Men of Iron: King Richard's Councilor — Howard Pyle

Men of Iron

King Richard's Councilor

by Howard Pyle

The story begins in 1400, the year after the deposition of Richard II of England by Henry of Bolingbrooke, thereafter Henry IV. Lord Gilbert Reginald Falworth is attainted for being King Richard's councilor, who strongly advised him to resist his cousin Henry's movement to seize the throne, and for protecting The Earl of Alban, a fictional conspirator against the succeeding King Henry. Falworth is blinded in a trial by combat with William Bushy Brookhurst, later created Earl of Alban, whom young Myles, son of Lord Falworth, remembers brutally killing Sir John Dale in the hall of Falworth castle where he lived with his parents.

Lord Falworth, his wife, Myles, and Diccon Bowman go into hiding in Crosbey-Dale on the estates of the Priory of St. Mary, under the protection of the elderly Prior Edward. Most of the action of the novel is in Derbyshire, England; the ruins of a castle Mackworth actually exist on the west side of Derby. Diccon Bowman undertakes the physical training of young Myles, and Prior Edward performs the academic training. Lady Falworth teaches him the French language. Myles is a champion wrestler, defeating a man a head taller than he. Later in the novel the reader learns that Myles as a child took a dangerous ride on a country windmill.

In 1408 when Myles is 16 years old he is taken to Devlen castle, the seat of the Earl of Mackworth, kinsman to Lord Falworth. There he is enrolled as a squire by Sir James Lee, an old friend of his father's and Diccon Bowman. Sir James advises Myles to be discreet about matters concerning his family since his father had been attainted as a traitor to the king.