Finding the Facts by Katherine Pym

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Sir David Kirke

Research is a powerful thing. It opens the eyes and expands the mind... that is, if you find sources that don't conflict with each other. For instance, when writing Pillars of Avalon, we found David Kirke was to be knighted by King Charles I in Scotland. David was an Englishman, not a Scotsman. He resided in London with his wife and family. If he were to be knighted in another country, would he be a knight of Scotland or England? This brought about a lot of digging through the annals of history. Deep faraway history.

King Charles I

King Charles I was in need of money. His kingdom in chaos, Parliament gave him fits when he wanted more taxes, so he dismissed Parliament. Since he was the sovereign and believed in the divine right of kings, he proclaimed to rule alone.

He still needed money, so he started knighting men. Once dubbed, the new knight would register their names (even as the register was notoriously in error), and pay their fees. Many refused to do so. As a result posterity lost sight they had been knighted, even as they signed their documents and letters as John Doe, Knight.

When in Scotland, new knights were mandated to register their names with the Lyon King in Edinburgh. Those knighted in England were to register with Herald's College in London. The fee was extensive, upwards to £108, and pretty hefty for that time.

Since the king was in Scotland, and he did not like David very much, he decided to knight him in a country that did not like the English, and the fact, if he registered his knighthood with the Lyon King, he would be considered a Scottish knight.

Digging into who was knighted and where, I found David's name as one who had been honored in Scotland. Then I found a list of who had been knighted alongside him, but the list did not include David's name.

The Kirke's family crest

This is when a historical story becomes fiction. I could not go to Scotland or England to search the archives, data that may have burned in London during the great fire of 1666. I had to work with what I found, sometimes going back several centuries, sometimes in conflict with other data. I could not verify this but if a reliable source mentioned David as being knighted in Scotland, I went with it. I had him defy the standing process and have his certificate registered in London so that he would be considered an English knight. Even if it did not appear in the register.

So, we have Sir David Kirke and Lady Sara Kirke. His knight bachelor did not extend to his sons, even as Lady Sara requested King Charles II to extend it, but from my records, there is no record of him acknowledging or honoring her request.

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Many thanks to :

Shaw, William Arthur & Burthchaell, George Dames, The Knights of England, Volume 1, a complete record from the earliest time to the present day of the knights of all the orders of chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of knights bachelors. Printed and Published for the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, Lord Chamberlain’s Office, St. James’s Palace, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906

And Wikicommons, Public Domain 

History in Conflict by Katherine Pym

Pillars of Avalon due for Release July 1, 2017

My story is of David and Sara Kirke, 17^th century plantation owners in what is now Newfoundland & Labrador. David was a wealthy London wine merchant who had branched into the fishery business off the coast of NE Canada. The story is really about Sara, an amazing woman who is considered the foremost North American female entrepreneur, but the historical data surrounds David. I could not ignore him. 

If you do much research, you’ll find discrepancies and downright errors. Since nonfiction authors show resources and say they are historians, the reader trusts the work. I’ve discovered some historical facts are in the eye of the beholder, and his/her ego. 

One source loved his subject matter so much, he had David Kirke die in Newfoundland and not in London like the other sources state. The Newfoundland soil is rocky and gravely. It moves, so the burial marker must have rolled down a hill or something. Kirke’s gravesite is now unknown.

Well, we may not know where David Kirke was buried (most likely under the floor of a London church, destroyed during the fire of 1666), but you have to go with the flow of other historical sources. David Kirke was not buried in Newfoundland. Local legend states Sara Kirke was buried near Ferryland, but the location is unknown. 

‘What is considered fiction when you write of a real person?’ I’ve been asked. Well, if you put words into their mouths that were not documented, that makes a piece fictional. If you give a character something significant to do, like help win a battle when he may never have been there, and it wasn’t recorded, that’s also fiction. 

I found several pieces of data on the Kirkes that have come down through the ages. Some conflict with each other. Some have data that has been written down verbatim from another document, and that original document seems to be in error. 

So, whaddya do?

I work to garner facts that repeat themselves over the spectrum of resources. When I come up with data duplicates I use that particular historical slant, even if I dislike it. 

In Pillars of Avalon, my Canadian partner, Jude Pittman, and I have had to research almost every sentence which takes an amazing amount of time. For instance, even as David Kirke is a London merchant, he was knighted in Innerwick, Scotland. 

Why is that, you ask? Well, I didn’t know, either. And where is Innerwick? 

All the texts I found stated Anderweek or Anderwick. Jude found Innerwick, not far from Edinburgh, Scotland. King Charles I was crowned King of Scotland in Holyrood (Edinburgh) June of 1633, which took David to Innerwick. 

While there, I had David explore the land. I found out the area is known for its fisheries and at this time, Newfoundland was well known for its cod fisheries. I have the data for what fish species are in NL but not along the coast of Scotland near Innerwick, so I had to dig deeper. What fish species did the fishermen hunt and what did they do with their product? To whom did they sell it? For less than a chapter’s worth of story, this particular research took several days. 

I can see why the big-bucks-historical-fiction-authors have a team of researchers at their disposal, but one must trust their team. Jude and I have only ourselves to rely on and I’m very glad I can trust her. 

Once a book is published, that’s pretty much it. The effort of removing a book from publication then fixing errors is not conducive to sales. Readers get confused. They no longer trust the authors’ works. 

You have to get your history correct the first time.