Stephen Cullen

[anon.]. The Haunted Priory; or, The Fortunes of the House of Rayo:  A Romance founded partly on Historical Facts

London:  J. Bell, 1794; 2nd ed., London:  Newman, 1832.

 

Synopsis of The Haunted Priory

This better than average Gothic novel was originally published in 1794. It begins "on a cold and stormy December evening, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, and not long after that fortunate period when Peter, surnamed the Cruel, was cut off from a life which he had stained with bloodshed, rapine, and oppression." A stranger enters "a village situated on the banks of the Tagus, near the eastern extremity of the kingdom of Castile, in Spain" (1: 1). This old man seeks refuge in a cottage, where he shares a humble meal with some kindly peasants. They talk about their landlord, Don Isidor de Haro, a good man and a widower, who has returned from the wars. He has two children: Alphonso, age 14, and Isabella, age 8.

The stranger then goes to stay with Don Isidor. When the old man takes out his harp and begins to sing of war, Isidor recognizes him as his friend Alphonso, the baron de Rayo. The baron then tells his story. Castile had been racked with civil war between Peter, the legitimate but tyrannical heir to the throne, and his brother Henry, count Transtamare. Alphonso had fought on Peter's side but became imprisoned by him. After Peter dies, Alphonso is released, and goes in search of his missing daughter Maria and her husband (and cousin) Gonsalvo. Isidor helps Alphonso reclaim his estate, and they begin to search anew for Maria and Gonsalvo. Alphonso, baron de Rayo, is uncannily drawn to Isidor's son Alphonso, and undertakes to train him in military matters.

At this point in the narrative, we are introduced to the haunted priory of the title, where young Alphonso encounters "a countenance of majestic sadness, pale, bloody, while long redundant hair, entangled with clotted gore, hung in loose disorder over his shoulders. Again it sighed, then glided backwards till it reached the wall, which yawned, and shut him in" (1: 206).

Volume two begins with the interpolated narrative of the Marquis de Punalada, a widower with two children. His daughter falls in love with a portrait, and a fortune teller predicts that if she sees the man who resembles the picture the house of Punalada will tumble to the ground. Her brother falls in love with her and attempts to rape her, but in the process he is killed, impaled on the spike of a railing.

Young and old Alphonso now go to investigate the haunted priory. They discover that the ghost is Gonsalvo, murdered by the Marquis de Punalada. He has imprisoned Maria for all these years within the priory. The Marquis also has a mysterious adopted son, Fernando, who he fears and who uncannily resembles Isidor.

In the end, Punalada confesses his crimes and dies. Maria is reunited with her father. Punalada's daughter sees young Alphonso, who turns out to be the figure in the portrait. Fernando is discovered to be Isidor's son, while Alphonso is the son of Maria and the grandson of Alphonso. The uncanny resemblances turn out to have been accurate, the babies having been switched in the cradle.

Prepared by Anne H. Stevens, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, July 2005
© Anne H. Stevens 2005