Your Questions

Q

I've really appreciated The Last Kingdom- you've quoted themes and terms from "The Wanderer," "Beowulf," etc. within the Old English corpus in your book, even capturing the frustration I'm sure many have felt with the texts of that era as Uhtred struggles to learn to read. It seems we as readers are invited to a sense of the exuberance and life lived in the moment, not to mention a tolerance for ambiguity between old Danish and Anglo-saxon Cultures, that the ninth century remnants can only hint at. So: Did you study Old English at some point? Did you daydream about shield walls when you did? Thanks! S. Kukolla

Submitted February 25, 2005

A

I did indeed study Old English and still read it for pleasure. Not all the texts - but poems like the Seafarer and the Wanderer are magnificent. I'm not sure I daydreamed of shield walls - but I do remember a scholarly debate about whether the Danes and the Saxons could hear each other shouting across the River Blackwater before the battle of Maldon - so three of us went there, shouted, and determined they could be heard!

Q

Dear Mr Cornwell, I just have one question to ask and one which im quite curious about. Which soldiers/warriors do you think are the best out of all your historical novels? Personally I cannot make my mind up, and it would be nice to know what the author thinks. Keep up the good work! Thanks for your time, Ben.

Submitted February 25, 2005

A

The best! Lord knows! But if I was to choose just one group from all I've written about to defend me and mine I'd take the 88th Regiment of the Line - the Connaught Rangers.

Q

I am a bit mystified by a notation on the Sharpe Appreciaion Society website where they speak of Richard Sharpe as an 'ensign'.......I served in the US Navy and was commissioned as an ensign. I was not aware that the British Army used the rank 'ensign'.....Am I to understand that the American colonies assumed that rank but only in terms of their Navy while it was common for the British to use it for all services? Rosalee

Submitted February 25, 2005

A

The British only used it in the infantry (the navy's equivalent rank was midshipman while the cavalry had the cornet). It was the junior officer rank and was eventually replaced by 'Second Lieutenant'. The change was happening at around the time of Napoleonic Wars and the Rifles, among others, never used the rank - they went straight to 'Second Lieutenant'. I don't know where the American usage began . . . .

Q

Is the Peculiar People a pseudonym for the Exclusive Brethren? George Mair

Submitted February 25, 2005

A

No, it isn't! They're a very similar group, or were very similar. The Peculiars started in the 1830's and lasted about 130 years before they died out. They only existed in Essex, with three chapels across the Thames Estuary in northern Kent and another half dozen in East London. So far as I remember the Peculiars regarded the Exclusive Brethren as far too liberal and open-minded, almost as bad as the Plymouth Brethren, or are they the same thing?

Q

Actually a question...have you fully visualized the Siege of Serangipatam and do you know the role played by the Light Dragoons there? Also Wellesleys Dublin background? William Conran

Submitted February 22, 2005

A

Yes to all the above. I spent a week exploring Seringapatam before writing Sharpe's Tiger, which obviously helped visualize it. It's a smaller town now than it was in 1799, but very beautiful, and the Tippoo's mausoleum is superb. I probably under-represented the cavalry's role in the campaign, but that was because Tiger was mostly concerned with the siege and cavalry are fairly redundant when it comes to sieges. And yes to the Dublin query, though the Duke was fairly snobbish about it - 'if a man is born in a stable it doesn't make him a horse'.

Q

Hello, First just want to say thanks for so many great books, so far I've only read up to Waterloo but I'll be finishing the series soon. I just wanted to ask if when you first brought Jane into Sharpe's life were you planning for her to become so back stabbing and a cheater? And when you first wrote Lucille were you planning for her to end up with Sweet William or was she always meant to break his heart and end up with Sharpe? (Poor Sweet William) Thanks Sarah

Submitted February 22, 2005

A

I think I introduced them all with the most honest of intentions, and they screwed up my intentions. Lucille was the problem. I really did intend her for Sweet William, but Sharpe wouldn't let that happen.

Q

I have read all the Sharpe books at least twice. I also have read the Civil War and Revolutionary War Books. When can we expect another Sharpe book? I was a Korean War Marine, Atomic Marine, teacher for 31 years married for 53 years and climbing. I am fan. Thank you. Marshall Raftery

Will their be another Sharpe book or is he retired? In the Last Kingdom you used the name Ash, as you can see my family name is Ashley - mother's maiden name. Any connection? Ashley B. Reasner

Submitted February 22, 2005

A

I wish I knew! Ashley sounds like a good Saxon name, but alas, I don't have a dictionary of surnames (I should have) so I'm flying blind here!

There will be another Sharpe book, but not this year. Perhaps next?

Q

Hi Bernard, What is your favorite John Cowper Powys novel and why?
James Highfill

Submitted February 22, 2005

A

Wolf Solent, and I don't know why, precisely. I adore almost everything he wrote (there are some very weird late fantasy novels which are quite hard to take), but Wolf Solent is JCP at his best - the landscape descriptions are breathtaking, and the subtlety of the doomed relationship between Wolf and Gerda is superbly done. I know he's not to everyone's taste, nor should he be, but I re-read Wolf Solent every three or four years and find new things in it every time.

Q

Mr Cornwell, Just to say thankyou for your great books, I am now trying to finish the Sharpe series before The White Horse comes out and am currently upto Company. Now for the questions: 1. What was the highest commisioned rank that a man from the ranks ever achieved? Did any ever get to Lieutenant-Colonel? 2. Has the title of your upcoming book anything to do with the valley of the White Horse where Uthers son Mordred died in the Winter King? 3. While looking up your books on a website, it said you wrote 'The Snarl of the Beast' in 1992, what is this book and is it still in print? 4. Do you know any good historical fiction sites that list any novels set during the American Revolution (or do you know any yourself?) Thanks again, Lewis

Submitted February 22, 2005

A

1. The highest I know is William Robertson who joined the British army as a private in 1877 and ended up as Field-Marshal Sir William Robertson. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff from 1915 - 1918, which is about as high as a soldier could go. In the Napoleonic Wars I know of at least one man who made Colonel, but haven't found any who went as high as Robertson.

2. It probably won't be called The White Horse - not sure - and no, it has to do with the Westbury white horse where, traditionally, the battle of Ethandun was fought.

3. I didn't write it! Honest! Never heard of it.

4. The only good novel I know of set in the revolution is Redcoat. And I fear I don't know a website that might provide more.

Q

Good morning Mr. Cornwell, I enjoy you books enormously, but can I ask you - When facing a cavalry charge, why does Sharpe tell his men to shoot the horses rather than the riders. I don't doubt for one moment that you are right but to a layman such as myself it would seem to make more sense the other way round as the riders can get up and fight. Thank you for your patience and I look forward to another Starbuck book. Jean Perrin

Submitted February 22, 2005

A

Because a cavalryman without a horse is pretty useless. A cavalry charge really works by sheer weight - the impact of horses on men. Imagine d'Erlon's column being hit by the British cavalry at Waterloo. What shatters the column and scatters it is not the men, but the speed and weight of the horses, so get rid of the horses and you don't have a problem. Besides, every dead horse becomes an obstacle to the men behind, whereas a dead man is much less of a problem. So, my advice is that if you're faced by a cavalry charge you should definitely take out the horses before the men.