Jack Whyte
Encyclopedia
Jack Whyte is a Scottish
-Canadian
novelist of historical fiction. Born and raised in Scotland
, Whyte has been living in Canada
since 1967. He resides in Kelowna
, British Columbia
.
Whyte's major work to date is the A Dream of Eagles series (as it is titled in Canada, but known as The Camulod Chronicles in the United States and elsewhere). This series of historical novel
s presents the tale of King Arthur
set against the backdrop of Roman Britain
. This retelling of the popular legend eschews the use of magic (as in T. H. White
’s The Sword in the Stone
) to explain Arthur’s ascent to power and instead relies on the historical condition (with some artistic licence) of post-Roman Britain to support the theory that Arthur was meant to counter the anarchy left by the Roman departure from Britain in 410 AD and the subsequent colonization and invasion of Britain by various peoples from Northwestern Europe, including the Saxons
, Jutes
, Franks
, and Angles
. Whyte incorporates both traditional Arthurian names, places and events (albeit in Gaelic or Latin form) as well as the names of various historical figures that have been suggested as being the possible basis for the original King Arthur legend. The tacit implication is that Whyte's version of history is the true story that has become distorted over time to become the legend and stories of magic that we know today.
Jack Whyte served as the official bard
of The Calgary Highlanders
and performed several tracks of poetry and song on the 1990 recording by the Regimental Pipes and Drums of The Calgary Highlanders
entitled Eighty Years of Glory: The Regimental Pipes, Drums and Bard of The Calgary Highlanders.
The two volumes The Sorcerer: The Fort at River’s Bend and The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis were written as a single volume entitled The Sorcerer but were split for publication.
Further information has it that the proposed trilogy will be called The Guardians of Scotland, and will be set in 14th century Scotland during the Scottish Wars of Independence and will feature James "The Black" Douglas
, William Wallace
, and Robert the Bruce.
He will start the series following completion of the Templar series which has recently ended. A sneak-peek of the first book, titled The Forest Laird, was released on his site on May 21.
The first of three books "The Forest Laird" about the early life of William Wallace was released on September 21, 2010.
:
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
-Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
novelist of historical fiction. Born and raised in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Whyte has been living in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
since 1967. He resides in Kelowna
Kelowna
Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley, in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a Okanagan language term for "grizzly bear"...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
.
Whyte's major work to date is the A Dream of Eagles series (as it is titled in Canada, but known as The Camulod Chronicles in the United States and elsewhere). This series of historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
s presents the tale of King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
set against the backdrop of Roman Britain
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
. This retelling of the popular legend eschews the use of magic (as in T. H. White
T. H. White
Terence Hanbury White was an English author best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.-Biography:...
’s The Sword in the Stone
The Sword in the Stone
The Sword in the Stone is a novel by T. H. White, published in 1939, initially a stand-alone work but now the first part of a tetralogy The Once and Future King. A fantasy of the boyhood of King Arthur, it is a sui generis work which combines elements of legend, history, fantasy and comedy...
) to explain Arthur’s ascent to power and instead relies on the historical condition (with some artistic licence) of post-Roman Britain to support the theory that Arthur was meant to counter the anarchy left by the Roman departure from Britain in 410 AD and the subsequent colonization and invasion of Britain by various peoples from Northwestern Europe, including the Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
, Jutes
Jutes
The Jutes, Iuti, or Iutæ were a Germanic people who, according to Bede, were one of the three most powerful Germanic peoples of their time, the other two being the Saxons and the Angles...
, Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
, and Angles
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
. Whyte incorporates both traditional Arthurian names, places and events (albeit in Gaelic or Latin form) as well as the names of various historical figures that have been suggested as being the possible basis for the original King Arthur legend. The tacit implication is that Whyte's version of history is the true story that has become distorted over time to become the legend and stories of magic that we know today.
Jack Whyte served as the official bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
of The Calgary Highlanders
The Calgary Highlanders
The Calgary Highlanders is a Canadian Forces Land Force Primary Reserve infantry regiment, headquartered at Mewata Armouries in Calgary, Alberta, Canada...
and performed several tracks of poetry and song on the 1990 recording by the Regimental Pipes and Drums of The Calgary Highlanders
Regimental Pipes and Drums of The Calgary Highlanders
The Regimental Pipes and Drums of The Calgary Highlanders is an authorized volunteer pipe band associated with The Calgary Highlanders of the Canadian Forces. For many years, the band was a bona fide, and separate, military unit unto itself, with a separate Unit Identification Code within the CF...
entitled Eighty Years of Glory: The Regimental Pipes, Drums and Bard of The Calgary Highlanders.
A Dream of Eagles (Camulod Chronicles)
- The SkystoneThe SkystoneThe Skystone is a historical fiction novel written by Jack Whyte, which was first published in 1992. The story is told by a Roman Officer called Publius Varrus, who is an expert blacksmith as well as a soldier...
- The Singing SwordThe Singing SwordThe Singing Sword is a historical fiction novel written by Jack Whyte, first published in 1993. It is the second novel in "A Dream of Eagles" series....
- The Eagles' BroodThe Eagles' BroodThe Eagles' Brood is a historical novel by Jack Whyte set in Post-Roman Britain. It is the third in Whyte's series The Camulod Chronicles....
- The Saxon ShoreThe Saxon ShoreThe Saxon Shore is a 1998 novel by Canadian writer Jack Whyte chronicling Caius Merlyn Britannicus's effort to return the baby Arthur to the colony of Camulod and the political events surrounding this. The book is a portrayal of the Arthurian Legend set against the backdrop of Post-Roman Briton's...
- The Sorcerer Part 1: The Fort at River's BendThe Fort at River's BendThe Fort at River's Bend is a novel published by Jack Whyte, a Canadian novelist in 1999. Originally part of a single book, The Sorcerer, it was split for publishing purposes. The book encompasses the beginning of Arthur's education at a long abandoned Roman fort, where he is taught most of the...
- The Sorcerer Part 2: Metamorphosis
The two volumes The Sorcerer: The Fort at River’s Bend and The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis were written as a single volume entitled The Sorcerer but were split for publication.
Golden Eagle (companion mini-series)
- Clothar the FrankClothar the FrankClothar the Frank is a Canadian historical fiction novel by Jack Whyte that continues his Arthurian Cycle as told in A Dream of Eagles series of novels...
(titled The Lance Thrower outside of Canada) - The EagleThe Eagle (novel)The Eagle is the final novel in the A Dream of Eagles series . The Eagle follows the continuing story of Clothar from when he meets Arthur Pendragon, to, and possibly after, King Arthur's death.it has sympathetic portrait of Mordred .The novel was released on November 19, 2005 in Canada and...
Other
- Uther is a stand-alone novel about the life of Uther PendragonUther PendragonUther Pendragon is a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain and the father of King Arthur.A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae , and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in...
from infancy up until the end of events in The Eagles' Brood. It serves to answer lingering questions left open by The Eagles' Brood that result from the fact that the latter is told exclusively from the perspective of Merlyn Britannicus and as such is not able to explain actions and events of which Merlyn is unaware. In this way, Uther is also an effective companion novel to The Eagles' Brood as it follows the title character and others as they grow up and wage war on Uther's main enemy, Guhlrys Lot, King of CornwallCornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
.
The Templar Trilogy
- Knights of the Black and White (released August 1, 2006 in Canada)
- Standard of Honor (released August 28, 2007 in Canada)
- Order in Chaos (released in August 2009)
New series on Scottish heroes
At a public reading in his hometown of Kelowna, on Thursday, November 8, 2007, Whyte announced that he had, earlier that day, signed a contract for a new series of books on the heroes of his Scottish homeland.Further information has it that the proposed trilogy will be called The Guardians of Scotland, and will be set in 14th century Scotland during the Scottish Wars of Independence and will feature James "The Black" Douglas
James Douglas, Lord of Douglas
Sir James Douglas , , was a Scottish soldier and knight who fought in the Scottish Wars of Independence.-Early life:...
, William Wallace
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....
, and Robert the Bruce.
He will start the series following completion of the Templar series which has recently ended. A sneak-peek of the first book, titled The Forest Laird, was released on his site on May 21.
The first of three books "The Forest Laird" about the early life of William Wallace was released on September 21, 2010.
Short fiction
Though primarily a novelist, Whyte has also written and published at least one short storyShort story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
:
- "Power Play" in Paradox MagazineParadox (magazine)Paradox: The Magazine of Historical and Speculative Fiction was an award-winning literary magazine featuring original short historical fiction in all of its forms up to novella length. This includes mainstream historical fiction as well as other genre fiction with historical themes...
, issue 8 (Winter 2005-2006), an exploration of the nature of power, set in RomanRoman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
Jerusalem.
External links
- Official website for Jack Whyte. Includes biography, bibliography, book excerpts, radio interview transcripts, and an active fan forum.
- Archived scan from web.archive.org for Jack Whyte's now defunct blog at the penguin.ca website. Includes questions by readers and Whyte's answers to those questions, as well as general observations by Whyte.
- Jack Whyte: one pen, one sword, one million sold Feature article about Jack Whyte published in the Globe and Mail, Sept 2, 2009
- Jack Whyte at Fantasy Literature