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I've been digging into some Kidnapped fannish historical detail by reading the records of the trial of James of the Glens for the murder of Colin Campbell of Glenure! These are collected in Cobbett’s Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors, vol. XIX (published 1813), of which there are various PDFs floating about on the internet, mostly of terrible quality; the best I've been able to find is here [updated with link that should now be working].
It is really fascinating reading, and—even without the full knowledge of exactly how much of the evidence was perjured and exactly what the prosecution did to obtain it—stands out as an incredible example of what you might call the disingenuous injustice of official evil. Poor James.
Anyway, I made some notes as I went along of points of particular fannish-historical interest, either in general to Kidnapped and Flight of the Heron or in particular to my WIP. I take a 'take them or leave them' attitude to historical details about the real Allan Breck Stewart vis-a-vis his fictional counterpart (there are at least two certain real details—his height and his father's name—that Stevenson contradicts); I might use some of these in fic if they're ever particularly useful and will happily ignore or contradict them otherwise.
( Historical notes )
It is really fascinating reading, and—even without the full knowledge of exactly how much of the evidence was perjured and exactly what the prosecution did to obtain it—stands out as an incredible example of what you might call the disingenuous injustice of official evil. Poor James.
Anyway, I made some notes as I went along of points of particular fannish-historical interest, either in general to Kidnapped and Flight of the Heron or in particular to my WIP. I take a 'take them or leave them' attitude to historical details about the real Allan Breck Stewart vis-a-vis his fictional counterpart (there are at least two certain real details—his height and his father's name—that Stevenson contradicts); I might use some of these in fic if they're ever particularly useful and will happily ignore or contradict them otherwise.
( Historical notes )
