The Betrothed by Walter Scott

The Betrothed Reviews

• 
  John

  A story that centers around chivalry and arranged marriage. Set during the third crusade 1189-1192 on the England Welsh borders a young Norman lady Eveline is saved by the elderly Baron Constable De Lacy. Her father is killed and their castle besieged until Constable arrives and massacres the Welsh.
  
  After lifting the siege Eveline is escorted by Constable to her aunt's nunnery at Gloucester. On her way she stays a night at the house of a Saxon kinswoman, the Lady of Baldringham. She is made to spend a night in the haunted Red Finger chamber. The ghost of her ancestor's wife, Vanda, appears and predicts:
  
  Widowed wife, and married maid,
  Betrothed, betrayer, and betrayed.
  
  These words haunt her, but she still feels obligated to accept his proposal due to a vow she made. He has to fulfill a vow to fight three years in the Crusades before they can marry. During that time is young heir Damian is her guardian. There is also intrigue with the bad sheep of the family trying to take over the Barons lands and fortune.
  
  The faithful Flemish weaver and soldier Wilkin Flammock tries to help with his daughter Rose and does but through adversity. Eveline is torn between her vow and obvious love for Damian as is he but they do not act on it.
  
  Overall a great adventure yarn with a cameo byHenry II and his two sons Richard and John. There squabbling made me chuckle. A bit far fetched that the bard waited all that time before taking vengeance or does he?
• 
  Antonia Baird

  Scott can be utterly enjoyable to read, once you give yourself a couple of pages to get the feel for the language -which can contain intricately crafted sentences of nearly a page in length, and for which you need, unusually for the modern era, a singular concentration. The plotting is exciting, if a little slow for the modern reader,and there are set scenes, with rich and detailed descriptions that create vivid pictures in your mind. You have to forgive the conventions of the era, I accept that, however it is hard to forgive or to understand the often two dimensional characters, who it is hard to feel sympathy for. On balance, a good old fashioned read, with masterful language and description, and simple adventure where the good guys usually prevail.
• 
  Mariangel

  The first of the Crusader novels, though it takes places entirely in Wales.
  A tale of battles, castle siege, treason and calumny, but everything ends well in the end. Very enjoyable.
  Now on to the Talisman.
• 
  Monty Milne

  One of Scott’s biographers called this “the dreariest and stupidest book produced by a writer of genius.” I wouldn’t quite go that far, but it’s certainly not one of Sir Walter’s best. There is a castle siege which is a bit reminiscent of Ivanhoe, but not as good. Indeed, everything in it is a bit like other Scott novels, except not quite as good. About the only thing that caught my interest was the unusually negative treatment of St Thomas a Beckett (I was intrigued by this as I’ve always thought him a bit slippery too). But really, only my fervent love of all things Scott-ish enabled me to get to the end (something Scott himself apparently found hard to do when he was writing it). This was my second reading, and there won’t be a third.
• 
  Sotiris Karaiskos

  A highly engaging historical novel, an excellent medieval story set in the time of the Crusades that has all the expected elements but what makes it stand out is the point of view. Of course, the exploits of the warriors play a dominant role, but the leading role is played by a woman, one of those who stayed behind when the men went on the crusades and had to be patient, putting their lives on hold until the happy event of their return. The author puts us in the world of these women, full of sensitivity and tenderness, with many limitations and few joys, with friendships and intense religious feelings offering consolation. Our heroine, however, is also at the centre of the violent world of men, worrying about her own people, watching from a safe distance all the confrontations and in the end, she becomes the object of the ambitions of cruel people and gets into trouble. Fortunately, however, she lives in a time when there were still knights ready to defend a damsel in distress.
  
  All this is described by the author, in his own special way, with a wonderful narrative that combines drama with humour and with a Shakespearean mood, creating an excellent novel, exciting and interesting from beginning to end, which stands even next to
  Ivanhoe, in my humble opinion.
  
  Ένα ιδιαίτερα συναρπαστικό ιστορικό μυθιστόρημα, μία εξαιρετική μεσαιωνική ιστορία που διαδραματίζεται στον καιρό των σταυροφοριών και έχει όλα τα αναμενόμενα στοιχεία αλλά αυτό που την κάνει να ξεχωρίζει είναι η οπτική γωνία. Φυσικά κυρίαρχο ρόλο παίζουν τα κατορθώματα των πολεμιστών αλλά τον πρωταγωνιστικό ρόλο τον έχει έχει μία γυναίκα, μία από αυτές που έμενε πίσω όταν οι άνδρες πήγαιναν στις σταυροφορίες και έπρεπε να κάνουν υπομονή, βάζοντας τις ζωές τους σε αναμονή μέχρι το ευτυχές γεγονός της επιστροφής. Ο συγγραφέας μας βάζει στον κόσμο αυτών των γυναικών, τον γεμάτο ευαισθησία και τρυφερότητα, με τους πολλούς περιορισμούς και τις λίγες χαρές, με τις φιλίες και το έντονο Θρησκευτικό συναίσθημα να προσφέρουν παρηγοριά. Η ηρωίδα μας, όμως, βρίσκεται και στο επίκεντρο του βίαιου κόσμου των ανδρών, αγωνιώντας για τους δικούς της ανθρώπους, παρακολουθώντας από ασφαλή απόσταση όλες τις αντιπαραθέσεις και στο τέλος γίνεται το αντικείμενο των φιλοδοξιών σκληρών ανθρώπων και να μπλέξει σε μπελάδες. Ευτυχώς όμως ζει στην εποχή που υπήρχαν ακόμα ιππότες έτοιμοι να υπερασπιστούν μία δεσποσύνη σε κίνδυνο.
  
  Όλα αυτά μας τα περιγράφει ο συγγραφέας, με τον δικό του ξεχωριστό τρόπο, με μία υπέροχη αφήγηση που συνδυάζει την δραματικότητα με το χιούμορ και με σαιξπηρική διάθεση, δημιουργώντας ένα εξαιρετικό μυθιστόρημα, συναρπαστικό και ενδιαφέρον από την αρχή ως το τέλος, που στέκεται επάξια ακόμα και δίπλα στον Ιβανόη, κατά την ταπεινή μου άποψη.
• 
  Steve R

  Good, shorter than average, Waverley novel. Tells the tale of Eveline, the betrothed ofSir Hugh Lacy, who went off from Wales to fight in the Crusades and left her under the guardianship of his nephew Damian. A nasty brother, Ranald, tries to usurp the lands from Hugh whi;e he's away, is opposed by Damian, who secretly loves Eveline, and when Hugh returns and vanquishes Ranald, he gallantly gives over his betrothal so that Eveline and Damian can be married. Lovely story.
• 
  Darlene

  Für dieses Buch habe ich fast einen Monat gebraucht. Aber ich bin froh, das Original gelesen zu haben trotz aller Widrigkeiten. Mein Lateinkenntnisse reichten bei weitem nicht aus.
  Am Ende fand ich das happy-end to much. Etwas weniger hätte genügt.
  
  Ich kann mir gut vorstellen, dass Jane Austen den Autor und dieses Buch wegen der romantischen Ader von Waverley und seine Vorliebe für gute Bücher mochte.
• 
  Boris

  I find Scott's steady prose and predictable plot development a great stress relievers.
• 
  Tracey

  Not my favourite of Scott's novels but still a well researched story set in England during the time of King Henry II and Archbishop Baldwin.
• 
  Curt

  Definitely fits in with Scott's historical novel approach but a contemporary critic should find material on a feminist study:
  1. Chapter 16 page 133 (Edinburgh edition): De Lacy himself, as he learned more intimately to know the merit of the prize which he was desirous of possessing..
  2. Chapter 2 (vol. 2) page 151: He was assured of the early possession of a beautiful and amiable wife...
  Eveline may not have objected to any of this but toss the idea of possession of a wife to someone working on a more contemporary female slant and see what response elicits.
  Eveline managed affairs quite well while her betrothed was away so anyone gathering material for Scctt's heroines should have fun with this.
  The novel itself was a bit heavy reading at times, but passages like this perked my interest.
• 
  Even

  The Betrothed has been described as one of "the dreariest and stupidest book ever produced by a writer of genius", but I don't see why. Set in the Welsh marches during the time of the Crusdades it is an entertaining little tale. It takes Scott a while to really introduce the main characters, and once he has you get the idea that you pretty much know where the story is going, but can enjoy the ride anyway. He then throws a loop at the end. I would have probably enjoyed the book more if it had ended the way it seemed to be headed, as it would have meant Scott was exploring a new narrative along with a new time period, but the ending was at once suprising and typical of Scott. Scott usually includes a few idiosyncratic characters into each story, seemingly to lighten the mood, and this one is unusually full of them, All in all not dreary at all
• 
  Lauren Little

  Pretty good.
• 
  Yibbie

  Boring. The whole story line was extremely predictable. It is slow moving, overly dramatic, and rather dark.
• 
  Helen

  Perhaps a bit predictable, but so well written! It was great fun, and I really enjoyed it.
• 
  Kåre

  Jeg har kun læst uddrag. Det er gammelt og tungt. Men det er jo angiveligt den første selvbevidste historiske roman.
  Måske kommer jeg tilbage til den engang.