Just wondering Bernard-how long have you had your beard?
Wayne
Maybe 15 years? Not sure
There are very few archers in the Saxon Tales (acknowledging the occasional references and explanations in the books), but I have read that both the Saxons and the Danes used bowmen in battle. Can you comment? There have been moments in the books when I thought that a good archer could have saved everybody a lot of trouble (for example, when Ragnall comes riding out of the smoke at Eads Byrig in the most recent volume). Thank you.
Ben Harrison
The common bow was the short bow, a hunting weapon. The longbow did exist, but very very few men were able to use it (it required massive strength and years of training). The short bow was a nuisance, but the arrows would never pierce a shield, and would probably be stopped by mail . . .I suspect there were always a few archers in a fight, but the poems about the battles scarcely mention them, but celebrate the spears and swords
Firstly, I wish to thank you for your books. I now have about 1/2 of your full collection, managing to read some as I travel in search of more.
The East Coast of Australia lends itself to both travel and reading.
I have recently read and enjoyed the movie "Revenant" which I found very enjoyable. Australians hear little of USAs early history particularly the days of early settlement.
Would you consider a series based on the North American Pioneers, eg fur trappers.?
Our early history has been well recorded and would give a rich hunting ground for your research. You could even visit Australia to aid your research(good tax dodge?) Thanks again.
Terry Silk.
I truly think Australia’s early history is a tale best left to an Australian author who knows the land . . . and I can’t say I’m fired up by North American fur-trappers. Sorry about that!
Dear Sir,
I am currently attending school at Berkshire Community College in Massachusetts, and am taking a class on modern fiction, called, oddly enough, Modern Fiction. For this class, we have been given a semester long project with a nebulous goal: write something about fiction. After much deliberation, and owing to the fact that my recent reading has been comprised almost entirely of modern takes on historical, medieval life, I have decided to write about the ways authors portray aspects of medieval life and characters as opposed to a more traditional, Victorian ideal. Also, I hope to use fewer sentences of that length.
I am writing to you to ask a few things. I find the notes at the end of your books wonderfully informative, and wondered if you had any suggestions for books to look into for information about medieval life in general or the fictional archetypes of 'knight' or 'priest.'
I wonder also if you might give your own thoughts on how modern people view our ancestors from that time period. As someone who looks into these things professionally, I had hoped you might share some of your insights into our perception of middle aged people. Or, people from the Middle Ages, rather.
I do thank you if you are able to read this. The other places I plan on looking for fictional accounts of medieval life are: Bernard Knight's Crowner Series, Ellis Peter's Cadfael series, Ken Follet's World Without End, and possibly, for variety, they Vikings television show the History channel pushes.
I've never really been sure how to end letters. They always seemed to me to just end so abruptly.
I hope this message finds you well,
Evan Callaghan
Sadly I’m a thousand miles away from my library so can’t give you a list of useful titles . . . but think dirt, disease, superstition, more dirt . . . I’m sure if you search Amazon for social histories you’ll find wonderfully useful books. For the vast majority of people life was agricultural, tied to a manor, the lord of which would take a good part of their harvest. Ostensibly everyone is a Christian, but as Keith Thomas showed in his book, Religion and the Decline of Magic, there was a huge residual amount of magical belief. I suppose the salient thing to remember is that folk had no answers to the BIG questions, by which I mean ‘why did the river flood and ruin my harvest?’ ‘Why did my child die?’ and, lacking scientific or technical explanations, they could only fall back on the supernatural. That doesn’t make them stupid, just less well-informed. Life was famously short, you can discover life expectancies on the internet. Girls were married off as soon as they reached puberty, there was no such thing as a ‘teenager’, you went from childhood into adult responsibility and you worked yourself to death. There were also entertainments . . . story-tellers, dancing, music, feast days . . . it wasn’t all grim! There was more opportunity in cities, if you could be apprenticed to a tradesman, but cities were also incubators of disease . . the connection between cholera and foul water wasn’t discovered till the 19th century. All this is terribly general, but it can’t really be anything else. For most folk, for centuries, life was spent within a few miles of their birth place, working the land, dying young, but knowing their community and their countryside intimately. They knew what herbs helped cure or palliate diseases, they knew how to hunt, they knew their small world in a way we can only envy (Jared Diamond talks about that in one of his books). I apologize that this answer is less than I’d like . . . but I won’t be reunited with my own books for another two or three months!
Mr. Cornwell,
First off, let me begin by saying that I very much enjoy reading your books, and have been working since my middle school years to acquire all of them (a daunting prospect but so far I am closing the gap). I have read and reread many of your novels and recently I have just finished reading for the second time your book Redcoat, and this sparked in me my first question: will we ever see another novel featuring Sam and Caroline again or is this to be the end of their adventures? I am curious to see just what happens with him throughout the rest of the revolutionary war and as to whether (or rather which) other historic characters (such as your hilarious insertion of Peggy Shippen) will cross his path. Another question concerning this book pertains to the man that Sam and Caroline ran into as they were fleeing from Scammel. Who was he? I get the sense that I should know the answer but cannot for the life of me figure it out.
Finally I was curious if you were considering writing a book in or around the time of the English Civil War/Oliver Cromwell (please excuse my the enormous pride concerning an ancestor of mine that can be considered an equally terrible and great historic figure). I find that this time period is enormously interesting and quite overlooked and unknown by most and would love to find a novel or series concerning it.
Thank you for your time and best regards,
Keith Cromwell
I’m afraid there won’t be, and I never really know what happens to my characters after a book ends except, and you can believe this, they live happily ever after.
I’m very tempted, and yes, I have thought about it. An ancestor of mine ‘died of joy’ at the Restoration. Hmmmmm.
Hello!
Is there a clear and unequivocal link between your success as an author and your background in TV! When you worked as a researcher/ head of current affairs for the BBC. You had to read a lot of material quickly, did this training help you to do research as an author?
Did you ever experience "Information Overload" when you first used the internet? i.e trying to look at too many sources of reference material!
Regards and thanks,
Adrian.
I’m not sure if there’s a direct link, except working on programmes like Nationwide certainly taught me how to write fast and to tell a story! Those are both useful skills for a novelist!
Not yet, but I’ll keep trying!
I read your excellent book on Waterloo in connection with the 200th Anniversary of the battle. Towards the very end you state the moniker "Iron Duke" came from the iron window covers on Apsley House about 1832. A history buff friend of mine tells me that is a myth as Wellesley was called the "Iron Duke" earlier than the window stoning incidents. It was for his politics rather than battle field persona as you claim.
What is your source on the windows incident? Are you aware of earlier uses of that label?
AD..
I’m not aware of an earlier use . . . and I frankly can’t remember my source (and I’m 1000 miles from my books about the Duke). Must be one or the other!
Hi,
I'm currently researching our family history (Cadoux) and came across Daniel Cadoux 1782-1813, son of Mathew Cadoux and Barbara Heron. I have found that he was in the 95th Rifles and killed in action against the French defending a bridge near San Sebastian, baring a strong similarity to Lt Lennox in one of your novels, Sharpes Eagle I think, I wonder if you ever came across him in your research?
Best regards
Wallis Kidd
I have not come across him, and I wish I had! Thank you . . . I’ll try to discover more.
Of interest?
http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/500-year-old-shipwreck-emerges-from-river/vi-BBpusZQ
Elfreth
Yes! That’s fascinating! Thank you
Dear Mr Cornwall,
You mention you are a descendant of Uhtred of Bamburgh – albeit the time frame of the real Uhtred is not that of the character in your wonderful book series. In my ancestry I have an Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria (?-1016), wife Ecgfrida, parents of Ealdred of Bamburgh & Bernicia; Uhtred’s father one Waltheof I, Ealdorman of Bamburgh. Is this the same Uhtred as your ancestor?
With very best wishes
Sarah
It isn’t the same Uhtred, but yours is descended from mine (if that makes sense). I assume you’ve read Bloodfeud by Richard Fletcher – it’s all about your (our) ancestor!