The Secular Wizard

infobox Book |
name = The Secular Wizard
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = The Secular Wizard cover
author = Christopher Stasheff
illustrator =
cover_artist = Darrell K. Sweet
country = United States
language = English
series = A Wizard in Rhyme
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = Del Rey Books
release_date = 1995
media_type = Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
pages = 357 pp (Hardcover)
isbn = ISBN 0-345-37600-5
preceded_by = The Witch Doctor
followed_by = My Son, the Wizard

The Secular Wizard is the fourth in the A Wizard in Rhyme series by Christopher Stasheff.

Plot summary

Latruria was a sunny southern neighbour of Merovence which had been ruled under the heavy hand of a wicked old King Maledicto. When his only son and heir, the pious Prince Casudo, was found murdered, his chancellor, Rebozo, moved to hide the sole grandson, 10-year old Boncorro, ostensibly to hide him from Maledicto's unpredicability from the ragings. When Maledicto died several years later, Rebozo brought Boncorro out of hiding to succeed to the throne. Against Rebozo's expectations, Boncorro proved to be decisive right from the start of his rule and changed the way things were run. He cut taxes, allowed the people their religious freedom and revoked monopolies. And he surprised everyone else when revenues increased and prosperity followed instead.

The changes in Latruria did not go unnoticed in Merovence. But Lord Wizard Matthew "Matt" Mantrell detected brewing trouble when the prosperity of Latruria, affecting all stations from peasants to nobles, and rumours of Boncorro's lavish entertainments at his royal court, led to murmurs of discontent amongst Merovence's own populace.

Matt set out to investigate it in the guise of a wandering minstrel. But his masquerade seemed to have been compromised as he encountered opponents after opponents to keep him out of Latruria, or kill him.

Along the journey, he met with an odd assortment of encounters, and even took some as travelling companions, not always willingly. Pascal, a lovesick son of a Merovence squire besotted with a cousin over the border in Latruria, a manticore, a family ghost from Greece.

The first testimony he encountered of Boncorro's magical prowess was the invisible Wall of Octroi, a magical barrier cast along Latrurian borders to prevent only monsters from passing through, either way. He also discovered his own spells seemed to be weaker in Latruria, for some undiscernable reasons.

En route, Matt found himself in the middle of an exodus of youngsters and not-so-young adults escaping their boring provincial homes, enamoured by the "glamour" of the big city. It seemed that increased income, but without moral guidance, led these people into unguided experimentation with "free love" reminiscent of hippy movement in Matt's original homeworld.

But there was no gold-paved street, but only harsh reality, for them when they reached Venarra, Latruria's capital. Matt discovered that it was no wicked witch king he was dealing with ultimately but a highly intelligent king who knew how to create wealth but without a moral compass nor wisdom to know what do with the wealth or bring about inner satisfaction.

Character histories

* Accerese : A royal groom in Latruria who had the misfortune to be the first to discover the body of Prince Casudo.
* Galtese : Underling of the royal Latrurian steward.
* Maledicto : An evil sorcerer king of Latruria. Following the death of his pious son and disappearance of his grandson, Maledicto went through depression but eventually snapped out and sought repentance. He managed to get absolution from a priest just before he was killed.
* Rebozo : Evil sorcerer and chancellor of Latruria. He hid Maledicto's grandson Boncorro, ostensibly to protect the heir from Maledicto who became unpredictable during his rages. Rebozo tried to steer Boncorro towards evil, but was chagrined when the young king proved stubborn to his own ideas, and actually had mastered enough magic on his own.
* Boncorro : At the beginning of the novel, he was a ten year old boy who was suddenly informed his pious father was brutally murdered. As he grew up, he learned magic to have some power of his own, but rejected both the opposing paths his father took and his grandfather took.
* Garchi : A Latrurian baron entrusted by Rebozo to care for Boncorro in secret, without being told of the boy's real identity.
* Sir Sticchi, Sir Tchalico - two knights in Maledicto's service who were secretly pious men. Maledicto ordered them to be his sole escorts in seeking out a priest for confession.
* Saint Mark : Patron saint of Latruria.
* Matthew Mantrell : Lord Wizard of Merovence, consort to the Queen Alisande.
* LoClercchi - Secretary to Rebozo.
* Camano - Son of Count d'Arrete. He is a paid agent of Rebozo.
* Sir John - Captain of the Guard of Count d'Arrete.
* Count d'Arrete - A nobleman whose domain is in southern Merovence, near the border with Latruria. He has relatives who are nobles in Latruria who for years laggard behind in wealth, until the reign of Boncorro which saw his southern relatives suddenly prospering ahead of him.
* Lady Jeanette - Daughter of Count d'Arrete.
* Conte Puvecci - Latrurian nobleman on a visit to his cousin in Merovence, the Count d'Arrete.
* Giancarlo - Son of Conte Puvecci.
* Sophia - Daughter of Conte Puvecci.
* Pascal de la Tour - A squire of Count d'Arrete.
* (Demoiselle) Charlotte Espere - Daughter of a squire and neighbour to Pascal. Her father and Pascal's father planned for them to marry.
* "Aeiollo de la Tour" - Grandfather of Pascal, who became a squire by having a wizard as a father. "Deceased".
* Alisande - Queen of Merovence.
* Lady Julia - Lady-in-waiting to Alisande.
* Lady Beatrice - Lady-in-waiting to Alisande.
* Lady Constance - Lady-in-waiting to Alisande.
* Lady Elise - Lady-in-waiting to Alisande.
* Master Ortho the Frank - Deputy to the Lord Wizard of Merovence.
* Stegoman - Dragon friend of Matt.
* Sir Guy de Toutarien - Friend of Matt.
* Saul Delacroix - Friend of Matt from his original homeworld, and reside in the Forest Champagne.
* Manny - A name given to the manticore sent to stop Matt at the Merovence-Latrurian border.
* Yverne - Wife of Sir Guy, sent to stay with Alisande with her infant baby girl while Sir Guy marched to aid Matt.
* Narlh - Dracogriff, friend of Matt and Yverne.
* Fleuryse - Ancestor of Pascal who tamed the manticore and left a family spell to deal with the creature.
* Panegyra - daughter of a Latrurian squire, and object of Pascal's affection.
* Giuseppe dell Tour - Father of Panegyra.
* Anselmo - footman in dell Tour's family estate.
* Spiro - Founder of the dell Tour family and builder of the family mansion, and became the ghost. His unfulfilled desire was to be buried in his native Greece.
* Naughtworthy - An elderly squire arranged to marry Panegyra.
* Vanni - Bailiff to the reeve of an Allustrian shire, sent by Rebozo to arrest Matt.
* Flaminia - a girl who was part of the exodus of youngsters to Venarra, jilted after being seduced, comforted by Pascal who helped her regain self confidence.
* Conte Paleschino - a Latrurian nobleman charmed to bring Matt into the royal Latrurian palace.
* Arouetto - Philosopher banished to realms-between-realms by Boncorro and rescued by Matt. He was also last descendante of legitimate ruler of Latruria before the throne was seizedby usurpers, of whom Boncorro descended from.
* Brother Thomas - A deacon in Vatican, a scholar and a theologian.
* Escribo - Young Latrurian peasant and student.

Annotation

* "Adonais" by Percy Bysshe Shelley - "... leave the trodden paths of men ..." adapted by Matt to put a distance between himself and the manticore.
* "Go Away From My Window" by John Jacob Niles - adapted by Matt to repulse the manticore.
* "The Journal of Sir Walter Scott" by Sir Walter Scott - "... creep on this petty pace from day to day ..." adapted by Matt to escape the manticore.
* "Peer Gynt Suites" by Edvard Grieg - "Morning Mood" played by Matt to entertain the crowd at a pub.
* "The Merchant of Venice, Act 3, Scene 2" by William Shakespeare - "Tell me where is Fancy bred?" sung by Matt as entertainment in dell Tour's family dinner.
* "The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2", by William Shakespeare - "Full fathom five ..." sung by Matt at dell Tour's family dinner.
* Old Scottish prayer - "From ghosties and goblins ..." invoked by Matt to deal with dell Tour's family ghost.
* "Down by the riverside" - "Gonna lay down my sword and shield, ..." sung by Matt to diffuse rival males fighting over a girl.
* "The Yeomen of the Guard Act 2" by Gilbert and Sullivan - "Oh! a private buffoon is a light-hearted loon" adapted by Matt to charm Conte Paleschino to invite Matt and Pascal to get an audience with the king.
* "A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1, Scene 1", by William Shakespeare - "And in the wood where often you and I" adapted by Matt to teleport Pascal and Flaminia to escape from the city.
* "De Brevitate Vitae" - "Gaudeamus igitur" adapted by Matt to overcome magical resistance to his teleport spell to send Pascal and Flaminia out of Venarra.
* "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe - "Be that word our sign in parting" adapted by Matt to dispel trolls.
* "Coriolanus (play) Act 3 Scene 3" by William Shakespeare - "You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate ..." adapted by Matt to banish monsters.

Sources

[1] The Secular Wizard, Christopher Stasheff, 1995