Trials of Gideon Book 1: The Cursed Blade

Afterword

As before, all my information is sourced as accurately as possible. I use multiple websites and print sources. As always my disclaimer is that this is a work of fiction. That said, I tried to be as accurate as possible and most of the little details I threw in were true. Gideon usually notes most of those in the narrative.
Henry V, the Scourge of God, by Desmond Seward
The 100 years War by Desmond Seward
Conquest: the English Kingdom of France
100 Years War: Cursed Kings
Henry V: Warlord King
Were my main sources among English heritage.uk, english monarchs.uk, and others.
Certain things I threw in, like Henry V selling his own possessions to fund the war in Wales, are entirely true he wrote to his father of that. Certain movements, like Scrope and Fastolf being at Shrewsberry, we simply don't know they were about so one or the other was likely there, but I had to use dramatic license to involve everyone.
It's not at all clear when Henry met Courtenay, with people like Courtenay he literally just starts showing up in Henry's ledgers, paying him or sending him somewhere, and that happens in the early 1400s, and by the time Henry is crowned King in 1413, he's made Courtenay holder of the King's purse, which he'd only have done if he trusted him implicitly and had known him for sometime.
If you don't like math skip the next paragraph.
Courtenay's age is tricky. As mentioned in the narrative Courtnenay's father was about ten years older than Henry's father. Henry was born early as 86, late as 88, for his younger brother Thomas was born in the end of 88, making him between 17 and 19 years younger than his own father Henry IV. That's kind of close in age, someone less well off, like Courtenay's father, Philip Courtenay, might not marry so early. Ergo, we're place Courtenay as being born between 80 and 85, somewhere about there, because Courtenay's brother has a child in 1405. Which means that his brother is at least a year younger than him, and by then they'd be about twenty and nineteen, a reasonable age to have a first child. Ergo, Courtenay is likely about Henry's age, probably a couple of years older, maybe no more than five. In the mid 1400s Courtenay will hold a high post at Oxford, it's remarked as odd that he had it, and he's noted to be one of the youngest ordained priests. So he's probably in his late teens to twenties otherwise they wouldn't note he was young.
No contemporary descriptions of Courtenay exist beyond him being beautiful, and we have that portrait but we don't know that that's even him.
With things like describing him, or other people like Fastolf, I literally had to make it up, as there's nothing we don't have a description. Also again, dramatic license is necessary to give everyone lines and all.
For the surgery scenes, I went by Dr. Bradmore's own description. He was in fact in the Tower for counterfeiting, I did not make that up, that is true. Anyway, he wrote a medical paper on doing this, we still have the paper. He claimed the surgery took 12 hours. He does however say that the wound is on the left. It's on his left, Hal's right, other sources make that more clear.
Things like, the battle lasting three hours, Hal refusing to leave the battle field. That's all true. Some sources suggested they stayed in Wales and that's where the surgery was done, but others said they went back to Kenilworth. I thought the second was more likely so I went with that. Bradmore was in the tower, so they'd need to be closer to London. Henry IV did actually apparently cry over Hotspur's body. All those things I either sourced, was as in character as I could get, like Hal staying up and answering all this correspondence himself, and that he was known to do that later in life on campaign so I tried to keep it in character.
People like Roger of Clarendon, we have next to no information on. Like we know his father funded his education and got him armor and the like, then his grandfather the king you know, employed him and gave him a generous allowance. And then he died supporting Richard so we assume he was you know, comfortably about. Lots of people, like Thomas Erridge or John Fastolf, are literally just about but due to time we have limited track of their movements. Fastolf remained loyal to Henry, and went on campaign with him, the rest of his life he actually outlived Henry, so we assume Henry was fond enough of him, he was often there, and they were similarly driven by money. Fastolf married for money and had no children, charming man, again Henry liked him just fine.  Certain things about Henry V's character like being dramatic, I added in things here like wrapping up in a silk robe, or the collar for the dog, because in reality we have things like, after Agincourt, he changed into this special set of robes and a cloak, held a scepter, and stood on this little stage and had all the captives lined up in front of him , naked, while he refused to look at them for forty five minutes before sentencing them and telling them their fate. Then on returning from Agincourt, he went back to England, but he didn't want to, so he dressed in mourning clothes, which was all purple, because he was mad he had to go home. So I tried to work in some of that showmanship and drama he had going on which honestly is quite funny if macabre.
Anyway, those are my basic disclaimers and sources. Obviously the riddle that they're solving and all that is completely fiction, though the descriptions of the tombs are accurate I just grafted that meaning on, National Treasure style.
Oh, and I realize Courtenay has living relatives, and I realize he's moderately an antagonist in all of these. Here's the thing. All I had going for his character, is he's really pretty, and apparently a priest, yet enables Henry V to invade France, as in he helps take messages to France to provoke war, winding up dying in Henry's arms while on campaign. So you know I did what I could with that. He has an alliance to Henry but I think he's a well rounded, dare I say sympathic character, beyond the fact that he'll lie, cheat, steal, and murder for Henry. Which he basically did in reality. So. That's why I do that like, again, he's an anti-hero at best but so is Henry.