[The complete works in Verse and Prose of Samuel Daniel] vol II The Civile Wars of England between the two houses of Lancaster and Yorke.

Having read and enjoyed Daniel's Delia; a sonnet cycle in typical Elizabethan love poetry format I turned to The Civil Wars an epic poem whose first four books were published in 1595. The poem is indeed epic, whose final version was published in 1609 when it was expanded to eight books consisting of 875 stanzas written in ottava rima (eight line verses with a rhyming scheme). I read the 1885 reprint of the 1623 version, published for the Spenser society, which also contains alternative stanzas as Daniel updated his poem for each new reprint up until the final 1609 version. He never completed the poem stopping about half way through the events of the Wars of the Roses. It is a curious mixture of poetry and history and bears all the hallmarks of Daniels careful and thoughtful style. Historically accurate in accordance with the known facts at the time, it can be read as history or poetry and of course both. Where his poetical licence made the narrative less clear; Daniel included glosses (foot notes) in prose of the historical events.

In the final version there is a dedication to the 'Right Noble Lady, the Lady Maria, Countess Dowager of Pembroke' where Daniel explains a little of his working method, which is as follows:

"with a purpose to show the deformaties of civil dissention, and the miserable events of rebellions, conspiraces and bloody revengements, which followed the usurpation of King Henry IV and there to make the happiness of an established government, I trust that I shall do a grateful work to my country to continue the fame into the glorious union of Henry VII from whence is descended our present happiness."

It is a poem that without doubt contains an air of Tudor propaganda, but Daniel was not into the practice of altering known facts to suit this purpose. He claimed that he followed the history, without adding or subtracting from the general received opinion in the annals. (the referred to annals were John Stowe's Chronicles of England and Holinshed's chronicles). He went onto say however that he used poetical licence to frame (invent speeches) which men could have used when the occasion demanded; for example Henry V's speech to his army before Agincourt.

Stanza 3 of the first book is his dedication to the glory of Queen Elizabeth I

Yet now what reason have we to complain
since herby came the calm we did enjoy
The bliss of thee Eliza: happy gain
For all our loss: when as no other way
the heavens could find, to unite again
the fatal fevered families, that they
might bring forth thee, that in thy peace might grow
That glory, which few Times could ever show.

Another interesting note from the dedication is that Daniel seemingly apologises for his sometimes harsh treatment of one of the few females that feature in his poem. Queen Isabel was 14 when she came over from France as wife of Richard II. He says:

"And if I have erred from what is the draught of the young Queen Isabel in not suiting her passions to her years, I must crave favour of my credulous readers, to excuse me of this point."

Book one starts with a potted history of the kings and Queens of England since the Norman Conquest. The meat of the story starts with the exile of Bolingbroke (future king Henry IV) and his return to England with a band of armed followers to claim back his lands that Richard II had sequestered in his absence. The Wars of the Roses started in earnest at this point, because Bolingbroke was from the House of Lancaster and he arrived back in England to forcibly take back his lands while Richard was fighting in Ireland. It has always been unclear as to Bolingbroke's motives apart from winning back his lands, but his small army attracted many followers as they moved through middle England: an example of Samuel Daniel's poetic licence is a prolonged metaphor likening it to the river Thames:

And look how Thames, inriched with many a flood
And goodly rivers (that have made their graves
And buried both their names and all their good
Within his greatness, to augment the waves)
Glides on, with pomp of waters unwithstood
Unto the Ocean (which his tribute craves)
And lays up all his wealth, within that power
Which in itself all greatness doth devour.

Samuel Daniel is ambiguous towards Bolingbroke, blaming him for usurping the crown and starting the warfare, but then admitting that he provided strong leadership and produced an heir (Henry V), who had he lived longer, might have provided more stability. He softens his tone towards him as the fighting becomes more ferocious as the wars proceed. Daniel's poem is not all history; he questions the motives of the individuals, he is appalled at the descent into barbarism, he comments on the human condition, but the central theme is the need for a strong monarchy to shore up England's place in the world.

There are a lot of stanzas and it is useful to have an outline of the Wars of the Roses fixed in your mind to enable you to follow the narrative. Today one would not choose this book as a history of the wars and so the value of it, is as an epic poem. It is as a poem that makes the Civil Wars worth reading. It was a popular book and something of a life's work for Daniel; there were many reprints, some of which contained amendments by the poet. It would be an interesting poem on which to carry out more detailed study, but I am going to pass on this and move along to the next book that catches my attention. I enjoyed my read through and it rekindled an interest in the history of the wars of the roses. 4 stars. ( )