Those who have read Hild and/or Menewood know that the two chief influences on my fictional Hild’s understanding of Christianity and in particular the nature of God, are Fursey and James the Deacon. Both were real figures of history—though if they left writing I haven’t seen it. In my fictional incarnations of these real-life figures, Fursey is a worldly man, originally from Ireland, highborn and high-achieving; James, though originally from Italy, is much less traditional. It is James in particular who helps Hild wrestle with and reach an understanding of the difference between Church orthodoxy and God’s nature and will.

My James, a seventh-century Latin-speaking Deacon, would have no problem with the teachings of Julian of Norwich, a 14th century anchoress who wrote in Middle English and whose Revelations of Divine Love had a powerful impact on contemporary believers. Julian’s basic message—God is love and He will be merciful to those who atone—is similar to James’s, which is that God is love and He will forgive any sin committed from a basis of love as long as it’s confessed.¹

I’m not yet at the stage where I can say definitively what Hild’s own basic understanding of god and sin will be as she becomes an abbess, but I do think it will be simpler than that of either James or Julian. That is, ‘The pattern is god, and god is love.’ And I’m pretty sure she won’t give a flying fig for the rules and regulations various bishops will try to impose upon her—though of course she will have to find ways to work with and/or around them, as well as repurposing Gospel stories to suit her own agenda.

What brought all this up? Well, a post on Bluesky (that I won’t link to because the poster didn’t use alt-text, and I won’t boost that kind of behaviour) showing an image of a manuscript of the text of Revelations… and then a fresh, forearm tattoo of part of one of its most famous quotes, “All shall be well…” And I went off into a reverie about subtle connotations and misquotations. Let me explain.

In Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love, part of the 13th Revelation (which in itself is several chapters long) is this passage (this is a modern English translation of the original):

Jesus answered with these words, saying: ‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’ … This was said so tenderly, without blame of any kind toward me or anybody else.

A lot of people misquote Jesus’ words as “All will be well…” and frankly I like that version better. Because ‘shall’ is prescriptive, almost imperative: ‘all must be well.’ And to me that’s always seemed a bit desperate, suggesting flying in the face of the odds, that is, “Oh hell I really, really hope all will be well but I’m guessing it won’t…”. Whereas ‘all will be well’ feels much more promissory, and therefore reassuring, almost soothing. Which feels much more like the kind of god Hild would get behind and promote in her teachings. So when Hild III finally appears, don’t be surprised if she pre-quotes/misquotes a certain Medieval Mystic.

I will prepare for a barrage of indignant letters, emails, social media post and DMs after publication, but, hey, the author is god of her book and, like Hild, I don’t really give a fig when others don’;t really get the point.

Having said that, up until publication—and especially now as I’m just trying to figure this out without having written any of it yet—I would love to hear from those who have thought about such things. All opinions welcome!

1. Perhaps only superficially similar? I suspect so but admit frankly that I don’t know. I’m not a theological and am not used to parsing such things ↩︎