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Walcheren
—  Former Island  —
Country	Netherlands
Province	Zeeland
Municipality	Middelburg Veere Vlissingen
Population (2003)	113.546
Postal code	4330-4399
COROP	Walcheren
Transport
Major roads	A58, N57, Zeeuwse lijn

Campveer Tower in Veere, built in 1500

Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Oosterschelde in the north and the Westerschelde in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two sides on the side of the North Sea consist of dunes; the rest of its coastline is made up of dykes. Middelburg lies at its centre; this city is the provincial capital and Vlissingen 9 km to the south is the main harbour. The third municipality is Veere.

Originally, Walcheren was an island, but polders and a dam across the Oosterschelde have connected it to the (former) island of Zuid-Beveland, which in turn has been connected to the North Brabant mainland.

History[link]

Ancient history[link]

Already in Roman days, the island was a point of departure for ships going to Britain and it had a temple of the goddess Nehalennia who was popular with those who wished to brave the waters of the North Sea. The Romans called it "Wallacra", a term most likely associated with Walha, the name Germans used for all foreign peoples. Walcheren was the seat of the Danish Viking Harald, who conquered the present Netherlands together with his compatriot Rorik (or Rurik) in the ninth century. One fringe theory has it that it was the island described by Ibn Rustah as the seat of the khagan of the Rus'. Another fringe theory mentions Walcheren as the seat of Hades, described by Homer.^[1]

Napoleonic Wars[link]

Starting on 30 July 1809, a British armed force of 39,000 men landed on Walcheren, the Walcheren Campaign, with a view to assisting the Austrians in their war against Napoleon, and attacking the French fleet moored at Flushing (Vlissingen). The expedition was a disaster – the Austrians had already been defeated at the Battle of Wagram and were suing for peace, the French fleet had moved to Antwerp, and the British lost over 4,000 men to a disease called "Walcheren Fever", thought to be a combination of malaria and typhus. The force was withdrawn in December.

World War II[link]

Strategically placed at the mouth of the River Scheldt, Walcheren was the key that allowed use of the deep-water port of Antwerp, located further upstream on the right bank of the southern estuary of the river. It was fought over in 1940 between Dutch and German troops, and again in 1944 in the Battle of Walcheren Island, the fourth and final stage of the Battle of the Scheldt. The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division cleared South Beveland to the east and approached the island on 31 October 1944. The plan was to cross the Slooe Channel, but leading troops of the 5th Canadian Brigade found that assault boats were useless in the deep muck of the channel. The only route open was the 40 metre wide Walcheren Causeway, a mile-long land bridge from South Beveland to the island. The Canadian Black Watch sent a company across on the evening of 31 October, but were stopped. The Calgary Highlanders sent two companies over in succession, the second attack opening up a bridgehead on the island. The Highlanders were eventually thrown back, having lost 64 killed and wounded. Le Régiment de Maisonneuve relieved them on the causeway, followed by the Glasgow Highlanders of the British Army. Meanwhile, on 1 November 1944, the British Special Service Brigade landed in the village of Westkapelle in order to silence the German coastal batteries looking out over the Scheldt. The amphibious assault (Operation Infatuate) proved a success and by 8 November, all German resistance on the island had been overrun.

Topography[link]

Topographic map of Walcheren, 2010-2011. Click to enlarge.

References[link]

1. ^ Geography of the Odyssey according to I. Wilkens

See also[link]

• Nehalennia

Coordinates: 51°31′17″N 3°34′56″E / 51.52139°N 3.58222°E / 51.52139; 3.58222

Jack Whyte (born 1940) is a Scottish-Canadian novelist of historical fiction. Born and raised in Scotland, Whyte has been living in Canada since 1967. He resides in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Whyte's major work to date is the A Dream of Eagles series (as it is titled in Canada, but known as The Camulod Chronicles in the United States and elsewhere). This series of historical novels presents the tale of King Arthur set against the backdrop of Roman Britain. This retelling of the popular legend eschews the use of magic (as in T. H. White’s The Sword in the Stone) to explain Arthur’s ascent to power and instead relies on the historical condition (with some artistic licence) of post-Roman Britain to support the theory that Arthur was meant to counter the anarchy left by the Roman departure from Britain in 410 AD and the subsequent colonization and invasion of Britain by various peoples from Northwestern Europe, including the Saxons, Jutes, Franks, and Angles. Whyte incorporates both traditional Arthurian names, places and events (albeit in Gaelic or Latin form) as well as the names of various historical figures that have been suggested as being the possible basis for the original King Arthur legend. The tacit implication is that Whyte's version of history is the true story that has become distorted over time to become the legend and stories of magic that we know today.

Jack Whyte served as the official bard of The Calgary Highlanders and performed several tracks of poetry and song on the 1990 recording by the Regimental Pipes and Drums of The Calgary Highlanders entitled Eighty Years of Glory: The Regimental Pipes, Drums and Bard of The Calgary Highlanders.^[1]

[edit] Camulod Chronicles

[edit] A Dream of Eagles (Camulod Chronicles)

• The Skystone
• The Singing Sword
• The Eagles' Brood
• The Saxon Shore
• The Sorcerer Part 1: The Fort at River's Bend
• The Sorcerer Part 2: Metamorphosis

The two volumes The Sorcerer: The Fort at River’s Bend and The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis were written as a single volume entitled The Sorcerer but were split for publication.

[edit] Golden Eagle (companion mini-series)

• Clothar the Frank (titled The Lance Thrower outside of Canada)
• The Eagle

Other[link]

• Uther is a stand-alone novel about the life of Uther Pendragon from infancy up until the end of events in The Eagles' Brood. It serves to answer lingering questions left open by The Eagles' Brood that result from the fact that the latter is told exclusively from the perspective of Merlyn Britannicus and as such is not able to explain actions and events of which Merlyn is unaware. In this way, Uther is also an effective companion novel to The Eagles' Brood as it follows the title character and others as they grow up and wage war on Uther's main enemy, Guhlrys Lot, King of Cornwall.

[edit] The Templar Trilogy

• Knights of the Black and White (released August 1, 2006 in Canada)
• Standard of Honor [sic] (released August 28, 2007 in Canada)
• Order in Chaos (released in August 2009)

The Guardians of Scotland[link]

• The Forest Laird (2010)
• The Renegade (2012)

Short fiction[link]

Though primarily a novelist, Whyte has also written and published at least one short story:

• "Power Play" in Paradox Magazine, issue 8 (Winter 2005-2006), an exploration of the nature of power, set in Roman Jerusalem.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• A Way with Words in Okanagan Life Magazine (includes a profile of Whyte)

External links[link]

• Official website for Jack Whyte. Includes biography, bibliography, book excerpts, radio interview transcripts, and an active fan forum.
• Archived scan from web.archive.org for Jack Whyte's now defunct blog at the penguin.ca website. Includes questions by readers and Whyte's answers to those questions, as well as general observations by Whyte.
• Jack Whyte: one pen, one sword, one million sold Feature article about Jack Whyte published in the Globe and Mail, Sept 2, 2009
• Jack Whyte at Fantasy Literature
• Jack Whyte at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database