Wyclif’s calls for the scriptures to be at the heart of the church’s teachings caused suspicion at first, and then alarm – particularly as Wyclif also courted controversy with many of his other ideas. He was opposed to many fundamental beliefs of the church, particularly the sale of indulgences and relics, and the doctrine of transubstantiation (the belief that the bread and wine of communion are transformed into the actual body and blood of Christ). Wyclif was greatly affected by the Black Death, claiming it was a punishment on the clergy for their many corruptions, and warning that the End of Days was coming if they did not repent. Wyclif attracted a group of followers at Oxford, men such as my character Godfrey of Eden – idealists who shared his apocalyptic view of the future. Men who were also impatient to start spreading the Word of God through the reading of the scriptures.
In The Bone Fire, my character Godfrey secretly makes a translation of the New Testament into English. This translation is entirely my own invention, but is based on the fact that Wyclif himself translated the bible into English in his latter years, before disseminating this work through a network of sympathetic priests. His bible proved to be immensely popular, as people were intrigued to hear the scriptures in their own tongue for the first time, but this popularity also alarmed the church – this time to the point of repression. In The Bone Fire, Oswald is reluctant to become involved with Godfrey and his work, fearing the retribution of the church. This fear was not unfounded, for the church did not willingly tolerate dissent, burning many of Wyclif’s followers, a group known as the Lollards, at the stake for heresy. As for Wyclif himself, he died of natural causes in 1384, but was excommunicated after his death. His corpse was exhumed in 1415, his bones were burnt and then his ashes were thrown into a river.
Wyclif’s works might have been banned and his followers might have been driven underground – but ultimately the church failed to suppress his ideas and his desire for a bible in English. Wyclif and the Lollards were the first vocal non-conformists in England, sharing many views with later reformers such as Luther, Calvin and Zwingli – thus paving the way for the Reformation and England’s historic break with Rome.
Lastly, I wanted to say a few words about time-keeping in the fourteenth century. It is hard for us today to imagine a life without knowing the precise time, but this is how people lived before the advent of clocks – their lives defined by the rising and setting of the sun, or by the bells in the abbeys ringing out the canonical hours – time set aside for prayers such as Lauds or Vespers. Either way, time itself was an imprecise concept. The first mechanical clocks were developed in the early fourteenth century, but we don’t see the grand astronomical clocks in the abbeys and palaces of England until the latter decades. By the end of the century there were such clocks all over Europe – changing the pattern of the working day forever, as clocks finally came to govern our lives.
Acknowledgements
My heartfelt thanks go out firstly to my editor Nick Sayers, and to my agent Gordon Wise. Your continued support, encouragement and words of guidance with this book are so greatly appreciated. My thanks also to my American publisher Claiborne Hancock and Jessica Case at Pegasus in New York, and agent Deborah Schneider at Gelfman Schneider. What a wonderful team behind my books! I would like to also thank my friends from the world of writing – the Prime Writers and the Historical Writers Association – and in particular, Martine Bailey, Nick Brown, Antonia Hodgson and Rebecca Mascull. My husband Paul continues to be a writer’s dream partner – always keeping well out of my way when I’m obviously struggling with a knotty plot problem, and then turning up at just the right moment with a cup of tea, or glass of wine. And I must mention my children, Natalie and Adam, who are not only my trusted early readers, but also my most loyal cheerleaders – even books need some unconditional love. I want to save my biggest thanks, however, for my sister Kathy. We’ve had a difficult couple of years as a family, but she has been our tower of strength with her energy, love and sense of purpose.
Also by S. D. Sykes
The Butcher Bird
Plague Land
City of Masks
THE BONE FIRE
Pegasus Crime is an imprint of
Pegasus Books, Ltd.
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Copyright © 2019 by S. D. Sykes
First Pegasus Books hardcover edition September 2019
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