Delving into Research

I’m working on the new medieval (Ewan’s book) now, and one of the things that makes it interesting for me, is digging up new bits of history. His book takes place in 1180, and the Norman invaders were most definitely making a place for themselves in Ulster, Ireland. I was trying to connect Ewan’s bride to events happening at the time, and I stumbled upon an interesting fellow named John de Courcy.

John de Courcy built the castle of Carrickfergus in northern Ireland, after he led a campaign there in 1177. The castle was built and finished by 1180. I visited Carrickfergus in 2006 and despite the cheesy medieval statues hanging around, it’s a good example of twelfth century castle architecture. Ewan’s book, incidentally, takes place in 1180.

This is an upstairs chamber within Carrickfergus, possibly a bedchamber or solar, from my best guess. They tried to make it child-friendly by putting a large chess set and a few other items in the room. One thing that impressed me was how much natural light there was in the chamber.

There were also many interesting things to see, like this salt cellar. I imagine John de Courcy must have had a fairly good income, to afford fun little decorative pieces like this. Not bad for a Norman knight.

Anyway, for me, part of the fun in researching a book is looking for the little details like these.