Simon (Sutcliff novel)

Simon
	First edition cover
Author	Rosemary Sutcliff
Illustrator	Richard Kennedy
Cover artist	William Stobbs
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Historical novel
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication date	1953
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Preceded by	Brother Dusty-Feet
Followed by	The Eagle of the Ninth

Last updated May 20, 2024

Simon is a children's historical novel written by Rosemary Sutcliff, first published in 1953. It is set during the First English Civil War, primarily focusing on the final campaign of 1645-1646 in the West Country and shows the effect of the conflict on two friends, who find themselves on opposite sides.

Plot summary

Apart from 'The Chronicles of Robin Hood,' Sutcliff's three previous novels, The Queen Elizabeth Story, The Armourer's House and Brother Dusty-Feet were aimed at a younger audience and set in the 16th century. 'Simon' shows a significant shift in both tone and subject matter and is generally acknowledged to be the first to feature the mastery of subject and style for which she is now remembered.^[1]^[2]

The story begins in the West Devon town of Torrington, on the eve of the First English Civil War in 1642. The protagonists are Simon Carey, son of a local farmer who supports Parliament and his best friend, Amias Hannaford, son of the Royalist town doctor. The two friends fall out when the war begins; Simon's father goes off to fight for Parliament but orders him to finish school first.

Amias joins the Royalist forces in April 1644, while Simon helps a regiment of Parliamentary cavalry escape after their defeat at Lostwithiel in September. With the help of an officer he met then, he joins the New Model Army in early 1645 as a Cornet in the regiment of the Army commander, Sir Thomas Fairfax. His corporal is an Ironside trooper called Zeal-for-the-Lord Relf.

The story covers the decisive Parliamentary victory at Naseby in June 1645; when Zeal-for-the-Lord deserts to seek revenge on a former friend, he is flogged and dismissed from the army. The rest of the book covers the final campaign in the West Country; Simon takes part in the July 1645 Battle of Langport, then helps capture a house at Okeham Paine held by the Royalists, where he finds himself fighting against Amias. He is badly wounded and then sent home as a scout to gather information on the Royalist army led by Ralph Hopton; here he meets again with both Amias and Zeal-for-the-Lord, who is now with the Royalists and gives him the information he needs.

Simon rejoins the army for the Battle of Torrington; this results in a Parliamentary victory but a huge explosion blows up the church, killing over 200 prisoners. Simon helps the injured Amias, who is suspected of causing the explosion and is also arrested for 'harbouring the enemy.' Zeal-for-the-Lord is one of the wounded recovered from the explosion and before he dies, helps clear Amias. Simon is also freed and the story ends four years later in 1649, after the Second English Civil War with the two resuming their friendship.

In 'Simon,' Sutcliff addresses a theme that re-appears in many of her works ie that of conflicting personal and societal loyalties and what keeping faith with one can mean for the other. Thomas Fairfax also appears in Sutcliff's novel 'Rider of the White Horse,' written from the perspective of his wife Anne Fairfax.

Historical background

Rosemary Sutcliff wrote that it is a fiction based on real events; "Most history books deal with the final campaign of the civil war in a single paragraph, and the Battle of Torrington they seldom mention at all. In this story I have tried to show what that final campaign in the west was like, and to re-fight the battles fought over my own countryside. Most of the people I've written about really lived; Torrington Church really did blow up, with 200 Royalist prisoners and their Parliamentary Guard inside, and no one has ever known how it happened, though Chaplain Joshua Sprigg left it on record that the deed was done by 'one Watts, a desperate villain.'"

While the fact of the explosion is historically correct, other sources claim the prisoners were Parliamentary soldiers held by the Royalists (Sutcliff has it the other way round), while the actual number killed is unclear.^[3] The battle itself features in local historical re-enactments.

Related Research Articles

The Battle of Naseby took place on 14 June 1645 during the First English Civil War, near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. The Parliamentarian New Model Army, commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, destroyed the main Royalist army under Charles I and Prince Rupert. Defeat ended any real hope of royalist victory, although Charles did not finally surrender until May 1646.

Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, also known as Sir Thomas Fairfax, was an English politician, general and Parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. An adept and talented commander, Fairfax led Parliament to many victories, including the crucial Battle of Naseby, effectively becoming military ruler of England, but he was eventually overshadowed by his subordinate Oliver Cromwell, who was more politically adept and radical in action against Charles I. Fairfax became dissatisfied with Cromwell's policy and publicly refused to take part in Charles's show trial. Eventually he resigned, leaving Cromwell to control the country. Because of this, as well as his honourable battlefield conduct and active role in the Restoration of the monarchy after Cromwell's death, he was exempted from the retribution that was exacted on many other leaders of the revolution.

Henry Ireton was an English general in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and the son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell. He died of disease outside Limerick in November 1651.

Sir Charles Lucas, 1613 to 28 August 1648, was a professional soldier from Essex, who served as a Royalist cavalry leader during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Taken prisoner at the end of the First English Civil War in March 1646, he was released after swearing not to fight against Parliament again, an oath he broke when the Second English Civil War began in 1648. As a result, he was executed following his capture at the Siege of Colchester in August 1648, and became a Royalist martyr after the 1660 Stuart Restoration.

George Goring, Lord Goring was an English Royalist soldier. He was known by the courtesy title Lord Goring as the eldest son of the first Earl of Norwich.

The Ironsides were troopers in the Parliamentarian cavalry formed by English political leader Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century, during the English Civil War. The name came from "Old Ironsides", one of Cromwell's nicknames.

The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An estimated 15% to 20% of adult males in England and Wales served in the military at some point between 1639 and 1653, while around 4% of the total population died from war-related causes. These figures illustrate the widespread impact of the conflict on society, and the bitterness it engendered as a result.

Joshua Sprigg or Sprigge was an English Independent theologian and preacher. He acted as chaplain to Sir Thomas Fairfax, general for the Parliamentarians, and wrote or co-wrote the 1647 book Anglia Rediviva, a history of the part played up to that time by Fairfax's army in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

Events from the year 1646 in England. This is the fifth and last year of the First English Civil War, fought between Roundheads (Parliamentarians) and Cavaliers.

Cornwall played a significant role in the English Civil War, being a Royalist enclave in the generally Parliamentarian south-west.

The Battle of Seacroft Moor took place in Whinmoor moor near the village of Seacroft, north-east of Leeds in West Riding on 30 March 1643 during the First English Civil War. In the battle, a Parliamentarian force commanded by Lieutenant-General Thomas Fairfax was decisively beaten by a Royalist cavalry force commanded by George Goring.

The Battle of Torrington was a decisive battle of the south-western campaign of the First English Civil War and marked the end of Royalist resistance in the West Country. It took place in Torrington, Devon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Fairfax</span> English noblewoman

Anne, Lady Fairfax was an English noblewoman. She was the wife of Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, commander-in-chief of the New Model Army. She followed her husband as he fought and she was briefly taken prisoner. It is said that she was ejected after heckling the court at the trial of Charles I.

1646 was the fifth and final year of the First English Civil War. By the beginning of 1646 military victory for the Parliamentary forces was in sight. A Royalist army was defeated in the field at the Battle of Torrington on 16 February and the last Royalist field army was defeated at the Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold on 21 March. From then on the New Model Army cleared the remaining Royalist strongholds. The politics moved into a post-war phase with all the major factions in England and Scotland trying to reach an accommodation with King Charles I that would further their own particular interests.

James Berry, died 9 May 1691, was a Clerk from the West Midlands who served with the Parliamentarian army in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Characterised by a contemporary and friend as "one of Cromwell's favourites", during the 1655 to 1657 Rule of the Major-Generals, he was administrator for Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire and Wales.

Charles Trevanion, c. 1594 to c. 1660, was an English landowner and politician, who was MP for Cornwall in 1625 and Sheriff from 1633 to 1634. He supported the Royalist cause during the First English Civil War, during which his eldest son John Trevanion was killed.

The Battle of Montgomery took place during the First English Civil War of 1642–1646. On 17 September 1644, a Parliamentarian force commanded by Sir John Meldrum advanced to engage a Royalist army led by Lord Byron which was besieging Montgomery Castle in mid Wales. The battle was fought the next day. After the Royalists gained an initial advantage, the Parliamentarians counter-attacked and destroyed Byron's army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capture of Wakefield</span> 1643 engagement of the First English Civil War

The capture of Wakefield occurred during the First English Civil War when a Parliamentarian force attacked the Royalist garrison of Wakefield, Yorkshire. The Parliamentarians were outnumbered, having around 1,500 men under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax, compared to the 3,000 led by George Goring in Wakefield. Despite being outnumbered, Parliamentarians successfully stormed the town, taking roughly 1,400 prisoners.

The battle of Bovey Heath took place on 9 January 1646 at Bovey Tracey and Bovey Heath during the First English Civil War. A Parliamentarian cavalry detachment under the command of Oliver Cromwell surprised and routed the Lord Wentworth's Royalist camp.

The Siege of Tiverton took place in October 1645 during the First English Civil War, when a Royalist garrison surrendered to a detachment of the New Model Army.

References

↑ Historical Novel Society: Rosemary Sutcliff
↑ Marcus Crouch, Treasure Seekers and Borrowers: Children's books in Britain 1900-1960, The Library Association, 1962, pp 125-126: "suddenly, in Simon (1953), the author found her strength in a brilliant realistic picture of life in the civil wars."
↑ "The Battle of Torrington, 1646".

External links

Website on Simon and all Rosemary Sutcliff books by her godchild and literary executor

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[1] Historical Novel Society: Rosemary Sutcliff

[2] Marcus Crouch, Treasure Seekers and Borrowers: Children's books in Britain 1900-1960, The Library Association, 1962, pp 125-126: "suddenly, in Simon (1953), the author found her strength in a brilliant realistic picture of life in the civil wars."

[3] "The Battle of Torrington, 1646".

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