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| Stoddard, John L. |
A book Lewis finds in his uncle Jonathan's house is Volume IX of Stoddard's lectures, this volume labeled "Scotland, England, and London" [The House with a Clock in its Walls, 18-9].
He [Lewis] was reading about how the Scotch nobles had murdered poor Rizzio right in front of Mary, Queen of Scots. Stoddard compared Rizzio to a purple-velvet plum spurting plum juice in all directions. The nobles dragged the poor man, kicking and screaming, into the hallway, where they stabbed him some more. Fifty-six times, said Stoddard, though he didn't say who counted the stabs. Lewis flipped the page and bit into a peppermint patty. Now Stoddard was talking about the permanence of bloodstains and wondering whether or not the stain on the hall floor in Holyrood really was Rizzio's blood or not [18-9].
Through his reading of Stoddard, Lewis learns about the Hand of Glory, knowledge useful in later defeating the Izards [174].
John Lawson Stoddard (1850-1931) began in 1879 what would become a successful career as a lecturer. During the next 18 years he traveled widely around the world. Every winter he would return to the states and present lectures concerning his travels in several major American cities. He became something of a household name at the time. His lectures were hugely popular, in part due to his skill as a lecturer as well as his pioneering use of slides to enhance the lectures. In 1897-98, his ten volume lectures were first published. For most of his life he was a protestant and at times went out of his way to criticize the Catholic Church, but after his harrowing experiences during WWI, he ended up becoming a member of the Roman Catholic Church and devoted the rest of his days to religious research and writing. However he is best remembered for his earlier lectures which helped popularize the travel lecture.
Here is what Stoddard actually had to say about the murder of Rizzio as seen in Volume 9 of his lectures:
Into the courtyard of Holyrood Castle, just after dusk, on the night appointed for the crime, Mary's Lord Chancellor, Morton (one of the chief conspirators), led a body of armed men. A number of these desperados hid themselves in Darnley's room, above which were the Queen's apartments, whither a winding staircase led. It was seven o'clock. Mary was in her library at supper. Three friends, a lady, a gentleman, and Rizzio, were her guests. Suddenly Darnly, who had come up the private stairway, entered the supper-room. Seating himself in a vacant chair beside his wife, he put his arm around her waist, and gave her an affectionate kiss. It was the kiss of Judas; for, meantime, his associates following him had stolen softly into Mary's bedroom. Impatient of delay, they crowded through the doorway into the Queen's presence. Mary, alarmed, demanded what their intrusion signified. They said they meant no harm to her, but only to the villain near her. Rizzio saw that his hour had come. "Madam," he said to his sovereign, "I am lost." "Fear not," she answered firmly, "the King will never suffer you to be slain in my presence, nor can he forget your many faithful services." At this appeal, which probably touched a tender spot in Darnley's heart, he faltered, apparently unwilling to perform his part. "Sir," exclaimed Ruthven fiercely, "look to your wife and sovereign." At this Darnley forced Mary into a chair and held her there so tightly that she could not rise. One of the ruffians presented a pistol to her side, and with a horrible oath swore he would shoot her dead if she resisted. "Fire," she dauntlessly replied, "if you have no respect for my own life, or for that of my unborn child." Her husband pushed away the weapon. Meantime the supper-room was lighted with the glare of torches, and echoes to the tread of other murderous invaders. Rizzio, clinging to the Queen's dress, piteously cried: "Save my life, Madam! Save my life, for God's dear sake!" The assassins rushed upon him. A terrible scene ensued. The table with its lights and dishes was overturned. Mary fainted. At last the frantic clutch of Rizzio on Mary's robe relaxed, and he was dragged out into a narrow passageway and stabbed repeatedly, until his shrieks were hushed in death. Those who have visited Holyrood will recollect the stain upon the floor said to have been caused by his blood.
Contributor James Card (who meticulously typed the above for us), notes that a painting depicting the murder and a picture of the hallway where it happened is all that is included in Stoddard's book. Stoddard immediately follows with Mary's brief imprisonment and forced abdication, eventually getting to her execution by Queen Elizabeth. And the book really does smell like talcum powder.
"As for the fifty-six stabs and comparison to plum juice and all of that, you can see from the text that Stoddard was capable of writing something like that. He obviously had a penchant for including reams of dramatic, factually dubious details. When Bellairs wrote 'Fifty-six times, said Stoddard, though he didn't say who counted the stabs,' perhaps this was a Bellairsian jab at Stoddard?"
J.E. Neale's biography of Queen Elizabeth I alludes to the murder of Rizzio as well:
The terrified victim clung to the Queen's dress crying on her to save him, but was dragged from the room and in an outer chamber struck down with fifty-six wounds.
Card notes Neale's book was first published in 1934 and was the definitive biography of Elizabeth for almost seventy years. "It indeed shows that the fifty-six was not a figment of Bellairs' imagination."
| Weaving Scottish history into the story took some extra thinking on the part of the author. However, picking the story of Rizzio who was stabbed fifty-seven times doesn't seem to be the best choice for a child's story. If you were a parent, would you want your child exposed to such horror and violence, even though it is a historical fact?
Integrating the Literature of John Bellairs in the Classroom by Thomas J. Palumbo |
A post in a forgotten newsgroup shows that someone read Stoddard's work after having picked up his name from House. This makes us wonder how much Bellairs' work has inspired younger readers to explore the works of the different authors John mentions throughout his fiction.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lawson_Stoddard - which references this page...go figure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rizzio |
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| John Lawson Stoddard |
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