Your Questions

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell

I have read and enjoyed very much all of your books. At a battle of the like of Waterloo when the musket was so inaccurate and the rifle could not shoot accurately over say 100 yards  do you think the archer could have been employed as a supplementary 'weapon'? I have read that an archer could be accurate at further distances than that.

Kind regards

Robair

Submitted March 22, 2017

A

It would have been far more effective!  So much so that the Duke of Wellington enquired, during the Peninsular Wars, about the possibility of raising a Corps of longbowmen for service in Spain, but he was told there simply weren't enough trained archers to make it feasible.  If you have 1000 muskets then their accuracy is lousy - certainly nothing above 100 paces will be remotely accurate, and their rate of fire will be between three and four shots a minute, so be kind and say four, and you have 4000 missiles a minute which are useless beyond 150 paces.  Face them with 300 longbowmen who are wickedly accurate at 150 paces and they're loosing 15 arrows a minute which means they're shooting 4,500 missiles in a minute.  There's no contest!  Most of the musketeers would be dead or wounded before they even got into effective range, but it took ten years dedication to make an archer....so the musket triumphed.

 

 

 

Q

Good Afternoon Mr Cornwell.

I've just finished the Starbuck series. At the end of book 4 you indicate Starbuck will ride again. Will there be a fifth book in the series?

By the way, I've read all the books in the Sharpe series...all but the last book in the Last Kingdom series, Waterloo, Gallows Thief, Stonehenge. I've yet to read the Warlord Chronicles.  I really appreciate your writing style.

Paul McInnis

Submitted March 22, 2017

A

I hope there will be more....but I don't know when.

Q

I am just reading the 8th book in the Last Kingdom series. Being a woman, I find that there is a lot of blood and guts in the series. I have read other books about that time in history so I know it is true but life sure didn't mean much did it?

I was wondering though, when did the word shit come to be? I know that, originally, it meant "ship high in transit"but was that phrase common back in Uhtred"s time? I thought it came to be later on. Just Wondering.

Thank you for providing us with such a good pastime. The housework is beginning to pile up here.

Roberta from Vancouver Island (God's country)

Submitted March 22, 2017

A

‘Ship High in Transit’!!!!!! Never!  The word comes from the Old High German and morphed into the Anglo-Saxon word scitte, which was pronounced shit and means exactly the same thing. Whoever told you it came from Ship High in Transit was talking scitte!

Q

Hi Bernard,

 

Firstly, I just want to say that - along with everyone else here - I love your works. From Arthur, to Uhtred, to Thomas of Hookton, I've yet to read a book of yours I haven't loved. So thanks for your amazing stories.

 

Recently, I was doing a bit of reading around the wider Arthurian legend and saw that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions a Saxon named Cerdic who (if he existed) later became one of the first kings of Wessex. I'm just wondering if this is the same Cerdic who is the enemy of Arthur and Derfel or if it is just coincidence?

 

Also, if it is intended, then am I right in saying that it means that one of your great heroes in Alfred is descended from one of your great villains in Cerdic. Perhaps there is scope to combine the two stories into one, gigantic saga, spanning all the way from Derfel, through to Uhtred and his capture of Bebbanburg. Maybe Finan could be descended from Oengus Mac Airem, and Brida descended from Nimue? Or am I just being greedy?

 

Either way, I love your work, and I check the website frequently for news of any upcoming works.

 

Many thanks for hours of entertainment,

 

Matt

Submitted March 22, 2017

A

I don’t think it is a coincidence, but I’m driven back to the old and feeble excuse that I wrote the Arthurian books so long ago that I’ve entirely forgotten them, indeed that there was even a Cerdic in those books!  But it rings a bell, however faint . . . .

Q

Dear Bernard

I have read all, yes all of your books, from the sea fairing thrillers, upto and including the Uthred series.

Your books  have given me immense pleasure in  helping me in my recovery from a serious illness and for the escapism that your writings have given me and for that I cannot thank you enough.

However, it is obvious that Uthreds trials and tribulations are coming to an end and I was wondering if you have considered a trilogy or a book or two about the   'Anarchy' the period of English history of Matilda and Stephen. From reading factual books about the era, there are so many mental cases for you to play with that an author of your calibre would have a field day

However, whatever you decide to publish, I am certain that I will I will buy it and long may you continue..

Many thanks,

Gerard Mitchell

Submitted March 22, 2017

A

I have thought of it, yes. Whether it will ever happen? I can’t say, but it’s a possibility

Q

I much enjoy your Outhred series and  I enjoy as much the historical notes at the back.  They always inspire me to read and explore more into the period.  What might be an idea is to produce, or rather have produced for you a 'Companion' in the style of the Sharpe companion.  This would be an ideal project for a historian as I am sure you do not have time for such any digression which would delay the next Outhred book!

Alan Daglish

Submitted March 22, 2017

A

It’s a nice idea . . . . .but you’re right, it’s not a project I’d want to undertake. Someone might?

 

Q

The Last Kingdom series:

Please, please, please tell me we can expect book 11 one day not too far away. I have all 10 previous books as audiobooks and just love them...I think I've gone through the entire series at least 5 times. I eagerly await book 11.

Thank you,

Kathryn

 

I have Spent the last 4 weeks listening via audible the entire last kingdom series and I have become hooked on them, I must have spent hours listening to them when I should have been doing other things. I have Just finished listening to the Flame Bearer. Simple question, now Uhtred has realised his dream will he become a settled man or will we hear from him again?

Tom Raworth

 

How many more books have you got planned for the last kingdom series?

James Geddes

 

When is the next book in the last Kingdom series anticipated?  I read the Flame Bearer in November and have enjoyed the series immensely.

Daniel L Kinnamon

 

Wanted to tell you how very much i have enjoyed your Grail Quest, Arthur and Last Kingdom Series of books!  I am a retired IBM statistician and own all these books.  Every few years i reread them from the beginning and enjoy savoring them once again, like a good bourbon:).  At the end of Flame Bearer you hinted that Uhtred may not be retired quite yet.  Like me i suspect he needs to keep mind and body exercised. I look forward to his next adventure!  When?

Gary Snyder

Submitted March 21, 2017

A

There will be more to Uhtred's story, but that is not the book I am writing now.  I cannot say when book 11 will be written - or how many more there might be in The Last Kingdom series....time will tell!

Q

Hi Bernard,

 

As you are at pains to point out throughout Uhtred's saga, there has always been a very definite but exquisitely complex relationship between a lord and an oathgiver. That relationship is very much an exchange of responsibilities between the two parties, which breaches of duties towards the other party being grounds for the revocation of the binding agreement between them. One of the key elements was the expectation of the vassal to receive physical recognition of good service in the form of wealth, land and so on and again you quite rightly point this out more than once. My question is this; since we know that Uhtred was never entirely happy giving oaths to Alfred or Edward, (less so to Aethelflaed out of love), from memory of the stories, he seems to have been less than well rewarded for some fairly major acts of courage and success, or even not rewarded in any form, (I am thinking here after he was badly wounded at the end of The Pagan King and then his recovery at the start of the Empty throne - I assume because he was expected to die they didn't reward him at that point but surely afterwards?). I know there were times when Alfred had rewarded him with lands, but it does seem that for his deeds and loyalty he was treated less than generously and so, why did he not use those occasions to free himself from those unwanted oaths? I'm not trying to pick holes here, just interested  by Uhtred's decisions!

 

Best wishes

Andrew Parker

Submitted March 10, 2017

A

Remember that Uhtred does have a talent for annoying those who are in a position to help him, and usually at a most inconvenient moment.  I’m sure Alfred was extremely grateful for everything Uhtred achieved, but would never forgive him for his paganism and I suspect that influenced his purse.

 

Q

Hi Mr. Cornwell.

In Sharpe's Siege, Sharpe gives his parole to Cornelius Killick, promising not to make war on American forces.  What would he have done if the South Essex had been deployed to America?  Could he have refused to go?  Would he have had to give up his commission to keep his parole?

Alan Kempner

 

Submitted March 10, 2017

A

He would have resigned his commission, or tried to arrange an exchange into a battalion not posted to the States.

 

Q

Surely you have written enough Saxon ,Viking and their ilk by now it's 21 years since the last Starbucks's chronicles book it must be time for another .

Anne Nash

 

Hello I'm a big fan of your work and followed your stories for many years through many different series but there is still one left unfinished. I'm sure you have been asked this many many times but will Starbuck fight again? I read what you have previously said about Sharpe becoming more popular and it making sense to write more Sharps and I can't fault that decision but it has been 20 years now is it not time for Starbuck to march one (or two) more time and finish his tale. I'm sure I'm not your only fan who feels this way. Thank you for taking the time to read this I know your a busy man.

Sincerely

Gareth.

(Ps. In saying this this I am also eagerly awaiting the next Uhtred book.)

Submitted March 10, 2017

A

Some day....I hope!