"The Forest" - Edward Rutherfurd Quiz

Answer: Private Royal Hunting Ground

The word was French in 1066 and when William The Conqueror (who was Norman and French) took the English throne he brought that word with him. Sherwood Forest from the Robin Hood legend and of course The New Forest in this story are good examples.

Answer: Walter Tyrrell

Walter Tyrell was the man held responsible for the slaying of King William II, otherwise known as "Rufus". Whether he was guilty or not remains a mystery to this day.

Answer: A wooden Crucifix

Brother Adam's mother had given it to him, saying a crusader had brought it from the Holy Land. When poor Adam was blinded and later introduced to his old girlfriend's new son, she whispered she had named him Adam (after his father!). Since Adam Senior did not have anything else in the world he gave his secret son the cedarwood crucifix.

The wooden device appeared quite regularly in later chapters, several centuries older each time.

Answer: They all are

In this book (as in his other book "London") Edward Rutherfurd marries and intermarries characters so often that eventually they are all related. This is probably to emphasise that people in The New Forest are all related. In the case of "London" it probably just means we're all related if one researches back far enough!

Answer: Puckle

In the first chapter (about the mysterious killing of King William "Rufus" II) Adela, one of the protagonists, has a crush on a married man (people are only human, even in those days). Adela is a visiting Frenchwoman who hears rumours that Puckle's wife is a witch. So she visits their house deep in the woods and asks the witch to cast a spell to cause the death of the man's unfaithful wife (who is dying anyway).

The witch (she never denies being a witch) casts the spell and tells Adela that soon she will be very happy.

But it is actually the married man who dies shortly after - not his wife! Adela marries someone else though, and seems happy enough with him.

Answer: False

We read about the life and trials of a pale doe looking for her ideal mate. One day she is nearly ensnared by hunters, but Adela rides alongside her and hisses "Go, go!". Thanks to Adela's noble act the doe does meet her intended buck, and they have a fawn together.

Answer: Willie Seagull and Jonathan Totton

The two boys certainly had a lot of memorable times together, traveling across country to find a "dragon", participating in a sailing race, nearly being shipwrecked, all the while avoiding the class conflict between Willie's poor father and Jonathan's rich one.

Answer: A wild boar

According to Major General G H Mills (whom the author consulted) the legendary Bisterne Dragon had probably been an overgrown wild boar. It would prey on livestock at nighttime, and its blazing eyes, frothing mouth, tusks, and breath in the cold air helped fuel the dragon legend many years after a knight had slaughtered it. Young Willie and Jonathan had sneaked away one morning to travel to Bisterne to see the famous dragon. Needless to say they did not, and when they returned to Lymington that night everyone who had been worrying about them was furious.

When the boys told their fathers where they'd been, Alan Seagull whipped his son but ended up laughing so hard his wife had to finish for him.

Answer: Battle of the Spanish Armada

The Forest's inhabitants, descended from those in previous chapters, know a war between England and Spain is inevitable. Some want the Spanish to win and restore England's "proper" religion. One of these conspirators is aided by her less-than-willing grown-up son, who would rather stay out of the fight but cannot stand up to his mother.

Answer: Oak

These three curious trees grew new leaves a week during Christmas, which is why the locals called them "miraculous". But that wasn't the only reason they were special.
One of them was said to be the tree that Walter Tyrell's arrow bounced off and accidentally killed William II. But it turns out this tree is about 200 years too young. Not only that, it was planted by Brother Luke in chapter 2 as he was on the run for a murder he did not commit (a century after William II died!).
In addition, an acorn from one of the oaks would eventually grow into a tree. That tree would become Lord Nelson's flagship in another 200 years.

Answer: Don Deigo

When Don Deigo meets Clement Albion he introduces himself as David Albion. Clement knows straight away this man is actually the brother-in-law he's never met - he has no relative named David!
A few pages later Clement murders Don Deigo when it's clear the Spanish have lost the 1588 naval battle, and Don Deigo is the only one who knew Clement had been forced by his mother to spy for them.

Answer: True

The author also used Alice's real family in this chapter, only inventing one daughter (whose children become future characters). Poor Alice was sentenced to death at 75 by a grumpy old judge who was used to getting his own way. Even though the jury said "Not Guilty" he told them to go back and change their minds - or he'd punish them. Having little choice, they did as he said.

Answer: Treason

The poor old woman had seen it all: the English Civil War, the trial of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell's reign. She had helped some people hide from the authorities at one point.

Answer: Charles II

In 1670 Charles II, his illegitimate son Mormouth and some female "friends" went hunting and saw the famous Rufus Tree. Readers know this site is not really where Charles' ancestor was killed, but then a man named Purkiss comes along and enforces the lie.

This man tells the King a gripping story about his ancestor carting the body away. The King is impressed and pays him, even though it is not clear whether Purkiss told the truth. What IS true is that the Purkiss family to this day run a food emporium in nearby Brockenhurt - which the author says "Without a visit to which no trip to The Forest would be complete".

Answer: Mrs. Grockleton

Mrs. Grockleton was hilarious! She would forget things so often; e.g. she would tell people she had five children but her husband would cough politely and point at the youngest. "Why, little Johnny! Of course, I'd forgotten all about you." and she changed the total to six.

Answer: False

When one reads this chapter one assumes so. But it turns out he was a smuggler and all ship-builders, dock-hands and villagers simply need to act as if such men are literally invisible. Not least because most locals have ties to the fashionable smuggling rings!

Answer: Customs officer

His job was to catch as many smugglers as possible. This made his standing in the community awkward as most people on the southern coast considering "free-trading" a harmless crime. He had a plan to make an enormous "bust" one night, but it all went wrong.

Answer: The Forest's survival

The New Forest Association includes a Lord, a Colonel and plenty of others. Not just landowners. They are trying to ensure parliament does not decide to get rid of The Forest.

Answer: Minimus Furzey

Minimus was an artist descended from Brother Adam (the monk in Chapter Two who became a father, just not in the priesthood sense!). Minimus was nothing like his well-behaved, disciplined ancestor: he never worked, lived off his sisters' charity, and took nothing seriously.

Answer: Dottie Pride and Peter Pride

Dottie also comes across the wooden crucifix from Chapter Two. She is a news-caster doing a feature film on The Forest. Her boss is John Grockleton and the feature was his idea. His family is also from The Forest but he doesn't know it!