Bernard Cornwell OBE (born 23 February 1944) is an English writer known for writing historical novels and a book about the Waterloo campaign. He is most famous for his series of novels about Richard Sharpe, a soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. He also wrote The Saxon Stories, a series of thirteen books about the unification of England.

Cornwell has written historical novels based on English history in five different series, as well as one series of modern thriller novels. A common feature of his historical books is an end note that explains how the stories match or differ from real history and what people might see today at the places where the events happened. He also wrote a nonfiction book about the Battle of Waterloo, in addition to including the battle in the Sharpe series. Three of his historical novel series have been made into television shows: Sharpe by ITV, The Last Kingdom by BBC/Netflix, and The Winter King by MGM+. He currently lives in the United States with his wife, spending time in both Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Charleston, South Carolina.

Biography

Bernard Cornwell was born in London in 1944. His father was a Canadian airman named William Oughtred, and his mother was an English woman named Dorothy Cornwell, who was part of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. He was adopted and raised in Thundersley, Essex, by the Wiggins family. The Wiggins family belonged to the Peculiar People, a strict religious group that believed in peace and banned unnecessary fun or games. They also avoided using medicine until 1930. Because of being raised by strict religious people, Cornwell rejected all religions and became an atheist as an adult.

After his adoptive father died, Cornwell legally changed his last name from Wiggins to Cornwell, his mother’s maiden name. Before this, he had used the name Bernard Cornwell as a pen name. At age 58, he met his biological father for the first time after telling a journalist during a book tour that he wanted to see his real father in Vancouver. There, he met his half-siblings and learned about his family history. He believes he is a descendant of Uhtred the Bold, a historical figure who inspired his book series called The Saxon Stories.

Cornwell attended Monkton Combe School in Somerset. He studied history at University College London from 1963 to 1966 and later worked as a teacher. He tried to join the British military three times but was turned down because of poor eyesight.

After teaching, Cornwell worked for the BBC’s Nationwide program and later became the head of current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland. He then joined Thames Television as the editor of Thames News.

Cornwell’s first marriage ended in divorce during the 1970s. He met his second wife, Judy, in 1978 in Edinburgh while working for BBC Northern Ireland. Judy was a travel agent from the United States and had three children from a previous marriage. After marrying Judy, he moved to the United States in 1979. Because he could not obtain a U.S. Permanent Resident Card (green card), he began writing novels, which did not require a work permit. Later, he became a U.S. citizen.

Career

Bernard Cornwell enjoyed reading the books of C. S. Forester, which told the stories of a fictional British naval officer named Horatio Hornblower during the Napoleonic Wars. He noticed that there were no similar books about army soldiers, so he decided to write his own series. This choice was also influenced by his need to earn money through writing. For his main character, he created a rifleman who took part in many important battles of the Peninsular War. He named this character after a rugby player named Richard Sharp.

Cornwell originally planned to begin his series with the Siege of Badajoz, but he chose to write two introductory novels first: Sharpe's Eagle and Sharpe's Gold, both published in 1981. He later wrote about the Siege of Badajoz in Sharpe's Company, released in 1982. At the time, he had a seven-book agreement with his publisher.

Cornwell and his wife, Judy, co-wrote a series of novels under the name "Susannah Kells." These included A Crowning Mercy (1983), Fallen Angels (1984), and Coat of Arms (also known as The Aristocrats, 1986). A Crowning Mercy is set during the English Civil War and reflects Cornwell’s strict Protestant upbringing. He also wrote Redcoat (1987), a novel about the American Revolutionary War that takes place in Philadelphia during its 1777 occupation by British forces.

A production company asked Cornwell to write a background novel to help create a television series based on the first eight books of his Sharpe series. They requested that the story include important roles for Spanish characters to gain support from Spain. The result was Sharpe's Rifles, published in 1987 and set during the English retreat at A Coruña. This book led to a television series starring Sean Bean.

After this, Cornwell wrote a series of modern thrillers with sailing as a common theme. These included Wildtrack (1988), Sea Lord (or Killer's Wake, 1989), Crackdown (1990), Stormchild (1991), and the political thriller Scoundrel (1992).

For many years, Cornwell wrote two books per year. He later slowed to one book per year when he reached his sixties. He believes historical fiction should tell a "big story" based on real events and a "little story" through fictional characters. Patrick O'Brian, who wrote about the Napoleonic era, once said Cornwell’s novels had "too much plot, not enough lifestyle." Cornwell viewed this as a compliment, recognizing the difference in writing styles between himself and O'Brian.

With the success of the Sharpe series, Cornwell began writing about other historical periods and events in English and American history. Azincourt, published in the UK in 2008, follows an archer who fought in the Battle of Agincourt, a major defeat for the French during the Hundred Years' War. In 2004, he released The Last Kingdom, the first book in the Saxon Stories series, which focuses on Uhtred of Bebbanburg and describes how England began to form under King Alfred the Great. Cornwell wanted to share the story of England’s origins, as many people in England were unfamiliar with it compared to Americans, who have a clear starting date for their nation. His own family history inspired the character of Uhtred.

The Fort, published in 2010, is another of Cornwell’s standalone novels. It tells the story of the Penobscot Expedition of 1779 during the American Revolutionary War.

Bernard Cornwell has sold over 30 million books by 2015 across his various series and individual novels. He continues to write new books.

Honours

In 2006, Cornwell was awarded the OBE in the Birthday Honours list for work in literature and television production.

Novel series

Cornwell's first series of historical novels follows the adventures of Richard Sharpe, an English soldier during the Napoleonic Wars, especially the Peninsular Wars when Arthur Wellesley led the campaign against Napoleon's forces in the Iberian Peninsula. The first 11 books in the Sharpe series, starting with Sharpe's Rifles and ending with Sharpe's Waterloo (published in the US as Waterloo), describe Sharpe's experiences in various Peninsular War campaigns over seven years. Later, Cornwell wrote Sharpe's Tiger, Sharpe's Triumph, Sharpe's Fortress, Sharpe's Trafalgar, and Sharpe's Prey, which show Sharpe's earlier adventures in India under Wellington's command, including his promotion to officer, return to Britain, and joining the 95th Rifles. He also wrote Sharpe's Devil, set six years after the wars ended. Since 2003, Cornwell has written additional "missing adventures" during the Peninsular War era, focusing on major battles, making a total of 22 novels in the series. The Sharpe Appreciation Society has also published three short stories by Cornwell: Sharpe's Skirmish, Sharpe's Christmas, and Sharpe's Ransom.

Cornwell wrote in notes at the end of the Sharpe series that he was initially unsure about casting Sean Bean for the television adaptations but later became very pleased. He dedicated Sharpe's Battle to Bean and said he changed the character's description to match Bean's portrayal, as he now "could not imagine Sharpe as anyone else." One of Cornwell's early concerns was that Bean did not look like the black-haired Sharpe described in the books, but he believed Bean performed the role perfectly and stopped mentioning Sharpe's hair color afterward.

A trilogy of novels depicts Arthurian Britain. The series shows that after the Roman Empire left Britain, the native Britons faced challenges, including invasions by the Anglo-Saxons in the east and raids by the Irish in the west. At the same time, they dealt with conflicts between their small kingdoms and tensions between the old Druidic religion and Christianity. Cornwell has said these are his favorite stories and that "of all the books I have written, these three are my favorites."

This series follows a mid-14th-century search for the Holy Grail during the Hundred Years' War. An Englishman named Thomas of Hookton becomes involved in the quest after a mysterious man called "The Harlequin" kills Thomas's father. Cornwell once planned to write more books about Thomas of Hookton but stopped after finishing Heretic, the third novel in the series, because he felt Thomas's story ended there. He returned to the character in 1356, published in 2012.

The series focuses on the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex. The idea for the series came to Cornwell after meeting his real father in Canada in his fifties and learning about his family's ancestry, which traced back to the real-life Uhtred of Bebbanburg, the series' protagonist. Cornwell realized that many English people are unaware of how England became a unified kingdom instead of remaining a land dominated by other groups. Uhtred reluctantly helps Alfred the Great, a man he respects but dislikes, to achieve Alfred's goal of uniting all English speakers into one kingdom. The series continues after Alfred's death, with his heirs working to complete his dream. The first novel was published in 2004, and the 13th and final book was released in 2020.

The Last Kingdom and The Pale Horseman inspired the first season of the television series The Last Kingdom. The Lords of the North and Sword Song inspired the second season. A third season, based on The Burning Land and Death of Kings, was released in November 2018, and a fourth season was released in April 2020. A fifth season was released on March 9, 2022.

Four novels set during the American Civil War follow the adventures of Boston-born Nathaniel Starbuck during his time in the Confederate Army. This series is notable for including Richard Sharpe's son as a supporting character.

Cornwell's thriller series are modern mystery stories with sailing themes. He is a traditional sailor and enjoys sailing his Cornish Crabber, named Royalist. According to Cornwell's website, he may not write more books in this series: "I enjoyed writing the thrillers, but suspect I am happier writing historical novels. I'm always delighted when people want more of the sailing books, but I'm not planning on writing any more, at least not now – but who knows? Perhaps when I retire."

Nonfiction

In addition to his many novels, including a fictional book called Sharpe's Waterloo about the Battle of Waterloo, Cornwell published a nonfiction book titled Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles in September 2014. This was released to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the battle.