Ronald Bassett (1924–1996)
Auteur de Hms Sheffield: The Life and Times of Old Shiny
A propos de l'auteur
Œuvres de Ronald Bassett
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Autres noms
- Clive, William
Bassett, Ronald Leslie (birth name) - Date de naissance
- 1924-04-10
- Date de décès
- 1996-03
- Sexe
- male
- Nationalité
- UK
- Lieu de naissance
- London, England, UK
- Lieux de résidence
- Blackwater, Camberley, Surrey, England, UK
- Prix et distinctions
- British Medical Association Silver & Gold Medals
Distinguished Service Medal, WWII
Membres
Critiques
Listes
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Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 22
- Membres
- 216
- Popularité
- #103,224
- Évaluation
- 3.4
- Critiques
- 11
- ISBN
- 44
- Langues
- 1
Bassett alternates between Hopkins' witch trials and the progress of the Civil War, which provides a realistic and violent historical setting but didn't hold my interest. He also pits one of Cromwell's soldiers, Captain Ralph Margery, against Hopkins but over the 'defilement' of Margery's (fictional) fiancée rather than the injustice of the witchfinder's actions, which I found to be a rather weak subplot. Bassett also draws on the satisfying rumour that Hopkins was subject to his own 'swimming test' and then hanged, when in fact he likely succumbed to tuberculosis and died at home in Manningtree.
Hopkins' character can be summed up by the accusation against 'false' witchfinders he delivers: 'That is why it is a dangerous business to employ so-called witchfinders who are concerned only with filling their purses, who are likely to torture and lie to provide evidence — and are thus no more than hired murderers, even though their mouths are filled with the scriptures and sanctimonious proverbs.' Hopkins profited from his brief reign of terror throughout Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, charging twenty shillings for 'cleansing' towns and villages of defenceless but ill-favoured women - also writing a pamphlet on his exploits titled 'A Discovery of Witches' - and 'retired' without any form of reprisal, so Bassett at least delivers a fictional sense of justice for poor women like Elizabeth Clarke.… (plus d'informations)