Gilbert’s maritime adventures led him as far as the New World, and he died on one return journey; stubbornness did him in, as it likely had in other endeavors, too. This time, it saw to his end. He died on board his beloved ship Squirrel, slowly sinking, reading a book on the stern as he went down with his ship. It is believed he was reading Utopia by Sir Thomas More. A hard-fought, hard-won, dynamic, incredible, and sometimes deplorable, life.
References to dyes and the history of Rardove
My second book, The Irish Warrior, was set in 1297 at Rardove. The story of the dyes and the madness of a 13th century baron—and the vengeful Irishman and merchant widow—are told in that story.
Anachronisms
Glacier-From mid-1700’s in English, but derived from the French word glacier, which is 16th c, so I went with it, as Aodh knows French.
Hellcat – Was not documented in use until 1605. “Wildcat” was, but that felt even more anachronistic to me! So I decided, seriously, 15 years?? I’m sure someone thought it about someone else long before another someone else wrote it down.
Mark – as in “You’re wasting your fight on the wrong mark, my lady.” Someone pointed out that ‘mark’ as a victim was not in use at this time. I would counter by saying it was not documented, a very different thing. That said, its use here was as a ‘target’ for Katarina’s anger, and that use was very much was documented, by 1350.
I used a few other words or phrases that were not documented as being in use at the time of the story—for instance, ‘en route’ (!?!)—but I tend to err on the side of atmosphere and plausibility. Hopefully you felt immersed, even when people were ‘en route’ to places.