The High Crusade [Hardcover]

What happens when a band of aliens land in Medieval England just as a local baron is assembling his army for war? The High Crusade! Poul Anderson takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to science fiction in this very funny, yet plausible short-novel. Told from the point of view of the local cleric, the story begins when a scout ship of alien beings, bent on conquest, land near the holdings of Sir Roger of Tourneville, who is gearing up to join the king for a war in France. Instead of running in fear, the war-rabid Englishmen suspect a "French trick" and go out to meet the ship. The fun begins when one of the aliens blasts a local, hoping to frighten the natives. Instead, the assembled troops react, only as trained soldiers will, and turn the aliens into pincushions with their longbows. Thus begins Anderson's humorous adventure. Funny as it is, the book has serious undertones in that it reminds us how little society changes despite advances in technology. This book is perfect for younger readers; it is fairly short, fast-paced, and has no offensive language or adult themes, but adults (especially students of Midieval history) will appreciate its wit and satire. It would make a funny movie. Maybe someone should send a copy to Terry Gilliam (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Time Bandits).

This old "classic" is a great tour-de-farce that Anderson masterfully keeps just on the edge of plausibility. The premise is simple. A highly advanced alien spaceship, from the "Wersgor Empire" lands on Earth with the intent of subjigating it. The time is the 14th Century, the place, England.

Well, the local horse cavalry surprises and overwhelms the aliens and takes control of the spaceship. The Englishmen then proceed to take on the whole Wersgor Empire by guts, guile, and good old human deviousness. This all makes for great fun. This is a terrific "beer and chips" novel, which is all Anderson, a Grand Master of SF, intended for it to be. I only gave it three stars because this is not great literature, nor is it the best that Anderson has written. But make no mistake, this one gets 5 stars in the category of readability and fun, and I recommend it to anyone who likes Science Fiction and has a good sense of humor. Enjoy.

The High Crusade (1960) is a standalone SF novel. The Wersgorix were supreme in their spatial region. The other spacefaring races -- the Jairs, the Ashenkoghi and the Pr?*tans -- were weaker and allowed to retain their planets only upon Wersgorixan sufferance. Yes, the Wersgorix were supreme ... until a scoutship landed in England.

In this novel, Baron Sir Roger de Tourneville is preparing for the war against the French in the year of grace 1345. He has gathered a large force of cavalry, men of arms and bowmen, who are camped outside his castle. Then a large shiny object falls slowly out of the sky.

The ship is two thousand feet long. Lowering itself onto the boggy soil, it sinks deep into the mud. A hatch opens and a ramp lowers to the ground. A short but brawny creature, with blue skin and a short tail, steps out of the ship and three more follow him. The first creature lifts an object that projects fire, instantly killing one of the soldiers. This blue creature is immediately downed by a clothyard arrow and soon after that the other three bristle with arrows.

Sir Roger leads a charge into the huge vessel and the blueskins are slaughtered throughout the ship, at the cost of a dozen human soldiers. The blueskins seem to be little practiced in hand-to-hand combat and many are not even armed. The only survivor is carried out by Red John Hameward, Captain of the archers, who has recognized the need for an informant.

Brother Parvus teaches the captive, Branithar, the Latin language and is able to learn something of the ship and its mission. The Wergorix were following their usual practice to searching out suitable planets and subjugating the inhabitants. Unfortunately for them, the humans are not strangers to warfare and not too fearful of the unknown.

Sir Roger soon conceives of using the ship as transport to France, thus taking the whole of Ansby village with him. The men, women and children -- including Sir Roger's own family -- load their herds and tools into the ship and then board themselves. Branithar sets the controls and presses a lever to start the journey.

Unfortunately, Branithar has set the controls to take them back to Tharixan, the nearest Wersgorixan world. Once activated, the automaton cannot be stopped nor reset. Ansby village is going to the stars instead of France.

In this story, the primitively armed English defeat Wersgorixan forces time and again, using raw courage and tactics unfamiliar to the aliens. Sir Roger gains stocks of alien weapons and uses them on their former owners. He even convinces the other spacefaring races in the region to become his allies; it seems that these aliens have little experience in the fine art of diplomacy and intrigue.

With the occasional threat of One-eye Hubert -- the Tourneville executioner and torturer -- Brother Parvus gets Branithar to teach the English how to use the alien devices and weapons. While the underlying principles are incomprehensible, the devices themselves are easier to use than the more familiar earthly devices. Soon, women and children are operating these mechanisms while their menfolk are away fighting the war.

This story is a classic examples of the SF theme of technologically unsophisticated natives acquiring advanced devices -- including spaceships -- from visiting aliens. Weber's The Excalibur Alternative is very similar example of this approach and Ringo's Posleen War series has this theme in the backstory. A variant of the theme is used in Pournelle's Janissaries series and Drake's Ranks of Bronze, where aliens kidnap a group of Terrans and use them as slave troops on other planets.

In this tale, and in The Excalibur Alternative, the installation of a feudal form of government is a significant result of the conquest. The mutual vows of a feudal lord and his vassals are often presented in SF tales as a desirable alternative to looser forms of government such as democracy. Many SF stories (and countless fantasies) have dwelt upon the surety such mutual vows bring to social and personal relationships.

This story was written in the first decade of the author's career as an SF writer. It has become a classic in the field and has generated many imitations and stimulations. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Anderson fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of swordwielding adventure, political intrigue and romantic misunderstandings.

-Arthur W. Jordin