I enjoy
reading historical novels that have been well researched, but I quickly put
aside those which show a complete disregard for historical validity. Whether it’s
thirteenth century Scotsmen wearing kilts or Tudor English women wearing
panties, I give up reading the novel.
My
publishing editor has a PhD in history. She’s also an acknowledged expert in
research and writes about research in a writing magazine. It works strongly in
my favour. After one read-through of my manuscript she will compile a list of
things she wants me to check for authenticity. The book has to be right before
it is published. I really value that approach.
In my
latest manuscript I had medieval knights exclaiming, “God’s teeth!” Check it
out, my editor told me. “They were much more religious in those days.”
I duly checked it out with Melissa Mohr’s book, Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing. It’s
a useful research work in which she talks about curse words from the ancient Romans to the modern day. Like with
many aspects of medieval society, the way they swore in medieval times was
different from the sort of thing we would say today. They had no compunction
about using F and C words as an accepted part of everyday language. Such words
were common enough to have no marked effect. Much more effective were swear
words or phrases that referred to the Almighty. People believed if you swore by
parts of God’s body you were actually affecting Him up in Heaven. That made the
swearing really potent.
It turned out my use of that exclamation was
authentic, but the fact of verifying it was a pleasing reassurance.
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