Here's the latest review for A LAND BEYOND RAVENS:
http://www.theusreview.com/reviews/Land-Guler.html
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Give that bishop a name!
Sometimes, when writing a minor character into a historical novel, it’s not necessary to name the character if he or she isn’t terribly significant or doesn’t recur. Their purpose can be achieved through action alone. However, once in a while, research will offer an unexpected treat.
While writing A LAND BEYOND RAVENS, I needed to know if the title and function of bishop in the Christian church had come into existence by the fifth century in Britain. Specifically, I wanted to know about the area in what is now called Rhôs in North Wales. I often use the Catholic Encyclopedia for facts on early church history, although to pinpoint something in such a particular location and in so early a time is difficult, if not impossible. Eventually I determined that bishops were indeed in office then but ruled with much less authority than in later times.
Then I came across an official website from the Diocese of Bangor, North Wales, which includes Rhôs. In an article by Dr. Enid Pierce Roberts, I learned that Bangor is the oldest of the Welsh dioceses. Its origins stem from the arrival of St. Deiniol and a group of monks, who built the first church there and enclosed it and its surroundings in a wattle fence—a “bangor.” The community that lived within the enclosure included the monks, married secular clergy and lay people.
Deiniol’s arrival in Bangor is dated as AD 525—much too early for the book’s setting in the 480’s. It is also known that Christianity, especially in remote places in the kingdoms of what is now Wales, was slow to take root. However, in the Bangor area, a number of inscribed stones remain to this day that date to the late fifth or early sixth century, attesting that Christians did live in Rhôs earlier than Deiniol’s arrival.
Dr. Roberts notes that on one stone at Eglwys Rhôs (Rhôs Church), the name Sanctinus is inscribed. And…he is commemorated as sacerdos—which translates from Latin as a priest or even a bishop! A second stone mentions Bivatigirnus, also called sacerdos, and is located at Trescawen (Llangwyllog) on the island of Anglesey. On further investigation, my search was rewarded with the information that Sanctinus also had a less stuffy sounding name: Seithin. Perhaps he took the Latinized name during his rise within the church’s hierarchy. We don’t have exact dates for the two men, but that their stones pre-date the official establishment of the first church in Rhôs is significant enough that they could fit into the 480’s or thereabouts. The dates given in my books are there mostly as guideposts for the passage of time. I’d never claim that they should be taken as absolute concrete. As historian Geoffrey Ashe says: “…it would usually be pretentious to give even a ‘circa’ date…” when dealing with Dark Age Britain.
I never expected to find a name, let alone two, plus locations attached to each. What a reward! And it was especially so because one of the antagonists in the story is Cadwallon, king of Gwynedd, who had his home at Bod-ys-gollen, Rhôs, and was going to build a new capital at Aberffraw on the island of Anglesey (Ynys Môn), not so far from Trescawen! Perfect set up for conflict!
Perhaps it’s a bit pretentious on my part to have attached these two historical names to a pair of minor characters, but it’s hard to ignore that these folks existed around the right time and served in a function fitting to the story. Perhaps fictionalizing them gives them actions they never would have performed. But nailing down names and places gives the reader something more to latch on to than some generic fellow simply referred to as “the bishop.” As it’s been said, the devil is in the details. Maybe in this case the details are in the bishops.
While writing A LAND BEYOND RAVENS, I needed to know if the title and function of bishop in the Christian church had come into existence by the fifth century in Britain. Specifically, I wanted to know about the area in what is now called Rhôs in North Wales. I often use the Catholic Encyclopedia for facts on early church history, although to pinpoint something in such a particular location and in so early a time is difficult, if not impossible. Eventually I determined that bishops were indeed in office then but ruled with much less authority than in later times.
Then I came across an official website from the Diocese of Bangor, North Wales, which includes Rhôs. In an article by Dr. Enid Pierce Roberts, I learned that Bangor is the oldest of the Welsh dioceses. Its origins stem from the arrival of St. Deiniol and a group of monks, who built the first church there and enclosed it and its surroundings in a wattle fence—a “bangor.” The community that lived within the enclosure included the monks, married secular clergy and lay people.
Deiniol’s arrival in Bangor is dated as AD 525—much too early for the book’s setting in the 480’s. It is also known that Christianity, especially in remote places in the kingdoms of what is now Wales, was slow to take root. However, in the Bangor area, a number of inscribed stones remain to this day that date to the late fifth or early sixth century, attesting that Christians did live in Rhôs earlier than Deiniol’s arrival.
Dr. Roberts notes that on one stone at Eglwys Rhôs (Rhôs Church), the name Sanctinus is inscribed. And…he is commemorated as sacerdos—which translates from Latin as a priest or even a bishop! A second stone mentions Bivatigirnus, also called sacerdos, and is located at Trescawen (Llangwyllog) on the island of Anglesey. On further investigation, my search was rewarded with the information that Sanctinus also had a less stuffy sounding name: Seithin. Perhaps he took the Latinized name during his rise within the church’s hierarchy. We don’t have exact dates for the two men, but that their stones pre-date the official establishment of the first church in Rhôs is significant enough that they could fit into the 480’s or thereabouts. The dates given in my books are there mostly as guideposts for the passage of time. I’d never claim that they should be taken as absolute concrete. As historian Geoffrey Ashe says: “…it would usually be pretentious to give even a ‘circa’ date…” when dealing with Dark Age Britain.
I never expected to find a name, let alone two, plus locations attached to each. What a reward! And it was especially so because one of the antagonists in the story is Cadwallon, king of Gwynedd, who had his home at Bod-ys-gollen, Rhôs, and was going to build a new capital at Aberffraw on the island of Anglesey (Ynys Môn), not so far from Trescawen! Perfect set up for conflict!
Perhaps it’s a bit pretentious on my part to have attached these two historical names to a pair of minor characters, but it’s hard to ignore that these folks existed around the right time and served in a function fitting to the story. Perhaps fictionalizing them gives them actions they never would have performed. But nailing down names and places gives the reader something more to latch on to than some generic fellow simply referred to as “the bishop.” As it’s been said, the devil is in the details. Maybe in this case the details are in the bishops.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
So nice to be recognized!
What a treat! In recent months—mostly by mere chance—I’ve discovered that one or more of my novels in the Macsen’s Treasure Series has been noted in bibliographies or encyclopedias. All are in sections that highlight Arthurian fiction written by modern authors. Recognition is such a satisfying thing!I had been aware for years that supplements to The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, edited by Norris J. Lacy, were to include mentions of my books, but I had no idea how this would come about. I doubted this book’s publisher would reissue the entire book as it is large and expensive to produce and not exactly a bestseller. However, an email surfaced from the International Arthurian Society (I’m a member) announcing updated information about the University of Rochester’s Camelot Project. Lo and behold, included was information about the supplements. They are incorporated into a series of annual books entitled Arthurian Literature, published by D. S. Brewer. Into the Path of Gods and In the Shadow of Dragons were listed in the supplement printed in Volume XXII of this series! And…The Anvil Stone will be mentioned in an additional supplement to be included in Volume XXVI, reportedly forthcoming this year. To be associated with Norris Lacy’s New Arthurian Encyclopedia is like finding the Holy Grail for an Arthurian fiction writer!
Another notation can be found in Mike Ashley’s The Mammoth Book of King Arthur, published in 2005. This one mentions my first two books, Into the Path of Gods and In the Shadow of Dragons. The Anvil Stone was published a year after Ashley’s book came out. Into the Path of Gods was also noted in Cindy Mediavilla’s book, Arthurian Fiction: An Annotated Bibilography, released in 1999. Unfortunately, neither described the books accurately, one even misspelled a character’s name. While I am grateful for these two notations, I’m also rather mystified as to why they both say the books are for “young adults.” No, the books are definitely adult fiction. If they were movies, they would certainly receive an “R” rating for sex and violence. Nowhere have my books ever been categorized for a YA audience.
And yesterday, on a more uplifting line, while browsing through Amazon.com for something completely different, I ran across Books and Beyond: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading, by Kenneth Womack. This is a reference book for librarians and costs $400 new! But using Amazon’s “search inside the book” function, I see this eight-pound tome has five, count ‘em, FIVE! references to the Macsen’s Treasure Series. In a section on Arthurian fiction the author compares the various treatments of characters in recent novels. He mentions all three of mine at different points, plus he gets the information correct! Thank you! They are also listed in two places in the back of the book. Hot diggity!
It will be interesting to see where the series is mentioned next, once the fourth book, A Land Beyond Ravens, is released in September. Huzzah, for search engines.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Me timbers are too stout to shiver!
Since the decision came about to re-edit the first book of the Macsen’s Treasure series, INTO THE PATH OF GODS, I knew a number of historical points needed to be corrected as well as some other logistical issues. One scene that originally took place along a roadside needed to be moved to a more logical location and will now take place on a trading ship. While the updated scene provides the same storyline and character pathways, it will now make more sense and have more impact. As result I needed to check into a little seafaring history of fifth century Britain.
Unfortunately, maritime archaeological finds for that timeframe is scant. However, we do have the remains of two Romano-British ships discovered in the River Thames, one of which was located at Blackfriars beneath 20 feet of water at high tide. It was excavated in 1962-63. This ship is thought to have been built by native British shipwrights in the second century AD, putting it quite earlier than the period of Arthur, but it is also thought to be of the type already in use in Britain since before the Roman invasion. It is probably indicative of the type of ship still in use in the latter half of the fifth century.
Based on this conjecture, I have patterned the vessel in the book after the Blackfriars ship. The following list encompasses the basic facts that the archaeologists recorded.
· Built carvel style
· Hull entirely of oak
· Hull planking had massive floor timbers 12” wide, 8-1/2” thick
· Strakes were 2” thick and caulked with hazel twigs
· Strakes attached to floor timbers with special 29” nails
· Nails were driven through the strakes and floor timbers
· Ends of the nails’ shanks hammered over to embed the tip into the timbers
· No keel; two central planks instead, 2’2” wide, 3” thick
· Beam of about 22’
· Overall length about 55’
· Depth more than 7’ amidships
· Bottom nearly flat, enabling ship to rest evenly at low tide
· Chine angle 30-35°
· Oak planks covered cargo area in central part of ship
· Mast-step: a rectangular socket about one-third of ship’s length from bow
· Bronze Roman coin found in the mast-step as a votive offering
· Assumed only one square sail on one mast
· Must have been a deck, due to depth of ship
· May have been a cabin on deck in the stern
· Cargo had been building stone when ship sank
Some definitions:
Carvel-built: the planks are all flush from keel to gunwale. Planks are smooth-seamed.
Chine: the angle where the side and bottom of a hull join
Gunwale (pronounced GUN-nel): the upper edge of a ship’s side
Stem: a timber forming the front extremity of the ship
Strake: a row of planking on the side or bottom of a ship from stem to stern on the outside of the hull.
The information here comes from George F. Bass’s book A History of Seafaring, published back in 1972. The illustration shows how a reconstruction of the ship might look.
Unfortunately, maritime archaeological finds for that timeframe is scant. However, we do have the remains of two Romano-British ships discovered in the River Thames, one of which was located at Blackfriars beneath 20 feet of water at high tide. It was excavated in 1962-63. This ship is thought to have been built by native British shipwrights in the second century AD, putting it quite earlier than the period of Arthur, but it is also thought to be of the type already in use in Britain since before the Roman invasion. It is probably indicative of the type of ship still in use in the latter half of the fifth century.
Based on this conjecture, I have patterned the vessel in the book after the Blackfriars ship. The following list encompasses the basic facts that the archaeologists recorded.
· Built carvel style
· Hull entirely of oak
· Hull planking had massive floor timbers 12” wide, 8-1/2” thick
· Strakes were 2” thick and caulked with hazel twigs
· Strakes attached to floor timbers with special 29” nails
· Nails were driven through the strakes and floor timbers
· Ends of the nails’ shanks hammered over to embed the tip into the timbers
· No keel; two central planks instead, 2’2” wide, 3” thick
· Beam of about 22’
· Overall length about 55’
· Depth more than 7’ amidships
· Bottom nearly flat, enabling ship to rest evenly at low tide
· Chine angle 30-35°
· Oak planks covered cargo area in central part of ship
· Mast-step: a rectangular socket about one-third of ship’s length from bow
· Bronze Roman coin found in the mast-step as a votive offering
· Assumed only one square sail on one mast
· Must have been a deck, due to depth of ship
· May have been a cabin on deck in the stern
· Cargo had been building stone when ship sank
Some definitions:
Carvel-built: the planks are all flush from keel to gunwale. Planks are smooth-seamed.
Chine: the angle where the side and bottom of a hull join
Gunwale (pronounced GUN-nel): the upper edge of a ship’s side
Stem: a timber forming the front extremity of the ship
Strake: a row of planking on the side or bottom of a ship from stem to stern on the outside of the hull.
The information here comes from George F. Bass’s book A History of Seafaring, published back in 1972. The illustration shows how a reconstruction of the ship might look.
I am currently awaiting delivery of another book which will hopefully have more recent archaeological discoveries mentioned in it. If any of you maritime experts out there know of any good resources on fifth century (or thereabouts) seafaring, please feel free to send a comment with any leads. While the ship in the re-edited scene is not terribly significant, I’m always appreciative of good information. If it doesn’t suit this book, it could very well be useful for another one in the future. Knowledge is a good thing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)