Son of an Earl: Behind the [Historical] Scenes
Let’s talk about some of the history in Son of an Earl.
Cognizant that I’m writing historical romance, and not historical fiction, I attempt to keep some of the grittier historical tidbits at bay. Trust me, this is a good thing. There are times I begin the day with one little fact to research and four hours later I’ve forgotten to write. You do not want all of those details in the book.
On the other hand, as a long-time histrom reader myself, I know we enjoy learning new things even though we’re there first and foremost for the romance. So without further ado, here are some of the things I uncovered in researching for Son of an Earl that I thought you might find interesting.
First of all, William Wallace…
Yes, I took some liberties with him. (Though not as many as Braveheart did!) He was a very tall man, gregarious by most accounts and, most importantly for our story, off the grid for most of the years between 1298 after he resigned as Guardian of Scotland (in favor of Robert the Bruce, the future king) and 1305 when he was captured. Most believe he remained in the borderlands of Scotland training men but some accounts have him traveling to France to secure the Philip IV of France’s support. This letter from the French king dated 7 November 1300 to his envoys in Rome seems to suggest as much along with the possibility Wallace may have also traveled to Rome during this time.
Of course, the events in Son of an EarlL are based on these events, and though we have very little detail aside from the trip to France itself, I was happy to fill in the blanks.
Incidentally, how do we know so much about William Wallace? One account comes from a 15th century poem titled “The Wallace” by the makar (royal poet) Blind Harry in which he claims Wallace to have been seven feet tall. Centuries later, Wallace was described by Walter Brower who wrote a history of Scotland in the 14th century as “a tall man with the body of a giant, cheerful in appearance with agreeable features, broad-shouldered and big-boned… pleasing in appearance but with a wild look, broad in the hips, with strong arms and legs, a most spirited fighting-man, with all his limbs very strong and firm.”
Beyond his appearance, how about that hidden fortress in the Ettrick Forest? Those details came from this article, and I personally am choosing to believe it is all true!
One of my favorite things about historical romance is finding details in history to exploit for a love story. When I set out to write the spin-off series of the Border Series, based on the dates and ages of the children, it became immediately clear Brotherhood of the Border would be venturing into William Wallace territory. As a long-time lover of Braveheart, even though I like to tease it for the lack of historical correctness, the possibilities were exciting to me. So forgive my Wallace-heavy historical tidbits. . .
In non-Wallace news, I did dig up what is supposed to be one of the greatest British beef stew recipes of all time, and I like to think a version of this is what can be found at The Wild Boar. I’m yet to try it though, so if you do, let me know what you think!
I hope you’ve enjoyed a peek behind the curtain of some of the facts that helped shaped Son of an Earl. Next up in the Brotherhood of the Border series is Boyd’s story, A Lass of His Own, which you can preorder here on Amazon.
