Crusade And Comparisons

I had no idea that it would be possible to post so much about Poul Anderson's The High Crusade. There have been the stages of Sir Roger's crusade and the comparisons to be made between him and -

Nicholas van Rijn
Dominic Flandry
Carl Donnan
Ferune of Mistwood
Gratillonius

I will finish rereading The High Crusade and might then reread After Doomsday, starring Carl Donnan. The civilization-clusters in that novel are unique and intriguing. Human beings change the balance of power in two such clusters. It is certainly not the case that Anderson's future societies and interstellar civilizations are either unimaginative or interchangeable. In particular, After Doomsday could have provided the basis for an endless series. In that scenario, it is impossible for anyone to have an overview either of the inhabited galaxy or of the history of interstellar interactions within or between civilization-clusters. But an ambitious, long-lived, space-traveling historian might have made the attempt.

A Reminiscence Of Gratillonius

Poul Anderson, The High Crusade, CHAPTER XVIII.

See Interstellar Feudalism.

The Wersgorix had destroyed civilization on the planets that they conquered;

the English alliance gives the enslaved populations arms and leadership;

the freed slaves attack the Wersgorix so savagely that the latter flee to the alliance for protection;

with no experience of such horrific conflicts, Sir Roger's allies increasingly accept his sole leadership;

the toppling of the Wersgor system creates a power vacuum but also urgent necessities to organize society and to prepare against counterattack;

Sir Roger:

"...had a solution to these problems, one hammered out in Europe during those not dissimilar centuries after Rome fell: the feudal system." (p. 123)

A Reminiscence Of Ferune

Poul Anderson, The High Crusade,  CHAPTER XVI.

See Hell Rock.

Deception continues. Having captured secret Wersgorix weapons, the English can present the secret weapons to other races as English. Sir Roger conceals his men's ignorance of spaceship weapons by deploying them in small fast craft.

A space battle resembles those in the Technic History (see the above link):

unimaginable distances;
fire-beams;
shells;
missiles;
artificial brains directing the ships;
artificial gravity;
ship sections self-sealing when damaged;
a mile-long, forcefield-protected flagship boarded by Sir Roger's space-armored, sword- and ax-wielding men who easily defeat a crew untrained in hand-to-hand combat - the hull is abandoned, then explodes.

"...many a sober, trustworthy man-at-arms swore that he saw [St. George] ride down the Milky Way in a foam of stars and impale enemy ships on his lance like so many dragons." (p. 121)

The Wersgorix, trapped by a surprise attack between their former colony planet and the allied fleet, suffer heavy losses and withdraw. 

A Reminiscence Of Donnan

Poul Anderson, The High Crusade, CHAPTER XVI.

See:

A Reminiscence Of Flandry
The Second Civilization-Cluster
Human Superiority

Ethelbert of Pr?*t recommends war against the Wersgorix because he thinks that the Ashenkoghli plan to join the English against the Wersgorix;

the Ashenkoghli ambassador sends for his own fleet and invites other clan lords to send theirs when Sir Roger informs him that Ethelbert is recommending war;

when the Jairs realize that Ashenk and Pr?*t will benefit from joining the English alliance, they too must be included;

Sir Roger explains to his captains that Wersgorix rule by sheer force is simple and straightforward whereas European feudalism is complicated;

therefore, he reasons, European lords like himself have learned techniques of intrigue unknown to the Wersgorix's victims;

older and stronger races are not necessarily wiser. (See also "Backwardness" II.)

A Reminiscence Of Flandry

Poul Anderson, The High Crusade, CHAPTER XVI, pp. 116-117.

Sir Roger: "'I've reason to believe the Ashenkoghli lord here on Boda plans to join us. Then many other clans of theirs are sure to do likewise, if only to keep him from gaining too much power.'"

The Tertiary Eggmaster of the Northwest Hive (Ethelbert): "'What makes you think so? He of Ashenk is known to be a cautious one.'"

Sir Roger: "'Certes...Therefore he's not about to announce his intention openly. But his staff...some of 'em blab, or can't resist dropping a hint -'"

Ethelbert: "'This must be investigated!'"

Next, Sir Roger:

visits a young Ashenkogh eager for fame and wealth from war;

learns from him details of organization, record-keeping and communication;

tells him what documents to forge for Ethelbert's spies to find, what to say when drunk and how to make clumsy attempts to bribe local officials.

Before long, everyone but the Ashenkoghli ambassador knows of his plan to join the English and Sir Roger has emulated Dominic Flandry's tactics on Scotha.

A Reminiscence Of Van Rijn

Poul Anderson, The High Crusade, CHAPTER XV.

This is the moment when Sir Roger most reminds me of Nicholas van Rijn:

"'We're a very peaceful race ourselves...' Sir Roger folded his hands and rolled his eyes upward. 'Indeed,' he said, 'one of our most basic commandments is, 'Thou shalt not kill.' Yet it seemed a greater sin, to let so cruel and dangerous a power as Wersgorixan continue to ravage helpless folk.'" (p. 111)

We recognize an act. Sir Roger appeals either to love of peace or to greed for plunder depending on his audience.

"Van Rijn admitted what [Chee Lan] had suspected, that Adzel had been recruited by a shameless appeal to his sense of duty."
-Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), I, p. 37.

Van Rijn knows how to motivate.

For van Rijn rolling his eyes piously upward, see T'Kelan Psychology.
For van Rijn crossing himself piously, see Souls And Piety.

To Be Previous II

Poul Anderson, The High Crusade.

See To Be Previous.

"'Tell the monster here what I said, anyway.'
"'My lord, it isn't true!'
"'Ah, but we'll make it come true; so 'tis no lie after all.'
"I choked on the casuistry but rendered it as required of me.'" (CHAPTER XVI, p. 116)

The tide of battle had turned in CHAPTER XIV. Sir Roger began with superior military tactics against antagonists who had long forgotten how to fight with knives and fists. In that chapter, he captured large numbers of easy-to-operate weapons and spaceships and thus became the formidable space-traversing opponent that he had claimed to be all along.

In CHAPTER XVI, he has flown to another planetary system where he is building an alliance with three other races against the Wersgorix. In two quantum leaps, the entire nature of the conflict has changed irrevocably.

The Campaign Continues

Poul Anderson, The High Crusade, CHAPTERs XI and XII.

The long day on the colony planet gives the English time to learn while the long night gives them time to work undercover. In the stand-off with the Wersgorix, any spaceship that is seen to take off will be shot down so yeomen and oxen pull a small ship on skids first through the fields, where its passage is hidden by driving cattle around it, then through the woods, to where it can take off unobserved. It carries a disassembled trebuchet, several captured guns firing explosive shells and twenty men who will land under cover and raid another fortress for weapons.

Everyone not moving the ship works to surround the captured fortress with:

"...stakes, pits, caltrops, and chevaux-de-frise." (p. 74)

- and a "...low earthen wall..." (XIII, p. 82)

When the Wersgor leader, Hurugu, pulls a gun during negotiations, Sir Roger presses his signet ring, pretending that he has thus cocked a weapon that will explode if his fist is unclenched. Hurugu does not believe this but does not want to take chances either. The Wersgorix are not used to such opponents and never know how to respond.

Immortality And The English In Space

Sorry folks, I have got involved in an email discussion of human immortality with a professional philosopher which is a bit time-consuming. The question of survival after death is relevant to several works by Poul Anderson as is every other major issue.

Continuing to welcome new blog readers:

please see the previous post;

please also comment on blog posts;

so far, two blog readers have submitted articles for publication on the blog (see here) - others can;

please also check other blogs listed on the right hand side of the screen.

In The High Crusade, Anderson makes each stage of the medieval Englishmen's interstellar conquests seem plausible:

the Wersgorix home planet has a denser atmosphere so that Brother Parvus can easily hear their whispers in a terrestroid atmosphere;

the Wersgorix idea of a truce is based on expediency, not on any concepts of honor that a knight would be unwilling to break;

playing cautious, the Wersgorix hold back, giving the English time to gain instruction in the easy spaceship and weapons control systems from their prisoners;

the Wersgorix do not want to look incompetent by immediately informing the imperial capital of their initial setback;

in any case, interstellar communication is limited to light speed so that messages have to be sent in the FTL ships;

there are only three fortresses on this colony planet and the English have already captured one so it does not seem unrealistic to attack a second;

in any case, boldness is the only course open to them.

At what stage in the original reading did I begin to suspect that the English were going to win?

Happy New Year

442 page views yesterday and 123 so far today despite no posts on this blog since the day before.

To any new readers:

welcome to Poul Anderson Appreciation;

typically, I read or reread a work by Anderson or a related author and publish short posts about the text or the issues that it raises;

currently, I am rereading Anderson's The High Crusade and Julian May's Intervention but am interrupted by new books received as Christmas or birthday (today) presents;

there are Anderson-May Parallels;

the blog recognizes SM Stirling as a worthy colleague and successor of Poul Anderson;

in particular, Stirling has surpassed Anderson in the sf sub-genre of alternative history;

I will therefore read and post about Stirling's concluding Change novel (see image);

the Change premise is that technology, including crucially electricity and gunpowder, stops working;

many people die but some in succeeding generations lead adventurous and fulfilled lives;

two questions are "How does society adapt?" and "What has caused the Change?";

there is an eventual explanation and also a curious crossover with a completely dissimilar work, The King In Yellow;

notionally, characters from all alternative histories and parallel universes can meet in Anderson's Old Phoenix Inn;

in practice, each author creates his own fictional multiverse although I have speculated about a megamultiverse.