Solomon Kane: the early years

Solomon Kane: a landless wanderer, a man of Devon. But who was he, really?

"England!"  Kane’s deep eyes lighted at the word.  "I find it hard to remain in the land of my birth for more than a month at a time; yet though I am cursed with the wanderlust, ‘tis a name which ever rouses a glow in my bosom."

    -- Robert E. Howard, 'The Moon of Skulls'^[1]

The green, green grass of home

As the above quote makes clear, England is the land in which Solomon Kane was born.  According to 'Solomon Kane’s Homecoming', he considers home to be a 'little Devon town'.^[2]  The town is not named, but it is on the coast, somewhere with cliffs and a beach.^[3]  Kane presumably grew up there, and may well have been born there as well.  There is no mention of Kane having siblings, or any extended family -- but, as the saying goes, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.  After all, the canon makes no reference to Kane's parents, and we can be sure that they existed.  In 'Red Shadows', Kane tells Le Loup "I intend to return to my own people when I have slain you."^[4]  It is not clear, though, what Kane means by his 'people'.  He might be referring to members of his family.  However, Kane is contrasting himself with Le Loup, who is prepared to live among cannibals, so Kane may simply mean that he will return to Christian Europe, or to Protestant England.  As with so much in Kane's life, his family remain very much a mystery.

Presumably, Kane's childhood was a reasonably happy one: throughout his life, Kane continues to think of that Devon town as home, and he often longs to return.  In 'Wings in the Night' Kane has spent a long time travelling in Africa, and in 'his dreams the gulls wheeled above the cliffs of old Devon carved in the clean, blue, wind-whipped skies'.^[5]  Similarly, in the quote that heads this post, Kane reveals that he feels a nostalgic warmth at the thought of England, as well as the fact that he returns periodically.  The end of 'The Moon of Skulls' sees Kane preparing to escort Marylin Taferal back to Devon.  He also declares his intention to return to England at the conclusion of 'Red Shadows'.

Solomon Kane seems to have a cherished -- and possibly idealised -- image of his home in his mind.  It is possible that a part of him longs to lead a normal life, to settle down, to get married and have "strong sons and rosy daughters", the future that he wishes for Jack Hollinster and Mary Garvin in 'The Blue Flame of Vengeance'.^[6]  In 'Solomon Kane's Homecoming', we see the wanderer finally return home, announcing his intention to remain there for the rest of his life.^[7]  However, Kane's wishes for a quiet life are always doomed to failure.  No matter how often he returns to England he cannot stay, and his unquenchable thirst for travel and adventure always lure him away.

Money makes the world go round

This much we know: Solomon Kane is a great traveller.  He has voyaged all over the world, and, when pursuing one of his missions of justice -- such as avenging the woman murdered in 'Red Shadows', or rescuing Maylin Taferal in 'The Moon of Skulls' -- he has been known to spend years, and to cover thousands of miles, in pursuit of his goal.  However, we know very little about how he manages to finance these expeditions.

The one piece of information we have comes from 'Red Shadows', where Kane takes some of the money that Le Loup has stolen in order to finance his hunt for the bandit.^[8]  Presumably, Kane did not have sufficient money of his own to cover the cost of pursuing Le Loup - at least, he does not have enough money with him at the time.  Yet Kane is not without resources: in 'Rattle of Bones', Gaston l'Armon says to him, "I know you carry considerable money on your person".^[9]  Even if Kane managed to live fairly cheaply at times, living wild off the land, he would have needed some money both to survive and to pursue his adventures.

It's possible that Kane might have made a fair amount of money from his sea voyages, such as those with Sir Francis Drake or Sir Richard Grenville.  The financial rewards of these expeditions are unclear, but could have been significant.  Francis Drake, for example, was believed to have distributed £14,000 among the 59 survivors of his circumnavigation.^[10]  When it comes to other potential sources of income, it is only possible to speculate.  Kane could have been the recipient of family money, either while his relatives were alive or in the form of an inheritance after death.  He might possibly have had a rich patron who was prepared to give him financial support.  Whatever the source of the money, there was also the question of logistics: how was Kane able to access his money while overseas?  Perhaps he wasn't, which would mean that his periodic visits to England were prompted not just by homesickness, but by the more practical necessity of refilling his purse.

A landless man?

Solomon Kane makes it perfectly clear, on several different occasions, that he is not a landowner.  In 'Red Shadows', Kane calls himself "a landless man".^[11]  He uses the same phrase in 'The Blue Flame of Vengeance'.^[12]  In both 'The Moon of Skulls' and 'Wings in the Night' he says that he is "a landless wanderer".^[13]  So is Kane a simply a commoner, a man of humble stock who has developed a taste for adventure?  There are several things that argue against this.  The first is the fact that Solomon Kane has a middle name.  We never find out what that name is, only that the initial is 'L', but the fact that it exists is significant.^[14]  Having two given names was extremely rare in Elizabethan England, although it was more widespread in continental Europe at the time.  Only a handful of people with double Christian names are known, and they are all found amongst the gentry, especially those born abroad.^[15]

Then there is the evidence that Kane was a renowned swordsman from a relatively early age.  Sir Francis Drake called Kane 'Devon's king of swords',^[16] and Kane's travels with Drake are his earliest known adventures.  'Wings in the Night' talks of Kane having fought duels with various gallants of Devon^[17] -- again, the fact that this happened in Devon, where Kane seems to have spent very little time after his youth, suggests that Kane was adept with a rapier while a young man.  To have gained his level of mastery, Kane must surely have studied sword fighting while young.  (Kane has a natural gift for the art, but he also has a mastery of the technique that could only have come from formal instruction.^[18])

In theory, fencing was an art that should have been restricted to the upper classes during Elizabethan times.  In 1566, for example, Queen Elizabeth I issued a proclamation regulating fencing schools and excluding 'such people … as are not meet for that purpose', that is, the lower classes.^[19]  The carrying of swords in civilian life was likewise supposed to be forbidden to common people.  A royal proclamation of 1574 forbade the wearing of 'scabbards of swords, daggers, etc. … except the degrees and persons above named and the son and heir apparent of a knight.'^[20]  In reality, though, people from all walks of life frequently went armed, and there were fencing schools in many towns across England that taught sword fighting to those who could pay.^[21]  The acts of parliament that banned the carrying of swords, or the admission of the lower classes to fencing schools, were an attempt to curb behaviours that were already rife.  In theory, then, a commoner could have gained access to fencing tuition -- but this would have required considerable time and money, luxuries that could not have been afforded by the lowest ranks of society.

As well as Kane's ability to use a sword, there is the fact that he uses it to fight duels, something that was considered a gentleman's way of resolving disputes.^[22]  We know that Kane fought Sir John Taferal, and, given the fact that Kane accuses Taferal of slander,^[23] we can only assume that Kane was the one to issue the challenge.  Kane has also been the subject of various challenges, from those gallants of Devon mentioned earlier.  There were men who considered Kane worthy of being challenged like a gentleman, and who considered his challenge worthy of being accepted.  Maybe Kane's reputation as a swordsman made him a worthy opponent in these cases.  However, while a commoner fighting one duel might be plausible -- after all, it happens in 'The Blue Flame of Vengeance', when Sir George Banway fights Jack Hollinster -- it was usually only the gentry who made a habit out of it.

Another point to consider is that Solomon Kane seems to be on good terms with most of the Taferal family.  He used to dandle Marylin Taferal on his knee when she was a child.^[24]  Kane also seems to be on fairly close terms with Sir Hildred -- later Lord Hildred -- as well.  Kane says that "old Sir Hildred hath the gout and doth so swear thereat that I fear for his soul at times."^[25]  That argues a fair degree of familiarity with the man.  Tellingly, the Taferal family trust Solomon Kane to carry out the search for Marylin single-handedly, despite the fact that she has brothers who might have been the more logical choice.

Would a commoner have been on such good terms with a peer and his family?  It's possible.  For example, Francis Drake was the son of a yeoman farmer but he was lucky enough to have the son of Lord Russell, later the Earl of Bedford, as his godfather and patron.^[26]  Might Solomon Kane have been equally lucky in gaining some sort of patronage?  His exploits as a swordsman and an adventurer gained him something of a reputation.  Early on, his fame as a swordsman may have been limited to Devon.  Later, though, Kane's exploits seem more widely known, both within England and further afield.^[27]  Perhaps this reputation, which gave Kane something of a celebrity status, would have been enough to overcome some of the usual social barriers.  

Bloody Mary

On the other hand, it is possible that Kane's family used to have wealth or status.  Perhaps Kane repeatedly refers to his landless status because it is a sore point, the family having lost their lands.  After all, the sixteenth century was a turbulent time in England.  The so-called Prayer Book Rebellion was an uprising that took place in the counties of Devon and Cornwall in 1549, likely a few years before Solomon Kane was born.^[28]  There was more than one underlying cause for the revolt, but the prevailing sentiment was anti-Protestant and anti-gentry.  Thousands of people were killed, and others fled the area.^[29]

Things became worse for English Protestants during the reign of Mary I (1553-58).  In 1554, Parliament passed a set of heresy laws that made it a crime to be a Protestant in England.  The actual fate of English Protestants varied.  Many of them, including members of the gentry, came through Mary's reign more or less unscathed.  However, nearly 300 people were executed, most being burnt at the stake as heretics.  (As a result, the queen was nicknamed 'Bloody Mary' by later Protestants.)  Some Protestants didn't wait to see what fate might befall them in England, but fled to the continent and waited out the remainder of Mary's reign in various Protestant countries around Europe.^[30]

It is quite possible that Solomon Kane's family suffered a downturn in their fortunes during this time.  In 'Hawk of Basti', Kane says that Mary "harried my people like beasts of prey".^[31]  When he talks of his people, Kane might simply mean the puritans, or Protestants in general.  Alternatively, he might be referring to his family.  It's possible that Kane's family was among those who fled to Europe, and why they forfeited their lands and any titles they might have possessed.  This would also help explain why Solomon has a middle name: the practice was very rare in England, but common in continental Europe at the time.  The exiles returned following the death of Mary and the accession of Elizabeth I.  Their return coincided with, and partially fuelled, the rise of puritanism, which began to take shape as a recognisable religious movement at this time.^[32]  The young Solomon would have been brought up according to his parents' puritan ideas.

Middle class problems

There is another, perhaps more plausible, explanation for Kane's status.  The Tudor period saw an expansion of a wealthy English middle class.  In the rural areas there were prosperous yeomen, farmers who owned land (although sometimes by leasehold, not freehold).  The towns and cities had an increasing number of rich merchants.  Several Devon commoners of the time achieved significant wealth and status, especially in the cloth trade.  One example is the merchant John Greenway.  Greenway lived around 1460 to 1529, which would be roughly the time of Kane's parents or grandparents, in the town of Tiverton in Devon.^[33]

Greenway exported cloth to Europe, arming his ships to protect them from pirates.  He was respected within his profession and became a rich man, the richest in the town.  Due to his trading ventures, Greenway had strong links with the Continent, bringing foreign weavers to work in Tiverton.  Greenway was by no means unique.  Other Devon merchants of the sixteenth century, such as John Waldron (c. 1520-1579), also travelled on the Continent during careers in which they amassed considerable wealth.

The Kane family may well have been merchants of this type.  Their home was on the Devon coast, which was a centre for international trade in the sixteenth century.  As merchants, they would not have been significant landowners and would still have been commoners.  However, they could have had significant wealth, a good social standing and some leisure time, which would have aided Solomon's admission to a fencing school, and into the social circles of the local gentry.  The family would have had strong ties to the Continent -- their largest market before trade with the Americas opened up -- which might explain why Solomon has a European-style middle name.  Sea voyages and European travel, as well as very real concerns about attacks by pirates, would have been important concerns in the Kane household.  This may go some way towards explaining Solomon's wanderlust, and the fact that his earliest identifiable adventures are nautical expeditions under Drake and Grenville.

---

1  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 167.↩
2  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 381.↩
3  'The white gulls wheeled above the cliffs, / the air was slashed with foam, / The long tides moaned along the strand'.  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 381.↩
4  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 52.↩
5  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 305.↩
6  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 220.↩
7  “I fain would dwell in Devon now, / forever in my place.” (R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 383.)↩
8  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 51.↩
9  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 80.↩
10  J. Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, Random House 2006, p. 148.  For comparison, a farmhand or manservant of the time might earn no more than around £2 for a year’s work.  (I. Mortimer, A Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England, London: Vintage Books, 2012, pp. 151-2.)↩
11  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 31.↩
12  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 186.↩
13  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, pp. 134 and 295.↩
14  See the post “Solomon L. Kane” for speculation on what Kane’s middle name might be.↩
15  S. Smith-Bannister, Names and Naming Patterns in England, 1538-1700, Oxford 1997, p. 8.↩
16  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 278.↩
17  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 286.↩
18  In ‘The Blue Flame of Vengeance’, Kane’s fencing is described as ‘technically perfect’.  (R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 218.)↩
19  ‘Enforcing Statutes of Apparel’, issued Greenwich, 12 February 1566, 8 Elizabeth I.↩
20  ‘Enforcing Statutes of Apparel’, issued Greenwich, 15 June 1574, 16 Elizabeth I.↩
21  C. Turner, T. Soper and J. Papp, Methods and Practice of Elizabethan Swordplay, Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press 1990, pp. xvii ff.↩
22  Howard makes this clear in ‘The Blue Flame of Vengeance’, when Randel tells Jack Hollinster, “Sir George is highly connected -- you are but the son of a retired sea-captain …  Sir George need not have fought you at all.  He might have claimed his rank and had his serving men flog you forth.”  (R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 183.)↩
23  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 122.↩
24  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 127.↩
25  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 126.↩
26  J. Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, Random House 2006, pp. 2-3.↩
27  In 'The Blue Flame of Vengeance', Jack Hollinster knows of Kane's reputation as a soldier and a swordsman.  In 'The Right Hand of Doom', the unnamed tavern keeper knows of Kane’s dangerous reputation.  'The Footfalls Within' reveals that Kane is even known in the Levant.↩
28  For the purposes of this post, Solomon’s birth year is estimated to be around 1557-1562.  See the post "Solomon Kane: a chronological conundrum" for further discussion of the chronology of Kane’s life.↩
29  R. Lyon, Cornwall’s Historical Wars, Sheffield: The Cornovia Press 2012, pp. 33 ff.↩
30  Wikipedia (2016), "Mary I of England", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_England [accessed 31 December 2016].↩
31  R.E. Howard, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, New York: Del Rey 2004, p. 259.↩
32  While puritanism had its roots in Henry VIII’s break with Rome, back in the 1530s, it did not really become a distinctive movement until the reign of Elizabeth I.  (F.J. Bremer, Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press 2009, pp. 4 ff.)↩
33  Tiverton Almshouse Trust, "Our History", http://www.tivertonalmshouse.org.uk/page6/index.php [accessed 11 January 2017].↩