Below The Beltway

I’m quickly learning that the mark of a good alternate history novel is that it tells a plausible story in an interesting way. The mark of a great alternate history novel, though, is that it tells a story so plausible that you sometimes have to remind yourself that history didn’t really happen this way. If that’s the test, then Harry Turtledove’s Ruled Britannia definitely qualifies as one of the greats.

The point-of-departure for the book is 1588, the year that the British Navy defeated the Spanish Armada sent by Philip II and Pope Sixtus to convert England back to the Catholic faith by force of arms. In Turtledove’s world, however, the Armada defeats the British and the Spanish Army, with apparent assistance from the Irish, conquers England, dethrones Elizabeth I (who is imprisoned in the Tower of London) and installs Philip’s daughter Isabella and her husband Albert as the ruling monarchs of England.

The book is set nine years after the Spanish victory and as it opens we meet our hero, a guy you may have heard of named William Shakespeare. In this world as in ours, Shakespeare is a playwright and actor and reference is made to some of his greatest plays such as Hamlet (called Prince of Denmark here), Romeo & Juliet, and The Taming of the Shrew. Not mentioned at all are Shakespeare’s historical plays which chronicle the lives of English monarchs from Richard II to Henry IV. Presumably, the censors never allowed those plays to be staged.

The other main character in the book is Don Lope de Vega, a Spanish Lieutenant but also a real historical figure, a Spanish playwright. De Vega keeps himself close to Shakespeare and the players both because of his love of theater, and because it’s his job — his commander orders him to spy on Shakespeare, who he suspects of treason.

Early in the book, Shakespeare is recruited by Sir William Cecil, the last living member of Elizabeth’s Privy Council to write a play that — staged at the right time — would inspire the English masses to rise up and overthrow the Spanish. That right time would be after the death of Philip II (and lets just say its a good thing that it takes Philip a long time to die in this book, the Bard needed every minute). Ironically, Shakespeare is also recruited by the Spanish occupying Commander to write a play, this one a eulogy to Philip II to be put on after his death.

Much of the plot of the book involves Shakespeare struggling to write both plays, keeping on of them a secret, while at the same time living a normal life. And here is where Turtledove starts to shine. He paints a picture of a post-conquest England that is entirely plausible. The Spanish and their English-Catholic allies rule with an iron fist and any display of heresy is punished severly. Everyone pretends to follow the rules of the Catholic faith, but with an unspoken acceptance that they really don’t believe it and are waiting for the day that they can return to the England they knew.

Turtledove obviously did alot of research to pull this book together. He had to characterize forms of speech from 400 years ago and, he had to know his hero. Turtledove said in his afterword that one of the best things abut writing the book was that he ended up reading every available writing that Shakespeare wrote. And it shows. When it comes time to put on the treasonous play, Turtledove adapts lines from other Shakepeare plays so well that one wishes that Boudicca, the story of a British Queen who rose up against the Romans 2000 years ago, really existed in the Shakespeare cannon.

I won’t give away how the book ends, except to say that it certainly puts a different spin on English history. One wonders what England would’ve been like had the events in this book actually happened.

I will say that the Elizabethian dialogue and frequent quotations from plays of that era can be difficult to get through at times, but its worth it. This one is a masterpiece.