I have a title for the sixth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, and today I wrote the first scene. I’m calling it Cade’s Legacy. I described my progress in my last update. But it feels real now. I have started the scrivener file, added character sketches, and background research from various sources including academic papers from JSTOR.
You may wonder about the title. Following Claire’s suggestion to change the name of my fifth book from The Favourite Murder to Serpent’s Tooth, then Serpent’s Teeth, I too have dipped into Shakespeare for inspiration.
“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child” is from Act 1 Scene 4 of King Lear. I searched through Shakespeare for reference to education and hit gold in Henry VI part 2.
“Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used…”
These words are spoken by Jack Cade who was a Kentish rebel trying to overthrow the king. Cade also insists that anyone who can read or write should be executed:
“Hang him with his pen and inkhorn about his neck.”
Literacy is framed as evidence of guilt. Knowledge undermines Cade’s populist authority because:
- Educated people can question his claims
- They understand law and governance
- They threaten his promise of a simplistic, egalitarian order
Cade’s rebellion depends on keeping his followers ignorant and emotionally inflamed. Looking at politics today, Trump and Reform springing to mind, I feel revalidated in writing historical fiction. The character of people and politics don’t change much.