DearBernard Cornwell Uhtred is a great character and I look forward to seeing how he fares in future, although at least we know that he survived to old age. I was intrigued by your choice of the first person rather than the third person that you usually use. Its very appropriate for a heroic Saxon narrative. Was this conscious or instinctive? Im also impressed by the way you adapt your language to evoke the period about which you are writing. For example, Thomas of Hookton, Rider Sandman and Uhtreds narratives as well as their dialogue all sound quite different. While you could steep yourself in the writing of later periods (eg Jane Austen or James Hardy Vaux), this is hard to do with the Saxon period, except for Beowulf. How do you do it? Or is it instinctive (again)? Incidentally, did you know that in about 1971, a ballad opera about James Hardy Vaux was created and performed in Sydney? Unfortunately I didnt see it. Uhtreds story has special relevance to me because I have been researching some of my family history in the Somerset Levels where Alfred supposedly burnt the cakes. I visited there last year and it was great to have this area recreated so vividly as the marsh it was before it was drained. I wish I had read your books before I went. The family name is a variant of Warburton, after the town in Cheshire near Liverpool and Manchester, so naturally I visited it. The little church of St Werburgh, which probably gives the town its name, is well worth a visit. Most internet sites date it at 1400 or a bit earlier, however I believe it may date back to 1100. As the place may have a connection with Aethelflaed, and is right on the border between Mercia and the Danelaw, on the banks of the now dry Mersey, near an old ford, I thought you might be interested to hear something about it. I can just imagine Aethelflaed and Uhtred there!! St Werburgh was a Mercian princess and nun from the 700s who established several religious communities throughout England and performed miracles to do with geese. She must have been sanctified not long after her death, possibly because of her family connections. Aethelflaed placed St Werburghs relics in various locations along the border with the Danes as a protective measure, which seems to have worked(!). Chester Cathedral (where St Werburghs shrine can still be seen) was originally dedicated to her and St Osric, so she was clearly important at the time. St Werburghs church may be as much as a thousand years old and is one of only 27 surviving timber-framed parish churches in England. Inside, roughly shaped timber uprights divide the aisles and support the roof beams, still looking very much like the tree-trunks they once were. While the interior is entirely of timber, the exterior walls have been rebuilt at various times, in stone in 1645, then some in brick in 1711, when the tower and the little hearse house were added. (Churches Conservation Trust website) Some limited evidence has been found of activity on the site of Warburton dating from the Bronze Age, through the Iron Age and Roman periods. The first documented evidence of a settlement called Warburgetune (Warburton) occurs in the Domesday Survey of 1086, and recorded were 2 manors but no church. (Wikipedia) It has been suggested that Warburton was the site of an Anglo-Saxon burgh or defended settlement, called Weard byrig, established by Aethelflaed, Queen of the Mercians, in 915AD during the wars with the Vikings, though this may not be correct. (Wikipedia) There is evidence of a nearby monastery, which may have been dedicated to St Werburgh with an associated farm. When I visited the church, I was lucky enough to find one of the archaeologists from Manchester University on site, supervising some repairs to the one of the church walls. Among other things, he mentioned that because the churchyard is round this indicates that it predates Christianity. The yew trees in the churchyard are probably 800 years old or more and the trees which form the interior structure of the church (cruck-beam construction) were 300 years old when felled. Even if the church in its present form wasnt there when Uhtred and Athaelflaed were around, the trees definitely would have been. The name Werburgh is popularly said to mean Faith Fortress. An email colleague of mine thinks this is a retrospective, mediaeval derivation. '"Wer" probably originally comes from Anglo-Saxon "waer," meaning warrior or champion. Thus her name probably meant "Battle-Champion," or "Battle Fortress" and later hagiographers in the 9th-11th centuries provided the specious folk etymology of "Faith Fortress." ' I hope you find this of some interest, and I apologise for the length of the message. Elizabeth Smith