Edward Bedwell or as he prefers Red Ned—an apprentice lawyer at Gray’s Inn and organiser of the Christmas Revels.
Margaret or Meg Black —apprentice apothecary, amateur surgeon and sometime smuggler of illicit literature. Suspected subverter of the Christmas Revels.
Robert Black —older brother of Meg. Apprentice artificer and Ned’s partner in the Revels scheme.
Gruesome Roger— retainer to the Black family. A fellow with secrets who likes to loom menacingly over Ned ruining his Christmas.
Richard Rich —Commissioner of Sewers for London and uncle to Red Ned. A lawyer climbing the ladder of patronage, and a good friend of Thomas Cromwell
Canting Michael— a gang lord of Southwark who would like Red Ned’s ‘company’ for an hour or two.
Earless Nick (Throckmore) —self–proclaimed Master of Masterless men and Lord of the Liberties. Always ready for good company and a game.
Lady Dellingham —an ardent church reformer and ally of Cromwell. She holds firm views on the performance of good works in the sinkholes of London. Soon to leave for Geneva, though probably now soon enough for Ned’s liking.
Walter Dellingham —a young innocent reformist lad of interesting dispositions and talents, luckily soon to leave for Geneva.
John Reedman— a legal clerk at Gray’s Inn cursed with foolish relations.
Richard Reedman —a young country lad with a bad choice of companions.
Phil Flydman —Flaunty Phil to his drinking friends and fellow dicemen.
Delphina —a redheaded punk of the Liberties, of flaming red hair, emerald green eyes and, ahem, other attractions.
As well as a host of revelling clerks, apprentice lawyers and assorted punks, minions and rogues of the Liberties and the City of London
The Royal Court
King Henry VIII —a sovereign in desperate need of a male heir.
Katherine of Aragon— Queen of England, at least for now.
Lady Anne Boleyn —a Howard niece and supporter of Lutherans who the King wants to marry.
Thomas Cromwell —former secretary to Cardinal Wolsey now serving the King on the Privy Council.
Sir Thomas More —Lord Chancellor of England and pursuer of heretics. Formerly the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey —disgraced former Lord Chancellor now living in exile from the Royal Court.
Historical Note on Red Ned Tudor Mysteries
The Fetter Lane Fleece is a work of fiction. However most of the main points of the story are based around historical Tudor London of 1529–30 and the setting is derived from period documents and accounts. I have endeavoured to give contemporary readers a window into the daily thoughts, and attitudes of the people in their positions in the Tudor hierarchy. All the main characters of this work are fictional, though as much as research allows, they do express the mood, passions and concerns of the time. These views or actions do not necessarily represent those of the author.
Tudor Names and Language
To all my readers. As a writer of historical fiction, I strive to bring forth a contemporary and understandable view of the Tudor Age during the reign of Henry VIII. The English language of the Tudor period is both maddeningly close and at the same time frustratingly different to our modern usages. For instance a number of placenames, titles and phrases may appear differently since they’ve been written in their earlier Tudor forms. To aid the story flow and provide a period flavour I’ve made some efforts which to render dialects and phrasing into more modern standards to take account of the many regional and class differences in accent and pronunciation. Hopefully this will give the reader a taste of Tudor English without sounding like a player at a Ren Fair. In Ned’s time there was nothing like standard English in either speech or spelling. This idea only gained prominence in the 1800’s after universal education and dictionaries. For anyone who would like to look a little deeper into where our language came from I
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