I know I’ve written in general terms about the Lincolnshire
Uprising before, but now I am at the part in “Croaking of Ravens”, Luke Ballard’s
third adventure when the nitty-gritty begins to matter.
The whys and wherefores of the plot lie in the 1536
uprising, 18 years before the action of the book. Luke is sent by Anne Boleyn
to his home county to recover the kidnapped Prince of Wales, Arthur. Luke does
not want to go for several excellent reasons – at least they are excellent in
his opinion. He has just encountered the incredibly beautiful Blanche Oliver,
who seems equally taken with him. He hasn’t seen his home or his father for
seventeen years.
So, what is he going to find when he arrives at the Heneage
estate in Hainton, a few miles from Louth where the uprising began in October
1536? The three Heneage brothers each played some part in the action.
Sir Thomas Heneage was Henry VIII’s Groom of the Stool, a
position of great importance if one wanted to ask the king a favour.
Thomas’s brother, George was Dean of Lincoln Cathedral,
which was chosen by the “commons” (the peasants) and “gentlemen” (the local
landowners) to meet and discuss what they were going to do.
Plain Mr John Heneage, the third brother, had the most
exciting time, if you can call being pulled from your horse, threatened with
death and forced to take an oath of allegiance to the commons exciting. John
later escaped the mob and rode to London with a letter and report for the King from the gentlemen. He stayed only long enough to be sent back, but it would be logical to assume that he might have met with his elder brother.
Those are the facts. I’m having a wonderful time playing “what-if?”
with them. What-if Luke's father played a hitherto unknown part in the uprising? What-if the nuns/monks of local houses that were closed down are determined on revenge? What-if the prospect of spoils in terms of gaining forfeited lands proved too much for some? And what-if the Lincolnshire uprising has been chosen by sunderers specifically so that they can target Luke and his family?
To find out how the twists and turns play out, you will have to
wait a while until the book is published by Carina Press, hopefully in 2015.
