Meta: Matthew of Salisbury (Origins)
Apr. 5th, 2025 01:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
argentum_lsIn Dead End, we get the first historical flashbacks of the series. These flashbacks were written, in part, to provide backstory for Matthew, but also, in Highlander tradition, to provide thematic parallels with the present-time events of the story. To write these flashbacks, we had to grab and pull onto a lot of threads that the canon (and canon-adjacent material) left dangling.
The information about the origins Matthew is given in The Watcher's Chronicles is only a couple nuggets: his name, Matthew of Salisbury; the fact that his first death was in a jousting tournament in 1255; and that his teacher was Ceirdwyn ("Take Back the Night").
When Tornis and I first started trying to develop this character for his own "show," we knew we'd need much more backstory than that. So, I hit the books — and made a fascinating discovery.
The Earldom of Salisbury in the early 13th century was actually held by a woman: Ela Fitzpatrick, the daughter of William Fitzpatrick. She was given in marriage (along with her title, estates, money, etc.) to William Longsword (Longespée), one of the illegimate sons of Henry II, making him the third Earl of Salisbury and her the Countess. They had a son, also named William (1212-1250), who had a son, also named William (~1228-1257).
Besides the lineage, what surprised me was how nicely the dates lined up. It makes me wonder if the Highlander writers did some research before assigning Matthew his name.
What we didn't want from Matthew's backstory was for him to have been nobility. The dates align well-enough that he could have actually "been" William III—it would've been easy enough to say that the 1222-1255 dates for Matthew's life were recorded wrong in the Chronicles—, but we wanted to explore a different story. However, to have been in a jousting tournament, he would've needed to be a knight, and most knights were of noble birth. So, how to square the circle?
The story we crafted is that Matthew was one of the children who lived on the estate and were raised communally by the other workers. Orphans, extra children, and abandoned children were normal, so there's no reason one more couldn't sidle in.
It was also fairly normal for children of the aristocracy to be assigned companions who would be trained to support them. These companions weren't, and couldn't be, competitors for any titles or lands, so the future title-holder didn't have to worry (so much) about their loyalty.
Consequently, we decided that Ela plucked Matthew out of the crowd and assigned him to be the companion to her new grandson. This makes Matthew six years older than his charge, yet still young enough to have been essentially raised as a member of the family without being a member of the family.
We further decided that, when the time came for William to receive his honors, the Earl decided to bestow them on Matthew, as well. Thus making him Matthew of Salisbury. This way the two could fight side-by-side, and hopefully increase William III's chances at actually inheriting the title that his grandmother still held. (Spoiler: He wouldn't).
In our version of events, Matthew has his first death in April 1255. We chose April 12th — for reasons I don't remember, though likely had to do with our understanding of tournament schedules — but was able to hide that death and stay on as Matthew of Salisbury thanks to Ceirdwyn.
She, we decided, entered the Salisbury household as a lady in waiting for Ela (or any of the other wives; this detail isn't important), and stayed because of her awareness of what lay in Matthew's future. When he was killed, she was able to secret his body away and keep anyone from discovering how fatal his injuries had been. Then, in order to be able to be close enough to him to train him, she talked the Countess into letting her and Matthew marry. As Matthew was already married, this took some finagling, but they figured it out.
The flashback of Dead End is focused on the after effects of the death of William III in his tournament in 1257. He was also killed in a joust — though, I turned it into a murder rather than a sporting accident. In the wake of losing his closest friend and blade-brother, Matthew snapped and turned into the single-minded, vengeful hunter we met him as in "Manhunt," necessitating Ceirdwyn to take extraordinary measures to try to bring him back to sanity.
With Matthew being only the companion and then needing to flee from that life, it's not difficult to see how his name and contemporary references to him might've been erased from history.
The story shared of William II dying on Crusade and his family learning about it from the bards is … partially true. He died on Crusade, for sure, and some pretty graphic verse was written about what happened. Whether or not that's how the news reached the family—or when—is wholly my invention.
And, in our reality, Ela outlived her husband, son, and grandson, and finally passed her title on to her great-granddaughter, Margaret.
For any conflicts or impossibilities in our stories with the historical details, remember that we're talking about Highlander. If an established detail can't bend in service of the plot, then what use is it?
The information about the origins Matthew is given in The Watcher's Chronicles is only a couple nuggets: his name, Matthew of Salisbury; the fact that his first death was in a jousting tournament in 1255; and that his teacher was Ceirdwyn ("Take Back the Night").
When Tornis and I first started trying to develop this character for his own "show," we knew we'd need much more backstory than that. So, I hit the books — and made a fascinating discovery.
The Earldom of Salisbury in the early 13th century was actually held by a woman: Ela Fitzpatrick, the daughter of William Fitzpatrick. She was given in marriage (along with her title, estates, money, etc.) to William Longsword (Longespée), one of the illegimate sons of Henry II, making him the third Earl of Salisbury and her the Countess. They had a son, also named William (1212-1250), who had a son, also named William (~1228-1257).
Besides the lineage, what surprised me was how nicely the dates lined up. It makes me wonder if the Highlander writers did some research before assigning Matthew his name.
What we didn't want from Matthew's backstory was for him to have been nobility. The dates align well-enough that he could have actually "been" William III—it would've been easy enough to say that the 1222-1255 dates for Matthew's life were recorded wrong in the Chronicles—, but we wanted to explore a different story. However, to have been in a jousting tournament, he would've needed to be a knight, and most knights were of noble birth. So, how to square the circle?
The story we crafted is that Matthew was one of the children who lived on the estate and were raised communally by the other workers. Orphans, extra children, and abandoned children were normal, so there's no reason one more couldn't sidle in.
It was also fairly normal for children of the aristocracy to be assigned companions who would be trained to support them. These companions weren't, and couldn't be, competitors for any titles or lands, so the future title-holder didn't have to worry (so much) about their loyalty.
Consequently, we decided that Ela plucked Matthew out of the crowd and assigned him to be the companion to her new grandson. This makes Matthew six years older than his charge, yet still young enough to have been essentially raised as a member of the family without being a member of the family.
We further decided that, when the time came for William to receive his honors, the Earl decided to bestow them on Matthew, as well. Thus making him Matthew of Salisbury. This way the two could fight side-by-side, and hopefully increase William III's chances at actually inheriting the title that his grandmother still held. (Spoiler: He wouldn't).
In our version of events, Matthew has his first death in April 1255. We chose April 12th — for reasons I don't remember, though likely had to do with our understanding of tournament schedules — but was able to hide that death and stay on as Matthew of Salisbury thanks to Ceirdwyn.
She, we decided, entered the Salisbury household as a lady in waiting for Ela (or any of the other wives; this detail isn't important), and stayed because of her awareness of what lay in Matthew's future. When he was killed, she was able to secret his body away and keep anyone from discovering how fatal his injuries had been. Then, in order to be able to be close enough to him to train him, she talked the Countess into letting her and Matthew marry. As Matthew was already married, this took some finagling, but they figured it out.
The flashback of Dead End is focused on the after effects of the death of William III in his tournament in 1257. He was also killed in a joust — though, I turned it into a murder rather than a sporting accident. In the wake of losing his closest friend and blade-brother, Matthew snapped and turned into the single-minded, vengeful hunter we met him as in "Manhunt," necessitating Ceirdwyn to take extraordinary measures to try to bring him back to sanity.
With Matthew being only the companion and then needing to flee from that life, it's not difficult to see how his name and contemporary references to him might've been erased from history.
The story shared of William II dying on Crusade and his family learning about it from the bards is … partially true. He died on Crusade, for sure, and some pretty graphic verse was written about what happened. Whether or not that's how the news reached the family—or when—is wholly my invention.
And, in our reality, Ela outlived her husband, son, and grandson, and finally passed her title on to her great-granddaughter, Margaret.
For any conflicts or impossibilities in our stories with the historical details, remember that we're talking about Highlander. If an established detail can't bend in service of the plot, then what use is it?
