Overall Sansom does a pretty good job of avoiding anachronism, while using basically modern language (I'm not a great fan of the "thee, thou" school of historical writing—you can't write "in period" because we wouldn't understand it, and using such dressing is like those home improvement shows that turn a suburban dining room into a medieval hall with a bit of plywood and paint.)
But it is funny how odd words grate: Matthew refers sometimes to his "condition", sometimes others refer to him as a "cripple", both of which seem fair enough, but sometimes he is thinking of his "disability"—I'm not sure exactly why, but this just seems too modern a word.
Reading such fiction makes you realise how little we really know about the details of historical life. I'd question, although I can't cite sources why, whether Matthew and his sidekick in the first novel would really have changed into nightshirts to sleep (which becomes significant in the plot)—surely, particularly when staying at a rough country inn, they would have slept in their day clothes.
Then Matthew in Dark Fire is forever saddling his horse to ride a mile or so across London. I think of Pepys, rather later of course, but he used to walk down to Rochester, and all across London. Given the difficulty of finding somewhere for the horse at the other end, would Matthew not have walked?
Still, will I buy the next in the series? Probably.
Article comments
1 - Aaman
Who is the 'other' Cromwell?
2 - DrPat
Thomas, who acted with Henry VIII to dissolve the monasteries, not Roundhead Oliver...
3 - Natalie
Indeed, thanks Pat. (Perhaps I'm a little TOO enmeshed in English history at the moment.)
In the comments on this post on my personal blog, Philobiblon, Sharon from Early Modern Notes does an excellent job of answering my night attire question.