![]() ![]() Sovereign is the third installment of a series Sansom began with Dissolution and continued with Dark Fire - two stark re-creations of Henry’s England that proclaimed the arrival of a first-rate historical novelist. ![]() And while Henry VIII, the aging and paranoid monster at the heart of Sansom’s novel, made the progress with every creature comfort, his lesser courtiers and minor officials expected only the misery of trailing along in an endless cavalcade in his muddy wake with the rest of the vast horde of servants, camp followers and knaves that followed the king. Here the monarch ventured to the farthest reaches of his realm at the head of a vast retinue to awe his subjects with displays of pomp that were hardly justified by the circumstances. ![]() Sansom’s richly textured historical thriller Sovereign, which is set in the 1540s and in the darkening twilight of Henry VIII’s grip on power, the description refers to what was loftily called a Royal Progress. Today, we would reflexively assume that this had to be a trip to the airport in the forlorn hope of reaching one’s destination within the next week or so.īut in C.J. For even the most seasoned traveler, it was a nightmare of vile food, unsanitary conditions, endless waiting, and testiness from those supposedly in charge of the journey. ![]()
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