Feb. 25
6:19 PM
Big Ups to the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Berne
I'll be thanking him in the acknowledgments of The Enterprise of Death but wanted to mention here just how helpful the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Berne has been, specifically Armand Baeriswyl, who is the head of the town archeology, church archeology, archeology of castles, and historical building research.
Enterprise features more actual historical characters than the Brothers Grossbart, which meant coming to terms with the fact that I would be breaking history a lot more with this new project. Compounding the usual research problems was the fact that the historical persons I used have not been very well studied (at least in English sources) and so I did what writers always do--I made most of it up. Perhaps because I was consciously re-inventing--or at least re-telling--the history of certain characters it was all the more important for me that the setting be as accurate as possible, and so the last nine months have consisted of a high concentration of research.
Most of what I needed I found via the CU library, the internet, some rare texts I was able to order, and even a youtube video of someone playing with mercury, but as is always the case there were a few gaps in my research. Enter the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Berne. After futilely trying to find details on Berne's graveyards as they would have appeared in the early 16th century I queried the city itself via the tourism board's website, and the helpful response I received was to query the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Berne. I did, using their contact form and addressing my questions both in English and, with the help of a random online translator, atrociously bad German. I was thrilled to receive a very thorough reply from Armand Baeriswyl shortly after sending my query, and we exchanged a few more quick missives with poor Armand bending over backwards to answer my questions as thoroughly as possible.
I really can't express what an absolute pleasure it is to receive such thankless help when researching. Armand's impeccable English made me even more embarrassed than I usually am about my utter inability to learn other languages, and his graciousness in taking the time to help me demonstrates the sort of magnanimity that is all too often lacking in today's society, especially with the anonymity of the internet. A good friend, for example, is writing a novel set in an English town but when she contacted the town's local museum to ask them a few basic questions they refused to answer them via email, instead advising her to visit the museum in person--a bit of a chore for those of us stranded in the US.
So again, my profuse thanks to Armand for his help, and to scholars everywhere who share their hard-earned wisdom instead of hoarding it like demented dwarves clinging to mithril armor.