I told you in an earlier post that my copy of The Young Richelieu had finally arrived. Since the book is an essential element of my research for the fifth of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, I shall keep you informed of my progress. I am halfway through chapter 3, and have learnt a little about Armand’s father, François. He was Grand Provost to King Henry III. The post offered opportunity for accumulating great wealth. Therefore it was surprising that he instead accumulated great debts. The reason is that he was an inveterate gambler, addicted to get rich quick schemes.
François was a violent and ruthless man. He was perfectly suited to his job, which amongst other duties, made him, effectively, the king’s hitman. What I love about Elizabeth Marvik’s approach to biography, is her attention to the psychoanalytical approach. I am interested to see how much of Armand’s character came from nature, and how much from nurture. The next chapter is about Armand’s mother, Suzanne.
I hope the research is worth it, because must be an infinite number of directions I can the fifth book. I can’t really explain why I’m walking this path, it’s just that Paris seems to be the obvious place for Maria and Manuel to go. Maria knows Louis XIII so well, and royal patronage is not to be sniffed at. I wonder if I can involve the three musketeers at some point. That would be fun! My books revolve around so many real historical characters, it might be interesting to introduce another author’s imaginary historical characters too. I hope Alexandre Dumas doesn’t mind. Can characters be copyright? I’m sure I can use Armand, Cardinal Richelieu, since he is a historical figure. But how about D’Artagnan?
I’ve just looked into the copyright in characters. It seems to depend on whether the character is intrinsic to the story, or a chessman moving the story forwards. So Tarzan is copyright, but Sam Spade isn’t. Where does D’Artagnan sit?