Ori, in a customarily generous comment on my previous post, spoke of the “Edutainment” value of my Viking novels, that people learn history from them. I like to think there’s some truth in that. But it got me thinking about the historical errors that I nevertheless do promulgate in my books. A few historical errors that come to mind follow:
1. In my books, Erling’s father Skjalg dies about the year 994, very close to the beginning of the story. In real life, according to the sagas, Skjalg was killed in a slave rebellion while Erling was still a young boy. How I got it wrong: This particular part of Erling’s story is not found in Heimskringla, my primary source. It comes from a reference in another saga, which I’d never heard of when I wrote Erling’s Word. I covered my tracks in The Year of the Warrior by referring to the slave rebellion, but having Skjalg survive it.
2. The traditional dates for King Olaf Trygvesson’s reign are 995 to 1000 A.D. But if you read The Year of the Warrior and pay close attention, you’ll see that only four years are reported, rather than five. How I got it wrong: I had no use for another year, so I ignored it. This is the sort of thing you can get away with in a novel, most of the time.
3. Erling tells Father Aillil that, although his father was a heathen, he himself was converted to Christianity after a raid in Ireland. In fact, historians believe that Jaeder (Erling’s original area of influence) was Christianized as far back as the reign of Haakon the Good. Heathen graves in the area disappear around that time, according to archaeologists. In all likelihood, the real Skjalg was a Christian. How I got it wrong: This was something else I didn’t learn until Erling’s Word had been published. I paper it over by mentioning that Christianity has become popular in Jaeder, and the heathen are feeling threatened. And frankly, it’s more dramatic to make Erling a rebel against his father’s religion. I might have chosen to do it that way even if I had known.
4. I speak of King Harald Finehair and his family as coming from eastern Norway, and of Olaf Trygvesson as being Harald’s descendent. Both those contentions are based on Heimskringla, and both are questioned by historians today. Historians from western Norway have been fighting hard in the last few years for the idea that Harald (traditionally the first king of a united Norway) came from the west, and that later saga writers, in order to legitimize the reigning dynasty, made him an easterner. (Apparently they’ve been having trouble with that, though, and a compromise is being hammered out.) It does seem clear that Olaf Trygvesson (and the later St. Olaf Haraldsson) were not descendants of Harald. How I got it wrong: Again, I didn’t know about these things when I wrote. But you know, I’m dealing with a national epic here. Trying to be too meticulous wouldn’t buy me much. And ten years down the road, historians will probably have changed their minds again anyway.
I think you owe the world to publish the sequel to “West Oversea” with an afterword that contains a confession of your errors. You wouldn’t want historians a thousand years from now to be wrong, would you?
OK, I’m being a bit underhanded here – but I do want you to publish the sequel to West Oversea, and this seemed like a good opportunity to harp on that particular string.
It all depends on my publisher, and he all depends on how many copies of this one sell. 🙂
I think there’s ample, ample room for retelling the story of Erling’s youth in an alternative universe. In fact!! Erling Skjalgsson could become the next Allen Quartermain! Tremble at that thought will you!!
How very odd you should say that. The next Erling book is what I describe as “a sort of H. Rider Haggard thing.”
It was a natural next step. Of course, you could simply have the man return to Vinland on another voyage only to discover colonial America ripe for revolution against the king. Erling could then take up the stars and stripes alongside George Washington.
Which reminds me, I’ve often wondered how good fantasy could work outside the typical medieval world, like in a colonial setting with muskets and enlightenment ideas, and still have the joy of the old stories.
Phil, have you tried the Alvin Maker series? It has approximately what you’re discussing.
It works OK with low levels of magic, similar to urban fantasy. But it’s a lot harder to pull off with more magic – it feels unreal.
Thanks, Ori. That looks pretty cool. I didn’t know about it. When I think fantasy, I think Tolkien, so that’s probably on the low end of magic levels, even though all of Middle Earth is magical.
Thanks for this. I like the Author’s Afterwords in the Richard Sharpe books, where he owns up to all the ways in which he played fast and loose with history.