It began with a set of books.

 

David Manson cannot recall exactly when he first placed Scenes from Medieval Life onto one of his many bookshelves. But in the autumn of 2014, when he sought ideas for a writing project, his fine Folio edition was right there, at the right time.

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This three-volume work by Joseph and Frances Gies describes life in an English village, a French city, and a castle on the Anglo-Welsh border, in the years around 1250. In the year 2014, these books inspired a new dramatic script. In fact, a trilogy of scripts.

 

Enthused by Scenes from Medieval Life, David began to research as much of the Middle Ages as he could. Over the next eighteen months, he read dozens of books and archive texts concerning the history and culture of the 13th century especially. 

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By the spring of 2016, he was ready for imaginative work. That summer, he sketched out the structure of Trinitas - a three-part historical saga whose story unfolded thus:

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In 1238, a thirteen-year-old boy becomes heir to the manor of Oakenwell, a village not unlike that described in the Gies volume. Young Bernard goes to Kenilworth Castle to train as a vassal knight of Simon de Montfort - the new and ambitious Earl of Leicester. But, after sundry adventures typical of the medieval romance, Bernard chooses to become a monk – in one of the new orders of Friars…

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The still-young friar goes to Europe and is drawn into the ongoing persecution of heretics. This is the time of the original Inquisition, when terrible things are done in the name of God, most notoriously by Inquisitor Robert le Bougre. It is also an age of sublime sexuality and celibate Friar Bernard eventually renounces his vows. He returns to England as lord of Oakenwell. With lady Catherine at his side…

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Twenty years on, England is gripped by civil war. Simon de Montfort leads a rebellion against King Henry III and expects his vassals to join him. Young John of Oakenwell thrills to take up arms, but his ageing father stays out of the Barons’ War at first. Only as the end draws near does Bernard venture forth, to spare his son the horror of the Evesham battlefield…

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Quite a tale. David Manson thought so, and promptly typed up a 16,000-word treatment of the first story. But when he turned to the trilogy's second part, a creative crisis ensued. The tale of true and false religion required more psychological depth to play effectively. The story needed more research. Perhaps a whole new structure. A lot more work was required before actual writing could begin.

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With masterly indecision, David turned instead to Part Three. This was a story whose structure he did not doubt, for it was based on the actual events of an actual war. Perhaps with impatience, he set about writing a screenplay proper. By the summer of 2017, he had in his hands the first draft of How Simon de Montfort Succeeded. 

 

But now came another impasse. The document was 150 pages and still not complete.  Even allowing for later editing, it was too big. Far too big. What would its creator do now? That was the question.

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The answer was in the title of the script. David had written a story about the central protagonist of the Barons' War. The matter of the Oakenwell family was engaging, but peripheral. One fateful July afternoon, he made the decision to remove it entirely.

 

The Trinitas project was no more. But the potential remained for a polished screenplay concerning Simon de Montfort's clash with Henry Plantagenet and his son, sourced almost entirely from old history books. 

 

This was another conscious decision. From the beginning, David read no modern biographies, histories or fiction pertaining to Earl Simon and his milieu. Only the Osprey account of the Barons' War, published fortuitously in July 2015, was an exception to this rule. Instead, he relied on 19th century volumes which ultimately relied on 13th century chroniclers. And long before he completed his final draft, in April 2018, he knew one chronicler of medieval England stood head and shoulders above the rest.

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David Manson would not be finished with Matthew of St Albans.

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His ambitious idea for a trilogy had not come to fruition. But he had written a fine drama about historic, far-reaching events. And he had done his research. He knew well the events of England a generation before the Barons' War. Especially, he knew well a major figure of that time who still had a minor role in How Simon de Montfort Succeeded.

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David Manson would not be finished with Richard of Cornwall.

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But that would be another story.

 

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