" .. politics is a world in which nothing is quite as it seems .."
In England, in 1681, the shine is beginning to wear off the reign of Charles II. There are plots against the king; treasonable rumblings; kidnappings; religious dissent; spies and secret clubs; and finally murder. And it is against the backdrop of Parliament's sitting in Oxford that this story is set.
To give perspective: at the time this story is set, Charles II had no legitimate offspring to follow him - his heir as his brother James, who was a Catholic. In 1673, Parliament passed a Test Act to prevent Catholics from holding office, by which the successor to the throne, James, Duke of York, had to resign; and five years later, another Test Act was introduced debarring Catholics from sitting in Parliament. The following year (1679), the first Exclusion Parliament met: the Commons drafted a Bill to exclude the Duke of York from the succession (and threatened to block supply to achieve their ends); this was defeated in the House of Lords the following year.
Thus we come to the time of our story - 1681 and the third Exclusion Parliament which met at Oxford for barely a week; it would be the last time Parliament met outside Westminster. For Charles, summoning Parliament to meet in Oxford, a Royalist stronghold which had been Charles I's capital during the Civil War, was designed to deprive the Whig opposition of the grassroots support from the London masses. The Whigs - not yet a political party - opposed "popery" and absolute monarchism and supported a constitutional monarchy. In the end, Parliament was dismissed when Charles II determined to rule without Parliament and obtained his much needed funds from the French.
Our story also introduces us to the secretive "Green Ribbons", a political group that was hostile to the court. They usually met in taverns and coffee-houses, and wore a strip of green ribbon as a means of identification and recognition, especially amid the many street brawls and riots. This group was particularly active in London.
Blood on the Stone is told over the course of a week; it rumbles on slowly before the pace quickens towards the end. For me, it was an easy read - I enjoyed the characters and their alternating narratives; the gradual unraveling of events kept me interested to the point that I read on; and the historical note at the end (always a favourite part for me - especially when dealing with events a little left of centre) was much appreciated. This put both the events and characters into real historical perspective.
All in all - a fairly decent start to a possible series .....
further reading:
Culture and Politics at the Court of Charles II, 1660-1685 by Matthew Jenkinson
Radical Whigs and Conspiratorial Politics in Late Stuart England by Melinda S. Zook
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