Hints in History - Oxford History of the Crusades

Once again I plunged into history and I found several good story ideas or elements I could use to color my stories. Just change the trappings and anything old is new again. And when you’re talking about the Crusades, you’re talking pretty old.

I picked up the book because of the video game “Assassin’s Creed” which takes place during the Third Crusade and did an excellent job of bringing the world to life. It inspired me to do a bit more research into the subject (especially since I love history and medieval history in particular). After some research I found that “The Oxford History of the Crusades” got some great reviews, so I picked it up.

I’ll be up front and say that this book is really for readers who are familiar with the Crusades already. It approaches the topic not chronology, but by topics. It also assumes you are pretty familiar with the events of the crusades, and goes more into aspects of the wars. Some of it was very interesting, including the examination of the Military Orders, such as the Templars. But this approach could become very dry, dissecting the events in a way that lost appeal for me. I love history because of the story it tells, the characters, the plot. Breaking it down in this way tends to be too distanced and cold.

But there were a couple of sections that really brought out the people who took part in these wars. One section dealt solely with the minds and perceptions of the early crusaders. Why would someone want to leave everything they ever knew and tromp off to kill or be killed in the Holy Land? Our modern minds can’t really understand it, and because of poor record keeping (especially during the first couple Crusades) we can only speculate. But the ideas presented are sound and provide a perspective that could be used in another format.

These people engage in a war that will not only serve the will of their god, but will assure them a place in heaven. It will remove all their sins, even the ones of killing, and give them a clean slate when they get to heaven. It all works out and the inspiration of their god or gods us driving them. They become a force to be reckoned with, especially against a government that is dealing with internal strife.

Set in a fantasy story line (althougth Robert Howard already did it in Conan a few times) or in a space opera setting and you’ve got lots of material to work with.

Also of note were the powerful Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa. They directly and indirectly affected the outcomes of the crusades with their trade wars and trade agreements. These powers affected the later crusades and ended up causing some major troubles for Christian military orders and Islamic armies alike. Again, I saw a lot of story potentials with these city-states and how they manipulated both sides to make the most money. You’ve got a lot of characters just waiting to be explored here.

Sure the obvious set up would be historical fiction. But for the genre writer, you can do more with this root. Just some research and your imagination and you’ve got all kinds of interesting stories waiting to be told.

So I suggest you check out the book and the Crusades in general. I think you’ll find all kinds of things to get your creative juices going and you’ll also learn a bit of world history in the progress. Not a bad deal really.

Have you used any history as a basis for your work? Do you have a favorite time period you enjoy researching? Have you read a book that seemed inspired by historical events but cloaked them in a creative way?

Story Evolution – Makers of Rome

I had a history teacher in college say something to the effect of, “Plutarch wrote a series of histories about famous Romans and Greeks. These are called ‘Plutarch’s Lives’. It might be better to call them ‘Plutarch’s Lies’.” It got a nerdy chuckle from most of us, and I never really delved into Plutarch after that.

After my adventures with Herodotus last year, I decided some more ancient histories could make a good read. I ran into Plutarch’s name quite a bit, and since I had recently finished watching the HBO series “Rome” it seemed like reading some of Plutarch’s Roman lives would fit the bill.

I settled on the penguin classics version called “Makers of Rome”. This covers nine lives spanning from the legendary (and possibly mythical) general Coriolanus up to Mark Antony, the infamous lover of Queen Cleopatra. I also got to read about Fabius Maximus, Marcellus, Cato the Elder, Tiberius Gracchus, Gaiu Gracchus, Sertorius, and Brutus. For those of you who could care less about all these guys with “us” at the end of there names – hold on, there is a point.

First thing, the introduction pointed out that Shakespeare used Plutarch’s lives to create three plays: The Tragedy of Coriolanus, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra. Now I’d never heard of a play about Coriolanus, but like most people I had to read Julius Caesar back in high school. I remembered that the play was more about Brutus than Caesar, and reading the Life of Brutus makes it all fall into place.

The really interesting part comes with Mark Antony. The Penguin edition includes an Appendix all about this particular life. It not only points out all the changes that Plutarch made to the history, but also pointed out the changes that Shakespeare made on top of that.

Now, I should clear something up here. Plutarch never set out to write history. His goal in writing these lives was to create a biography of these famous people to prove a point. Most of the time these were ethical ideals that the famous figure would be measured against – sometimes acting as an ideal example, other times failing to make the grade. In either case, Plutarch would sometimes warp history to fit the needs of his biography. So really Plutarch should read, “Based on a true story.”

Shakespeare makes some dramatic changes as well. Most of this has to do with shortening the time in which the story takes place, but there are other historical differences. However, since he is basing his play on Plutarch’s version of events, his version of Antony comes across a bit different from the historical version of the man.

And this was the version of Mark Antony that appeared in HBO’s “Rome”. It was interesting to see how long the image of an impulsive and completely manipulated Antony has prevailed. Even Cleopatra fares on the poor side of things. She is usually shown as a woman who is driven by her base desires and impulses. These end up causing her and Antony misfortune. But modern historians find that Cleopatra was far from the impulsive woman she is usually portrayed as.

This all tells me that writers have been messing with history since the time of Plutarch (and even before if you take a look at Herodotus). It also tells me that the evolution of a story can take many forms, twisting and turning through time. Each new author adding their new take on the old tale. Does that make all us storyteller liars?

It reminds me of a Mystery Science Theater episode called, “I Accuse My Parents”. The movie revolves around a young man who lies about his parents to his friends and classmates. His parents are drunk good for nothings, but according to Jimmy, they are wonderful caregivers. Jimmy’s lies pile up and up and up. At one point in the movie one of the robots quips, “He’s a gifted storyteller”. And that actually got me thinking. Are all storytellers liars?

Have you read Plutarch? What did you think of his work? How about Shakespeare’s take on historical events? If you are a writer or storyteller, do you consider yourself a liar?

The War that Inspired a Story - 1812: The War that Forged a Nation

I was reading an article that compared the situations around the War of 1812 to the situations around the current war in Iraq. While it didn't really enlighten me too much, it did pique my interest in the War of 1812, an event that I knew very little about. After bouncing over to the trusted source of info, Wikipedia, I went over to Amazon to see what books existed on the subject. After some research I found that "1812: The War that Forged a Nation" was considered a very accessible overview of the conflict.

I have to say that the book is a solid read, moves at a brisk pace taking you from the many issues that lead up to the war (both official and unofficial) up to the signing of the Treaty of Ghent and the battles that occurred afterward (since it took so long for word of the treaty to arrive by sailing ship from Belgium). Some people have complained that the language in the book is too familiar. But the writer is going for an audience who is not familiar with all the people, places and events. This is not a book for people interested in details and depth. It is an overview and told in a conversational style.

So now I know more about the War of 1812, now what? Well I can use it for story ideas of course!

One of the reasons I enjoy history is that if it is presented right, it's a story. The War of 1812 lends itself to all kinds of possibilities. First is the most obvious, a story that takes place during the war. You've got several factions to pick from, Americans, British, Native Americans, Canadians, Spanish, French and even a pirate or two. You can go wide and attempt to write something epic that covers the entire war, "Gone with the Wind" style. Or you can go tight, picking up a character caught in the war, and told from their point of view. The beauty is that the reasons for the war were never really clear (even to the participants). Sure there was the official reason of sailors rights and oppressive British control of the seas, but many other reasons were just as obvious and not stated (the United States thought parts of Canada would look great on their map). It would be easy to have a Canadian point of view in the story, or maybe even the reluctant militia man sent to cross over into Canadian soil - but not to defend his home, but to take land from the British (something many militia men refused to do).

Then there are the less obvious routes. Add some supernatural elements or even go for an alternate history look. Maybe the British ended up defeating the US in the war. How would that change things? Or maybe one of the reasons the US was able to win the Battle of Lake Champlain was because of some kind of new steam powered weapon.

Of course you could easily push the story into a space opera setting, with all the factions becoming alien worlds, sailing vessels becoming star ships and President James Madison becoming a purple skinned alien with eight arms and one leg. But keep him in the 1800's clothing of course, I mean who wants to get rid of that.

It's also easy to take one element of the war, something trivial or maybe something that just catches your eye and turn it into a story. Maybe a story based on the idea that the British could stop any ship in international waters, search and confiscate any run-away British sailors (or people they claimed were British) and put them to work on their own ships. Again you could put it into any type of setting and with some tweaking come up with something unique.

So for those of you who don't like history but love writing fiction, give this a try. There are a ton of events to pick from, all it takes is a little research and some imagination, and a whole new world of storytelling can open up.

Have you ever used historical events or figures to fuel your writing? If so, how did it work out? Ever have a historical event capture your imagination, causing you to want to know more?