ALTDORF (The Forest Knights: Book 1) (36 page)
Read ALTDORF (The Forest Knights: Book 1) Online
Authors: J. K. Swift
Tags: #Science Fiction, #Historical, #Fantasy
The only thing we know for sure, is that the regions of Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden rose up against their Austrian overlords in a rebellion that culminated in the Battle of Morgarten in 1315. My own feeling on the matter is that the legend of William Tell arose based on the exploits of more than one man or woman. William Tell was invented to personify the bravery and perseverance of a small group of people who, even when faced with overwhelming odds, still chose to make a stand for what they believed.
And those men and women, did exist.
The Malleus Maleficarum
There is, in fact, a treatise on witchcraft known as the
Malleus Maleficarum
. However, it was published well after Leopold of Habsburg’s time by Dominicans named Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Sprenger in Germany in 1487. It was a collection of witch lore from several different sources, and became a bestseller of its time. The reason I exercised my right as a fiction writer to so blatantly pluck it from its time period and thrust it into the hands of Leopold of Habsburg, is because I discovered it actually has a story in it about a witch-archer being forced to shoot a penny off his son’s cap by a despicable Prince.
In other words, I thought it was cool. I hope the true historians out there can forgive me.
J. K. Swift lives in Vancouver, Canada. He is the author of
The Forest Knights
series of novels, which are set in medieval Switzerland. He is also an award-winning short story writer. He has worked as an elementary school teacher, jailhouse guard, Japanese translator, log peeler, accountant, martial arts instructor, massage therapist, technical editor, and has called a few Bingo games. He gets his story ideas while traveling in Europe and wandering aimlessly along the streets and beaches of the Pacific Northwest.