I was a teenager when I read The Hidden Treasure of Glaston, by Eleanore M. Jewett. I remember enjoying it quite a lot. I re-read it now as part of my research for my Haakon book, and am delighted to report that it holds up pretty well.
The book is set in England in the 12th Century. The hero is a teenaged boy named Hugh, son of a disgraced nobleman. On his way into exile, Hugh’s father leaves him with the monks at Glastonbury Abbey, as the boy was born lame and can never hope to be a knight.
Hugh is bereft at first, but soon finds that the monks are kindly – especially Brother John, the librarian, who begins teaching him the work of a scribe, for which he proves to have an aptitude. He also finds a friend, Dickon, an oblate (a boy given to the monastery by his parents), who swears him to blood brotherhood and shows him his secrets – the hidden passages under the monastery that he has found, and his “treasures,” ecclesiastical items left behind in the passages when they were being used for shelter and escape from Viking attacks in the old days.
They also meet Bleheris, an old hermit who tells them stories of the legends of Glastonbury – of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. His great dream is to find the Grail himself.
What Hugh does not tell the old man is that among Dickon’s treasures he has found lost pages from an incomplete history of the Grail that is one of the abbey’s treasures. The boys’ adventures will lead them to the discovery of Arthur’s grave, to the king’s court, through fire, and finally to miracles.
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston was published in 1946. I’m not sure if they knew back then, as they do now, that the name of Joseph of Arimathea was never associated with Glastonbury before the time when this story is set. But if you’re just looking for a fun story, a medieval adventure meant (especially) for boys, uncontaminated by Game of Thrones cynicism and perversion (and with Christian values), The Hidden Treasure of Glaston works pretty well. The view of God is more Catholic than Protestant, but not in a way to put Protestants off greatly.
I liked it a lot, and recommend it.
Thanks for this! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it or her – but it sounds very enjoyable, and her range of books is intriguing. I wonder how quickly some innovation like the Joseph of Arimathea connection could become rooted and persuasive?
I’m looking forward to the Anya Seton review – I’ve enjoyed some of her father’s work and keep meaning to try her – for instance, Katherine (1954), since I’ve been enjoyably busy with Tolkien on Chaucer and assorted 14th-c. stuff recently.
I just finished the Joseph of Arimathea section of Nigel Bryant’s translation of the Modena MS. in his Merlin and the Grail – Joseph of Arimathea, Merlin, Perceval: The Trilogy of Arthurian Prose Romances attributed to Robert de Boron – in which Joseph does not go to Britain himself! Instead his brother-in-law Bron, the Rich Fisher King, with wife and eleven of their sons and wives do, with the Grail – as does Petrus, another of the Grail fellowship – separately, all to await the coming of Bron’s grandson – prophesied son of the one brother, Alain, with no interest at this point in marrying and therefore singled out for great things. Next up, Merlin!
Good choice, that, David, I’m sure.
This novel sounds good, Lars.
I’ve had the good hap of managing to start it, enjoyed the first two chapters so far, and am eager to find out what happens next. Like the Amazon blurb, Wikipedia’s Eleanore Myers Jewett article tells us it was a 1947 Newbery ‘Honor’ Medal winner – and Wikipedia further gives it its own article with a jolly “Critical reception” section (without its own footnote(s) – might Newbery be the source?) . Here’s hoping it is being ‘re-discovered’!