The dark century
The Dark Century is a cycle of novels by Australian historian and author Sara Douglass . The German title refers to the Middle Ages in which the action takes place: the end of the 14th century . It describes the path of the monk Thomas Neville , an English nobleman, in the fight against demons that threaten the church and humanity.
Book publication
The original English title of the series is The Crucible and was published in 3 volumes ( The Nameless Day , The Wounded Hawk and The Crippled Angel ) between 2000 and 2002. The German edition does not quite follow this system, each of the (presumably) 6 books has its own title, the title of the cycle is given as the subtitle The Dark Century and numbered consecutively from 1 on. So far, books 1–4 have been published in German by Piper Verlag between 2008 and 2009 ; the third original volume is not yet available in German.
The German titles are:
- Guardian of Power ( ISBN 9783492701624 )
- Daughter of War ( ISBN 9783492701631 )
- Servant of Evil ( ISBN 9783492701648 )
- Devil's envoy ( ISBN 9783492701655 )
Historical background
As a historian with a doctorate, most recently as a lecturer in medieval European history, the author incorporated the historical context of the time into the plot. The relationships and résumés of the main characters (e.g. Johann von Gent , Edward III , Richard II , Johanna von Kent , Johann II , Étienne Marcel , Ralph Neville , Charles V , Philip of Navarra , the black) also correspond Prince , John Wyclif ) mostly based on historical knowledge. Sara Douglass notes in an afterword that, for dramaturgical reasons, she has put Joan of Arc in the action a few decades earlier.
Contents of the previously published German edition
prolog
For centuries the secret of the control of demons has been passed on from pope to pope . A monk appointed by the appointment of a pope is given the life's task of acting as “guardian of the gate to the underworld”. His task is to open the gate at a certain point in the year by means of some magic formulas, written down in a book, and to force the demons living in the earthly world to go to hell. After the death of this monk, a new guardian is appointed by the Pope, who personally instructs him in the mystery and the rite.
Book 1 to 4
The book series begins with the description of the secret journey of the English Dominican Wynkyn de Worde from his Roman monastery to the vicinity of Nuremberg , where the gate is located, in order to fulfill his task there. The plague is raging in Europe , which also affects the keeper of the gate and, with a high fever, he manages to banish the demons for the last time before he dies on site. The book of magic spells is sent back to his home monastery in England beforehand, knowing that he is about to die, so that it cannot fall into the hands of strangers. Due to the upheavals of this time and the proclamation of anti-popes , the secret knowledge cannot be passed on and the position of guardian remains vacant. Decades later, the Dominican Thomas Neville, who lives in the same monastery in Rome, appears the Archangel Michael , who assigns him to find the lost book and to fight the increasingly powerful demons. Thomas was a successful English lord from a famous and influential family who grew up from childhood with members of other powerful English families, including from various royal families, and whose later comrade was on many campaigns. He loved a married woman who was expecting a child from him, but whose fatherhood he could not recognize for reasons of honor. Faced with the decision to lose his honor, he renounces this connection, with the result that the pregnant woman takes her own life with the legitimate daughter and he has thus incurred great guilt. As a result, he made the decision to renounce worldly life and join the Dominican order. Neville is a conservative Church advocate who doesn't avoid an argument about it. After the appearance of the angel he follows the trail of his predecessor as guardian of the gate, but is accompanied from the beginning by demons in human form who try to manipulate him. Due to the departure not authorized by the prior of his Roman monastery, he incurs the wrath of the English order general Richard Thorseby, whose anger and desire for revenge for the disobedience, which is viewed as an insult, hits him several times in the course of the plot. On the way to England he gets into the confusion of the Hundred Years War , where he meets his old comrades in arms, but also a woman named to him in a prophecy, who seeks love in a mission that initially remained hidden. Thomas can no longer meet the demands of his monastic life in terms of his old friendships and his love for Margaret, the woman from prophecy, and returns to his old life. He marries Margaret, who, some time before he met her, became miraculously pregnant with the help of demons. He has to put his plan to get hold of the secret book back again and again, since he has no prospect of coming to England first. Another prophecy made to him says on the one hand that a demon king will come to the English throne, which must be prevented, on the other hand that the fight against the demons will ultimately depend on the love for a woman. In an adventurous detour, Thomas and Margaret return to England with his friends, especially Hal (Heinrich) Bolingbroke, to whom he has confided in his fight against the demons, and out of gratitude from the Duke of Lancasters , his friend's father, he awarded some fiefs in order to be able to support himself and his family, since he had given up his possessions with the entry into the order. Margaret has given birth to her miraculously conceived daughter and reveals to her husband that she is an angel who is on the way on behalf of Jesus to fulfill the commandment of love. After the death of Edward III. First, his grandson Richard II becomes the new king, who, due to his unfortunate behavior, is quickly considered the prophesied demon king. Under the influence of Hal Bolingbroke, who also maintains an initially unexplained, very close relationship with Thomas' wife Margaret, Thomas Neville declares himself ready to help overthrow the reigning king. At the same time, the machinations of some theologians who have renounced the Roman Curia , such as B. John Wyclif described the responsibility of people only before God and u. a. calling for the abolition of serfdom and the waiver of excessive taxes. The peasant uprising brought about by this is brutally suppressed by the king, which, like failures in the campaign in France, brings him further loss of reputation. Bolingbroke can bring many of the influential dukes to his side, who then raise an army and lure King Edward into a trap. Edward III. is arrested in a fight by Bolingbroke, who turns out to be a demon. Bolingbroke also reveals himself to Thomas as an angel and explains to him that he and Margaret are siblings, and that their father is the Archangel Michael. Demons are nothing more than the children of angels with earthly women, to whom the angels appear in dreams and then impregnate the women. Your mission is actually to bring about love and freedom for people, as Jesus preached. After the death of Jesus, he was held as a prisoner in heaven so that he could no longer counteract the “true faith” (of Old Testament God). At the same time, Bolingbroke gives Thomas the secret book of magic formulas that he has taken into his possession, with the remark that he, Thomas, must now decide which side he is on. By decision of the Privy Council, Bolingbroke is proclaimed King Henry IV . Thomas could have used his veto as a participant in the proclamation and coronation ceremony, but fails to do so. With that, the real Demon King is on the throne of England. Immediately after the coronation, the archangel Michael appears to the two of them and threatens to fight the new king.
Since, according to legend, Joan of Arc was also guided by apparitions of the archangels, her activity is woven into the time of the action with influence on the Dauphin Karl, whose succession to the throne is doubted from various quarters.
Outlook on subsequent books
In a preview of the 5th volume, the further plot is indicated: in France it is about doubts of Jeanne d'Arc about her mission, as well as further intrigues about the succession to the throne. In England there is a rumor that the deposed (and later killed in his captivity) old king is supposed to continue to live and thus could dispute Henry IV's claim to the throne. So the duped order general comes back into play, who is looking for comrades-in-arms to remove Henry IV.