THE AUDACIOUS CRIMES OF COLONEL BLOOD: THE SPY WHO STOLE THE CROWN JEWELS AND BECAME THE KING’S SECRET AGENT
Book ID/图书代码： 00530016B93205
English Summary/英文概要： Thomas Blood, that INFAMOUS Irish ‘bravo and desperado,’ attempted to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London on 9 May 1671, escaping with St Edward’s crown and the coronation regalia hidden in the breeches of his accomplices. He had already been involved in an abortive coup d’etat in Ireland and the attempted murder of the duke of Ormond outside Clarence House in St James’. Blood also planned to assassinate Charles II while the king was swimming in the River Thames, but had held his fire as his ‘heart [stopped] him, out of awe for His Majesty’.
Why was the colonel not immediately executed for treason? The plain truth is that this brash adventurer was more useful to Charles alive than hanging from the Tyburn gallows. Smooth-talking and brimming with Irish charm and wit, he assured the king that he fully deserved a reprieve, adding: ’If my life is spared, [I will be] your dutiful subject whose name is Blood, which I hope is not what your majesty seeks after’. He was generously pardoned for ‘all treasons, murders, felonies, assaults and batteries’ committed by him.
But the monarch’s munificence did not stop with wiping his sheet clean of every crime. The king also granted him property in Ireland providing an income of 500 pounds a year for life. The colonel had now become a spy for the king eavesdropping on the gossip within the feverish atmosphere of court and , as a double-agent, regularly informing on those conspiring to overthrow Charles and restore Catholicism to England or return it to the austere, God-fearing republic it was only a few years before under Oliver Cromwell. Blood was also employed by politicians to bring down their rivals. From his base at White’s coffee house, near London’s Royal Exchange, he proundly proclaimed" ’It’s no matter if one lets me fall, another takes me up. I’m the best tool they have’.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 爱尔兰臭名昭著的托马斯•布拉德上校，1671年5月9日试图从伦敦塔盗取王冠，带着爱德华的王冠逃离。此前，他已涉及一场爱尔兰政变以及一起谋杀未遂。布拉德还意图暗杀查尔斯二世……
为何该上校没有因为叛国罪而立即被处死？原因很简单，对于查尔斯二世而言，这个冒险家活着比吊死他更有用。通过谈话，布拉德凭借自己的魅力和诙谐说服了这位国王，令他相信值得对自己判处缓刑。于是，他所犯的叛国、谋杀、攻击等罪行均得到了赦免。国王还赐予他位于爱尔兰的财产。如今，上校成为了国王的间谍，负责打听宫廷内的各种流言蜚语，并作为一名双料间谍，定期给那些密谋推翻查尔斯政权、在英格兰恢复天主教的人提供情报。此外，布拉德还受雇于一些政治家，为其铲除异己。(LYR)
Awards/获奖情况：“一部充分研究、严谨的作品……丰富地展现了绞刑架下的人生。”——《旁观者》
“对于流行历史的仔细研究……然而，不仅Hutchinson自己在最后毫不掩饰地表达了对“一名正真的冒险家”的羡慕，就连读者也会和他有同样的感受。”——《每日邮报》
"A rigorously researched account…a colourful tale of life in the shadow of the gallows ."
Spectator
" ...rattling but carefully researched piece of popular history… Yet not only does Hutchinson end up expressing his undisguised admiration for the ‘astonishing effrontery’ of a ‘true adventurer’ — but his often eye-popping book makes it difficult for the reader not to feel the same way."
Daily Mail
"A rigorously researched account... a colourful tale of life in the shadow of the gallows."
The Spectator
"A rattling but carefully researched piece of popular history… Yet not only does Hutchinson end up expressing his undisguised admiration for the ‘astonishing effrontery’ of a ‘true adventurer’ — but his often eye-popping book makes it difficult for the reader not to feel the same way."
Daily Mail
About the Author/作者介绍： Robert Hutchinson, 作家兼广播员，记者起家，加入“新闻社”之前，曾为当地一家报纸效力。之后重操记者旧业，成为通讯员。20世纪80年代后期，他加入简氏出版公司，1987年成为英国简氏信息集团的出版总监，负责杂志、书籍和电子产品等。
十年后，他离开简氏信息集团，编撰并编辑了两版“简氏防务:舰船图鉴”，并撰写了著名的潜水艇历史：简氏潜水艇——波涛下的战争（2002），两本著作均由 HarperCollins出版。2007年他从防卫、媒体和广播咨询委员会退休，卸下了主席的职务。他在2008新年荣誉榜中荣获官佐勋章。
Robert Hutchinson, author and broadcaster started his working life as a reporter on regional newspapers before joining The Press Association, (the news agency for UK and Irish media) as a night sub-editor. He returned to reporting, later becoming Defence Correspondent. In late 1983 he joined Jane’s Publishing Company as one of the team that successfully launched Jane’s Defence Weekly and became Publishing Director of Jane’s Information Group in 1987, responsible for its magazines, newsletters, books and digital products.
Leaving a decade later, he compiled and edited two editions of Jane’s Warship Recognition Handbook and wrote an acclaimed history of submarines: Jane’s Submarines – War Beneath the Waves (2002), both published by HarperCollins. Weapons of Mass Destruction was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2004.
He retired as chairman of the media side of the Defence Press Broadcasting Advisory Committee (formerly the ‘D-Notice system’) on November 2007. He was appointed OBE in the 2008 New Year’s Honours List.
Hutchinson was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1997 and has published numerous papers on aspects of church archaeology for learned journals. He was a contributor to the Archaeology of the Reformation (2004). He is an Associate Tutor in church archaeology for the University of Sussex’s Centre for Community Engagement. He is a regular lecturer and broadcaster and was co-presenter of History Channel’s Inside the Body of Henry VIII in February 2009. He has a doctorate from the University of Sussex.
Format:插图
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：
原文第一章内容：暂无
手稿：暂无
大纲：暂无