The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 5 April 2005
by Zoé Oldenbourg
The author of this epic novel must have taken at least some of her smoky realism from the work of her Nobel-winning predecessor, Sigrid Undset. Undset used extensive research to bring to life Scandanavia in the 13th and 14th centuries, and with a strong thread of the religious culture of that time. Oldenbourg, with, apparently, similarly obsessive research, enlivens the Champagne region of France (which was made up of more or less independent principalities at the time) during the latter half of the 12th century. The book spans the lives of Alis and Ansiau of Linnieres, a small castelleny south of Troyes. It opens upon their marriage, and spreads across fifty years of their lives. They live in a dark and smoky small castle, surrounded by wet forests. The house is full of varlets and other servants, as well as brothers and cousins hoping to become knights. The lives Oldenbourg portrays are centered around the petty aristocracy. Ansiau gains wealth by winning tournaments throughout the region, exacting ransoms and confiscating armaments in the process. Alis leads a life of the lady of the castle, keeping their home while Ansiau roams the countryside. There is little left to entertain these people, except for battle and sex. Ansiau and Alis both pursue extramarital affairs, though, depending on the different attitudes toward male and female roles in that time and place, they each handle their infidelities in their particular way. Oldenbourg is vaguely feminist in her approach to Lady Alis and other women. She knows a little less about the inner lives of the men, except that they have an almost animal existence of fighting and mating. Soon, Ansiau can seek holy glory in the second Crusade. While he is gone, we stay with Alis and her lonely castle life. When Ansiau grows bored after returning, he is relieved by the third Crusade, on which he takes his newly-knighted young sons. This time, we follow him to the Holy Land, and Oldenbourg portrays this adventure with a smelly, gritty realism that makes for compelling reading. Ansiau is just about broken when he returns again to Alis. His only remaining distractions, now that he has reached the ripe old age of fifty, are the young girls who still populate the home castle.
The book is riven with family squabbles and petty political positioning for home and castle. The presence of religious feeling, one would expect to be strong within this society, but here is also a religion of convenience. These characters, unlike Undset's, are not driven by their religious feeling. They are much more superstitious, by nature, and given to almost as much pagan feeling as Christian. The monotony of their lives, keeping the castle and striving for local position, becomes a little tiring, but Oldenbourg imbues the time with such life and dank color, that the book is an absorbing read. In one edition, she even appends actual accounts of the Crusades, as well as an afterword that reflects upon the sources for the novel. Ansiau of Linnieres was a real castleman of the late 12th century, though the only record of his existence is his name. On this alone, Zoé Oldenbourg has draped an elaborate and rich story.
See Also: [The Axe by Sigrid Undset]