Re: Plot Musings

Bill Swears <wswears@xxxxxxx> wrote:

Michelle Bottorff wrote:
Zeborah <zeborah@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

One of my (early 16th century) characters once wanted to get married
until it was pointed out he'd have to reveal his name. I think he's
going to get married in this book, by which time TPTB will determine
that his current pseudonym is sufficient a name for the purpose. (Hmm.
I wonder if that'll require a dispensation of some kind? Any medieval
Catholic scholars in the room?)

::waits hopefully::
One approach is to have the hero known by more than one name. Royalty
especially, tended to have multiple names.

Royalty *now* tends to have multiple names. In my period the King is
Frederik, the Queen is Anna, and the Princess is Dorothea. I think in
*one* period document I've seen [name] [name]'s son for a king, but
otherwise it's just plain Frederik or Christian(1). (Well, "by God's
grace elected king of Denmark Norway and Sweden, duke of this that and
the other, count of a couple other bits and pieces" but that's not a
name.)

Nobility is [Name] [Name]'s son/daughter or [Name] [Surname]; commoners
are [Name] [Name's] son/daughter unless they're foreigners in which case
[Name] [Surname]. A few people are widely known by nicknames.

My main character is known only by a nickname.

Could work for Michelle's character though, I don't know.

Zeborah
(1) Seriously. By my period, and up to the present day, if you want to
be a king in Denmark those are your two choices. Close intertextual
reading of historical documents suggests that the Count's Feud in the
1530s was in fact about whether "Christopher" was close enough to
"Christian" to be eligible for the throne. While the Catholics
supported a looser, more traditional view of the law, the Lutherans
upheld the more literal reading. This latter position triumphed, and
ever since the country has been ruled by Christians and peaceful kings.
--
Gravity is no joke.
http://www.geocities.com/zeborahnz/
rasfc FAQ: http://www.lshelby.com/rasfcFAQ.html
.

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