Your Questions

Q

Having read your comments regarding Queen Elizabeth 1st.  It got my own unanswerable question swimming around my head.  One that I think can only have a person’s opinion.  And forgive me it’s a question I am about to ask your opinion on………………

Hindsight is such a wonderful thing at times, but do you think Anne Boleyn would have survived had Henry 8th known that the daughter they had together was going become the Queen she became?  I suspect he may have thought twice and having had those thoughts he still would have acted as history tells us he did.

On a more personal note.  As my favourite fictional character was named after a Rugby Union (I believe) player although he did not have the ‘e’ at the end of his name.  Do you still get the opportunity to watch the game?  Did you get to see any of the 2003 World Cup?

A mutual acquaintance of ours is really keen on the game.  I don’t think he ever believed it would take 13 years for England to win a ‘Grand Slam’ and it’s funny seeing how nervy he gets the week leading up to England playing a big match.  Have you been able to keep a watchful eye?

Oh and please give us one more Sharpe?

Lee

Submitted August 24, 2016

A

Well, who can say? I doubt it. He was probably chauvinist enough to insist on a male heir, and I suspect Anne Boleyn’s infidelity doomed her.

Oh I do watch – there’s an Irish-owned pub in Charleston SC which always carries the Six Nations live and the place fills with Euro-trash like me. It’s always a fun day!

I do! And like Eddie George a lot!

Q

Hello,

Is Television something you have finished with for ever, or if the right offer/material came along you would return to work in?

It has never been easier to watch Television, due to the proliferation of T.V channels and devices on which it is possible to watch T.V on, i.e Laptops, Smartphones etc.

Do you have any opinion on whether T.V has changed for the better or worse since your days in the 1970's?

Regards and thanks,

Adrian.

Submitted August 24, 2016

A

Me? Go back to the telly? They wouldn’t want me, I’m far too old! TV is a young person’s business, you need immense energy. No, I don’t want to return and have never thought for a moment about going back – I loved it when I worked for the BBC, but that was long long ago. I think there’s some very fine programmes being made today – a lot of them on cable channels. The business is changing enormously and eventually it will all move to the internet (I hope)

Q

Hello Bernard Cornwell, greetings from Norway!

After the first season of The Last Kingdom aired, your books have been popping up everywhere in norwegians bookstores, which led me to discover your writing, and I think it's amazing. I haven't been much of a reader, but your books have pretty much made me fall in love with books, which I thank you for.

I was wondering if when you write Historical fiction, is it possible to replace a minor historical person with your own made up one? I don't mean to replace him completely, but different actions like for example taking someone's life, or leading a group of men into battle.

Thank you very much!

Martin

Submitted August 24, 2016

A

Of course! It’s fiction! But confess the sin (i.e. that you made the change) in a note at the end of the book!

Q

I was in four Olympics Trials in Modern Pentathlon.  As you most likely know, the five events purport to depict what a military courier might have to do to get a message across a battlefield in the Napoleonic era battle.  In your book "Waterloo", was the German attack on the French flank after a message was delivered by a courier the final deciding factor that brought an end to the battle?  Thank you for your response.

Richard Rader

Submitted August 24, 2016

A

Oh, of course!  If the Prussians hadn’t been coming (or rather if Wellington had not trusted them to come) there probably would have been no battle. And remember Grouchy’s Corps, 33,000 men with 96 guns, was missing from Napoleon’s army because of the Prussians. It’s always difficult to say what might have happened, but Wellington’s line was worn very thin and if Napoleon had possessed more men? Who knows? But once the Prussians were closing on his left and the British-Dutch were still unmoved from the ridge, he was doomed.

 

Q

Just a question.  Is there any historical fact to the hounds in Lords of the North?

What a fun way to learn a bit of history.

Thank You,

Jim

Submitted August 24, 2016

A

I don’t think so, but honestly I don’t remember! Sorry!

Q

Hi!

Will you be writing more about Thomas? I'm obsessed! Please and thank you:)

Michelle

Submitted August 24, 2016

A

I've no more plans for Thomas now...

Q

Dear Bernard

In furtherance to Perraud's post, on the 16th Dulong was also promoted to Colonel and fought at the Battle of Albuera, and commanded the French rearguard after the battle.

Could Sharpe encounter him again ?

Yours sincerely

Geraint

Submitted August 18, 2016

A

Maybe?

Q

Hello, Mr's Cornwell,

my name is Lucas, i from Brazil(sorry for the errors in the english, i don't write much in english), i'm a fan from you work, you do a amazing job in every detail of your books, i really like then.

I have a sugestion of a series to you, and that is in the Ancient Rome, the period with the barbarians atacking Rome, seens very interesting for a book.

Thank's for you amazing job, long life for you.

Lucas Cassalho da Silva

Submitted August 18, 2016

A

I don't have plans for the Romans, sorry!

Q

Dear Bernard

You have said in the past that a number of people have asked if you would write more about Sharpe's son Patrick Lassan. As he is a French officer I wondered if you had ever considered writing a spin-off novel about him, as the French war in Mexico happened at the same time as the US civil war.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_intervention_in_Mexico

Yours sincerely

Geraint

Submitted August 18, 2016

A

No plans for it.

Q

Hello Mr. Cornwell

I am a big fan of historical fiction (not just by you, though I have read more of your works than any others).  Anyway, I was fascinated by some tidbits that appear in many of your novels dealing with religious relics, things such as bones of saints, wood from Noah's ark, the bones of a fish from the miracle of the loaves and fishes, among many numerous other references.

I know that I am reading fiction, but I assume that there is some basis for these references.  I was hoping to find out more about this topic - how prevalent was the use of these relics, the church's view on their use, etc.  Hopefully you haven't previously addressed this in your web sites 'Your Questions' section - I started going thru the articles there and did several searches but didn't find anything definitive.

Thank you.

Ernie Seider

 

Submitted August 16, 2016

A

How prevalent? Relics were everywhere! They infested the church; enough scraps of the True Cross to build Noah’s ark ten times over! And relics are still venerated in the Catholic tradition, though these days they are far more likely to be genuine. From very early in the church’s history the relics of saints or, most valuable of all, artefacts that could be associated with Christ or his mother, became highly prized. They were tangible ‘proof’ of the truth of the faith, and they provided a channel through which prayers could be said. Naturally enough a huge trade in fake relics sprang up, and rich people and institutions were willing to pay vast sums to acquire some rarity. The greed generated by this trade was one of the root causes of the Reformation and, largely speaking, Protestant churches do not venerate relics. I make huge fun of relics in the Uhtred novels because they’re easily mocked, and almost all the ones I mentioned do exist, or existed, but properly used a relic could be a powerful symbol and a source of hope and inspiration. They still exist, of course, , especially in southern Europe where they lie in their beautiful reliquaries on high altars.