Dear Mr. Cornwell, In June 2010 I wrote to you with comments on the construction of hilts in medieval and Viking swords. I noted that all such swords I knew of were made either by heating the tang and using it to burn its way lengthwise through a one-piece grip or by surrounding the tang with two pieces that met and were (evidently) glued together. I was not aware of any European swords from that period made by riveting the grip to the tang as in Serpent-Breath, and I asked if you were aware of any. I have answered my own question, and I thought I would pass the answer on to you. I visited the arms and armor collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City last week, and I saw two swords with handles made that way. However, they were ca. 1400, and not from the period covered in The Saxon Tales. Furthermore, they were swords that had been given as tribute to the Ottoman sultan, and they may have been re-hilted by the Ottomans. At least some Ottoman swords were definitely hilted with rivets. But you may have a precedent for the method used in your books. Sincerely, William Terry