The Silent Bell — a cozy Arthurian mystery. Camelot, transplanted to the streets of thirteenth-century Oxford, where Merlin’s young half-fey apprentice uncovers a murderous plot.
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Arthurian Oxford?!
I’ve wanted to write a cozy mystery for a very long time — I adore them. And in fact I’m also a huge fan of the classic Doyle / Christie English mysteries, which contain delightful puzzles and a hint of the suspenseful, mysterious, and arcane. Alongside that, I’ve been meditating and thinking about Arthurian matters for nearly a decade as part of my own druidic practice, and writing a story of Arthur, Merlin, and Camelot was an irresistible draw.
So why not combine them?
As it happens, my wife Alison was also interested in writing her own cozy mystery; so we picked up Natasha Sass’s How to Write a Cozy Mystery and worked through it together. While neither of us settled on using Sass’s method exactly, it was a valuable resource and got us off on the right foot.
The first task was to decide on a sleuth. I wanted a young, driven, curious person who had an interesting background and would have access to the many stratified levels of medieval society; so I gave Merlin an apprentice, a girl who was half-fey (like Merlin) trying to make her way in the mortal world. This character would be low-class from being young and female, but still have connection to the King and the knights through Merlin; and her half-fey ancestry would give me a chance to explore the interrelationships between Christianity, heathenism, nature and the human world.
I also had to decide which Arthur I was going to use: the Romantic Arthur, the Arthur of Mallory, who lived in a half-fictional 13th century, or something approaching a historical Arthur — if such a one existed — of the 6th century? I decided on a Romantic Arthur, since that’s the feel I wanted. After all, a 6th century Arthur would not yet have any French influence on his court; there would be no jousting or tall plumed knights, and all the names would be Old English and Welsh instead of Middle English / French, and half-unrecognizable. (Myrddin? Gwenhwyfar?) But a 13th century Arthur could be dropped into 1250 CE with barely any eye-batting.
And then it occurred to me that Oxford University, founded in the 1100’s, would be, if not fully-fledged, certainly operating as an important force by 1250. Oxford Castle had been built, and the English kings would come and hold court there for months. And Merlin would enjoy being able to make use of its libraries and scholars for his arcane research.
Oxford Map
There’s a lot that could be improved about this map. I sketched it based on some online resources, then added lots of touches via Canva, and while it mostly does the job, you can see quite a few AI artifacts that need to be fixed up by hand. I’m looking into getting a digital artist who can do that properly.
The Silent Bell is set in 1250s Oxford, and its vocabulary leans on genuine medieval English, Latin, and Welsh wherever possible. This glossary collects the real historical words worth knowing, alongside the invented names and lore unique to the book’s world.
Period & Historical Vocabulary
anchorhold — the sealed cell of an anchoress or anchorite.
anchoress — a woman who has taken a vow to live in permanent religious enclosure, walled into a small cell attached to a church.
bailey — the walled courtyard of a castle.
benefice — a church position that comes with an attached income or “living.”
brake — a thicket of bushes, bracken, or brambles.
caudle — a warm, spiced drink, often given to invalids or new mothers.
char cloth and spunk — tinder materials used with flint and steel to start a fire.
churchwarden — a lay officer responsible for a parish’s property and day-to-day affairs.
clepsydra — a water clock.
coffer — a small chest, usually for valuables.
coroner — the royal officer charged with investigating sudden or suspicious deaths. A genuine medieval office, established in England in 1194 — over fifty years old by the time of this story.
coverlet — a bed covering.
craven — a coward; also the traditional word called out to yield in single combat (“cry craven”).
dais — a raised platform, typically where a lord or king sits.
device — a distinguishing heraldic symbol.
farthing — a coin worth a quarter of a penny.
flagstone — a flat paving stone.
gaol — jail (the older British spelling).
gaoler — a jailer.
gambeson — a padded defensive garment worn under, or instead of, armor.
hue and cry — the formal legal process of raising an alarm and pursuing a fugitive, which any bystander was obliged by law to join.
kirtle — a woman’s gown or tunic-dress.
lancet window — a tall, narrow window with a sharply pointed arch; the defining feature of the Early English Gothic architectural style current in this period.
livery — the distinctive dress or badge worn by the servants or retainers of a household.
motte — the earthen mound on which a castle’s keep is built.
nave — the main body of a church, where the congregation stands.
outlaw — literally, one placed outside the protection of the law.
physic — medicine; a remedy.
pillory — a wooden framework with holes for the head and hands, used for public punishment.
pommel — the knob or counterweight at the end of a sword’s hilt.
porter — the officer who keeps a gate.
pottage — a thick soup or stew.
reliquary — a container built to hold and display a holy relic.
rood screen — a carved screen, topped with a crucifix (a “rood”), separating a church’s nave from its chancel.
rushes — reeds or grasses strewn over a floor.
sexton — a church officer responsible for the church’s property and grounds, including the graveyard.
shift — a simple undergarment or plain dress.
signet — a seal, often set into a ring, used to mark documents or wax as authentic.
simples — medicinal herbs used on their own, unmixed with others.
smock — a loose outer garment worn for labor.
symphonia — a medieval stringed instrument, played with a crank and producing a continuous drone; an ancestor of the hurdy-gurdy.
tapster — one who serves drinks at a tavern or alehouse.
tinderbox — a small container holding flint, steel, and tinder for starting fires.
undercroft — a vaulted room built beneath a larger structure, typically used for storage.
wattle-and-daub — a building method using a woven lattice of wood (“wattle”) plastered over with mud or clay (“daub”).
wimple — a cloth head covering wrapped around the head, neck, and chin.
withers — the ridge between a horse’s shoulder blades.
wold — open, rolling, uncultivated upland country.
The Canonical Hours
Medieval life was timed by a fixed daily cycle of prayer rather than the clock. Several of these hours mark time throughout the story:
- Lauds — dawn prayer
- Terce — mid-morning, roughly 9 a.m.
- Vespers — evening prayer, around sunset
- Compline — the final prayer of the day, before sleep
- Nones — mid-afternoon, roughly 3 p.m.
More about Canonical Hours.
Words and Names Unique to The Silent Bell
These terms are either invented for the story or are genuine mythological/liturgical terms used in an invented context.
billa — Merlin’s word for a “sovereign tree”: one old and powerful enough to shape the land around it.
Ecce ancilla — Latin, drawn from the Vulgate Bible (Luke 1:38, Mary’s answer to the angel Gabriel): “Behold the handmaid [of the Lord].”
Ellyllon — one of the five kinds of Tylwyth Teg. A genuine term from Welsh folklore for a type of elf-like fairy.
Gwragedd Annwn — the lake-maidens. A genuine term from Welsh folklore for fairy women who dwell in lakes and sometimes take mortal husbands.
Henaw Drusa — “The Oldest Oak,” an old name for a tree.
Henthrow — A tree’s name.
Inquisitrix Royale — a royal investigator charged with looking into matters of the King’s justice.
Sentoniūi — “For the Wayfarer,” an ancient book.
tieshan — from Chinese, meaning “Iron Pine”. Any more details would be spoilers.
Tylwyth Teg — “The Fair Family,” the genuine Welsh folkloric term for the fairy folk.
virgines — Latin for “maidens” or “virgins”.
Going Deeper
There is more of this world than fit in the book. I keep it on Patreon, where the Merlin Murders are serialized chapter by chapter, and where I put the material that doesn’t belong between the covers. Following is free.
