Your Questions

Q

Hello, Mr. Cornwell:

Just a quick question on the Waterloo battlefield. Do you have any idea what the name of the tavern Belle Alliance signified? I've searched the internet, and know the story that Blucher wanted to name the battle Belle Alliance for the various armies. But what did the original name commemorate? My husband (a Napoleon fanatic) very much enjoyed your 'Waterloo' book, and I am now reading the Sharpe Waterloo book. Are you going to the re-enactment festivities? I know you are involved in preserving Hougoumont---a very worthy cause. Thank you.

Betty Pannick

Submitted April 28, 2015

A

I don’t think there’s any great significance – it was just a tavern name! I don’t think there’s any more meaning involved than most other pub or café names! It was serendipitous that a tavern named ‘The Beautiful Alliance’ happened to be where the allies won the battle, and Blucher was surely right in his suggestion, but it was serendipity, nothing more! It has about as much significance as, say, The Pig and Whistle!

 

Q

Mr. Cornwell

I am a big fan of your Warrior Chronicles books and plan to expand out to other series once I finish your latest book.

Recently, I came across a term that had some historical significance and I wondered if you'd heard of it. It's called a holiday test  - now sometimes called a spark test, where we validate that a surface of a metal is completely coated to keep it from corrosion.  This term comes from an old sailor's term for inspecting the coating of the mast of a ship with tar to keep it from rot. Whenever a break in the tar was discovered, they talked about the sailor taking a "holiday" while doing the work. This term has been in use for centuries, although I don't know how far back it goes.  I wondered if you had come across it in your research, and if you knew how far back that term was used.

Thanks so much for your time and for your books.

Sincerely,

Brian M Normile

Submitted April 28, 2015

A

I had not come across it! And it fascinated me enough to look it up in the OED and they don’t have that meaning either. Which doesn’t mean it’s wrong, it could have been a very local idiomatic term that never made it to the dictionary.  Interesting though, thank you.

 

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell,

I am a big fan of your books! I have read all the Archer, Stonehenge, and all the Saxon Chronicles (my favourites). I want to know - do you regret some of your descriptions of the vikings since the amazing and recent discovery that shieldmaidens were about half of the viking armies? Because for me this is the only things I miss on your books, the presence of the warrior women.

My best wishes, and please keep writing!

Thiciana

Submitted April 28, 2015

A

Oh yes? And you believe that? I think it’s fantasy.

Q

Hi Bernard,

I was just wondering if anybody in the British government during the Napoleonic Wars actually admired or even (partially) supported Bonaparte? Did Great Britain ever entertain ideas of an alliance with him? Did certain points of the 'Code Napoleon' gain merit and influence future generations of other nations?

Robert Douglas

Submitted April 28, 2015

A

There were plenty of people who admired Napoleon, mainly on the basis of my enemy’s enemy is my friend, in other words they were political opponents of the government in power. But there was never anything like a Fifth Column in Britain. And yes, the Code Napoleon had a great and continuing effect wherever it was introduced. There’s a good passage about that in Andrew Roberts’s new (and very fine) biography, Napoleon the Great.

Q

hello,

why did you write about the U.S civil war and not the English civil war?

What type of reaction did you get or continue to get from Americans about an Englishman writing about their civil war?

Adrian.

Submitted April 28, 2015

A

Because I found the American civil war more interesting than the English! So personal taste, nothing else, and so far the Americans have been very generous in their response. They want me to continue the series....hopefully one day!

Q

Re The Warrior Chronicles, when can we expect to see book 9?, Alas I'm 94 and I'm short on time.

Andrew Howlett-Davies

 

Hi, when is Uhtred of Bebbanburg coming back please?  thanks.great books by the way

Greg Harris

 

Any idea when the next Warrior Chronicles book will be released. I have read The Empty Throne)

Norman Murray

 

Good afternoon,

 

I have read all the volumes of the Warrior Chronicles and am enraptured by them. Will there be a final volume after "The Empty Throne"?

Thank you,

Regards, Paul

Submitted April 27, 2015

A

I am writing this book now.  We hope to see it published in the UK in October and in the US next January.

Q

Loved the "Gallows Thief". Any more books on Rider Sandman in the works?  Would love to read more as I have re-read this one several time.  Thx

Gene Friedman

Submitted April 23, 2015

A

No plans for another story for Rider Sandman at this time, sorry!

Q

Hello,

George MacDonald Fraser took Flashman, a character created by Thomas Hughes in Tom Brown's school days, and arguably enjoyed more success with Flashman than Hughes did. Have you ever been tempted to do the same, i.e write about somebody's else character or are some of your characters like Richard Sharpe an adaption of an existing character in historical fiction.

 

Adrian.

Submitted April 23, 2015

A

Flashman was a brilliant invention…or adaptation, but no, I’ve never been tempted to do the same thing.

Q

Hi Bernard,

just a quick one. I've read most of your works and am now steaming through the Starbuck novels. Am I wrong, but have I picked up on the hint that the French Cavalry observer, Patrick Lassan, is in fact the son of Richard Sharpe? If he is, then it's a nice touch in bringing history together. Keep up the good work mate, peace

from Glen in the UK.

Submitted April 23, 2015

A

He is!  You can read more about Sharpe's son, Patrick, in the short story Sharpe's Ransom found in Sharpe's Christmas:  http://www.bernardcornwell.net/series/short-stories/

 

Q

Dear Mr. Cornwell,

I am a huge fan of your Saxon Tales, favorite books i have ever read. But my one issue is through all 8 books so far, I have had trouble picturing Uhtred as described in the book. In my head he is kinda looks like Aragorn from Lord of the Rings (if you've seen the movies) except taller with a wider face, and broader shoulders. Yet in the book he is blonde. If you wouldn't mind, could you please describe Uhtred's physical appearance?  Thanks a billion!

With Respect,

Neil Rubi

Submitted April 23, 2015

A

Increase Sean Bean’s size by 10%. You got him.