Here is an interesting fact about Henry VII’s reign. After he was crowned, Henry summoned his first Parliament and reworked recent events to suit himself. He legally labeled Richard III a false king in order to justify his own flimsy claim to the throne. What was even more unusual about Henry VII’s first Parliament is how he dated his reign. He dated his reign to the day before he defeated Richard III on the Battle of Bosworth Field. You may ask what is the significance of a single day. By dating his reign to the day before he defeated Richard III, Henry was effectively accusing EVERYONE who sided with Richard III of treason! This gave Henry the legal right to attaint Richard’s surviving loyalists any time he wanted. To be attainted is to have all of your lands, titles, and wealth stripped away. This frightened many Yorkists into submission and begrudgingly accepted Henry as their new king. I am thinking of doing something similar with my fantasy series.
I thought of another book to work on in the future. I have noticed that many of the major fantasy book series include a book that elaborates the history and lore of their respective fantasy worlds. With this in mind, I am thinking of writing a book that explains all of the history and lore of the fantasy world in the Magnus Dynasty Saga. Everything from the fall of Homantis to the rise of the Sylva Dynasty will be elaborated. I am even thinking of hiring a neighbor of mine who is an artist to create illustrations for the project. Once I am done with my Magnus Dynasty Saga, I will keep you updated as soon as I get started.
In my medieval research into the Tudor Dynasty, I discovered the origin of their sigil. Throughout the War of the Roses, the red rose represented the House of Lancaster and the white rose represented the House of York. When the War of the Roses ended with Henry VII’s marriage to Elizabeth of York, he created a new sigil for his dynasty to symbolize the end of the war and the unification of York and Lancaster. The symbol consisted of the red rose of Lancaster and white rose of York combined into one rose: The Tudor Rose. For my fantasy series, I will be doing something similar in the third volume where a new sigil is created to symbolize the unification of two dynasties after a bloody civil war.
My Viking and Anglo-Saxon ancestors tended to celebrate inside of mead halls, which were the precursors of great halls of medieval castles. To provide you with a more vivid picture of what the interior of Magnus Keep looks like in my fantasy series, the great hall would look like a mead hall where the king of Umbran would invite their barons and knights to celebrate multiple occasions. This mead/great hall will be prominently featured in my second fantasy book especially after it was renovated.
A common beverage from the Viking and Anglo-Saxon eras is mead, which is an alcoholic drink that is seasoned with fermented honey. Because of the usage of honey, mead tends to have various levels of sweetness. I am thinking of including mead in my second fantasy book during the epic wedding that will take place at the beginning. The type of mead that I will be including will possess a fiery-sweet flavor and a heavy yet smooth texture.
I discovered in my medieval research that there was a surprising ingredient in several everyday items and tasks: URINE! When dying fabrics different colors, tailors would use stale urine from a man. In fact, throughout the 1300s London had buckets in street corners where men would “donate” their urine so that it would collected by dye workers. The reason the use urine to dye fabric is because the ammonia in the urine would make the dye change color. They also used urine while making soaps because the ammonia in the urine acts like a natural bleach. In Tudor kitchens, cooks would use child’s urine to change the color of gelatine molds. It may sound disgusting at first, but this was the norm of Tudor cooking because they valued the presentation and appearance of food rather than the taste and texture. Even if the food did not taste good, it had to look good as though it were part of an art gallery.
While creating the Empire of Gradaia for my Magnus Dynasty Saga, I drew a lot of inspiration from the real life Holy Roman Empire. Like the Holy Roman Emperor, the Emperor or Empress of Gradaia is titled His or Her Imperial Majesty. When it comes to choosing a successor, the Holy Roman Empire had elections. The Empire of Gradaia uses a similar system whenever there are so many potential heirs that the line of succession becomes unclear, but the system they use is much more complex than a regular election. In addition, both Empires consist of multiple monarchies who answer to their Emperor. One of the major differences between the Holy Roman Empire and Gradaia is that the Holy Roman Emperor answers only to the Pope while the Emperor of Gradaia answers to no one, not even the Temple of the Elemental Gods.
