The King's Sons, by George Manville Fenn.
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This is a very short book, and it does not contain any of the usual
nail-biting Fenn-style situations. But it is very good at what it does,
which is to tell a story about King Ethelwulf of Wessex and his four
sons, each of whom in turn became King.
The story concentrates on the youngest of the sons, Alfred, who became
known as Alfred the Great during his reign. The four boys have a tutor,
Father Swythe, but only Alfred is interested in what the monk has to
teach. At this point we get a very interesting lesson on how the great
illustrated manuscripts were made, how the ink and the colours were
made, and how the pens and brushes were made.
Father Swythe later became Bishop of Winchester, and was known as
Swithun. He was canonised, and somehow there has grown a legend that if
it rains on Saint Swithun's day it will rain for forty days after that.
He is portrayed as rather a portly monk in this story, but his effigy in
Winchester Cathedral shows him as a very slight man. There is another
story about him which makes him out to be rather a small man, who
couldn't reach the key-hole of the cathedral, which obligingly slid down
for him. Anyway, the story is a good one, and you will enjoy it.
This website is called Athelstane, after Alfred's grandson, so we were
interested to transcribe this story. NH
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