Now listed on Google as ‘The Best New Historical Fiction Book of 2009′
Someone wrote to me recently and said ‘I loved the story, but my God did they really treat prisoners the way you describe?’
I suppose I could try re-writing it with a touch of humour.
‘Ah, Michael Fane, now then, you are down for hanging, drawing and quartering, now then, stop fretting, it won’t hurt a bit. Go to that masked man over there, his name is Syd, lovely fellow. He’ll let you take a little swing on the gallows, and then he’ll let you down. After that he’ll give you a nice cup of tea and tell you all about his holidays. Then over the next few hours you may feel some discomfort. Most people find that screaming helps’. Better? or………………… read below please.
Michael stands before Judge Jeffreys charged with Murder and High Treason. The minimum sentence if found guilty is to be Hung, Drawn & Quartered. King James goes one step further - he orders Jeffreys to have Michael ‘horsed’. To be pulled apart slowly by two carthorses. (Historical note - ‘The Wheel’ or ‘Horsing’ was outlawed in the 16th Century, but carried on in France until the 17th Century) Just in case you think this is made up [the link] read at your peril.
Then you can join Michael Fane, Daniel DeFoe & Captain Will Derbyshire as they fight at Sedgemoor, then follow them to the battlefields of Holland as the French attempt to destroy the armies of William the Prince of Orange. Read about the real Captain Blood as he fights the French whilst assisting Samuel Pepys. Then read the most dramatic execution ever penned, as Simon Lovelock takes his revenge on ‘The Butcher of Sedgemoor’ - Colonel Percy Kirke.
Pirates, pitch battles, love, romance and bloodshed. Buy your copy today!
Google loves this site! Which explains why Google News featured the book. (see reviews)
The follow up novel ‘Captain Blood’s Pirates’ is out later this summer.
Kindest regards to all, David Castle
Can Lead to….
This is aimed at getting you hooked! If you are looking for Adventure, Bloodshed, Land Battles in Holland and France, Sea Battles and SEX!!! Then you have found the right place!
The book is selling Worldwide - if you would like a hand signed personalised copy - simply e-mail me at david.castle@btconnect.com for details.
Copyright ‘YouWriteOn.com & Legend Press’ No reproduction without the permission of the author David Castle. 9th April 2009.
‘The Adventures of Michael Fane’ ”Adventure Stories seldom get as good as this one” BBC Radio Cambridge
by David Castle
Copyright 2008
Welcome to the most visited Historical Fiction Book blog in the UK. I’m David Castle and I thank you for visiting.
There was in ‘fact’ a real ‘Captain Blood’! An Irish adventurer who in 1671 attempted to steal ‘The Crown Jewels’. This is the story of how Michael Fane and Peter meet in the Taunton Assize in 1685. The punishments listed are graphic, but they are also very, very real! Enjoy and please tell you friends.
This link is the painting of the Execution of Guy Fawkes and his supporters in the 17th Century.
It was painted at the time. The Link
So please bear in mind that when I say the book contains explicit descriptions, then trust me, it does.
September 8th 1685
‘The Bloody Assize’ in Taunton Castle
The battle of Sedgemoor is over. James Scott, the Duke of Monmouth, was beheaded at The Tower of London on July 15th 1685 with a dulled axe. His last reported words were “Here are six guineas for you and do not hack me as you did my Lord Russell. I have heard you struck him four or five times. If you strike me twice, I cannot promise you not to stir.” Jack Ketch his executioner had been paid by others to cause as much suffering to the Duke as was possible. Some say it was five swings of the axe others say it was eight, both agree that a butcher’s knife was used to finish the job and that the head was later resewn to the torso so that a portrait could be painted. To this very day the question is still being asked: was it really James Scott who died at the hands of James II?
These are the adventures of Michael Fane – he knew the truth.
To every reader I say, go no further if you are unaware of the penalties that existed during the Bloody Assize. This was a dark chapter in our Country’s history. The punishments listed are real.
Prelude
The Bloody Assize –
In the Great Hall of Taunton Castle
I am Lieutenant Michael Fane serving with His Majesty King James II’s Royal Lifeguards. I have been charged with Murder and High Treason. This is only my nineteenth year and I am in mortal dread of what will happen to me within just a few short hours. My jailors have continuously taunted me with the tales of others who have suffered their fate at the hands of the infamous 1st Baron of Wem., Judge George Jeffreys.
Yesterday I, and my fellow inmates, had heard the screams of brave men as they were hanged briefly only then to be revived on the gibbet by a foul concoction of vinegar and stale wine forced down their opened gullets. We could hear their ‘splutters and gasps for air’ over the hushed crowds. Then by the heart rendering screams as they had their stomachs slashed open twice with a cleave followed by a large disgusting hook forced into their living entrails and entangled between the two cuts. These poor wretches were then ignominiously hoisted up on a block and tackle; there to dangle screaming and sobbing before the crowds of cheering, hissing or booing onlookers. After being left hanging by their guts and flesh for five or more minutes they were then lowered onto filthy, blood drenched butchers’ blocks for dismemberment. We heard the excruciating screams of agony and the rasp of the saw edge as it chewed its way through bone and muscle as limbs were sawn off and thrown casually to the King’s hounds that barked and scrapped over the bloody objects. The masked executioners went busily about their evil business whilst the women wept and wailed their menfolk drank ale and cider in the local taverns joking and laying wagers on who would last the longest or scream the loudest. All of these events were relayed to us by our jailors who were standing perched on ramparts above our heads peering through the open windows. “Your turn tomorrow lads, sleep well tonight!” was called out time and time again. The lesser offenders were simply hung and left swinging. Some militia even took advantage of the opportunity to practice with their bayonets and muskets on the dangling targets.
Dozens of market stalls surrounded the death mound; crowds had come from far and wide to witness the barbaric spectacle. We could hear the jesters taunt the audience and the minstrels singing their ballads of death and torture.
My fate may be even worse than it had been for them! I was to be the last case to be heard before the ‘hanging judge’ and as my charges were so severe, I was disadvantaged in so far as I had been allowed no counsel and no communications were allowed, in or out. My friends had all deserted me. I had been given a separate cell on this, my last morning on earth. One kindly jailor, Ned Turner, had had his wife clean my clothes for me. I was given parchments, a quill and some ink in a small metal well and had been ordered to write my confessions. As I am not of the Catholic faith I had refused a brief visit from a priest. Most Protestant ministers have been banished or executed following the Monmouth Rebellion. I am now only three months into my nineteenth year; my senior officers in King James II army have falsified my crimes and have forgotten my name. Now in this ill- lit damp and squalid cell I look at both my hands and marvel at the wonders and dexterity of these simple instruments. How can they be of a loving and tender nature and then transverse in a single thought of the mind to become deadly instruments of torture?
My reasons for these thoughts are that my jailors, save Ned Turner, have jeered at me. Laughing openly in my face - telling me in gory detail that I was bound to be ‘stumped and pitched’. This meaning that in addition to my being hung and revived that both my hands would then be removed by a saw, followed by my feet then red hot pitch would be applied to seal the stumps so that I would not deny my audience the ignominy of seeing me dying quickly from loss of blood. Then my ‘privy parts’ would be cut away and cooked before my eyes. I have prayed for an early death but my captors are not of the same disposition. High Treason demands a prolonged death. I would then either be disembowelled and then quartered or as the common people called it ‘hacked and sacked’. Of the two, the latter has me petrified. From my memories as a child, I can recall the verses sung by the village children ‘And down comes a blackbird to peck off your nose’. The expression of paying ‘with an arm and a leg’ is also a common term of speech. I have seen the rope-bagged bodies of men recently ‘hacked’. Their arms and legs axed off and hot pitch poured onto the stumps, then left hanging from trees in rope bags made by their once fellow prisoners. Soon after they would be infested with flocking carrion crow, jackdaws and magpies all jostling for position whilst pecking relentlessly at their human feast.
One man alone had ordered such atrocities and that self said man was the officer who had ordered my arrest, Colonel Percy Kirke ‘The Butcher of Sedgemoor’!
Would I too be placed limbless and still barely alive to await the carrion crows whilst hanging defenceless in a rope bag? Tears cascade down my face - I am shaking from head to toe.
This book goes on to reveal one of the best kept secrets of all time.
The Real Man in the Iron Mask!!
