Monday, January 26, 2015

Lucerne, Switzerland and my Novel



Over the past few weeks, my blog concentrated on the publication of my novel.

Now it is time to get back to medieval history, concentrating on the living history which I describe in my novel,  Legend of the Mystic Knights.


As many of you readers of my blog know, my novel is set in Switzerland.  In the novel, I call this country by its traditional name of Helvetia. This name is derived from the Gaulish tribe that lived nearby the region during the Roman era.

To make the novel more believable to maintain my desire for historical accuracy, I used my real towns and cities from Switzerland in my novel.  Today we will be discussing the City of Lucerne.The city of Lucerne is located in the North Central part of Switzerland; it is located on the banks of Lake Lucerne.

The city of Lucerne is noted for several locations and sites. One of these is the Chapel Bridge (or Kapellbrücke). It is the oldest covered bridge in Europe. This bridge is unique because of the rectangular paintings which hang the top of the bridge.

In reality, these painting were created during the Counter-Reformation. This was a period when the Catholic Church was adjusting and adopting to the Protestant Reformation.  These  paintings on the Chapel Bridge depicted scenes promoting the Catholic Church.

Since my novel is an alternate reality, where evil creatures have spread throughout the world, I described these paintings differently:

 The group of knights rode to the city of Lucerne, which is located along the banks of a lake of the  same name. The group rode through a long wooden covered bridge over the river that enters into  the lake. The sound of the horses’ footsteps were magnified and echoed as they slowly rode through the bridge. William looked up and noticed wood paintings hanging from the top of the ceiling to the bridge. The paintings depicted creatures attacking the town, and then being defeated or driven away by knights

Another famous attraction in Lucerne is the Church of Leodegar.  I also describe what is unique about this monastery:

The group of knights and squires soon rode to the monastery of the Church of St. Leodegar, in the city of Lucerne. They could see two twin spirals on the monastery, pointing up into the night sky.    

The church is noted for its twin towers, and also for a beautiful white interior.  The description of the inside of the church, likewise, was included in my novel.


I hope you have enjoyed our trip to Lucerne, Switzerland.  Next time, we will also delve into a contribution of this city to medieval warfare: The Lucerne Hammer

13 comments:

  1. Helvetia. Lucerne is quite a nice city, at least considering it's in Switzerland. Personally much prefer Geneva but you can't discuss taste. To be perfectly honest I mainly enjoy Switzerland for skiing. So would I enjoy a trip to Lucerne? Not if I had a choice of another destination:-)

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  2. I have been to Lucerne many times and now that I return via memories it strikes me as a great setting for a medi-evil novel like yours.

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  3. Since I have never been to Lucerne and from the comments made by Catarina and Tim, I would say you chose well when you chose this city for your medieval book. It doesn't sound like it has a great deal of appeal.

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  4. Hallo William,
    Do you know if/why the lucerne pasture crop is named for the Swiss city Lucerne? I would have thought the Swiss might get 'aggro' about this like the French did with Champagne, if that was the case.
    Loving my corner of the world as I do, my only travelling is in my imagination, fired up by others' words... like yours. Thank you William.

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  5. I think you picked the most perfect location ever for your novel! Fits like a glove:)

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  6. William, I've never been to Lucerne but then again Lucerne has never been to me. Like how you took an actual place and changed it to meet the reality you imagine. I do that quite a bit in my own writing. Good luck with the novel.

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  7. I used to live in Switzerland and visited Luzern often. Do not forget to include the brilliant art on the outside of the houses in the center and the window decorations. They will give the story details that the reader will appreciate.

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  8. I never visited Lucerne. I will some day try to visit this place and see that bridge Chapel Bridge and it's painting that you have mentioned.

    Good luck with your novel.

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  9. It's neat to learn about other places in the world. Thanks for sharing some info about Lucerne.

    Happy writing!

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  10. I've done more than my share of traveling, you just reminded me.. I haven't been to Switzerland yet. I need to go.

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  11. I have never been to Lucerne, but I created a vivid image in my imagination from what you described. I love when books use known landmarks while creating an alternate reality. Very cool

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  12. I've never been to Lucerne, and you certainly make it sound interesting. Plus I love that your novel is so rooted in place as well as history. Good post!

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  13. I've traveled quite a bit in Europe. But no trips to Lucerne yet. Sounds like a good place for your novel setting.:)

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