Dear Bernard Cornwell, Over the years I have very much enjoyed your medieval fiction. I teach art history, and your work on Alfred has helped me a great deal in terms of enlivening this period for students. Occasionally a famous object such as the Lindisfarne Gospels will make a thrilling appearance in your narrative, but I also have noted passing references to leather skins painted with scenes of saints’ lives in churches. I’m curious as to the evidence you have found for this sort of decoration, and to what extent research for your books involves consideration of art and architecture in general. Many thanks indeed for Derfel, Uhtred, and the rest! Richard