For the past two years, Jack has been living at Russell House with Tom Harriot. The property is leased by Lord Northumberland but he only occasionally lives there. One of his lordship's actual estates is featured in this story—Petworth House in Sussex. During the time of this story, Petworth House is a fortified manor house, not the Baroque palace it is today. Petworth was initially constructed in the early 14th century. It was completely rebuilt in 1688. I've been unable to find any drawings of what the manor looked like in the 16th century, but it may have resembled Cotehele House which dates to approximately the same period.
Elizabethan beliefs on magical creatures are featured in this story. Jack's resident expert is Lowenna, a Cornish cook I introduced in Unpathed Waters. Cornwall was a Celtic stronghold. It is considered to be the birthplace of the King Arthur legends, Jack the Giant Killer, and many other famous tales. Cornish mythology is rich with magical sprites. If you'd like to learn more about them, I found the blog post The Fairie Folk of Cornwall by Roberta Trahan to be a good introduction.
Vampires also have an ancient history in England. An account of the undead is in the early twelfth-century Anglo-Saxon chronicle by Abbot Geoffrey of Burton Abbey. Stories of corpses rising from coffins to prey on villagers continue throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. The word wearh is Old English and was commonly used to describe vampires. In Time's Convert, Deborah explains that the term vampire became common toward the end of the 18th century. Before then, Matthew likely used the Occitan term manjasang when he was speaking French.
In this story, I elaborate on a couple of incidents that Deborah alluded to at the end of Shadow of Night. Annie, the teenage witch who lived with the Roydons, is working for William Shakespeare. Christopher Marlowe is now deceased. Gallowglass continues to occasionally visit the group known as The School of Night, but Jack hasn't had any contact with him.
Two miniatures by Nicholas Hilliard figure in the story. The miniatures are believed to have been painted sometime in the early 1590s. One of them is especially rich with symbols and hidden meanings. If you'd like to dip into the world of Elizabethan symbolism, this PDF contains a detailed analysis.
Penna wrote a post on Dichotomies in our stories. If you've read All Souls Trilogy, you know that one of the main themes in Deborah Harkness's novels is tearing down the artificial walls that separate creatures from humans and each other. It's also a theme in this story.
- Six-Crossed Knot on Fanfiction
- Six-Crossed Knot on Archive of our Own
- Six-Crossed Knot Pinterest board
- Six-Crossed Knot Story Summaries and Reference Page
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