The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses is an adventure, romance and historical novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. It first appeared as a serial in 1883 with the subtitle "A Tale of Tunstall Forest" beginning in Young Folks; A Boys' and Girls' Paper of Instructive and Entertaining Literature, vol. XXII, no. 656 (Saturday, 30 June 1883) and ending in vol. XXIII, no. 672 (Saturday, 20 October 1883)—Stevenson had finished writing it by the end of summer. It was printed under the pseudonym Captain George North. The Paston Letters were Stevenson's main literary source for The Black Arrow. The Black Arrow consists of 79,926 words.

Plot introduction

The Black Arrow tells the story of Richard (Dick) Shelton during the Wars of the Roses: how he becomes a knight, rescues his lady Joanna Sedley, and obtains justice for the murder of his father, Sir Harry Shelton. Outlaws in Tunstall Forest organised by Ellis Duckworth, whose weapon and calling card is a black arrow, cause Dick to suspect that his guardian Sir Daniel Brackley and his retainers are responsible for his father's murder. Dick's suspicions are enough to turn Sir Daniel against him, so he has no recourse but to escape from Sir Daniel and join the outlaws of the Black Arrow against him. This struggle sweeps him up into the greater conflict surrounding them all.

Plot summary

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The novel is set in the reign of "old King Henry VI" (1422–1461, 1470–1471) and during the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487). The story begins with the Tunstall Moat House alarm bell, rung to summon recruits for its absent lord Sir Daniel Brackley, to join the Battle of Risingham; at which the outlaw "fellowship" known as "the Black Arrow" begins to strike with its "four black arrows" for the "four black hearts" of Brackley and three of his retainers: Nicholas Appleyard, Bennet Hatch, and Sir Oliver Oates, the parson. The rhyme posted in explanation of this attack makes the protagonist Richard ('Dick') Shelton, ward of Sir Daniel, curious about the death of his father Sir Harry Shelton. Having been dispatched to Kettley, where Sir Daniel was quartered, and sent to Tunstall Moat House by return dispatch, he falls in with a fugitive, Joanna Sedley, disguised as a boy with the alias of John Matcham: an heiress kidnapped by Sir Daniel to obtain guardianship over her and to retain his control over Richard by marrying her to him.

As they travel through Tunstall Forest, Joanna tries to persuade Dick to turn against Sir Daniel in sympathy with the Black Arrow outlaws, whose camp they discover near the ruins of Grimstone manor. The next day they are met in the forest by Sir Daniel himself, disguised as a leper and returning to the Moat House after his side was defeated at Risingham. Dick and Joanna then follow Sir Daniel to the Moat House. Here Dick confirms that Sir Daniel is the murderer of his father, and escapes injured from the Moat House. He is rescued by the outlaws of the Black Arrow.

200px|thumb|right|Cover of the first Scribner Brothers' American edition of 1888

The second half of the novel, books 3–5, tells how Dick rescues Joanna from Sir Daniel with the help of both the Black Arrow fellowship and the Yorkist army led by Richard Crookback, Duke of Gloucester, the future Richard III of England. The action centre is Shoreby on the North Sea coast, where the Lancastrian forces are entrenched. While shadowing Sir Daniel, Dick and the outlaws encounter another group of spies interested in Joanna: her lawful guardian, Lord Foxham, and his retainers. Dick and his outlaws defeat Foxham in a night skirmish. Foxham in accordance with knightly honor agrees to yield himself to Dick at St. Bride's Cross outside Shoreby the next day. They become fast friends, and Foxham promises Joanna to Dick in marriage after a contemplated seaside rescue. This enterprise fails, leaving Foxham wounded and unable to personally help Dick. He writes Dick a letter of recommendation to the Yorkist leader, Duke Richard Crookback.

In book 4, "The Disguise," Dick and his outlaw companion, Lawless, disguise themselves as friars to get into Sir Daniel's Shoreby mansion to visit Joanna. They discover that the next morning Sir Daniel will give Joanna in marriage to his fellow Lancastrian magnate, Lord Shoreby, and word is sent to Ellis Duckworth, the outlaw chief. Complications arise as Lawless gets drunk and Lord Shoreby's spy, Rutter, noses around Sir Daniel's mansion, discovering telltale evidence of Dick and Lawless's intrusion. Dick kills Rutter, and security in the mansion is heightened when his body is discovered. Dick and Lawless end up in the custody of Sir Oliver, who tells Dick that he is free to leave provided the wedding of Lord Shoreby and Joanna takes place as planned. When Black Arrow archers disrupt the wedding, killing the bridegroom, Dick and Lawless are turned over to Sir Daniel. Dick claims sanctuary from Sir Daniel in the abbey church, but, in the end, yields himself and Lawless to a more impartial judge, the Lancastrian magnate, Earl Risingham. Dick gains freedom for himself and Lawless when he produces evidence to Earl Risingham that Sir Daniel is a double-dealing traitor.

Crookback makes his appearance in book 5. As Dick is leaving Shoreby he sees Crookback holding his own against seven or eight Lancastrian assailants, and assists his victory. Dick's accurate knowledge of the Lancastrian forces in Shoreby aid Crookback in winning the battle that he wages later that day. Dick is also successful as one of Crookback's commanders. Crookback knights Dick on the field of battle and, following their victory, gives him fifty horsemen to pursue Sir Daniel, who has escaped Shoreby with Joanna. Dick succeeds in rescuing Joanna, but loses his men in the process. He and Joanna make their way to Holywood where they are married. In this way Dick fulfills his initial pledge to Joanna to convey her safely to Holywood.

In the early morning of his wedding day Dick encounters a fugitive Sir Daniel trying to enter the Holywood seaport to escape to France or Burgundy. Because it is his wedding day, Dick does not want to soil his hands with Sir Daniel's blood, so he simply bars his way by challenging him either to hand-to-hand combat or alerting a Yorkist perimeter patrol. Sir Daniel retreats but is shot with the final black arrow by Ellis Duckworth who had been following him. Thereafter, Sir Richard and Lady Shelton live in Tunstall Moat House untroubled by the rest of the Wars of the Roses. Lawless is pensioned and settled in Tunstall hamlet, where he does a volte face by returning to the Franciscan order and taking the name Brother Honestus.

Characters

thumb|300px|Title page of the first edition of 1888, US edition a few weeks before the UK edition

  • Richard (Dick) Shelton – (the protagonist) son of the late Sir Harry Shelton, heir of Tunstall. He is "not yet eighteen" in May 1460, the time period of the first part of the narrative. He is described as "sun-browned and grey-eyed." He is looked upon as the leader of the Black Arrow outlaws in Shoreby as they attempt to rescue Joanna Sedley from Sir Daniel. He is knighted by Richard Crookback in the course of the Battle of Shoreby.
  • Clipsby – a saucy Tunstall peasant. He is the first character in the novel to alert Dick to the dishonesty of his guardian Daniel Brackley: "Y'are a lad; but when ye come to a man's inches, ye will find ye have an empty pocket."
  • Nicholas Appleyard – a septuagenarian veteran of the Battle of Agincourt (1415): "his face was like a walnut-shell, both for colour and wrinkles; but his old grey eye was still clear enough, and his sight unabated."
  • Sir Oliver Oates – the local Tunstall parson and Sir Daniel's clerk. A "tall, portly, ruddy, black-eyed man of near fifty." He is portrayed in the novel as a cowardly sycophant of Sir Daniel Brackley. His knowledge of the law facilitates Sir Daniel's political and financial gain.
  • Sir Daniel Brackley – (the antagonist) a self-serving, unscrupulous knight, notoriously known for changing allegiances from Lancaster to York and vice versa "continually" as it suited him to obtain "some increase of fortune." His vacillating character partly resembles that of the historic Earl Thomas Stanley and his brother Sir William Stanley in the Wars of the Roses. However Sir Daniel was different from the Stanleys in that he was not a simple opportunist but a devious, avaricious villain. He is described by the author as having a bald head and a "thin, dark visage." He is also described in positive terms as "a very merry knight, none merrier in England" and as a good military leader. His lady wife appears in one or two episodes of the novel.
  • The Walsinghams – Stevenson's renaming of the Woodvilles of the Wars of the Roses. They do not play a part in the narrative of The Black Arrow, but it is intimated that in the recent past ("till two years ago, come Candlemas," The Woodville family during the Wars of the Roses was poor in being composed largely of commoners, ennobled by marriage under Edward IV of England.
  • Joanna Sedley – (the heroine) also known as John Matcham, the ward of Lord Foxham but kidnapped by Sir Daniel. She is sixteen in May 1460. Her softness and diminutive frame are constantly alluded to in book 1 as unbecoming to her masculine attire, but later this is set in contrast to her appearance and bearing as a noble young lady: "she, who had seemed so little and so awkward in the attire of Matcham, was now tall like a young willow, and swam across the floor as though she scorned the drudgery of walking."
  • Selden – Sir Daniel's retainer and right-hand man in Kettley. He is a dear friend of Bennet Hatch and Dick Shelton. Sir Daniel dispatched him and six others to recapture Joanna Sedley after her flight, but they are killed in a Black Arrow ambush.
  • Will Lawless – a "Friar Tuck" type of outlaw, member of the Black Arrow Fellowship, who has been many things in life, including a seaman and a Franciscan friar. He is said to have a big body, and he is fond of drinking. He helps Dick Shelton visit his beloved Joanna by disguising him as a friar. The final paragraph tells how he ended life as a friar. As a friar he assumes a name that indicates his conversion from thief to honest man, Brother Honestus.
  • Ellis Duckworth – organiser of the Black Arrow Fellowship to avenge Harry Shelton, Simon Malmesbury, and himself. He was blamed for the death of Harry Shelton, and he was rumoured to have been an agent of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.
  • Kit (Christopher) Greensheve – a Black Arrow outlaw who, like Lawless, is closely associated with Dick Shelton.
  • John Capper – a Black Arrow outlaw closely associated with Dick Shelton.
  • Goody Hatch – wife of Bennet Hatch, who is put in charge of Joanna Sedley when she comes to the Moat House with Dick Shelton.
  • Lord Foxham– a local Yorkist magnate, guardian of Joanna Sedley, who joins with Dick Shelton and the outlaws in their failed attempt to rescue her.
  • Sir John Hamley – kinsman of Lord Foxham and his intended bridegroom for his ward Joanna Sedley. At the end of the novel he becomes betrothed to Alicia Risingham.
  • Hawksley – Lord Foxham's retainer. He cares for his master on The Good Hope after the failed attempt to rescue Joanna Sedley from the house by the sea.
  • Earl Risingham – a local Lancastrian magnate, uncle of Alicia Risingham, killed in the Battle of Shoreby.
  • Alicia Risingham – niece of Earl Risingham and friend, confidant, and companion of Joanna Sedley. She coquettishly poses herself for romantic consideration by Dick Shelton, who graciously declines in favour of his true love Joanna. She is so short of stature that she jokingly refers to herself as a "dwarf."
  • Lord Shoreby – a local Lancastrian magnate, killed by Black Arrow outlaws in Shoreby Abbey Church to prevent his marriage to Joanna Sedley.
  • Rutter – Lord Shoreby's spy, killed by Dick Shelton.
  • Captain Arblaster – the owner of the ship The Good Hope, stolen by Shelton and the Black Arrow Fellowship. Dick's favour with Richard Crookback allows him to plead successfully for his life after the Battle of Shoreby, but this in turn causes Dick to fall out of favour with Crookback. Arblaster, untouched by his kindness, bitterly points out that if not for Dick stealing his ship, he would not need to be saved in the first place. He ends life as a pensioner in Tunstall Hamlet.
  • Tom – Captain Arblaster's first mate, who is killed in the Battle of Shoreby. It is Tom who is first suspicious of Dick and Lawless as they are making their way to the "Goat and Bagpipes" alehouse, and it is he that succeeds in catching Dick. Arblaster and Pirret do not heed his warning against Dick tricking them through his Ali Baba tale.
  • Master Pirret – friend of Captain Arblaster, whose greed and credulity allow Dick to escape from him, Arblaster, and Tom.
  • Richard Crookback – Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, future King Richard III of England (a historical person).
  • Sir William Catesby – Richard Crookback's retainer (a historical person).

Chronology and geography

From the information given in the novel two time references for the two blocks of action that constitute the narrative can be pinpointed: May 1460 and January 1461. The important time indicator is the Battle of Wakefield, 30 December 1460, which Stevenson describes in the first chapter of Book 3: It is because Richard Crookback (later Richard III of England) is presented as an adult active in the Wars of the Roses in January 1461 that Stevenson provides the footnote: "At the date of this story, Richard Crookback could not have been created Duke of Gloucester; but for clearness, with the reader's leave, he shall so be called." Richard was born in 1452, so he would have been merely 8 years old at the time of this story. A later footnote emphasises this again: "Richard Crookback would have been really far younger at this date [i.e. January, 1461]." Stevenson follows William Shakespeare in retrojecting Richard of Gloucester into an earlier period of the Wars of the Roses and portraying him as a dour hunchback—Stevenson: "the formidable hunchback." (See Henry VI, part 2; Henry VI, part 3; and Richard III.) This characterisation closely follows the Tudor myth, a tradition that overly vilified Richard of Gloucester and cast the entire English Fifteenth century as a bloody, barbaric chaos in contrast to the Tudor era of law and order.

The 1948 film The Black Arrow portrays Richard of Gloucester in a more favourable light than in the novel, somewhat anticipating the work of Paul Murray Kendall to rehabilitate him (Kendall, Richard III, 1956). When Richard is told he is "more than kind," he replies jokingly that such rumours would ruin his [bad] "reputation": the revision of the Tudor myth?

Stevenson liked his characterisation of Richard Crookback, and expressed his desire to write about him again. Stevenson alludes both to his novel The Black Arrow and Richard Crookback with the phrase "the Sable Missile" in a letter he wrote Sidney Colvin in the month the final instalment of The Black Arrow appeared in Young Folks (October 1883):

The Battle of Shoreby, a fictitious battle that is the main event of Book 5, is modelled after the First Battle of St Albans in the Wars of the Roses. This battle in history as in the novel was a victory for the House of York. The presence of an abbey church in Shoreby is reminiscent of the abbey church of Tewkesbury to which the Lancastrians fled for sanctuary after the battle on 4 May 1471.

In the "prologue" Stevenson intimates that the Tunstall of The Black Arrow is a real place: "Tunstall hamlet at that period, in the reign of old King Henry VI., wore much the same appearance as it wears today." In south-east Suffolk, England, 18 miles NE of Ipswich, less than 10 miles from the North Sea a "Tunstall" is located with an accompanying forest. Stevenson and his family had visited Suffolk in 1873. The similarity of place-names near this Tunstall, Suffolk to place-names in the novel also suggest that this is Stevenson's Tunstall: Kettley, Risingham and Foxham are probably Kettleburgh, Framlingham and Farnham in actuality. The identities of Shoreby-on-the-Till and Holywood are probably Orford and Leiston respectively. Orford is on the North Sea and is joined to Framlingham by a road going to the northwest (the "highroad from Risingham to Shoreby"), and Leiston is also on the North Sea with a medieval abbey like Holywood of the novel. The River Till, which figures largely in book 1 of the novel, would then be the River Deben in actuality. The River Deben flows near Kettleburgh.

The name of the main character Richard Shelton and his inheritance, Tunstall, were the name and title of an actual historical personage, Sir Richard Tunstall. He, as a Lancastrian and ardent supporter of King Henry VI of England, held Harlech Castle against the Yorkists from 1465 to 1468 during the first part of Edward IV's reign. In contrast, Richard Shelton, who becomes the knight of Tunstall at the end of The Black Arrow, is a staunch Yorkist.

Two other anachronisms in the novel are Sir Oliver and others speaking of "Simnel" and "the Walsinghams" as suspected organizers of the Black Arrow fellowship. Lambert Simnel was the focus of rebellion in Henry VII's reign (1485–1509), and "the Walsinghams," Stevenson's renaming of the Woodvilles, would have played a part only after May 1464, when Edward IV married Elizabeth Woodville.

Criticism

Stevenson himself was the first critic of his Black Arrow, referring to it as "tushery" with reference to his use of archaic English dialogue. Stevenson wrote in a May 1883 letter to H.E. Henley: