Your Questions

Q

Bernard:

Love reading the questions. Everyone seems to think you can easily produce outstanding books on almost any historical subject. Like asking Paul McCartney to write a song..of course he can. But do you want it to be well done or just done? Please continue to put the best you can into your books, for as long as you can. Subjects and characters must grab the teller of tales, not by forced upon them. I live in Wareham...Mass. Close to you. Have you visited the Higgens Armory in Worchester? World class collection of armor, if you've not been do so. You will love it. By the way my son plans to have two dogs. Uthred and Ragnar! Thank you for what you do. Always worth the read...and a big fan.
Andrew

Submitted September 27, 2013

A

I am sorry to say I have yet to visit the Armory in Worchester, MA but it is on the list!

Q

Mr. Cornwell,
I have been reading several of your series lately; the Sharpe series and the grail quest in particular.  I enjoy them immensely, especially the historical perspective, but it seems that in each novel there is almost an anti-Catholic bias.  I know the church had many issues during these periods, but it seems to be a major emphasis of yours.  I would appreciate your perspective on my question.
Respectfully submitted
Bill Falls

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

‘Almost?’ Well, for a start it isn’t anti-Catholic, because in most of my books there is no alternative to Catholic (i.e. they’re pre-reformation), so I’d recast the question as anti-Christian. One of the prime causes of the reformation was the corruption in the church, and it’s utterly impossible to understand anything about the church without being aware of the enormous corruption that riddled it from top to bottom. Which is not to deny that there were not some good priests and nuns, and I feature many of those in my books (and no-one notices), but such people were most unlikely to rise up the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and that, in essence, is the problem. The church was just about the only way for a low-born person to gain worldly advancement, so it attracted the unscrupulous, the ambitious and frequently, the malicious.  Wolsey is an example of the ambitious, but there are thousands of others.  This was an organization that became obscenely rich and defended itself by sentencing its opponents to death - think of the crusade against Catharism – when de Montfort asked the papal legate how they could tell the true Christian from the heretic he was told, with the church’s authority, ‘put them all to death, God will know the difference’. You couldn’t make that stuff up!

Q

Mr Cornwell

First of all, thank you, for the hours and hours of pleasure you have provided me, I have read every single book you have published and loved every one of them. I thought Sharpe would be my favourite for ever, then I read Starbuck and then Uhtred and then Thomas !! Now I am not sure, maybe Starbuck actually as I was not expecting him to be as interesting.

Second question is what are your future plans after the Pagan Lord, will your next book be Sharpe, Starbuck, Arthur or the death of Uhtred maybe, or even something completely different ? will there be a rough timeline for when we can expect it ?

My last question is who is your favourite character ? and so on which book is your personal favourite ?

Tim

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

The book I am writing now will be my first non-fiction book - on the Battle of Waterloo.

Hard to say...I've always reckoned the Arthur trilogy are my favourite books - maybe because they were such a pleasure to write. But I find Uhtred is almost as much fun and I take huge pleasure from Sharpe...

Q

Your endorsement for Mr Scarrows novel, "I really don't need this kind of competition" had me in stitches.

it made me wonder if you wonderful novelists do worry about sales with other novelists? I'm afraid I have to admit to having culled my book spending habits of late since having a little addition to the family so I try and hunt down your latest books in the library. Do you make much money (royalties?) from having your books in the library?

I promise to buy your books full price when (if) I have more disposable income!
Stuart Harvey

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

Do I make much money from libraries? Well, Britain has the PLR scheme which pays a pittance for books borrowed, but only for those books that were actually written in Britain, which I think is five out of fifty. So no, but it’s churlish to resent that! I do urge my friends, when visiting libraries, to move my books from the fiction section to the theological shelves, thus hiding them forever and maybe forcing the library to go buy more copies, but I don’t know how effective that is. Whatever, you’re welcome to the library copies, and congratulations on the addition!

Q

Mr. Cornwell,

"That night Thomas sent his old bow to hell."

That paragraph is terrific.  Thanks so much.

May we know whether the ceremony is imagined entirely, or suggested by historical sources?

Grateful regards,
Julie Zdrojewski

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

Thank you! (because I like that too), and it was entirely invented.

Q

Hello
I am a great admirer of your work. I greatly enjoy your writing style and the detail you put in to your work. Azincourt is my favourite of your works. I am a beginning fantasy author with a great concern for authenticity and Azincourt has finally given me a clear idea of the power of the longbow and the strength of plate armour, as well as all the details in how the bow is made, and the making of arrows (namely that scene in Soissons with Hook and the fletcher talking and making arrows at the same time). It's hard to fid consistency on the matter in works of fiction where armour is often either useless or excessively strong. Also surprising is the strength required to use a longbow since most archers in movies are usually thin men. I am curious though, what provided the inspiration for the characters of Nicholas Hook and Sire de Lanferelle? Both are equally interesting (even if Lanferelle seems a bit of a sociopath) and I like them both as well as Sir John Cornewaille (who I believe
is an actual historical character).

Kris Norge

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

I’m not sure either were inspired; they developed as the story was written, which is what usually happens. I suppose Nick Hook (whose name I took from the Agincourt muster roll) is supposed to be representative of the English archer, so perhaps a general idea of the archer is the inspiration? But when I start a new book with new characters I often know very little about them and just let them grow as the story does.

Q

Hi Bernard

I've just finished the warlord chronicles and something is puzzling me; why did Derfel become a monk?

Matt Nichols

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

For two reasons – the original Derfel (who is in the earliest Arthurian stories, but then drops out of the later versions) did become a churchman, and secondly, in the books, because he makes an ill-judged oath which he has to keep!

Q

Hello my name is Keegan Eatherton and I have a guess to the riddle of Sharpe's Father and I would like to have you confirm or deny the answer. Lucky is the happy mans name. Replace the "u" with "me" and you get Lmecky. Mighty Mecke or Mighty Mecky is an Irish race horse

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

Sorry, nope.

Q

Hello Mr. Cornwell,
I've recently finished your books about Sharpe and I have much enjoyed it. I usually read fantasy novel, so I was afraid of reading a story without swords clashing one another in battle, but I've learned that standing in line and being slaughtered by enemy bullets is just as much exciting. lol
But I have a few question, in your book we much about Lord Wellington genius in battle and how he defeated every single french marshal in the peninsula war and even Napoleon himself afterwards. But even so Napoleon is the one considered to be the military genius and all, here in Brasil we don't even learn about Wellington in our history classes.
1) Do you think that Napoleon fame of genius has any foundation? Was Wellington actually better than him?

I've also much enjoyed seen Sharpe being a Colonel and commanding his battalion.
2) Do you plan on writing a Sharpe Story after Sharpe Devil in which he actually gets to command?

3) Do you plan writing a story in 20th century in the WW I, for example?

Lucas Vieira

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

It’s really impossible to compare the two of them.  Wellington was a soldier and Napoleon was so much more. Napoleon was a soldier, a ruler, an empire-maker and a legislator.  More importantly, Napoleon was the supreme ruler of the French empire, while Wellington always saw himself as a servant of the state; he took his instructions from the government, while Napoleon took instructions from no-one. You can compare them as soldiers, but again it’s an impossibility; Napoleon was a gambler, an adventurer, a genius at times and a disaster at others. Wellington was a careful general, capable of stunning attacking tactics (Assaye, Salamanca, Vittoria), but chiefly known for his defensive battles, like Busaco or Waterloo. Wellington never had Napoleon’s ambitions, nor did he want them, so he could not achieve what Napoleon achieved, nor could he plunge his country into the chaos that Napoleon’s failed ambitions provoked.  As generals?  Wellington has by far the better win-loss record, so probably it’s fair to say that he was the better general, but he never changed the world as Napoleon did!

 

No plans for either!

Q

I'm a huge fan of your books about Uhtred! I was wondering, however, because Uhtred is in his eighth decade of life when he narrates his journeys, that would put him as close to death in the 930s/940s. Will there be any books about his son, who wanted only a life of piety and Christianity? There's Danes that need to be fought not shortly after the time Uhtred would die, if memory serves! Not to mention, the preview you've given us - that amazing, wonderful preview - mentions that he is fighting alongside his father in a shieldwall. Will he continue down the warrior path? I suppose this question might well be answered when the book comes out and I get to read it...but I think it would be interesting!
Colin Donovan

Submitted September 23, 2013

A

Wait and see?  I know that’s a frustrating answer, but the next book, The Pagan Lord, will give you a clue!