The Winter King was published by Michael Joseph in 1995 as the first volume of the Warlord Chronicles trilogy (followed by Enemy of God and Excalibur). The trilogy is widely considered Cornwell’s finest work — the book that transcends genre to stand as serious historical fiction.
Cornwell strips the Arthurian legend of everything that Malory, Tennyson, and Hollywood added: the gleaming armor, the courtly love, the magic swords, the round table. What remains is a plausible historical figure: Arthur, a bastard son of Uther Pendragon, is a warlord in post-Roman Britain (late fifth century), fighting to hold together a patchwork of squabbling British kingdoms against the encroaching Saxons. He is not a king but a war leader — charismatic, brilliant in battle, politically shrewd, and fatally idealistic.
The novel is narrated by Derfel Cadarn, one of Arthur’s warriors, writing in old age from a monastery. Derfel’s voice — blunt, unsentimental, affectionate toward the man he served and clear-eyed about his faults — gives the narrative its distinctive texture. The Britain Derfel describes is a muddy, violent, hierarchical society in which Christianity is one faith among several (Druidism, the old religions of Britain, and various local cults compete for influence), and the clash between these faiths is as important as the clash of armies.
Cornwell’s battle scenes are, as always, superb — but the Warlord Chronicles add a political and emotional complexity that the Sharpe novels, for all their virtues, do not attempt. Arthur’s tragedy is that the unity he achieves through war cannot survive peace: the alliances he forges are held together by the threat of the Saxons, and when that threat recedes, the British kingdoms resume their self-destructive feuding.
Collecting The Winter King
First edition (Michael Joseph, London, 1995): Cloth with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $100–$300
- Very good: $40–$100
- Signed: $150–$400