The Little Duke by Charlotte Mary Yonge

First published: 1854; illustrated

Type of work: Historical fiction

Themes: Coming-of-age, religion, friendship, and death

Time of work: The latter half of the tenth century

Recommended Ages: 10-13

Locale: Bayeux, Normandy, and Paris, France

Principal Characters:

• Richard the Fearless, the proud, impetuous eight-year-old Duke of Normandy
• Osmond de Centeville, his resourceful guardian in exile
• Alberic de Montemar, a playmate and vassal of Richard
• Lothaire, prince of France, a mean-spirited bully
• Carolman, his frail and gentle younger brother
• Father Lucas, Richard’s chaplain, whose task is to teach Richard forgiveness

The Story

Despite its historical setting and abundance of period details, at heart The Little Duke is an example of the tables-are-turned plot development, in which reversals of fortune are used morally to educate the protagonist. Richard is eight years old when his father, the Duke of Normandy, is treacherously murdered. Dazed and bewildered with grief, Richard is invested as Duke and receives the homage of his vassals.

Among these is Alberic de Montemar, a lively ten-year-old who becomes Richard’s companion. Accustomed to deference and consideration, Richard is initially taken aback by Alberic’s demands for egalitarianism in games, but Richard soon comes to relish honest competition and to learn courtesy in victory and defeat. The growing closeness of the two boys is foiled by the fears of King Louis of France, who descends upon Normandy and carries Richard off to France, ostensibly to be reared with his own two sons. Richard’s guardians, recognizing that he is in fact a political hostage, choose Osmond de Centeville to accompany him to Paris. Young de Centeville’s prudence and valor are constantly tested as Richard’s opposition to the cowardly Prince Lothaire plunges both Normans into intrigue and danger.

It is the negative example of Lothaire, however, that works a change in Richard’s natural arrogance. Lothaire’s bullying teaches Richard that a ruler’s first concern must be the well-being of his subjects and that true strength is measured by commitment to safeguard the frail and powerless. A crisis occurs when Richard keeps Lothaire from blinding his hawk, and, in the resulting scuffle, Richard is burned with the branding iron meant for the hawk.

The hostages’ plight is thus so worsened that Osmond resolves on escape to Normandy, a course of action that involves considerable peril and hardship for both of them, until at last they come to Alberic’s castle on the French-Norman border. The ordeal of their young lord enrages and galvanizes his supporters, who meet and overcome King Louis in battle.

Following the combined Danish/Norman victory, the two French princes are sent as hostages to Richard’s fortress at Bayeux, Carolman weak and terrified, and Lothaire hostile and intransigent. It is at this point that the reader sees nobility in Richard, who gently cares for Carolman until his death, and, despite continued rebuffs, befriends Lothaire.

Richard further demonstrates his grasp of Christian forgiveness by effecting the release of King Louis and securing his reunion with Lothaire; in the final chapter of the novel, the now adult Richard encounters and forgives his father’s murderer. The reader recognizes that the most significant struggle of Richard’s turbulent reign has been to practice the truths learned in childhood from Father Lucas, and in this struggle he has emerged victorious.

Context

Charlotte Yonge’s fame rests on her contributions to two genres of children’s literature: the Victorian family chronicle and historical fiction set in the Middle Ages. In the latter category, The Little Duke is her most renowned work. The durability of the novel’s charms is derived from Yonge’s ability to create vital, engaging characters and from her skillful handling of scenes in which the menace and evil are nevertheless real for having been painted on a child’s size canvas.

The relationship that exists between Richard and Osmond while in exile is very similar to that which binds Prince Edward to Miles Hendon in Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper (1881), and the cruelties of the Middle Ages that Yonge depicts in The Little Duke reappear in Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Shield Ring (1956), Knight’s Fee (1960), and The Witch’s Brat (1970). Critics have paid tribute to Yonge’s ability to fuse characterization and mood when she speaks of the new world of fiction that emerges from Yonge’s best historical work. Yonge herself goes back to the Middle Ages again and again, most notably in The Lances of Lynwood (1855), which also heavily emphasizes the importance of repentance and forgiveness.

The Little Duke, however, stands as her historical masterpiece. Through it she best expresses her love of the past and her lifelong religious values. The novel’s allure thus stems from what critic Virginia Thompson Bemis identifies as Yonge’s choice to stress “the supportive, consoling aspects of religion over the rigid and punitive ones.” The child who meets Richard enters his world, and partakes in his struggle to be good.