The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana
by Jess Nevins
Joan of the Sword Hand (1900)
copyright © Jess Nevins 2022
Joan of the Sword Hand was created by S.R. Crockett and appeared in Joan of the Sword Hand (1900). Crockett (1859-1914) was a Scottish minister who wrote a wide range of historical novels, most with a Scottish theme. Joan of the Sword Hand is an enjoyable historical novel.
Joan of the Sword Hand begins in Castle Kernsberg, where Duchess Joan, well-known as “Joan of the Sword Hand,” is greeting an embassy from the neighboring country of Plassenburg. In the embassy is Joan’s old friend and mentor Leopold von Dessauer. With the embassy is a Dane that the Plassenburgers captured in their last foray to the north. The Dane, Maurice von Lynar, is about to be tortured by some of the Kernsberg troops when Joan stops them and allows von Lynar to fight for his freedom, which he does. Joan then meets with Dessauer and complains that because of her father’s will she is forced to marry the Prince of Courtland and relinquish her own freedom, even though she has never met the Prince. Dessauer is headed to Courtland after leaving Kernsberg, and Joan persuades him to let her accompany him disguised as “Johann Pyrmont,” his page, so that she can see the Prince of Courtland for herself, to know what type of man he is. Joan and Dessauer arrive in Courtland in time to see the end of a joust; the Black team defeats the White team, but one of the White knights, whose face is concealed behind his helmet, fights bravely, impresses Joan, and receives a commendation from Princess Margaret of Courtland, who insists that he take off his helmet so she can see who he is. The knight is Prince Conrad of Courtland, Joan’s intended. Joan, as “Johann,” goes to visit Conrad, but Joan catches the eye of Princess Margaret, who thinks that “he” is comely, and Margaret accompanies Joan to see Conrad. As they are going to see Conrad Margaret is approached by Prince Ivan, “the Wasp,” a Muscovite lord of ill-intent who wants to marry Margaret. Margaret snubs him, and Ivan, who thinks that “Johann” has been cozening Margaret, directs his enmity toward “Johann.” Margaret continues to flirt with Joan, who is oblivious about Margaret’s feelings, but Joan says farewell to Margaret in the Klassenberg way, by a kiss on each cheek and one on the mouth. This gets Margaret’s mind racing. Joan meets Conrad and likes him, and then goes into a rose garden and sees Margaret again. Margaret continues to flirt with “Johann” and asks about his background. Joan claims that “Johann” is the “Count von Loen.” Margaret kisses Joan goodbye and leaves, but Prince Ivan sees this and provokes a duel with Joan. She beats him and stabs him in the shoulder, but his mob of supporters sees this and attacks her. Maurice von Lynar, who accompanied the Kernsbergers to Courtland, comes to Joan’s rescue, and Margaret ushers them both to the docks. As they are rowing away from the shore Joan realizes that she left her sword behind. She sends Maurice back to get it from Margaret, but Maurice so closely resembles Joan that Margaret thinks that Maurice is “Johann” and kisses Maurice goodbye, which makes him fall in love with her.
Some months later Joan is ready to marry Conrad, but she discovers that Conrad is actually a priest and that the Prince of Courtland she is to marry is Louis, Conrad’s older brother and someone Joan is not nearly so taken with. Joan does the honorable thing and goes through with the wedding, but she leaves Louis behind on the steps of the church and returns to Kernsberg. Louis, who is a proud man and a weak one, is manipulated by Prince Ivan into going after Joan, along with an army of Courtlanders and Muscovites. They burn the land as they advance into Kernsberg, and it soon becomes apparent that the Castle itself is likely to be besieged and taken. Maurice has the idea to send Joan away from the Castle, for her own safety, so that when the Castle is taken she will still be alive to rally the resistance. Maurice has some reliable men kidnap Joan, who understands why they are doing it but is still furious at the men and especially Maurice for the indignity, and take her to Isle Rugen, a remote island where his mother Teresa lives. The first night that Joan is on Isle Rugen Teresa tries to kill her, but Joan is canny and stops her. Teresa reveals that she was the second wife of Joan’s father, Henry the Lion, and that her son, Maurice, is Joan’s stepbrother. Joan does not believe her, but Teresa reveals that she has a signed letter from Henry verifying the message and that she followed Henry’s wishes and never revealed the marriage to anyone.
Some time later, during a storm, Prince Conrad washes ashore on Isle Rugen. He was on his way to Rome to do a pilgrimage to the Pope when his ship was wrecked. He and Joan stay on Isle Rugen for months and fall in love with each other, even though they both refuse to act on their feelings–he is a priest and she is married to his brother. Back at Castle Kernsberg Maurice, wearing a dress and posing as Joan, directs the Castle’s defenses during the siege. But the Muscovites are many and the castle’s food and water dwindling, and eventually Maurice has the idea of giving himself up, still disguised as Joan, so that Louis and Ivan will return to Courtland and give Kernsberg time to recover and revictual. Louis and Ivan are fooled by the disguise and taken Maurice back to Courtland. Louis intends to press his marital privileges, but the disguised Maurice feigns illness, and Louis gives Maurice into the care of Princess Margaret. Margaret is initially fooled by Maurice’s disguise, but she soon sees through it. Maurice tells Margaret that he loves her, and she responds to him. Louis visits the ailing “Joan” and announces to both Maurice and Margaret that he will marry “Joan” again on the following day, so Margaret has her confessor, the kindly Father Clement, immediately marry her to Maurice, with Dessauer as a witness. The next day Prince Ivan prepares to drag Margaret to a chapel and marry her against her will, so Margaret, Maurice, and Margaret’s maid take a drug which simulates the appearance of the Black Death. This fools Louis and Ivan, but Ivan, who is eager to escape a city in which the plague has broken out, lures Margaret out of the sick room and kidnaps her. Maurice pursues them and catches up with Louis and Margaret on the steps of the church. Maurice reveals his true identity and the fact that Margaret has already married him. But Ivan’s Cossacks are surrounding Maurice as he says this, and he knows he can’t fight his way through them, so Maurice and Margaret are forced to surrender themselves to him. Ivan Sakes them prisoner and prepares to have Maurice quartered and torn apart by horses in the “Ukraine Cross.’
On Isle Rugen Joan and Conrad declare their love for each other, although they know they can’t act on it. Joan tells Conrad that when the war is over she will give up the throne of Kernsberg to Maurice. One of Joan’s servants comes to Isle Rugen and tells everyone about Maurice’s situation. Joan, Conrad, and the men guarding Joan arm themselves and ride to Maurice’s rescue, saving him from the Ukraine Cross with scant minutes to spare. The Courtlanders rise up and drive Ivan from the city, but within a few days he returns with a huge army of Muscovites, who defeat the combined Courtlander and Kernsberger armies in a battle in front of Courtland. Teresa von Lynar pretends to betray the city to Ivan, telling him that Joan’s father treated her badly and that she bears a grudge against Kernsberg, but when Ivan is no longer suspicious of her she drops a lit candle into his gunpowder barrels. This kills Teresa and Ivan and wipes out the Muscovite army, ending the war. Conrad gets a dispensation from the Pope to leave the priesthood and marry. Joan gives the throne to Maurice, and Maurice and Margaret and Joan and Conrad marry and live Happily Ever After.
Joan of the Sword Hand is generally enjoyable. The story, set in the time of the Hanseatic League, is colorful, full of knightly jousts, noble heroes and evil men, spirited women, moments of high emotion and stirring accomplishments. The novel is a good balance of Romance and romance; the reader is interested in seeing not just the triumph of the Courtlanders and the Kernsbergers over the Muscovites, but also in seeing the lives of Maurice and Margaret and Joan and Conrad turn out happily. Crockett’s style combines several nice turns of descriptive phrase, although his wording is old-fashioned and formal. The novel has several well-wrought lines of dialogue which occasionally verge into genuinely snappy, and both hero and villain are given clever things to say. The novel’s humor is a mix of obvious and smart, with some lines approaching actual wit. The moments of emotion are played straight and in earnest; this is a pre-irony historical romance. And Prince Ivan is suitably evil, but he is brave, sinister, and clever, and is very much a villain that Joan deserves.
However, the novel has some significant flaws. Despite the presence of a female protagonist, Joan of the Sword Hand does not portray women in a particularly positive fashion and is not complimentary of them. Joan’s decision to forsake the crown and her independence so quickly, all for love and for Maurice, goes against the character as written to that point and will cause some readers to groan in disgust and others to throw the book against the nearest wall. Joan’s kidnapping is a predictable and stupid plot twist, although she is at least properly furious over it. Some moments strain credulity, as when Margaret is be fooled by Joan posing as Maurice. And the novel is not kind to the Russians, who are portrayed as barbaric and cruel, or to Catholics, especially Pope Sixtus IV and his nephew Giuliano della Rovere (later Pope Julius II). However, Father Clement is kindly and good-humored. This positive portrayal of a Catholic priest, even in an anti-Catholic novel, is relatively rare in late-nineteenth century historical romances and is a significant contrast to the likes of Anne Marsh-Caldwell’s Father Darcy (see: Father Darcy) and Eugène Sue’s Father Rodin (see: The Wandering Jew).
Joan of the Sword Hand could have been more, but as it is it makes for good entertainment.
Recommended Edition
Print: S.R. Crockett, Joan of the Sword Hand. London: Forgotten Books, 2015.
Online: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000323871