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