Lorna Doone.
I know nothing about R.D. Blackmore except that he is English and he lived some time ago. Oh, and he also wrote Lorna Doone, which is a fabulous period story set in Britain of 1680s to 1690s.
This is one book where the story eclipses the man who wrote it for me. I don’t mean this in a rude way to R.D. Blackmore because his story is a wonderful gem. The tale contains wonderful characters and I loved walking around and living the adventure in West England of this period.
It is a passionate love story between John Ridd who is a layman English farmer and Lorna Doone – a young lady of more noble status - a Scottish Reiver clan.
Why a Scottish Reiver clan should be living in South West England might puzzle most people. After all, you could not get a further corner of the Isles from their origins. Therefore, I would like to fill you in on few little ditties concerning Reiver clans.
The story is set some time after the forced deportation to Ireland of the Reiver clans by the Scottish King James VI = (English King James I). Once the king had control of both kingdoms he could control the borders of Scotland and England. He rounded up the Reiver clans and forced them to live in Ulster province of Ireland, where the Protestant Reivers would have their hands full fighting the local indigenous and rebellious Catholic population. This was about 1605 and stopped the cross-border clashes of the Reiver clans but caused a new conflict in the North of Ireland. Hmmm, does it still go on today?
The Doones, however, had escaped deportation by fleeing deeper into England. First to Yorkshire, where areas were remote enough to stay out of the king's attention and with status enough to control the local militias and magistrates.
They remained in Yorkshire for around forty years and would abduct the young woman from the surrounding areas and soon the rouge Reiver clan was full of Fitz-Doones (illegitimate offspring) Legend has it that there were many in this ‘fallen from grace’ clan of Land Owners.
When King James died, his second son Charles became king and by the 1640s he had thrown the kingdom of England into civil war. His parliament rebelled against him and the English civil war began between Royalists and Parliamentarians.
The Doone clan saw an opportunity to regain their ancestral homelands in Scotland by helping the king and so joined the Royalists in the English civil war. They, of course, backed the losing side and once again found themselves on the run from the newly formed and short-lived English Commonwealth/Republic. They ran deeper southwest to the borders of Devon and Somerset – again a remote place and far from the London government of the time.
1660, the English Commonwealth government falls and King Charles II returns from exile and so begins the restoration. The mad Christian fundamentalists are gone. People will not get branded or have ears cut off for not attending church, Witch-finder generals are told to lighten up on spinsters with black cats and things get more relaxed. Rainbows appear and little bunny rabbits hop about in the meadows while the Doones go back to doing their gypsy thing of upsetting the local peasantry. Except now they live on the other side of the Isles – miles away from their Scottish homelands and a couple of generations removed. None alive can remember the borderlands anymore.
It is around 1680 when the story begins and John Ridd goes to the market as a young boy with his father. The Doones ride down from the moor into the market like a bunch of cowboys from a western and the trouble starts there.
The story transcends years and we see John Ridd grow up loving Lorna, who is a Doone. Her clan is responsible for killing John’s father. The word bereaved comes from Reivers who kill someone of your own clan.
There are many trials and tribulations during the story and some of the characters in the yarn actually lived. For instance Judge Jefferys – the hanging Judge is real. Thomas Fagan – the highwayman is real. Although his character is around many years before he lived. Thomas Fagan was notorious in the 1740s as a highwayman and so was his white steed but they were not about in 1690s Devon. The Doone clan was real, but Lorna, Carver, and Ensor Doone are fictitious as is John Ridd.
I have got to be about the most unromantic bloke going, but I have to confess, that I secretly fell in love with Lorna Doone. If you are a guy and you think this romance is not for you, please reconsider. John Ridd is a real champion with a reserved and decent demeanor. You might imagine you are him winning your own Lorna. The story is great and many of the events are intertwined with real things of the time, especially the Monmouth Rebellion and the rebels going before Judge Jefferys. For me, it is a complete adventure with a fabulous hero and heroine – an excellent villain in Carver Doone that you’ll love to hate. Lorna Doone has got it all.
Lorna Doone is Ensor’s Doone's granddaughter, but he hides a dreadful secret about her and is bitterly opposed to her match with a common farmer. He wants her for cruel Carver Doone, who she loathes. If you have not read this one, I would strongly advise you to give it a go. It captures a part of Britain during a very dramatic time and much of the story is made from a mishmash of West Country folklore.
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