The Laughing Cavalier

“Haarlem was overshadowed with darkness by the events of the outside world. A popular political figure was on the scaffold, and war with Spain was immanent. The son of the departed politician allowed his anger to fester into a deep bitterness, which led him to construct an astonishing scheme to deprive the Prince of Orange of his life, just as the Prince had deprived his father of life!

But one girl overheard his plots. And not just any girl- he once had been engaged to Gilda, and her brother was in the thick of the plot! So my Lord of Stoutenburg decided the best and simplest way to keep his plot safe was to bribe a nameless adventurer to kidnap and hide her for a few short days.

Only one hitch- the vagabond who took money to kidnap Gilda had a rare fancy to live and die like a gentleman of fortune. Enter Diogenes and his counter-schemes to acquire a fortune!

When I first read the book, I though it was a great story. And I still think that. But I did a little research, and I found out that Baroness Orczy had also done her research. The plot of The Laughing Cavalier is woven inside of a very complex era of Dutch history surrounding the Synod of Dort and the Spanish Wars (early to mid 1600s). I was very impressed with how she wove the story ever so accurately into real history, but without ever showing off her knowledge. Not once does she attempt to assure the reader that part of her story is based on historical fact, or that many of the characters are in fact real people.

I thought that the world deserved to see her historically intertwined tale, so I wrote a historical introduction to The Laughing Cavalier so that modern readers can better understand the characters and the Dutch world of the time. I also put a number of footnotes into the text explaining old Dutch words used at the time the story takes place (another point in favor of Baroness Orczy’s research!).

I hope you enjoy reading The Laughing Cavalier as much as I did!”

-Andrew Pankratz