Rafi and Hugh and the Power of Research
I hate to admit this, but I didn’t make Rafi up with the power of my own imagination. Winchester, specifically researchers of the city, did it for me.
They didn’t mean to, but they did. The novel wasn’t even supposed to be written from a male perspective, and yet, here we are. Research gave me Hugh directly because he really existed so his name and background were all over the records. But Rafi had to be created.
I’m not a medieval historian – my specialism is 1485-1714, and even then, I spent most of my studies on Europe, - political, not social. French Wars of Religion, Thirty Years War, that kind of thing. Fascinating though they are I felt like a change, as Rafi said when he threw himself off a balcony instead of using the stairs. Believe me, this felt much the same. So I had to start completely from scratch. And I was rusty. It had been a long, long time since I’d been a history student.
I found Hugh in the survey of Medieval Winchester by Derek Keene, an incredible piece of research listing every house, every tenant, rents, gardens, commercial properties. And there he was, over and over again – owned by Hugh Le Cran, paid rent to, rented out by. If I walk through Winchester, which I often do, I find myself muttering ‘he owned this, oh, and that one, erm, and those ones as well…’ Stand in front of the Buttercross and look anywhere – he owned virtually the entire street. Staple Gardens, which you pass on your way to the train station well, who was Master of the Staple back then? Go on, guess, you’ll be right.
Hugh wasn’t the only one. There were other rich merchants listed, I pored over the names in the library but I picked on him. And then he became the protagonist, briefly, but I still couldn’t get a plot. Then I found Roger Writel, recorded as selling woad for his master, Hugh. And THEN I found Hugh’s seal in the Hampshire records office. But somehow, he still didn’t feel right as the main protagonist.
So I had lots of history, some names, a seal, but no plot. And no hero. What to do, what to do?
But this is the wonderful thing about research. It created Rafi for me, because of course, a cloth merchant would trade with Flanders. But what if there was some conflict there, perhaps someone French? Yes, England and France are at war, we’ve had Crecy and Poitiers.
Crecy? Aha! To quote Supt. Hastings, now we’re sucking diesel. Love interest? No brainer. So poor old Rafi was really a passive find, which fitted his character, to be fair. But who was he? Apprentice was fine but not enough.
The misericorde dagger in the local museum gave me an idea and then, courtesy of Winchester Cathedral, I uncovered a world of backstory for him. Painting. Medieval paints and materials and sculpting and masonry and woodwork and carving, all being exhibited, rather beautifully, it has to be said, in a building these characters would have known well.
There he was, finally. An artist. Or, specifically, an illuminator. Creative of course, but studious and thoughtful, an introvert too prone to prevarication. Look at everything from lots of angles, catch the light, how does it fall? Not a hero. He’d have to spend the entire novel trying to find his spine, and there was his character arc.
Someone told me to add a bit of comedy as it was becoming too “worthy and serious” so Serlo and the incident with the meat cart appeared (Serlo also existed in the survey, but from a previous century). Shouty Raymond was mine. The survey index alerted me to Thurstin, a clerk. I loved that name. I wanted a Thurstin. Hugh would have had a clerk, of course he would. Without the research there’d have been no Thurstin holding all those secrets. Without Winchester library, there’d have been a different book, or maybe no book at all.
I am very fond of Rafi and Hugh and it’s been hard working on Book II where they’re no longer in focus. They’re there a bit, but it’s not about them anymore. Roger is also a favourite and I miss him too. Not sure if a “Rafi and Roger Roadtrip” will ever happen. I’m honestly tempted, though.
And as it happens, I’ve left the world of religious wars and political intrigue. Finding ordinary people in their daily life has become much more appealing. I wish I’d studied medieval history all those (too many to count) years ago, but I’m doing it now and loving it.
Oh, and as ever, support your local library (she said, preaching to the converted).
