Cavalier: A Tale of Chivalry, Passion, and Great Houses - Hardcover

Worsley, Lucy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1596913584 ISBN 13: 9781596913585

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2007

Synopsis

From the Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces in England, a vivid portrait of a seventeenth-century nobleman, his household, and the dramatic decades surrounding the English Civil War.

William Cavendish embodied the popular image of a cavalier. He was both courageous and cultured. His passions were architecture, horses, and women. And, along with the whole courtly world of King Charles I and his cavaliers, he was doomed to failure.

Cavendish was a master of manège (the art of teaching horses to dance) and obsessed with building beautiful houses in the latest style. He taught Charles I's son to ride, and was the general of the king's army in the north during the Civil War. Famously defeated at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, he went into a long continental exile before returning to England in triumph on the restoration of King Charles II to the throne in 1660.

This is the story of one remarkable man, but it is also a rich evocation of what sustained him―his extraordinary household. Lucy Worsley brings to life the complex and fascinating hierarchies among the inhabitants of the great houses of the seventeenth-century, painting a picture of conspiracy, sexual intrigue, clandestine marriage, and gossip. From Ben Jonson and Anthony Van Dyck to long-forgotten servants, Cavalier is a brilliant illumination of the stately home and its inhabitants. The household's cacophony and stink as well as its ceremony and splendor come to life.

About this title

About the Author:

The Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces (including Hampton Court and the Tower of London), Lucy Worsley is a leading young historian. She has been researching the story of William Cavendish and his household for more than ten years, and is the author of the English Heritage guide to Bolsover Castle, his principal home.

From Publishers Weekly:

Worsley, the chief curator of Britain's Historic Royal Palaces, closely examines the life of 17th-century English aristocrat William Cavendish, a champion of poetry, music, horses, women and architecture, with reference to numerous primary sources including a rich body of his estate papers, letters and poems. Every detail of Cavendish's universe comes to life, from architect John Smithson's designs for his exquisite home to the job descriptions and diets of the building site's laborers. Also vividly described is a nasty household plot against Cavendish's much younger second wife and a costly entertainment staged by Cavendish to curry favor with Charles I. It succeeded, and the King made William earl, marquis, his heir's tutor and a Civil War general, a commission beyond Cavendish's abilities. After a key battle of the war ended in disaster, Cavendish fled to the continent, lived in relative poverty and was branded a coward, but his fortunes rebounded under Charles II, who minted him duke of Newcastle. Although fascinating, this diligently documented account reveals its roots as a doctoral thesis. 16-page color insert, b&w illus. (Oct. 20)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1596913584
• ISBN 13: 9781596913585
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352