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As someone who knows a bit about history, there are a few things that most historical fiction (pro or fan) gets wrong ALL THE TIME, and it really drives me batty. So I will be writing a few primers about basic details that people get wrong a lot, on an irregular basis. It will not be a systematic "everything you need to know" basis, but rather "these are the things that bug me the most." Unless otherwise specified, all these primers will refer to European and European-American culture and history. (So, for example, your standard Regency AU.)
My first primer was on Corsets and Undergarments.
Today we're going to talk about class, titles, and formal modes of address!
You've all read this scene. It's set in a different time period with really significant class differences. Our Hero is a noble/really rich, and talking with a servant/lower class person, and the servant uses their rank or title, and Our Hero feels uncomfortable! It's so stuffy and formal and weird! And so they tell the servant/lower class person to just call them by their first name. This is how you know that they are Egalitarian and therefore Good. (Often the villain, if there is one, is very insistent on maintaining the visible elements of the class structure.) And when the Good Egalitarian Aristocrat/Rich Person tells the Low Class Person to call them by their first name and treat them like they're friends and equals, the Low Class Person is happy with this and they become fast friends.
( This is what we call projecting modern views on history. )
Now, if you want to completely ignore all this and have your Regency AU just be modern people in weird clothes, that's cool. But if you actually want it to matter that they're in the past for anything more than "oh, fancy parties, cool," please keep this in mind.
My first primer was on Corsets and Undergarments.
Today we're going to talk about class, titles, and formal modes of address!
You've all read this scene. It's set in a different time period with really significant class differences. Our Hero is a noble/really rich, and talking with a servant/lower class person, and the servant uses their rank or title, and Our Hero feels uncomfortable! It's so stuffy and formal and weird! And so they tell the servant/lower class person to just call them by their first name. This is how you know that they are Egalitarian and therefore Good. (Often the villain, if there is one, is very insistent on maintaining the visible elements of the class structure.) And when the Good Egalitarian Aristocrat/Rich Person tells the Low Class Person to call them by their first name and treat them like they're friends and equals, the Low Class Person is happy with this and they become fast friends.
( This is what we call projecting modern views on history. )
Now, if you want to completely ignore all this and have your Regency AU just be modern people in weird clothes, that's cool. But if you actually want it to matter that they're in the past for anything more than "oh, fancy parties, cool," please keep this in mind.
