Bulletin Board

Dear Mr Cornwell, Sharpe repeats on UK TV have given me great pleasure and have sent me back to the books with fresh enthusiasm. Thank you. Steve Lovering London.

I have read most of your works and would like to say thanks for the enjoyment they have given to me. Thanks also for your website and your personal contributions to it. My reason for writing at this time is because of the 22nd June posting from Jeff from Indiana who wrote about a stone fort along the Ohio River. He said "If these stone structures were not built by Madoc and his colony than I would like to know who did?! The Indians did not build with stone." In his excellent book "Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology", anthropologist Kenneth L. Feder briefly mentions excavations at one of the "better known forts in central Tennessee" said to have supported the Welsh hypothesis. He says there was no physical evidence to support that hypothesis and that "...the fort, which is really little more than a hilltop enclosed with a stone wall, contained artifacts made by American Indians, not Europeans". Carbon dates "indicate that the stone fort was built and used sometime between A.D. 30 and 430". Regards, Mike (South West Essex)

"Nope, because the target was solid, and a line of men isn't. And they were not metres! probably paces! And Wellington, of course, was absolutely right in enquiring whether it was not possible to raise a Corps of Archers! Sadly there were none left in England, or none to compare with the men of Crecy and Agincourt. The longbow was far more accurate than the musket, had a comparable range, and a vastly higher rate of fire. I watched a trained archer, using a bow with a draw weight in excess of a hundred pounds, put 15 out of 18 arrows through a Frenchman sized target at a range of 150 yards, all inside sixty seconds. A musket would have been really lucky to have got one ball close to that target in the same time! " However, it IS metres for the test I mentioned. To be any good with a longbow you have to be VERY strong and you need a lifetime practise. Musketmen were hardly trained at all. If a man trains nearly his whole life with a musket, surely he gets better, too. (Many tests distinguish between "recruits" and "trained shooters" and there IS a big difference! Some of the results are formidable, please believe me, Sir!!!) Wellington was a dreamer asking for a Corps of Archers. Probably there weren't even 10 men in whole England who could win (using longbows) against 10 French Fusiliers. Therefore I hate this comparison between musket and bow. It's not that simple I think! ;)Kai

Dear Mr. Cornwell I have read all three of your Saxon series books and am waiting patiently for the next. Your books have sparked an interest in Anglo-Saxon culture. To fill the gap while I am waiting for the fourth book, I have been reading Anglo-Saxon history and studying Old English. Thank you for awakening a new interest for me through your writing. This is a posting in Old English that I made on the Englisc listserver, which is an academic mail list for people interested in Old English (Englisc). It is a very short description of The Last Kingdom. I was surprised that some of the members were not familiar with your work. Hopefully, this will generate some new fans.

Þæt Æftemeste Cynerice [The Last Kingdom, Bernard Cornwell, ISBN-13: 978-0060887186] Anno dccc lxvi. Her onginð Uhtredes spell on Bernardes bec þe is Þæt Æftemeste Cynerice gehaten. On þissum geare is Uhtred x wintra eald and his fæder is Bebbanburge ealdorman. And þy ilcan geare þa Dene eac ræsað Eoferwic hwær Uhtred is gewita his fæderes deaðes. Þonne genimð se Denisce cempa þe is Ragnar gehaten Uhtred on þære beadwe. Siþþan wysceð Ragnar Uhtredes to suna and he is afeded swa swa he Norþmann wære. Anno dccc lxxvii. Her geendað þisses spelles dæl. Uhtred is nu cyninges Ælfredes cempa and he fieht mid þæm Seaxum wið þæm Denum. Þis nis se ende Uhtredes spelles forþæm Þæt Æftemeste Cynerice is efne seo fyrste boc þreora boca be Uhtrede.

I hope you can keep the series going beyond the next tome. Best regards, Bill Howard Scottsdale, AZ

After watching Sharpe again on television, he could almost be a Churchillian figure. viz the "The Young Winston", maybe future books about Sharpe could have him entering politics.
John Bray

I love your books, especially the Arthur and Alfred stories. I have just read "A Crowning Mercy" and felt so strongly that I have to let you know how moved I was by the ending. Never before have your books (or any book) made me cry, but this one did, in joy, at the end with such a wonderful twist. Is this because your wife had some input? I don't need a reply. I just wanted you to be aware of how much pleasure this book in particular brought to me. Regards, Chrisitne M Crossland

Just would like to thank you, have just finished the grail quest trilogy, best thing on history made the whole era come to life for me, read all three novels one after the other could not put them down. I am now starting the Saxon stories, so for just as good, also read the Arthur books which i enjoyed your research is the best, brings history to life for me,again I thank you. Colin
Blake

Hi I have just raced through the 3 Saxon Tales; I cant wait for the next one. They are among the best novels I have read. Thank you for providing such great entertainment! I would love to see them turned into a TV series, (a movie could not do them justice) perhaps the team that brought Rome to HBO? Again thank you for sharing! Ashley

Dear Bernard, My wife and I live in Victoria, BC, Canada and we are voracious readers of your books. I have just today finished the last of the Sharpe series and have also enjoyed the Warlord Chronicles and the Last Kingdom Series. We are enthralled by the details of the times that you so successfully weave into the tales. We are both enthusiastic genealogists (Sylvia more than I), and our ancestors are mostly British Isles folk who are made much more real in the perspective of your stories of the peoples and the times. For instance, my great-great grandfather Wyse, arrived from London on the Barque Cambria at Quebec in 1812. Sharpe's exploits give me a sense of what is transpiring in the world at that time. Then, my Irish roots in the County Mayo and the origin of O'Higgins being apparently "of the Vikings" is echoed both by Harper's banter and the Last Kingdom series giving me some wonderful insight into family history. As well, my wife's tracings of her name "Blenkin" back to Settrington, Yorkshire in the 1600s, is made so much more colourful by the Last Kingdom series as well as the Arthur books. I'm born in 1944 and trying to retire from my business and I can't imagine you still going strong on fresh fields of stories, but we'll take whatever you can give. I know Mel Bolen here in Victoria and am sorry to have missed your visit here last year. If you are ever in this area you are most welcome to stay at our lovely rural home near the Butchart Gardens. I can't thank you enough for the pleasure you have brought to our lives through your wonderful tales of our past. If only history had been made this interesting when I was at school! Our warmest regards to you, Brian Higgins & Sylvia Blenkin

Dear Bernard. Hello, my name is Colin Stephan. I have never really felt compelled to contact an author of any book that I have read but I am becoming a fan of your books. I usually go for thrillers and horrors when I read but wanted a change. I got my hands on Tim Severin's Viking series and really enjoyed reading them. I was a bit miffed when I finished and wanted more, luckily I came across the grail quest books and found these to be fantastic. Next came the saxon stories, shortly after I had visited Holy Island and Bamburgh Castle. I have found that this really helped my enjoyment of these books, it seemed to add life to the stories. I have just finished the Arthur series and now understand why these are your favourites, I loved them and found my main problem was sleep deprivation, I just could not find the right time to put them down and stayed awake late into the mornings to carry on reading (in a way I am glad they are finished as I can now get some sleep). My interest in history has been reawakened and I have begun to read more about British history, and enjoy it, as a direct influence of reading these stories. I have a feeling that I will be starting on the Sharpe series soon and fear for work and studies, they will surely suffer. Thanks for the books. Good luck and good health, Regards. Colin Stephan.