First, may I say that I’ve enjoyed every one of your books I’ve read(the entire Sharpe canon, The Last Kingdom, etc) That said, I found an error in Vagabond(a small one, perhaps), and decided to be a nit-picking intellectual nuisance, and point it out to you.

In your description of the battle between the Scots and the northern English forces, you described a Scot chopping down with a pike.  Sorry, but a pike is a 12-14 foot pole with a spear point on the end.  Its only use is for poking things(and, maybe, being stretched across a road so people will have to stop and pay their toll).\ The weapon you described(a pole with a spike on top, an axe blade on one side and a hook on the other) sounds very  much like a Lochaber axe.  An axe with a spike on top and one on the opposite side would be a halberd.  As far as I know(and I don’t pretend to be anything near an expert), the Lochaber axe was used mostly by the Scottish  clansmen, in conjunction with the true claymore(the two-handed sword).

Forgive me if I seem too pedantic, but I’ve seen authors confuse pikes with halberds before(and even pointed it out to them).

By the way, I’ve been a member of the Society For Creative Anachronisms for the last 40 years; my persona has been that of a 9th century Norseman.  Uhtred is definitely of interest.

Your Admirer

Michael Grossberg

a/k/a Gardr Gunnarsson