Burns is a historian who teaches at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, California, as well as National University. Her first book, Daughters of Juno, Chronicle I, was published in March of 2004 by Pentland Press, North Carolina. She has contributed chapters to two books in the Wake Up Live The Life You Love Series: On An Enlightened Path and With Gratitude. She is currently occupied with creating another historic fiction.
Visit Dr. Sarah Chloe Burns' Web Page at:
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