The main characters in Mistress of Dartington Hall are:
Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery, ‘Roberda’, a young Huguenot woman;
her husband, Gawen, son of Sir Arthur Champernowne, Queen Elizabeth’s Vice-Admiral of the Fleet of the West;
Thomas Horner, an older man who courts Roberda after Gawen’s death.
Roberda
Roberda’s childhood in France was truly traumatic. Her father, Gabriel de Lorges, was a prominent Huguenot general during the French Wars of Religion. Her mother, Isabeau, followed him on the campaign trail. She dragged Roberda and her siblings into battle zones where they witnessed terrible scenes.
Roberda’s domineering mother not only managed the family estates impeccably but also played a vital role in securing supplies and arms for the Huguenot army. She provided a daunting role model for a young girl.
Damaged by the horrors of war, Roberda developed into a rebellious and not very likeable teenager. Her one redeeming feature was the compassion she showed to those less fortunate. For example, she defied her mother to rescue Pierre, a musically talented orphan. After her marriage, Roberda helped displaced French women and children find a safe refuge in England until her husband, Gawen, put a stop to her work.
Isabeau has instilled in her daughter a strong sense of duty. However, Roberda is young, warm-hearted, impulsive and impatient. She had unreasonably high hopes for her marriage. In The Dartington Bride, she saw those hopes cruelly dashed by her cold, unfeeling husband. She also suffered a chillingly hostile reception from some servants at Dartington Hall.
Despite everything, Roberda is a survivor. Adversity strengthens her. Rather than bemoaning her lot, she continues to offer comfort to others. Even during her own worst time, she forgave and befriended Marie Weare, an impoverished servant bribed to betray her mistress.
In Mistress of Dartington Hall, we join Roberda as the people of Dartington wait in terror. At any moment, the Spanish Armada may bring hordes of invading soldiers to their homeland.
Roberda has earned the respect of the household and estate workers. The return of her estranged husband threatens her hard-won position. Gawen’s return also presents Roberda with a dilemma. For the sake of her children, can she live with him as a husband? Can she ever trust him again?
Roberda convinces herself that Gawen is a changed man. Her faithful French maid, Clotilde, does not agree. Clotilde has become Roberda’s closest confidante and friend and does not mince her words.
‘Many a woman has come to rue the day she thought a man had changed his ways, ’ she remarks.
However, weighed down with childbearing — more babies arrive in rapid succession — Roberda accepts her lot, always hoping for a sign that, at heart, Gawen cares for her.
A conflicted character, Roberda lived within the constraints of the male-dominated society of Elizabethan Devon. Yet she faced many challenges modern-day mothers would recognise. She had to contend with a rebellious teenage daughter. Balancing childcare and domestic tasks with other duties was a constant a challenge. And then there was her husband. For a long time Roberda puts wifely duty before her own happiness.
Even when, after Gawen’s death, another man offers the hope of a happy future, she hesitates. Later records always name Roberda as ‘Lady Gabrielle Montgomery’. The records never refer to her as Gawen Champernowne’s wife or widow, or any other man’s wife. That convinced me that Roberda came through all her trials to become a strong and independent woman in her own right.
No portraits of Roberda survive - the images are artist’s impressions of a young and a more mature Roberda.
Gawen
It was hard to find anything positive in the historical record about Roberda’s husband, Gawen. Yet, I think he deserves some sympathy. As the eldest son of a wealthy, well-connected family, a lot of weight rested on his young shoulders. Trained from an early age as a soldier, the achievements of his cousin Henry were a lot to live up to. Gawen’s father, Sir Arthur Champernowne, brought his nephew Henry up after John Champernowne’s untimely death. Sir Arthur supported Henry in his stellar career as a mercenary soldier and spoke of him with pride. It’s easy to imagine that Gawen felt he had to try that bit harder to impress his father. He was captaining ships in his teens. Along with his cousin Walter Raleigh and other relatives from Devon, he fought alongside Henry at the Battle of Jarnac in 1569. These experiences in warfare when he was young hardened him, often making him seem callous.
Sadly, nothing worked out well for Gawen. In 1574, his hopes of military glory rose when his father-in-law appointed him to lead a relief effort for the besieged port of La Rochelle. The enterprise failed miserably. In 1588, Gawen commanded a cavalry troop, but he never saw action. He didn’t manage the estate well, running up debts.
An eldest son must produce heirs to carry on the family name. Unlike his illustrious cousin, who left two healthy boys to succeed him, Gawen produced a string of daughters, with the costs of providing dowries, but only one son. Two other boys died soon after their birth. He remains convinced that Roberda’s family cheated him by not paying her dowry.
It’s easy to dismiss Gawen as a nasty character, cold and unfeeling. But he is more complicated. He is a product of his upbringing and feels he has never quite lived up to expectations. Fiercely jealous, he sometimes seems to want to be a better husband, but always holds back. Gawen has some redeeming qualities. For example, he is a loving father to his son, Arthur, and a friend of Sir Francis Drake. However, his will made no provision for, nor even mentioned Roberda. In a hastily added codicil, he provides for an unborn child, but not for the mother, the woman who had put up with him for so long. Even on his deathbed, Gawen could not quite bring himself to commit.
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| Gawen Champernowne. (c) Rosemary Griggs |
The photo shows Gawen (minus his nose), second in line behind his father, as depicted on a memorial in St Mary’s tower, near Dartington Hall.
Thomas
In contrast, silver-haired and twice-widowed, Thomas Horner is an honourable man. He is such a straightforward character, there’s little to add. Thomas is a Somerset gentleman and a Member of Parliament, with plenty of children from his two previous marriages. At his age, he can afford to marry for love.
He waits patiently for Roberda to resolve outstanding family issues. A generous and kind man, he provides for Roberda’s unmarried daughters as though they were his own, paying their dowries and helping to arrange their marriages. This extract from his will, made 15 February 1611, shows how much he cared for Roberda.
’To Lady Montgomery, my wife, certain lands, etc., provided she keeps seven score deer within the park, and my house situated in St. Austin’s Green, near the city of Bristol, and after her death to go to Edward Horner, my son … to Mary Champernowne, my daughter, £100 … £50 to each of my daughters, Bridget and Frances Champernowne…’
Thomas Horner was buried at Cloford in Somerset on 20 June 1612. I have not yet traced Roberda’s date of death.
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The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Cloford Somerset.
(c) Rosemary Griggs |
