Battle scenes … always a challenge

Dear readers – my apologies for the gap in coverage. We had a major leak last winter and it is only during the past few weeks that my husband and I have been able to get everything back in order. Finding time for blog posts has not been easy.

But, on to the topic of battle scenes.

Some of you know that my first four novels featured wars – WWI, WWII and the siege of Paris in 1870. You might think that I know a thing or two about the strategies, preparation, and conduct of a battle as well as its impact on the soldiers involved. However, writing such a scene varies greatly with the time period.

I’m writing a second children’s novel for my grandsons – SHHH!! it’s a secret. The setting is 1487 during the reign of Henry VII and the story features the Battle of Stoke. Although I’ve read many novels set in the middle ages – Elizabeth Chadwick, Ken Follett, Sharon Kay Penman, and others – the work of bringing a period to life within a novel requires in depth research and immersion. So too with warfare.

The written accounts of the battle that I found online featured the setting, the leaders involved, the treachery of those who rebelled against the king, the numbers of troops and deaths – all interesting. But to go deeper into the minds of those who fought, I turned to fiction and non-fiction.

• The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick – Historical fact and fiction are entwined in this engrossing story about the infamous William Marshal. He was the penniless young knight who was plucked from obscurity to become a royal favourite and went on to be described as ‘the true Lancelot’. This is the fascinating fictionalised story of the jealousies, romance and conflict within the royal court that led to him becoming a forgotten hero.
• Winter King: Henry VII and The Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn – It was 1501. England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and countercoups. Through luck, guile and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, had clambered to the top of the heap–a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England’s throne. For many he remained a usurper, a false king. Rich with drama and insight, Winter King is an astonishing story of pageantry, treachery, intrigue and incident–and the fraught, dangerous birth of Tudor England.
• Henry: Book Three of The Tudor Trilogy by Tony Riches – Would you become King of England… If you had to win the crown by conquest? Henry Tudor’s victory over King Richard III at Bosworth is only the beginning. Can he end the Wars of the Roses through marriage to the beautiful Princess Elizabeth – and unite the warring houses of Lancaster and York? Resentment, treachery, rebels and pretenders threaten Henry’s throne. 
• Knight’s Fee by Rosemary Sutcliffe – Hidden behind the battlements on the roof of the gatehouse crouched Randal the dog-boy, watching for the arrival of Hugh Goch, the new Lord of Arundel Castle. As the cavalcade approached the great gateway, a small thing happened; Randal dropped the fig he had been eating on to the nose of Hugh’s mettlesome horse. It was this seemingly trivial incident that first set the boy, whose days had been spent among the castle hounds, on the path to a new life; it was the first step in his rise from dog-boy to knight–though the price he had to pay for this final honour was a heavy one.

Each of these books offered details about medieval life, the training required of a knight and a knight’s life, Henry VII’s personality and the advisors who were close to him, and the mindset of those who fought the king’s battles. They also provide intriguing details:

• “The clatter of hooves competed with the rhythmic thump of a thousand marching boots.” Henry by Tony Riches
• “His hauberk was already in the armoury having the links repaired” The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick
• “escorted through the gatehouses freshly painted with red roses, portcullises, greyhounds and rouged dragons” Winter King by Thomas Penn
• “The armoury was on the ground floor of the keep, with the dungeons and storerooms, beneath the guardroom” Knight’s Fee by Rosemary Sutcliffe

Of course, I had to dig into other topics like how strong is a hauberk, how far can an arrow launched by a longbow fly, what are the duties of a squire during battle and so on. Great fun, of course. However, every sentence that I constructed for that battle scene took time, additional research, and careful deliberation.

Writing a novel for my grandsons has given me great joy. I hope they like it!

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M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel THAT WAS THEN is a contemporary thriller. Mary’s other novels, THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads or on her website www.mktod.com.