I love history. To me it is endlessly fascinating, the never ending chronicle of the triumphs and tragedies of mankind, filled with adventure, courage, cowardice, wisdom, folly and all those elements that make great novels. I therefore find it distressing that so many people think history is dull and are indifferent or even hostile to it. Distressing but understandable. Too many historians seem to write with the unstated desire to make their subject matter as dull and dreary as they can manage. A useful corrective to this are good historical novels, which can often awake in readers a love of history. One of the great practioners of the craft was Rafael Sabatini.
Writing at the end of the Nineteenth and the first half of the Twentieth, Sabatini wrote with color and verve and his historical novels, the best known of which is Captain Blood, were historically accurate as well as being vastly entertaining. Children can often come to love history if it is demonstrated to them that it does not have to be dull, and a great historical novel can help accomplish this.
The late George MacDonald Fraser, a good historian and a fine novelist, testifies to this fact:
“[Sabatini] awoke me to history, and showed me that it was no dry collection of dates and diets and dynasties, but the most exciting adventure of all. For that, I and millions like me are forever in his debt.”
Bonus:
Duel between Captain Blood and Captain Levasseur. Basil Rathbone was a world class fencer and in 1935 he was in his prime. Best fencing duel on film.
Thank you!
Hooray for Captain Blood!
And here’s a (gesture) for Lord Jeffries!
To me, many historical writers seem to be feverishly working to make “their subject matter as dull and dreary as they can manage”, most of the rest are revising history to support their current world views.
For Catholics interesting in the “world war” fought in the 16th century between the protestants and Catholics a fine history would be Garrett Mattingly’s The Armada. In one volume he gives a comprehensive overview of that entire campaign from all the various angles and sides.
Captain Blood is indeed an excellent work, and Sabatini at his best rivals Scott quite easily, to my mind. Thanks for the post.
Thank you gentlemen. Even before I became an attorney, my favorite part of Captain Blood was the courtroom back and forth between Peter Blood and Chief Justice Lord Jefferies. Alas I cannot find the whole brilliant sequence on line, but here is the ending:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JxM28m3EOs&feature=related
Ah, found it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9jmGBa8-Lg&feature=related
And here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awy_h0LFDSI&feature=related
One of the great things about Sabatini is that a great deal of his work (including three of his four most famous novels: Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk and Scaramouche) are all in the public domain (see Project Gutenberg or Manybooks.net). So, if you can read them for free on any device that supports ebooks like the Kindle or a Smartphone.
I will say that one problem I had with Captain Blood though is that it is at least somewhat anti-Catholic. Its a fun read, but the villains are all Catholic (or Catholic sympathizers) and the heros are all Protestant.
—
Bill
A point Bill, although ironically Peter Blood is Catholic, at least when it suits him to be.
When on a press tour for his medieval war film “Ironclad,” actor James Purefoy said something you would appreciate:
“Being a boring history teacher should be a crime.”
Sadly, I’ve not watched Captain Blood….yet. However, I have seen Robin Hood and the sword fight in that movie, with those same actors, is recognized my many people as being the best. I had no idea that there was another. Poor Basil is probably doomed to fail in that movie too.
Yeah, he did! Rathbone was asked if it bothered him that he was so often cast as a villain. He said that he cried all the way to the bank. Captain Blood came out in 35, in glorious black and white, and was the film that made Flynn and Rathbone stars. Peter Blood is Irish, and Flynn’s portrayal is overflowing with joyful Irish brio and humor.
“Being a boring history teacher should be a crime.”
Words to live by Dale!
I sometimes think that the aversion to history held by many fits into, and is promoted by, the leftist narrative that often seeks to promote the idea that whatever is past is evil and, we must atone for it. The only caveat is to be aware that many of today’s so-called historians are little more than propagandist. How to tell the difference? Be open, read widely, and hope you pick the correct version.
and hope you pick the correct version.
… What JRP said 🙂