The Making of the Lamb Page 51

  E. Raymond Capt and several writers before him rightly take note of the British tin trade in advancing the theory that Joseph of Arimathea might have traveled to Britain as a trader in tin, a metal essential for making bronze. There is indeed strong evidence for this from archaeology and classic writers such as Diodorus Siculus and Pytheas. Nonetheless I think it is overly simplistic to assume that this trade continued through Jesus’s lifetime. Cunliffe writes of how the conquest of Gaul vastly disrupted the ancient Atlantic trading zone and shifted the trading pattern to the east where Romans could sail to Britain between Calais and Dover within sight of land, avoiding the hazards of sailing the blue waters. It is unlikely that the Arimathean would have become rich by simply following what others of his time were doing. If he traveled to Cornwall and made a fortune at it (as the Bible might suggest), he would have done so as the contrarian businessman of his day, taking risks and finding his own path for a competitive advantage, as I portray in the novel.

  How much of the tunic cross story is factual?

  Tunic crosses are found across Cornwall. As far as I know, E. Raymond Capt was the first writer to suggest that they might represent an ancient memory of Jesus’s visit to England. I came across the tunic cross in St. Hilary’s Parish churchyard during my visits in 2004 and 2005. The more modern plaque marking the burial of Father O’Donohue was attached to it. Father Bernard Walke and his wife, Annie Walke, were real, but Father Walke’s involvement with the cross and its secret is fictional. The story of the riot that took place in 1932 is loosely based upon Father Walke’s account in his autobiographical Twenty Years at St Hilary (1935, 2002). The discovery of the Roman altar on St. George’s Island and the related Time Team television episode are real. All of the other events and characters associated with the tunic cross are fictional.

  Who helped you with The Making of the Lamb?

  Let me start with friends and family members who reviewed the manuscript. Some of these people made hundreds of detailed notes on the manuscript. Others wrote up commentaries or gave me valuable suggestions in other ways. I considered every suggestion that was made, and every one of these people made an important contribution to the book. So, going in alphabetical order, I want to thank Mario Ashby, Cory Bear, William Bear, Daphne Byron, Benjamin Coleman, Lesley Cross, Peter Duncan, James Edmondson, Barney Harris, Laurita Liles, Tina Mallett, Austin Mill, Fred Nicholson, John Orens, Joyce Parker, Robert Portch, William Prather, Janet Wamsley, Linda Wilkinson, and Charles Zakaib. I should single out Austin Mill and Lesley Cross. Austin traveled with me to Britain in 2004 and 2005 to visit the sites where Jesus might have been, and he helped me get started with the early stages of the writing. Lesley has been working tirelessly as my proofreader-in-chief and as an additional line editor.

  I have been fortunate to engage two extremely talented and hard-working professional editors. My developmental editor was Kristen Stieffel (www.kristenstieffel.com) and my line editor was Mason McCann Smith (www.madscavenger.com). Both are also authors in their own right.

  Kristen has had a distinguished career in the newsroom of the Orlando Business Journal and as a freelance editor. She is under contract for her fantasy series, The Prophet’s Chronicle. The first book, Alara’s Call, will be published in 2014. She is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church USA.

  Mason is the author of several historical novels: When the Emperor Dies (Random House, Hamish Hamilton in the UK), La Venganza de Beatrice (Grijalbo Mondadori, Spain), March on Magdala, Oliver in Bronze, and The Stained Glass Virgin. He is a full-time writer, editor, and book designer.

  My cover designer was Peri Poloni-Gabriel of Knockout Design (www.knockoutbooks.com). She sent me an incredible assortment of cover concepts to choose from and then did a wonderful job when I asked for the hardest one. She has been a cover designer and interior book designer for many years.

  Guiding me through the publishing minefield was my consultant, Peter Bowerman (www.wellfedsp.com), the author of The WellFed Self-Publisher. (2014).

  John Ian Duncan set me up with social media and helped line up advance reviews. He drew the tunic cross image foil-stamped on the cloth binding of the hard cover edition.

  I also want to thank Tim Leonhart and the highly professional staff at Bookmasters (www.bookmasters.com), who are handling production and distribution.

  Robert Harley Bear

  Glossary of Place Names

  Through the centuries, many place names have changed. The following glossary may guide the reader to the current location of events in The Making of the Lamb. Names rendered in bold type are those used in the book. Numbers in brackets indicate pages where the bolded place name may be found on a map. For Kindle readers the set of the pages with the maps and illustrations may be printed out from the Adobe Acrobat Reader pdf file that can be downloaded from this link:

  http://www.makingofthelamb.com/maps

  The bracketed numbers correspond to the page numbers printed in that file.

  Acre (Modern) – Port City in Lebanon. Ptolemais (Latin). [14]

  Albion (Latin) – See “Britain”.

  Afon Menai (Welsh) – Menai Strait (modern). It separates the island of Ynys Môn fron the Cymru mainland. [225]

  Arar (Latin) – Saone River, France (modern). A navigable tributary of the Rhodanus (Rhone) River that joins it at Lugdunum (Lyons) and forms a trade route leading north to the roads leading in turn to the narrowest passage across the English Channel. [15]

  Arelate (Latin) – Arles, France (Modern). [15]

  Armorica (Latin roots) – Brittany (Modern), a region of northwest France. The modern name comes from British Celts who fled the Anglo-Saxon invasion centuries after Jesus. [15]

  Arimathea (Biblical) – Referred to in the Bible as the home of the man Joseph who buried Jesus. Supposedly, a small village about five miles north of Jerusalem.

  Bangor (Modern). A town in Northwest Cymru, across the strait from Ynys Môn. It was a center of druid teaching. [225]

  Belerium (Latin) – Name used by Roman geographers (i.e., Diodorus) for the British southwest peninsula of modern day Cornwall, Devon and parts of Somerset and Dorset. [100]

  Bembont (Fictional) – Bembridge (Modern). A seaside town on the east side of Vectis (Isle of Wight) with a little recreational harbor. The Welsh word for bridge was used because of the likely Germanic origin of the English word. [15]

  Brest (Modern) – Port city in northwest France. Gesocribate (Latin). [15]

  Britain (Latin roots) – British Isles. Used interchangeably with “Albion” although Albion technically would exclude Eire (Ireland). “England” is a distinctly Anglo-Saxon name that would have been unknown at the time of Jesus. [225]

  Brue (Modern, Unknown origin) – River flowing to the Severn from Ynys Witrin. It was navigable prior to the draining of the Levels in the Middle Ages. [101]

  Caer Leir (Celtic) – Leicester, UK (modern) [225]

  Caer Wysg (Fictional name) – Caerleon, Gwent, Wales (Modern) The modern name is Welsh for “place of the legion”, a reference to Roman times that is clearly subsequent to the time period of this novel. The Romans themselves referred to the place as “Isca”, after “Wysg”, the Welsh name for the present-day River Usk that runs through the town. The fictional name combines the Celtic word for place or fort (“Caer”) with the name the people used for the river. [101]

  Calais (Modern) – Gesoriacum (Latin) [15]

  Castle An Dinas (Celtic) – Actual Iron-Age hillfort site near St. Columb Major, Cornwall. [100]

  Carn Roz (Fictional name) – St. Just in Roseland, Cornwall (Modern). The parish history refers to a legend that Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea came there. The tidal pool is real. A prominent rock on the shoreline (removed in the 20th century) was said to be where Jesus stepped ashore. [100]

  Cheddar (Modern) – The same name is used for a gorge and river that cuts through the Mendip Hills. [101]

  Creta (Latin) – Crete, Greece (Modern). [14]

  Cymru
(Celtic) – Wales (Modern) [225]

  Dvrobrivae (Latin) – Rochester, UK (Modern) [15]

  Dubris (Latin) – Dover, UK (Modern) [15]

  Eire (Celtic) – Ireland (Modern) [225]

  Gaul (Latin) – France (modern) [15]

  Holy Island (Modern) – Also known as Holyhead (Modern), a smaller island on the northwest of Ynys Môn (Anglesey). [225]

  Ictis (Latin) – Bronze/Iron-Age port located somewhere in southwest England or southern Wales. Leading archeologist Barry Cunliffe cites evidence for placing the locale at Mount Batten (Plymouth) or the mouth of the Severn River. This work follows the legendary stories that place Ictis at Mount St. Michaels, near Marazion, Cornwall. [100]

  Liger (Latin) – Loire River, France (modern). [15]

  Looe (Modern, unknown origin) – Modern-day twin towns lie on either side of the mouth of the River Looe in Cornwall. St. George’s Island lies a short distance to the southwest of the mouth of the river. [100]

  Lugdunum (Latin) – Lyons, France (modern). [15]

  Lysarth (Latin) – Lizard Head, UK (modern). [100]

  Mare Internum (Latin) – Mediterranean Sea (modern). [14]

  Massilia (Latin) – Marseilles, France (modern). [15]

  Mendip Hills (Modern) – A range of hills north of Glastonbury, a site of silver and lead mining in ancient times.[101]

  Nantes (Modern, Celtic roots) – Port City at the mouth of the Loire, France. Condevincum (Latin). Modern name likely has its origins from the Namnetes tribe of Gauls. [15]

  Oceanus Britannicus (Latin) – English Channel (Modern). [15]

  Pencaire (Modern) – A hillfort complex on Tregonning Hill, Cornwall. It actually has three hillfort rounds. [100]

  Pendennis Castle (Modern) - Fort in Falmouth constructed by Henry VIII on the site of Pen-Dinas. It was one of the last Royalist holdouts in the English Civil War. It had given sanctuary to Queen Henrietta Maria and the Prince of Wales (Charles II), before their escape to France.

  Pen-Dinas (Fictional). The use of this site in Falmouth harbor as an Iron-Age hillfort is only a possibility. [100]

  Pilton (Modern) – A town to the east of Glastonbury. The parish banner shows St. Joseph of Arimathea bringing Jesus to the site by boat. [101]

  Pomparles Bridge (Latin) – A bridge that crosses the River Brue between Weary-Al in Glastonbury and the Town of Street, Somerset. It is the site where Excalibur is said to have been returned. [101]

  Priddy (Modern) – A town to the north of Glastonbury atop the Mendip Hills. It is sometimes said, “as sure as the Good Lord came to Priddy”. The parish history refers to a legend of a visit by Jesus. [101]

  Rhodanus (Latin) – Rhone River, France (modern). [15]

  Rock (Modern) – A village near Padstow, Cornwall. [100]

  Rumps (Modern) – Iron-Age cliffside castle near Padstow and Rock, Cornwall. [100]

  Sabrina (Latin) – Severn River (Modern) [101]

  Salamis (Latin) – Famagusta (Modern) Port city on Cyprus. [14]

  Sequana (Latin) – Seine River (Modern) [15]

  St. Hilary (Modern) – A parish near Marazion, Cornwall.

  Snowden (Modern) – A mountain range in northwest Wales. [225]

  Tamar (Modern, Celtic origins) – A river that joins the Plym at Plymouth and forms the eastern boundary of Cornwall (Kernow). [100]

  Tor (Celtic) – A prominent hill in Glastonbury (Ynys Witrin). The mists that surround the Tor at sunrise and the mysterious ridges are real phenomena. [101]

  Tregonning Hill (Modern) - A hill near Mounts Bay, Cornwall, about four miles east of St. Hilary’s parish church. [100]

  Vectis (Latin) – Isle of Wight (Modern). An important trading center in Roman and pre-Roman times. [15]

  Wearyall (Modern) – A ridge on the south of Ynys Witrin (Glastonbury). [101]

  Yengi (Celtic) – Hengistbury Head, near Christ Church, Dorset, UK. This was a major iron-age port on the south coast of Britain at least until the time of Julius Caesar, with significant trade possibly continuing thereafter. [15]

  Ynys Lawd (Celtic) – Short Stack (modern). A small island with a modern lighthouse off Holyhead Island, Wales. [225]

  Ynys Môn (Celtic) – Also known as Mona (Celtic). Anglesey, North Wales (modern). Together with nearby Bangor, this was a center of druid teaching and spirituality. [225]

  Ynys Witrin (Celtic) – Glastonbury, Somerset (modern). Before the draining of the Somerset Levels in the Middle Ages, this area surrounding Glastonbury and the Tor was an actual island. This is a legendary site where, according to legend, Joseph of Arimathea brought Jesus and where he later brought Christianity to Britain and founded the Glastonbury Abbey, which was among the richest and most powerful of monasteries in England until its dissolution at the hands of Henry VIII. The site is also significant to followers of Arthurian Legends, modern-day druids, New-Age Spiritualists, and fans of the annual music festival. [101]