The Alien Past: The Difficulties of Writing Religion

Last week the Historical Novel Society posted an interview with Lindsey Davis, the author of the Marcus Didius Falco series (some of my favorite books!). One of the questions Richard Lee asked was: "What do you find most alien about the past? Does it help or hinder your writing?"

Lindsey Davis' answer was quite concise. "Religion. I leave it out as much as possible."

I appreciate the honesty of this answer. And thinking back over the twenty books in the Falco series, I can see how Lindsey Davis does leave out the real heart of the Roman religion. Sure, she has Vestal Virgins as murder suspects and her protagonist being appointed the Procurator of the Sacred Geese, but throughout it all, Falco remains a dyed in the wool skeptic.

Skepticism seems to be the route many historical novelists choose to take for their protagonists. Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth comes to mind, where Ellen, one of the principal characters, is far more of a "free-thinker" than one would expect in twelfth century England. Follett's sequel World Without End imbues its characters with even more unbelief. Caris, the daughter of a fourteenth century wool merchant, is as unlikely a candidate for a nun as you will find. She doesn’t believe either prayer or relics have the power to heal; she doubts that the Church really knows what God thinks about things.

I think that many historical novelists choose to portray their protagonist as a skeptic is because they have a hard time relating to a true believer in religion. Like Lindsey Davis, they find the rituals and creeds of the past completely alien, and even more alien, the idea that such things could be taken seriously by someone. Religion is equated with superstition, something difficult for an educated modern to fathom, portray, or endorse.

But to correctly display a time period where religion was all-encompassing, would it not be the braver course to make the protagonist a believer rather than a skeptic?

A year and a half ago, I posted about some thoughts Sharon Kay Penman had on this subject. She listed religion as the number one way that the medieval world differed from ours. "All men--be they Christian, Jew, or Muslim--were convinced that theirs was the True Faith.... They can respect one another's courage, but neither side doubts that damnation awaits their foes." In her novels, Penman tries to make her characters, "acknowledge this bedrock belief, so alien to most of us today."

Anya Seton's novel Katherine is another book, along with Penman's, that seriously embraces the religious milieu of the period in which it is set. Whether or not Seton believed in the words of medieval mystics like Julian of Norwich, she made sure to show us that her heroine Katherine Swynford did. Instead of making Katherine a skeptic to make her more "relatable", Seton made her a believer and thus a better window into the world of the fourteenth century.

While writing the Chronicles of Tancred, I try to write about religion as if I were an eleventh century Norman adhering to the rites and rule of the Church of Rome. In some ways the fact that I am a twenty-first century American Protestant helps me in that task; in other ways it hinders me.

But when a scruffy drunkard has a vision of St. Andrew informing the Crusaders where the Holy Lance is buried, it's not my place to make my protagonist distrust him simply because I, the author, am dubious of visions, don't embrace the Roman Catholic view of sainthood, and don't believe relics have special powers. Instead, I must put myself in Tancred's worn-out boots. And though they might be more difficult to walk in, they make the journey more rewarding.

Husbandly Heroes, Medieval Monuments, and Regency Ramblings: Saturday Links

This week's Saturday Links take us on a trip from Ancient Rome to the Middle Ages to the Regency Era.

Kate Quinn is the author of Daughters of Rome and Mistress of Rome, two novels set in--you guessed it!--Ancient Rome. She is also the wife of a U.S. Navy Sailor. In a recent article in Baseguide, titled "My Military Romance," she confesses that her real life hubby might have more than a little influence on the hero in her latest novel:

That's funny,” my husband commented when he flipped through my rough-draft of the first few chapters. “Your hero is a lot like me.” 

Me: “No, he's not!” 

Husband: (raising an eyebrow) “So it’s a complete coincidence that both your husband and your fictional hero are tall, freckled, left-handed, short-tempered, adrenaline-junkie military men who snore like a chain-saw, can't sit still without one foot jittering, and have a habit of pissing off superiors?”  

BUSTED.... (read more)

In my own historical novels, I have never self-consciously tried to model a character off of someone I know. But I always wonder--how many similarities to my real life creep in subconsciously?


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A couple months ago the photography site Light Stalking put up "21 Amazing Images of Medieval Structures." The word amazing gets thrown around far too much, but in this case, the subjects really deserve that modifier. I would repost some of the pictures here to entice you to check out the rest, but there's been far too much broohaha lately about bloggers getting sued for using copyrighted images on their sites. So, click on over there and take a look for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

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The Regency period has been on mind a lot lately, especially since I've been busy editing a Regency romance soon to be released by Madison Street Publishing. This article by Natalie Garbett entitled "Blinded By the White, Colour and Dresses 1796-1815" is very insightful for those interested in reconstructing the Regency period in book and film. It is also an excellent example of how to do historical research on the subject of clothing.

Ms. Garbett begins with questioning the conventional perception of Regency dresses:

Why do we choose to make mostly white dresses when creating dresses from 1796--1815?  It seems an obvious question to answer……’we choose white because it was the fashion and is period correct’……and evidence from surviving dresses, paintings, fashion plates and documentation support this theory……or does it?

Her next step is to catalogue the Regency dresses found in three prominent museum collections. She notes that the great majority of them were white, but then presents three interesting hypotheses on why that might be the case:

Could the mordant in the dyes in this period be caustic and therefore cause coloured dresses to rot easily over time?... Were coloured silk dresses more likely to be reused or cut up for use in later periods?... Were white dresses more associated with special occasions rather than everyday wear and therefore more likely to be preserved for sentimental value?

Following these hypotheses she then presents a great deal of primary source material from fashion plates and journals that show colored dresses were far more common than the museum collections might lead one to believe. I'm so pleased to have found this article--it was a fascinating read.

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While we're on the subject of the Regency, it might interest you to know that Regency novelist D. W. Wilkin has compiled a Regency Lexicon to aid you in understanding those peculiar turns of phrase that Georgette Heyer so delighted in.

For instance, did you know that an "Act of Parliament" was "a military term for small beer, five pints of which, by an act of parliament, a landlord was formerly obliged to give to each soldier gratis"? No? Then perhaps you knew that a "juniper lecture" was "a round scolding bout," or that a "little clergyman" was "a young chimney-sweeper"? If not, head on over to the Lexicon and browse about for some Jane Austen period slang, most of which that good lady would have never included in one of her own novels.

I Serve Awarded "Indie Book of the Day"

This was a nice surprise to wake up to. Apparently, a fan nominated I Serve for Indie Book of the Day and the editorial staff selected it as today's winner. I even get a certificate and a badge and everything. Thanks to whoever nominated me. This really put a smile on my face.

Happy Six Months to the Third Boy

Marcus Jasper Spears - Six Months Old

He was ten pounds when we born, and I figured he'd catch up with the twins sooner or later. Well, it's sooner rather than later. All three boys are in the same size diapers now, and stretchy clothing like pajamas has become interchangeable. Adam and Oliver are still about 6 pounds heavier than Marcus, but the third boy is gaining fast.

We had Marcus' six month pics in the same blue chair
under the same apple tree in our back yard...

...where the twins had their six month pics.
It's fun to compare them. 

Pictures by Grammy Pics

Happy six months, Marcus! 

We like you lots.

The Book inside Each of Us

"There's a book inside each of us." 

I'm not sure if this statement applies universally, but I know that with my husband and me, it certainly rings true. The interesting thing about it is how different each of our internal books happen to be.

The book inside of me is centuries old and half a world away. It comes complete with chain mail, catapults, famine, foes, visions, intrigue, and a love triangle or two.

The book inside of my husband deals with something far more modern. It involves statistics, graphs, personal anecdotes, and eighty hours of fieldwork at a nearby freeway exit ramp.

My book: a tale of the First Crusade.

His book: an economic case study on the profitability of panhandling.

Here's to hoping that both books gestate by the end of the year! Here's to hoping that one or both of them becomes a bestseller! Because the one thing I don't want my husband's fieldwork to prove is that there's more money to be made in panhandling than there is in writing books.