The Last Lords of Gardonal - William Gilbert

 The Last Lords of Gardonal - William Gilbert

The Last Lords of Gardonal is one of very few works by William Gilbert to have attained some sort of lasting reputation. In a long career, he wrote a large number of texts, often drawing attention to social inequality, the sufferings of the poor and the dangers of alcohol. 

The Last Lords of Gardonal was first published in serial form in July, August and September of 1867 in The Argosy. It was then collected with other stories of the Innominato, a 14th century Italian magician, in the volume Wizard of the Mountain. It seems to have attracted little interest after its initial publication until it was included in Richard Dalby’s collection ‘Dracula’s Brood’ in 1987.

It is a strange tale, even by the standards of Victorian weird fiction. Two villainous brothers, the lords of the title, are introduced, but then the story focuses almost exclusively on one of them. Some of the events are written with genuine dramatic tension, only to be deflated by oddly unbelievable details. The consequences of the villain’s visit to the Innominato are played out with a pattern familiar from fairy tales. It is, in short, an oddly disturbing and convoluted Victorian dark fantasy. And yet, the use of the vampire element within the story is extraordinary. This is a very different kind of monster, a terrifying revenant. Gilbert’s story, clumsy and rambling though it is, confronts the reader with questions of justice and revenge. Remember, if you read it, the opportunity of redemption that the Innominato offers…

I cannot wholeheartedly recommend Gilbert’s strange tale. It hovers somewhere between early Gothic romance and late Gothic horror. It evokes an Italian landscape that Gilbert knew from his years of living abroad, while it also blends Medieval tyranny with magic and monsters. As a whole, it doesn’t satisfy, but some parts are strikingly memorable. The fire, the cliffhanging episode and the vampire are great little gems of Victorian fantasy. Like Lytton and Le Fanu, Gilbert takes us into a past that is truly a foreign country. The psychological landscape of the text is the true fascination in reading The Last Lords of Gardonal.