Dear Mr Cornwell,

Love your books. Read the Grail Quest three and all the Sharpes, and now swimming through Uhtred’s stories. (I think he’s my favorite of your protagonists, but that might be memory’s trick.)

I do think you’re a bit unfair to Christianity in your works. For every good churchman, you show us twenty bad ones. That goes along with fashionable culture as far back as Somerset Maugham’s story about the priggish southseas missionary in The Hills of Kansas, and probably earlier. (Hollywood hasn’t portrayed a kindly churchman since The Bells of St. Mary’s!) Still, I wish you’d fight the fashion once in a while.

The Ten Commandments were a wonderful step forward for civilization. “Thou shalt not do murder” meant murdering ANYONE. Laws against murder before that were only constrained to one’s own tribesmen. Uhtred chooses Wessex because he knows he’ll always be a second-class citizen under the Danes, but also because of law, doesn’t he? He sneers at Alfred’s perpetual lawmaking later in the series, but he chose Wessex for order over the constant viking and chaos of the Danelaw.

Yes, the Christians themselves were often weak and sinful. The reason Ragnar takes it to the monks on Lindisfarena is a good reason. A good Cleric would have condemned them, too! (A pity one didn’t pop up just then.)

But they’re your books, they’re great reads, and I’ll continue to buy them.

The scene in Alban’s church with Aethelflaed forced to drink dirty water was gripping – I loved Uhtred when he protected her dignity! (And when he threatened Aethelred and pummeled his bullying advisor.) Far-fetched that that bishop would dare strip Alfred’s daughter, though! I was waiting for Alfred to get wind of it and replace him with Asser, but alas…

Your historical note on the fictional incident was bad. Sorry, it was bad.

Evangelical Atheists (their reason for being only that misery loves company) love to point to “cruel” injunctions in the Old Testament. Many of these were reforms of actual cruelties in society at the time. “An eye for an eye” sounds cruel today, but what to do with an eye-gouging boy? Too often the answer then was to torture him and his whole family to death.

A suspected adultress made to drink dirty water? And if her thighs and belly swell immediately, she’s guilty? I’ll bet lots of wives used that to escape beatings and murder. “Bring some dirty water, I’ll prove my virtue!” Doesn’t sound cruel to me, Mr Cornwell.

Thanks for hours and hours of entertainment!

Yours very truly,
Walt