Book Review: "The Scape-Goat" by Lucy Hughes-Hallett (Pt. 4)

It is clear that a war in Spain is on the horizon and James is under pressure to go. Charles is definitely pushing it forwards as he feels like he had been humiliated by the Spanish and yet, Buckingham still knows he isn't well liked here, or across the waters. Parliament is thrilled at the idea of war with Spain as Hallett states that the English have many advantages when it comes to war. But it's also 1624 and the King has gout, he's very sick and thus cannot attend court as often as he would like. I know what's going to happen but what I'm looking forward to is what is going to happen to Buckingham's position afterwards now that he has been unmasked as being a vulgar man of opportunity rather than the simple 'favourite' we once saw him as. I just need to know.

Needless to say the war in Spain is described by Hallett as a "disaster" and one thing after another was going wrong, atop of that, James was becoming more and more sick by the day and spending more time away from court. Eventually, 1625 rolled around and James had a stroke. The physicians had no idea what they were doing but everything they did made Buckingham fly into a rage about how they were saving the King. Buckingham's motivations were not known but many people accused him of wanting the King dead, which was probably untrue seeing as his entire position was hinging on this relationship. I am astounded by how little it took to knock the King down completely but this meant something far worse for the future of England: Charles was now King.

The new Cavalier court would get underway after the funeral of James I. Buckingham was in mourning, proceeding with a line of black horses on foot as he was still, Master of the Horse. There were many days for these events of mourning in which everyone was solemn and sad. James had died and Buckingham, finding a friend in the new King knew his position wasn't in peril but more than that, he had actually lost someone he loved. For that, I can find it in my heart to feel sympathy for him. His mourning was genuine, he wept and wept - it was said to be very upsetting for all who witnessed it.

But within the war, Buckingham would find himself running out of money and Hallett seems to confess that he was under investigation at this point as people truly believed he had bewitched and poisoned the King of England. Honestly, I don't think he did, but it is an honest analysis from a group of people who still believed witches existed. You can't necessarily blame them. It was in this time that Buckingham also became very ill himself. Earlier on in the book, Hallett describes Buckingham as being 'delicate' and not being able to hold his own very well. He gets sick often and has fevers quite frequently. I'm not sure what to make of that but it perhaps shows that the stress was overwhelming him. Again, I am inclined to now feel quite sorry for him.

Of course after the King is buried and mourning is over, shit hits the proverbial fan and Buckingham is accused of everything under the sun. He's accused of having improper relations, he's accused of getting money illegally, he's accused of plotting to kill the King, trying to kill the Prince (who is now the King) and much, much more. There are so many accusations I could barely keep up. One of the main aspects though is that Buckingham had lied to the King about the affair in Spain and that was technically against the law. This meant that they were also accusing Charles of being complicit in his father's death (which had people thrown into the tower obviously because why would you say that to the King?)

But now, Buckingham has asked for some time to seek legal advice as he is about to be put on trial for (however inadvertently) causing the death of King James I.

Everything is getting underway and we are all very excited (even though I know exactly how this turns out, I'm still very excited to read all about it again). Hallett's writing makes everything seem even more slow burning and sensational than it probably was, keeping us all hooked to the very end.

By 1627 though, King Charles is firmly in his throne, Parliament has been dissolved and Buckingham is trying to tell the King what to do. Honestly, he hasn't got the message that one man wrote of him being the most detested man in the whole country. Everything that went wrong in the war was now his fault (which it probably was because it was his expedition that lit the flames for war once again). But honestly, I don't know who's side to choose. James wasn't really much of a King and leaving a lot of the decision making up to this guy seems like a bad move if I've ever seen one.

As we move through the book though, there are several things happening and to sum them up they all come down to the fact that there are far more people against Buckingham than for him. He ultimately gets blamed for the royal marriage (the one to the Spanish princess) failing to go ahead, he gets blamed for putting the Prince (now the King) in danger, he gets blamed for consolidating too much power and finally, he gets blamed for the death of the King.

Hallett explains that some people hated Buckingham far more than we previously thought as of course, later on in this charade of intrigue, Buckingham is stabbed in the heart and dies. Assassinated by someone who was plotting against him, many people said that they were far happier with him gone out of the picture and now everyone could relax. But there is a question of how guilty he really was in all of this. Did he actually do anything wrong or was he trying to keep the King's favour? He knew the King's condition and thus, telling him the truth about the Spanish Match would have basically killed him (as the religion fiasco is said to have shortened his life span, though it wasn't Buckingham who told him). If we are really to believe what is on the page, Buckingham was probably (and most likely) trying to keep the King alive - knowing full well that this was the way he was going to keep complete favour. If he had the King on his side then nobody could judge him.