Character Showcase - Rollo Meadowaine, Marquess of Abbingford (Supposedly).

The Marquess of Abbingford is a man disappointed by life. He has lost a wife and a daughter, and has no time for his son, Percival, Baron Meadowaine— probably because they are alike in too many ways. In addition to all this, his one surviving, legitimate grandson, Wulfrid, is a sickly boy who prefers books to hunting, whining to women, and cataloguing his aches and pains to carousing.

Now the marquess, crippled himself and having lost one eye, left unable to enjoy country pursuits, has withdrawn to one of his houses on an island in the middle of the river Thames (an ‘eyot’), where he breeds Wolfhounds and waits to one day rejoin his dead wife. Although he sees no benefit in reading books himself, he has even stocked a library in the house with treasures that he hopes will one day lure her back to him. He has been told the house is haunted, but although he’s heard creaks and voices, he has never yet seen any ghosts.


To pass the time on his little island, he has decided to invite some interesting or amusing folk to be his guests from time to time. The stranger and rarer the better. If they happen to be pretty ladies with noble manners and some fine jewelry, all the better – for he needs to find his weak and listless grandson a wife as quickly as possible. His own time is running out and the thought of leaving everything to his despised son, Percival, brings old Rollo too much bitter pain.


Although the title and the estate in Kent must go to his heir and nothing can be done about that, Rollo’s Eyot— which once came to him as part of his wife’s dowry— has always been kept separate to the marquessate. The deed, therefore, can be given elsewhere. He would rather skip a generation and let Wulfrid have it, but only as long as he can get the boy married safely and see him on the way to fatherhood. Then he can go peacefully, knowing he left this world with the Meadowaine name destined to continue, and his extraordinary little island out of Percival’s greedy, unappreciative clutches.


Rollo is not a man much prone to contemplative soul-searching, nor does he waste time considering the feelings of others. He is a man of his age, born in the time of King Harry VIII, raised during the reign of Elizabeth I and now spending his dotage under King James. He has seen many a rich nobleman lose all, including their head, whilst also observing how the sons of butchers and tradesmen can rise up to great consequence. He has watched schemers plot to win out over members of their own family, witnessed fathers trampled into the dust by ambitious youth, and seen sly deeds conquer all at the cost of good intentions. He has known the ‘sweating sickness’ take people to the grave within the space of a day, and heard of once-popular fellows arrested on some spurious charge, tried and executed within the same space of time.


So Rollo knows how fortunes can change in the blink of an eye. He has retreated here to his little island with the intent of setting his house in order. The fact is, the Meadowaines’ claim to the marquessate of Abbingford might not be entirely legitimate. Although he maintains that it was granted to him by Good Queen Bess in one of her better moods, there are some who say Rollo’s documents are forged; that the estate in Kent was given to him on a whim soon regretted and thus withdrawn.


In these ever-changing times, Rollo needs to strengthen the family’s place in the world, but the English nobility are wary of aligning themselves to a Meadowaine by marriage. The young and virginal maidens of upper crust England are a valuable commodity, bartered by their fathers and brothers into the most advantageous matches with the oldest and most well-connected of families. The Meadowaines are upstarts compared to most, and they balance precariously on tentative ground. This puts them far down the pecking order when it comes to finding a suitable bride for Wulfrid.


Rollo realizes his grandson is a frail sapling and of little appeal to healthy young ladies, but surely, he’ll grow out of his shyness and do his duty. Eventually. He’s a Meadowaine, after all. And another failure will not be borne. Wulfrid has been too fussy and squeamish in his hunt for a bride; Rollo is certain the boy’s bullying father has not helped in the matter. What they need is some good, strong, healthy blood in the family; something to inject spirit and fight back into their veins. A woman with a bit of spit and fire might be a handful for young Wulfrid, but at least she will give that boy some additional, much-needed backbone to stand up against his domineering father Percival.


It is a pity that Wulfrid— the only acknowledged bud upon the family tree— remains such a quivering, wilted shadow, but Rollo can hardly show more approval and favor to his illegitimate grandson, Rory, can he? Rory is the bastard child of Rollo’s disobedient, disowned daughter (with her lover – a Scotsman, of all things!) The marquess is still so angry with his dead daughter that he can barely bring himself to look at that young fellow. Perhaps, one day, when he does look properly and without bias, he will realize that Rory has grown into a man of whom he can be proud. But old Rollo does not like to admit he’s made a mistake or forgive anybody for their sins against him. Yes, Rory can be amusing and useful, but he’s still a bastard. And one-half Scottish.


In any case, he knows that Rory can stand up for himself. Rory is a survivor. It is young Wulfrid who needs a wife handed to him on a plate.


So bring on those mysterious sisters Crollalanza— three, fiery-eyed women with clever minds, exceedingly proud manners and rumors of a rich, colourful past. Women who clearly upset his son, Percival. What could be more entertaining?


In Rollo’s opinion, people are there to amuse him, to entertain him and to obey him. As long as they do that, they are welcome at his supper table. So are you!

** Find out more on April 3rd, when you can acquire your copy of THE CROLLALANZAS

(Image: Portrait of a Man by Anthonis Mor van Dashorst 1561.)