Reposted from my main blog, The Rafters Scriptorium
Fun with the Dark Ages
Saint Cuthbert's Cave, photo on Geograph.co.ukOne of the trickiest things about writing historical fiction set in the Dark Ages is the shortage of information available. And one of the dandiest things about writing historical fiction set in the Dark Ages is the shortage of information available.
The editor of my Ravens of Farne picture book, Jane Meyer, liked my proposal for a YA novel, Bearing the Saint, set during the wanderings of the Company of Cuthbert during the Viking invasion of 875 ff. So it goes to the publisher's board meeting in October, and we shall see what happens from there. (edit March 2010: The book was accepted and will be released in June 2010.)
Meanwhile I am deeply immersed in the adventures of the book's young protagonist, Edmund. Now, he isn't named after the Pevensie boy in the Chronicles of Narnia, but both Edmunds have a typically English name, which they share with Saint Edmund, who was killed by the Vikings in the south of England in 869-- just six years before the monks and layfolk of Lindesfarne in the north pulled up stakes, loaded the body of their beloved Saint Cuthbert onto an ox cart, and fled before the Vikings arrived to do the same to them.
Now, my Edmund (as I like to think of him) is one of the specially chosen seven attendants upon the cart and body of Saint Cuthbert. I didn't make this part up-- the story of this journey is told in the Libellus de Exordio of Symeon of Durham, who had it from the great-grandchildren of the people who lived the story. But the Libellus and the other document that mentions the story, the Historia de Sancto Cuthberto, tell us little more than four of the names of these seven bearers. The other known names are Stitheard, Hunred and Franco.
I figured "Edmund" was an easier name for modern readers to identify with than any of those.
And then there's the fact that this is a kids' book, and I want a kid as protagonist for them to identify with. But how is a 12-year-old going to get made one of the attendants? Well, fortunately, the journey took seven-plus years, and not a word about what the fellow named Edmund did during those years appears in the historical sources. So, yep...I get to just make it up.
7 comments:
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Benjamin Solah said...
- Funnily enough, I've set half of my novel in the dark ages, around 12th Century Kievan Rus'. There's some details, but most the smaller nit-picky details you're free to make up, which I love.
- 2:37 AM
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Deb said...
- Franco? Must not be from our neighborhood. I'm currently working on a book set in 953 Wales. Amazing how much information you can find about who murdered who and how many months a king ruled, and how little there is about how the commons and lesser gentry lived. An era that kept such scanty documentation is both a blessing and a constant fusstration!
- 5:11 PM
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matushkadonna said...
- Yes, I thought the name Franco was full of possibilities! Though I don't know if they will bloom in this story. thanks for dropping by!
- 5:47 PM
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Claire Eamer said...
- Cool! I walked St. Cuthbert's Way several years ago, so when I saw the photo of St. Cuthbert's Cave, it was with a sense of recognition. A passing rainstorm had soaked me just before I reached it, but the sun came out at the cave so I spread my socks out to dry on a rock and ate lunch just outside the overhang in the photo.
- 4:05 PM
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matushkadonna said... - lucky you, Claire! My daughter walked it (in much less than the recommended time) but the last time I visited the area it was before the path was developed. I am vicariously enjoying it via geograph.uk.... thanks for the comment!
- 4:11 PM
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jane g meyer said... - I just want to read this manuscript!!! I'm waiting--but it's not easy...
- 5:29 PM
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matushkadonna said... - Ha Ha, I want to read it too...but I have to write it first! :-P
- 6:58 PM
