Francis Crawford of Lymond

Other characters also share the name Francis Crawford. See also Francis Crawford Disambiguation.

Biographical Details

Names, Titles, Aliases, Orders, Properties

Names

Francis Crawford of Lymond, Mr Crawford (from birth)

Titles

Title: Francis Crawford of Lymond, Lymond, M. de Lymond (from birth or childhood)taking his name from his own lands of Lymond.
Title: Master of Culter (from death of Gavin Crawford<ref> When her husband died, violently, in the field the elder boy Richard became third Baron Culter, and Francis his brother received the heir’s title of Master of Culter as well as taking name from his own lands of Lymond. GOK 0.1</ref>until birth of Kevin Crawford <ref>Francis Crawford, once Master of Culter, pondered a moment on this piece of sarcasm. At length, gravely – ‘A pity,’ he agreed. ‘But people do make allowances. And after all, the Master of Culter, my darling, is lying there in his cradle at Midculter, just seven weeks old.’ QP 3.1 </ref>
Title: Comte de Sevigny (granted in Queens' Play) <ref>‘My men are daily discovering interesting news of M. Crawford of Lymond. You know he owns the manor of Sevigny? ... [W]e shall make of Sevigny a comté,’ QP 4.6 </ref>

Personas

Persona: Don Luis (during Game of Kings) <ref>Then Dudley said, rather dazedly, ‘They were all impostors… Don Luis. Who was he?’ Grey stared thoughtfully at the smoking wreck of the opposite wall. ‘I don’t know...’ ... Far ahead of the others, Lymond rode in tawny velvet. He had taken off the black wig but Scott glimpsed the hair, paler than even, above the dyed skin. GOK 1.5.2</ref>
Persona: Thady Boy Ballagh (during Queens' Play) <ref>‘I must apologize for these damned entrances,’ said Francis Crawford of Lymond. ‘I feel Tom here never knows if he should send for a bishop or start a round of applause.’ And lifting finger and thumb, he slid the mask from his face, disclosing the intelligent, sardonic features of Thady Boy Ballagh. QP 1.4</ref>
Persona: Blind Meddah (within Pawn in Frankincense) <ref>And the Meddáh, who was young and not old, and dressed in European shirt and trunk hose and whose name was Crawford of Lymond and Sevigny, opened his eyes and spoke. PIF 21</ref>
Persona: Hilary (within Checkmate) incomplete (reference needed)

Positions

Position: Outlaw Band Leader (within The Game of Kings) (incomplete - ref needed)
Position: Ollave to The O'LiamRoe (as Thady Boy Ballagh) (incomplete - ref needed)
Position: Vervassal herald (within Queens' Play)<ref>Vervassal, who was staying now at Durham House, went with him to the yard. Outside, the Councillor turned and met the neutral eyes of his companion, who had once been Thady Boy Ballagh and was now, openly, Francis Crawford, herald, in a solution so simple that only Francis Crawford had thought of it. QP 3.4</ref>
Position: Leader of St Mary's (starting in The Disorderly Knights, intermittent, continuing) (incomplete - ref needed)
Position: French Ambassador to Turkey, appointed when the Baron d'Aramon returns to France due to ill health. Previous to that referred to referred to as His Most Christian Majesty's Special Envoy PIF 17
Position: Voevoda of All the Russias (within Ringed Castle) (incomplete - ref needed)
Position: Marshal of France (within Checkmate) (incomplete - ref needed)

Orders

Order of St Michael (awarded in Checkmate) <ref>when the King of France placed his hands on the comte de Sevigny’s shoulders, and requiring him to kneel, with borrowed sword and gilt spur created him a knight of the royal Order of St Michael. CM 2.3</ref>

Properties

Family

Parentage

Father - Gavin Crawford (implicit adoption) <ref>Sybilla said, ‘Richard’s birth followed my marriage to Gavin. Francis is the son of Gavin’s father, the first Francis Crawford.’ CM 5.13</ref><ref>‘But not Gavin? He didn’t expose your marriage to Gavin as bigamous, and Richard as…’ ‘Gavin Crawford was a vicious and venomous man,’ Sybilla said. ‘But I had wronged him very deeply. He chose to remain my husband in appearance, and to have Richard reared as his legitimate heir. In return, I received the discretion to visit France when I wished and my children, when they were born, were brought up as Gavin’s.’ CM 5.13</ref>
Father - Francis Crawford, First Baron Culter (natural) <ref>Sybilla said, ‘Richard’s birth followed my marriage to Gavin. Francis is the son of Gavin’s father, the first Francis Crawford.’ CM 5.13</ref>
Mother - Sybilla Crawford <ref>‘Francis and Eloise were the only children born to me and to Francis, Lord Culter. CM 5.13</ref>

Siblings

Richard Crawford (older half brother to Lymond) <ref>Sybilla said, ‘Richard’s birth followed my marriage to Gavin. Francis is the son of Gavin’s father, the first Francis Crawford.’ ‘We know,’ said Philippa quietly. ‘We know, too, that Eloise was his daughter.’ CM 5.13</ref>
Francis Crawford, son of Beatris (older half brother to Lymond) <ref> ‘He also had a son by her earlier,’ Philippa said. ‘Didn’t he? A sick boy who died.’ CM 5.13</ref>
Marthe (older half sister to Lymond) <ref>‘I was seven years older than Gavin,’ Sybilla said. ‘Then after illness and imprisonment, Francis – my husband – came back to France. He had forgotten his marriage. He had a child, Marthe, by the Dame de Doubtance’s daughter, whom he had also known before he met me.’ CM 5.13</ref>
Eloise Crawford (younger sister to Lymond) <ref>Francis is the son of Gavin’s father, the first Francis Crawford.’ ‘We know,’ said Philippa quietly. ‘We know, too, that Eloise was his daughter.’ CM 5.13 </ref>

Spouses, Mistresses, Significant Liaisons, Other Sexual Encounters

Wife: Philippa Somerville (Wedding in Pawn in Frankincense, continuing) (incomplete - ref needed)
Significant Liaison: Oonagh O'Dwyer (within Queens' Play) (incomplete - ref needed)
Significant Liaison: Joleta Reid Mallet (within The Disorderly Knights) (incomplete - ref needed)
Significant Liaison: The Aga Morat (within Pawn in Frankincense) (incomplete - ref needed)
Significant Liaison: Ivan the Terrible (within The Ringed Castle) (incomplete - ref needed)
Significant Liaison: Marshal de St André (within Queens' Play; mentioned in Checkmate)<ref>Adam had reminded him that the French court was notorious for licence, and had hinted that Lymond's offences in Madame la Maréchale's eyes were partly to do with her husband. Her husband, Danny gathered, had not been offended; rather the contrary. CM 1.3 Vintage p. 27, Kindle loc. 664</ref>
Significant Liaison: Marguerite de St André (within Checkmate) (incomplete - ref needed)
Mistress: Güzel (within The Ringed Castle) (incomplete - ref needed)
Other: Martine, la Belle Veuve (Queens' Play<ref>'Wait, monsieur. Do I remember you?' 'Let us see,' said Lymond helpfully. She had forgotten how quickly he moved. 'You remember me now. The travelling gleeman.' The demonstration was brief and rather savagely efficient. QP 4.1 Vintage p. 292; Kindle loc. 6458</ref>; Checkmate<ref>Then a voice spoke: that of Martine, the beautiful ageing woman who had once goverend the high-bred squadron of the old King's permanent mistresses, and whose acquaintance with himself over the years had always been one less of commerce than of friendship. CM 3.5, Vintage p. 270; Kindle loc. 6345</ref>)
Other: D'Enghien (within Queens' Play; referenced in Checkmate by Danny Hislop)<ref>The same appeared to be true of Messrs the Vidame, the Marquis d'Enghien and the Prince of Condé. CM 1.3, Vintage p. 27; Kindle loc. 662</ref>
Other: Vidame de Chartres (within Queens' Play; referenced in Checkmate by Danny Hislop)<ref>ibid.</ref>
Other: Prince of Condé (within Queens' Play; referenced in Checkmate by Danny Hislop)<ref>ibid.</ref>

Offspring

Khaireddin Crawford, by Oonagh O'Dwyer - incomplete (ref needed)
Kuzum (adopted), by Graham and Joleta Reid Mallet - incomplete (ref needed)

Dates

Birth

01 Nov 1526

Marriage

Date: 1553 - incomplete.<ref>"There is no guarantee for you now except marriage. Do it now, and you go home a respectable matron" PIF 27 - </ref>
Location: French Embassy, Pera, Istanbul<ref>They disembarked, and found horses waiting to take them up to the Embassy</ref>
In attendance: Lymond, Philippa, Priest, Chesnau, the Chief Secretary to the Embassy <ref>The priest was old. Philippa could hear the witnesses, Jean Chesnau and his chief secretary, shifting a little behind her, impatient with the slow voice. Outside, Onophrion was keeping the door. Of Jerott and the others there was no sign. PIF 27</ref>.

Death

none

Physique

Build

Slight, wiry, (incomplete - ref needed)

Face

Handsome, and androgynous (incomplete - ref needed)
The face of a della Robbia angel (incomplete - ref needed)
Fair Complexioned (he and Marthe are Pretty as jonquils, and Two buddes of the same tree (incomplete - ref needed)

Height

Middling. See Lymond's Height

Hair

Yellow <ref>‘Afraid?’ said the yellow-haired man and laughed. GOK 0.1</ref>. However, Marthe's hair is described in Checkmate as Amber, and Lymond's hair is supposedly the same colour as hers - but hair varies with the light, and with the amount of sun it has endured. At the start of GoK, Lymond has glazed sunburned skin, so his hair may be fairer here than in other places.

Eyes

Cornflower Blue <ref>They were blue, of the deep and identical cornflower of the Dowager’s.GOK 0.1</ref>

Other

Has a good singing voice (incomplete - ref needed)
Is very musical, playing the Lute, Spinet and other instruments (incomplete - ref needed multiple)
Has a musical soul<ref>"And from the time I wake until the time I find I can’t go to sleep there is the void – the bloody void where there was no music today and none yesterday and no prospect of any tomorrow, or tomorrow, or next God-damned year." DK 3.22 </ref>
Is attractive, and tends to inspire unusual levels of interest (sometimes devotion) (incomplete - ref needed)
Is sarcastic, and capable of wounding with his tongue (incomplete - ref needed)

Biography

(list each book and a brief outline of events pertaining to the character)

The Game of Kings

Returns to Scotland as an outlaw to prove his innocence, which eventually he does.

Queens' Play

Travels to France to protect the child Mary Queen of Scots from assassination, which he does. He also begets Khaireddin on Oonagh O'Dwyer, and meets the Dame de Doubtance.

The Disorderly Knights

Protects Malta and Scotland against the machinations of Gabriel, at great cost to himself and his friends.

Pawn in Frankincense

Tracks down his natural son, Khaireddin, becomes addicted to Opium, learns (through the existence of Marthe, and information from the Dame de Doubtance) that all is not as he thought in relation to his birth, and thus Sybilla's character. Marries Philippa to protect her reputation.

Ringed Castle

Travels to Russia with Guzel, but is forced to return to Scotland and England, to his family and Philippa.

Checkmate

Finds the truth of his birth, accepts his feelings for Philippa, and realises that there are worse things than being a hunchback.

Gemini

His relationship to Nicholas is revealed.

References