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108-394: Lord Peter is a collection of short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey . First published in 1972 ( ISBN   0-380-01694-X ), it includes all the short stories about Lord Peter written by Dorothy L. Sayers , most of which were published elsewhere soon after they were written, and some related writings. This article about a collection of mystery short stories published in

216-453: A copywriter ( Murder Must Advertise ). Bredon is framed for murder, leading Charles Parker to "arrest" Bredon for murder in front of numerous witnesses. To distinguish Death Bredon from Lord Peter Wimsey, Parker smuggles Wimsey out of the police station and urges him to get into the papers. Accordingly, Wimsey accompanies "a Royal personage" to a public event, leading the press to carry pictures of both "Bredon" and Wimsey. By 1935 Lord Peter

324-534: A fictional Oxford college . In How I Came to Invent the Character of Lord Peter Wimsey, Sayers wrote: Lord Peter's large income... I deliberately gave him... After all it cost me nothing and at the time I was particularly hard up and it gave me pleasure to spend his fortune for him. When I was dissatisfied with my single unfurnished room I took a luxurious flat for him in Piccadilly. When my cheap rug got

432-457: A London flat at 110A Piccadilly , W1 , while Wimsey recovered. Even much later, however, Wimsey would have relapses—especially when his actions caused a murderer to be hanged. As noted in Whose Body? , on such occasions Bunter would take care of Wimsey and tenderly put him to bed, and they would revert to being "Major Wimsey" and "Sergeant Bunter". In the reissue of The Unpleasantness at

540-554: A different vocabulary; it calls the colours by their everyday names. In its original sense, tincture refers only to the group conventionally referred to as "colours". But as the word "colour" seems inapplicable to the heraldic furs, and no other term clearly encompasses all three classes, the word "tincture" has come to be used in this broader sense, while "colour" has acquired the more restricted sense originally given to "tincture". Thus, when consulting various heraldic authorities, care must be taken to determine which meaning each term

648-689: A fictional setting—as is the Dukedom of Denver—about 15 miles (24 km) beyond the real Denver in Norfolk, on the A10 near Downham Market . Wimsey was for a time unable to give servants any orders whatsoever, since his wartime experience made him associate the giving of an order with causing the death of the person to whom the order was given. Bunter arrived and, with the approval of the Dowager Duchess, took up his post as valet. Bunter moved Wimsey to

756-450: A gentleman's duty "to remember whom he had taken to bed" so as not to embarrass his bedmate by calling her by the wrong name. There are several references to a relationship with a famous Viennese opera singer, and Bunter—who evidently was involved with this, as with other parts of his master's life—recalls Wimsey being very angry with a French mistress who mistreated her own servant. The only one of Wimsey's earlier women to appear in person

864-466: A great deal better if you pretend to treat it as a joke. By being, on the surface, a little ironical about Lord Peter Wimsey and his noble ancestors, she is enabled to lay on the snobbishness ('his lordship' etc.) much thicker than any overt snob would dare to do". In 1935, the British film The Silent Passenger was released, in which Lord Peter, played by well-known comic actor Peter Haddon , solved

972-468: A hole in it, I ordered him an Aubusson carpet. When I had no money to pay my bus fare I presented him with a Daimler double-six, upholstered in a style of sober magnificence, and when I felt dull I let him drive it. I can heartily recommend this inexpensive way of furnishing to all who are discontented with their incomes. It relieves the mind and does no harm to anybody. Janet Hitchman, in the preface to Striding Folly , remarks that "Wimsey may have been

1080-533: A label or collar blazoned as "white" rather than "argent" appears on a supporter blazoned argent or or. The use of "white" in place of "argent" would be consistent with the Victorian practice of heraldic blazon that discouraged repeating the name of a tincture in describing a coat of arms, but if it were merely intended as a synonym of "argent", this placement would clearly violate the rule against placing metal on metal or colour on colour (see below). This difficulty

1188-420: A lion passant gules, armed and langued argent", one might say, "gules, on a fess or between three chess-rooks argent, a lion passant of the field , armed and langued of the third ." Similar phrases include "of the last" and "of the like". Alternately, descriptions such as "gold" and "silver" might be substituted for "or" and "argent" on a subsequent occurrence. Another rule of blazon relating to tinctures suggests

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1296-617: A metal or a colour), and horizon blue . Silver gray has appeared in the heraldry of both the Army and the Air Force . Bronze appears as a colour in the arms of the Special Troops Battalion of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. There seems to be some confusion about the colour crimson , as in some cases it is treated as a separate tincture, while in others it is used to specify the shade of gules to be employed by

1404-447: A much redder purple than the modern heraldic colour; and in fact earlier depictions of purpure are far redder than recent ones. As a heraldic colour, purpure may have originated as a variation of gules. Three more tinctures were eventually acknowledged by most heraldic authorities: sanguine , a blood red, murrey , a dark red or mulberry colour; and tenné , an orange or dark yellow to brownish colour. These were termed "stains" by some of

1512-585: A mystery on the boat train crossing the English Channel . Sayers disliked the film and James Brabazon describes it as an "oddity, in which Dorothy's contribution was altered out of all recognition." The novel Busman's Honeymoon was originally a stage play by Sayers and her friend Muriel St. Clare Byrne. A 1940 film of Busman's Honeymoon (US: The Haunted Honeymoon ), stars Robert Montgomery and Constance Cummings as Lord and Lady Peter and Seymour Hicks as Bunter. Proper (Heraldry) Where

1620-439: A particularly dangerous and well-organised criminal gang. Only Wimsey's mother and sister and the loyal Bunter know that he remains alive. Emerging victorious after more than a year masquerading as "the disgruntled sacked servant Rogers", Wimsey remarks that "We shall have an awful time with the lawyers, proving that I am me." In fact, he returns smoothly to his old life, and the interlude is never referred to in later books. During

1728-483: A powerful Daimler (for example, a 12-cylinder or "double-six" 1927 Daimler four-seater); he calls these cars "Mrs Merdle" after a character in Charles Dickens 's Little Dorrit who "hated fuss". In the eleventh novel, Busman's Honeymoon , we are told he has owned nine Daimlers with this name. Lord Peter Wimsey's ancestry begins with the 12th-century knight Gerald de Wimsey, who went with King Richard

1836-423: A range of different colours is found in nature; for instance, a popinjay proper is green, even though wild parrots occur in a variety of colours. In some cases, a charge depicted in a particular set of colours may be referred to as "proper", even though it consists entirely of heraldic tinctures; a rose proper , whether red or white, is barbed vert and seeded or . The most extensive use of non-heraldic colours

1944-496: A regular basis. Sanguine from the Latin sanguineus , "blood red", one the so-called "stains" in British armory, is a dark blood red between gules and purpure in hue. It probably originated as a mere variation of red and may in fact represent the original hue of purpure , which is now treated as a much bluer colour than when it first appeared in heraldry. It was long shunned in the belief that it represented some dishonour on

2052-530: A time when European dictators were openly committing mass murders with impunity; this seems to have reflected Sayers' own wartime feeling. The Wimsey Papers included a reference to Wimsey and Bunter setting out during the war on a secret mission of espionage in Europe, and provide the ironic epitaph Wimsey writes for himself: "Here lies an anachronism in the vague expectation of eternity". The papers also incidentally show that in addition to his thorough knowledge of

2160-426: A womanizer - though a rather gentlemanly and sensitive one. It would have been out of character for him to return Marjorie Phelps' love, and inevitable that he would break her heart - as he must have done to many other women before. But Sayers - a woman writer who had herself experienced disappointments and frustrations in relations with men - evidently decided to take revenge on her character and educate him. Sayers took

2268-701: A young woman named Barbara and became engaged to her. When the First World War broke out, he hastened to join the British Army , releasing Barbara from her engagement in case he was killed or mutilated. The girl later married another, less principled officer. Wimsey served on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918, reaching the rank of major in the Rifle Brigade . He was appointed an intelligence officer , and on one occasion he infiltrated

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2376-524: Is " Sable , 3 mice courant, argent; crest, a domestic cat couched as to spring, proper ". The family motto, displayed under its coat of arms, is "As my Whimsy takes me." Lord Peter is the second of the three children of Mortimer Wimsey, 15th Duke of Denver , and Honoria Lucasta Delagardie, who lives on throughout the novels as the Dowager Duchess of Denver. She is witty and intelligent, and strongly supports her younger son, whom she plainly prefers over her less intelligent, more conventional older son Gerald ,

2484-442: Is able to bypass Sugg through his friendship with Scotland Yard detective Charles Parker , a sergeant in 1921. At the end of Whose Body? , Wimsey generously allows Sugg to take completely undeserved credit for the solution; the grateful Sugg cannot go on with his hostility to Wimsey. In later books, Sugg fades away and Wimsey's relations with the police become dominated by his amicable partnership with Parker, who eventually rises to

2592-472: Is able to turn three cartwheels in the office corridor, stopping just short of the boss's open office door ( Murder Must Advertise ). Among Lord Peter's hobbies, in addition to criminology, is collecting incunabula , books from the earliest days of printing. He is an expert on matters of food (and especially wine), male fashion, and classical music. He excels at the piano, including Bach 's works for keyboard instruments. Lord Peter likes driving fast and keeps

2700-549: Is asleep, affectionately calls him a "bloody little fool." In "The Vindictive Story of the Footsteps That Ran", the staunchly democratic Dr. Hartman invites Bunter to sit down to eat together with himself and Wimsey, at the doctor's modest apartment. Wimsey does not object, but Bunter strongly does: "If I may state my own preference, sir, it would be to wait upon you and his lordship in the usual manner". Whereupon Wimsey remarks: "Bunter likes me to know my place". At

2808-442: Is avoided if "white" is considered a colour in this particular instance, rather than a synonym of "argent". This interpretation has neither been accepted nor refuted by any heraldic authority, but a counter-argument is that the labels are not intended to represent a heraldic tincture, but are in fact white labels proper. Other exceptional colours have occasionally appeared during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: The arms of

2916-535: Is called "Lord" as he is the younger son of a duke . This is a courtesy title ; he is not a peer and has no right to sit in the House of Lords, nor does the courtesy title pass on to any offspring he may have. As a boy, Peter was, to the great distress of his father, strongly attached to an old, smelly poacher living at the edge of the family estate. In his youth, Peter was influenced by his maternal uncle, Paul Delagardie, who took it upon himself to instruct his nephew in

3024-454: Is coloured as it naturally appears is blazoned proper (Fr. propre ), or "the colour of nature". Strictly speaking, proper is not a tincture in itself, and if, as is sometimes the case, a charge is meant to be depicted in particular colours that are not apparent from the word "proper" alone, they may be specified in whatever detail is necessary. Certain charges are considered "proper" when portrayed with particular colours, even though

3132-523: Is described as having authored numerous books, among them the following fictitious works: Dorothy Sayers wrote 11 Wimsey novels and a number of short stories featuring Wimsey and his family. Other recurring characters include Inspector Charles Parker, the family solicitor Mr Murbles, barrister Sir Impey Biggs, journalist Salcombe Hardy, and family friend and financial whiz the Honourable Freddy Arbuthnot, who finds himself entangled in

3240-514: Is from Latin viridis , "green". The alternative name in French, sinople , is derived from the ancient city of Sinope in Asia Minor ( Turkey ), which was famous for its pigments. Purpure (Fr. purpure or pourpre , Ger. Purpur ) is from Latin purpura , in turn from Greek porphyra , the dye known as Tyrian purple . This expensive dye, known from antiquity, produced

3348-473: Is given. In most heraldic tradition, the various metals and colours have no fixed appearance, hue, or shade. The heraldic artist is free to choose a lighter or darker blue or green, a deeper or brighter red; to choose between depicting or with yellow or any of various gold paints, to depict argent as white or silver. Recently the College of Arms explained, "there are no fixed shades for heraldic colours. If

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3456-570: Is in continental Europe, acting as an unofficial attaché to the British Foreign Office (at the time of writing, British diplomacy was much concerned with the impending Italian invasion of Ethiopia ). Harriet Vane contacts him about a problem she has been asked to investigate in her college at Oxford ( Gaudy Night ). At the end of their investigation, Vane finally accepts Wimsey's proposal of marriage. The couple marry on 8 October 1935, at St Cross Church, Oxford , as depicted in

3564-478: Is invariably punctilious in using "my lord" even when they are alone, and "his lordship" in company. In a brief passage written from Bunter's point of view in Busman's Honeymoon , Bunter is seen, even in the privacy of his own mind, to think of his employer as "His Lordship". However, in the first book, Whose Body? , when Wimsey experiences a severe First World War flashback, Bunter takes care of him and, once Wimsey

3672-548: Is more often represented by white, in part because of the tendency for silver paint to oxidize and darken over time, and in part because of the pleasing effect of white against a contrasting colour. Notwithstanding the widespread use of white for argent, some heraldic authorities have suggested the existence of white as a distinct heraldic colour. The five common colours in heraldry are gules , or red; sable , or black; azure , or blue; vert , or green; and purpure , or purple. Gules (Fr. gueules , Ger. Rot )

3780-543: Is not in London, but learns from a reporter that she has discovered a corpse while on a walking holiday on England's south coast. Wimsey is at her hotel the next morning. He not only investigates the death and offers proposals of marriage, but also acts as Harriet's patron and protector from press and police. Despite a prickly relationship, they work together to identify the murderer. Back in London in 1932, Wimsey goes undercover as "Death Bredon" at an advertising firm, working as

3888-721: Is not made in many medieval heraldic treatises, including the Anglo-Norman De Heraudie , which has been dated to between 1280–1300 or 1341–45, the Italian Tractatus de Insigniis et Armis , published in 1358, the Tractatus de Armis , which dates from shortly after 1394, or the mid-fifteenth century Bradfer-Lawrence Roll . In addition, while De Heraudie and the Bradfer-Lawrence list the seven common metals and colours of contemporary heraldry,

3996-449: Is not, and internal commas are entirely omitted. The first so-called "rule" of heraldry is the rule of tincture : metal should not be placed upon metal, nor colour upon colour , for the sake of contrast. The main duty of a heraldic device is to be recognized, and the dark colours or light metals are supposed to be too difficult to distinguish if they are placed on top of other dark or light colours, particularly in poor light. Though this

4104-625: Is of uncertain derivation; outside of the heraldic context, the modern French word refers to the mouth of an animal. Sable (Ger. Schwarz ) is named for a type of marten , known for its dark, luxuriant fur. Azure (Fr. azur or bleu , Ger. Blau ) comes through the Arabic lāzaward , from the Persian lāžavard both referring to the blue mineral lapis lazuli , used to produce blue pigments. Vert (Fr. vert or sinople , Ger. Grün )

4212-405: Is probably associated with "landscape heraldry", a common feature of British and German armory during the latter part of the eighteenth century, and the early part of the nineteenth. Although rarely used for the field itself, landscapes were often granted as augmentations , typically depicting a fortress successfully captured or defended, or a particular ship, or a battle in which the armiger to whom

4320-635: Is the artist Marjorie Phelps, who plays an important role in The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club . She has known Wimsey for years and is attracted to him, though it is not explicitly stated whether they were lovers. Wimsey likes her, respects her, and enjoys her company—but that is not enough. In Strong Poison , she is the first person other than Wimsey himself to realise that he has fallen in love with Harriet. Reviewer Barbara Stanton noted that "Dorothy Sayers had created Peter Wimsey as

4428-479: Is the practical genesis of the rule, the rule is technical and appearance is not used in determining whether arms conform to the rule. Another reason sometimes given to justify this rule is that it was difficult to paint enamel colours over other enamel colours, or with metal over metal. This "rule" has at times been followed so pedantically that arms that violate it were called armes fausses "false arms" or armes à enquérir "arms of enquiry"; any violation

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4536-511: Is used to depict ermine. There is considerable variation in the shape of ermine spots; in the oldest depictions, they were drawn realistically, as long, tapering points; in modern times they are typically drawn as arrowheads, usually topped by three small dots. Vair (Ger. Feh ) derives its name from Latin varius , "variegated". It is usually depicted as a series of alternating shapes, conventionally known as panes or "vair bells", of argent and azure, arranged in horizontal rows, so that

4644-487: Is white. When the pattern of vair is used with other colours, the field is termed vairé or vairy of the tinctures used. Normally vairé consists of one metal and one colour, although ermine or one of its variants is sometimes used, with an ermine spot appearing in each pane of that tincture. Vairé of four colours (Ger. Buntfeh , "gay-coloured" or "checked vair") is also known, usually consisting of two metals and two colours. Several variant shapes exist, of which

4752-741: The Encaenia ceremony in July 1913. Twice in the novels (in Murder Must Advertise and Busman's Honeymoon ) his looks are compared to those of the actor Ralph Lynn . Wimsey also possesses considerable intelligence and athletic ability, evidenced by his playing cricket for Oxford University while taking a First in history (referred to in Gaudy Night ). He creates a spectacularly successful publicity campaign for Whifflet cigarettes while working for Pym's Publicity Ltd, and at age 40

4860-732: The Jewish Autonomous Region in Russia have a field of aquamarine . The Canadian Heraldic Authority granted arms containing rose as a colour in 1997. In 2002, the Authority granted arms including copper , treated as a metal, to the municipality of Whitehorse, Yukon . Ochre , both red and yellow, appears in South African heraldry ; the national coat of arms , adopted in 2000, includes red ochre , while (possibly yellow but more likely red) ochre appears in

4968-643: The Tractatus de Insigniis combines red and purple and omits green, and the Tractatus de Armis omits purple. A fourteenth-century English treatise, possibly by the same author as the Tractatus de Armis , does make the distinction between colours and metals and lists the seven in contemporary use in addition to the colour tawny , which it states is used only in France and the Holy Roman Empire . The Accedence of Armory , written by Gerard Legh in 1562, also distinguishes between colours and metals, listing

5076-582: The Victorian era , when heraldic scholars and artists began looking to earlier and simpler periods of armorial design for inspiration. In the English-speaking world, heraldic terminology is based largely on that of British armory, which in turn is based on Norman French . With respect to the heraldic tinctures, French heraldry, which is often cited by heraldic authors, uses similar terminology. However, German heraldry, also highly influential, uses

5184-509: The formative period of European heraldry in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The range of tinctures and the manner of depicting and describing them has evolved over time, as new variations and practices have developed. The earliest surviving coloured heraldic illustrations, from the mid-thirteenth century, show the use of the two metals, five colours, and two furs. Since that time, the great majority of heraldic art has employed these nine tinctures. The distinction between colours and metals

5292-422: The 16th Duke. Gerald's snobbish wife, Helen, detests Peter. Gerald's son and heir is the devil-may-care Viscount St George. Lady Mary, the younger sister of the 16th Duke, and of Lord Peter, leans strongly to the political left. At one time she planned to elope with a radical left agitator, and though this did not come about she did scandalise Helen by marrying a policeman of working-class origins. Lord Peter Wimsey

5400-490: The 1920s, Wimsey has affairs with various women, which are the subject of much gossip in Britain and Europe. This part of his life remains hazy: it is hardly ever mentioned in the books set in the same period; most of the scant information on the subject is given in flashbacks from later times, after he meets Harriet Vane and relations with other women become a closed chapter. In Busman's Honeymoon Wimsey facetiously refers to

5508-404: The 1970s is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Lord Peter Wimsey Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey DSO (later 17th Duke of Denver ) is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (and their continuation by Jill Paton Walsh ). A dilettante who solves mysteries for his own amusement, Wimsey is an archetype for

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5616-484: The Bellona Club (1935), the biography of Wimsey is "brought up to date" by his uncle, Paul Austin Delagardie, purportedly at the request of Sayers herself, further giving the illusion that he is a real person. At this point, Wimsey is claimed to be 45 years old and "time he was settled". The biography takes up the last eight pages of the book and concludes with the statement that Wimsey "has always had everything except

5724-584: The British gentleman detective . He is often assisted by his valet and former batman , Mervyn Bunter ; by his good friend and later brother-in-law, police detective Charles Parker ; and, in a few books, by Harriet Vane , who becomes his wife. Born in 1890 and ageing in real time, Wimsey is described as being of average height, with straw-coloured hair, a beaked nose, and a vaguely foolish face. Reputedly his looks are patterned after those of academic and poet Roy Ridley , whom Sayers briefly met after witnessing him read his Newdigate Prize -winning poem "Oxford" at

5832-651: The Duke and Lady Mary, to whom Parker is attracted. As a result of the slaughter of men in the First World War, there was in the UK a considerable imbalance between the sexes. It is not exactly known when Wimsey recruited Miss Climpson to run an undercover employment agency for women, a means to garner information from the otherwise inaccessible world of spinsters and widows, but it is prior to Unnatural Death (1927), in which Miss Climpson assists Wimsey's investigation of

5940-851: The Fen country in Easter 1930 (in The Nine Tailors ) Wimsey must unravel a 20-year-old case of missing jewels, an unknown corpse, a missing World War I soldier believed alive, a murderous escaped convict believed dead, and a mysterious code concerning church bells. While on a fishing holiday in Scotland later in 1930, Wimsey takes part in the investigation of the murder of an artist, related in Five Red Herrings . Despite her rejection of his marriage proposals, he continues to court Miss Vane. In Have His Carcase , in 1931, he finds Harriet

6048-429: The Latin aurum , "gold". It may be depicted using either yellow or metallic gold, at the artist's discretion; "yellow" has no separate existence in heraldry, and is never used to represent any tincture other than or. Argent (Ger. Weiß , Weiss , Silber , or silbern ) is similarly derived from the Latin argentum , "silver". Although sometimes depicted as metallic silver or faint grey, it

6156-625: The Lionheart on the Third Crusade and took part in the Siege of Acre . This makes the Wimseys an unusually ancient family, since "Very few English noble families go that far in the first creation; rebellions and monarchic head choppings had seen to that", as reviewer Janet Hitchman noted in the introduction to Striding Folly . The family coat of arms, first mentioned in Gaudy Night ,

6264-585: The Tudor officer of arms Thomas Wriothesley , for example, use for purpure a reddish-purple shade which would now be described as murrey . Over time, variations on these basic tinctures were developed, particularly with respect to the furs. Authorities differ as to whether these variations should be considered separate tinctures, or merely varieties of existing ones. Two additional colours appeared, and were generally accepted by heraldic writers, although they remained scarce, and were eventually termed stains , from

6372-515: The Wimseys have three sons: Bredon Delagardie Peter Wimsey (born in October 1936 in the story "The Haunted Policeman"); Roger Wimsey (born 1938), and Paul Wimsey (born 1940). However, according to the wartime publications of The Wimsey Papers , published in The Spectator , the second son was called Paul. In The Attenbury Emeralds , Paul is again the second son and Roger is the third son. In

6480-730: The arms of the University of Transkei . In the United States , heraldry is not governed by any official authority; but the United States Army , which makes extensive use of heraldry, does have its own authority, the United States Army Institute of Heraldry . The armorial designs of the Institute of Heraldry include a number of novel tinctures, including buff (employed variously as either

6588-494: The artist. Similar issue exists about a blue-green colour referred to as teal or turquoise which is either treated separate or as a specific shade of azure or céleste. Differing from most heraldic practice, the Institute of Heraldry often specifies the exact shades to be used in depicting various arms. Buff is also used by the Canadian Heraldic Authority , who treat it as a colour. A charge that

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6696-471: The augmentation was granted was involved. Such landscapes, usually appearing on a chief, might be blazoned with great particularity as to the things portrayed and the colours used to portray them. Officially, these landscapes appeared on a field of argent, but it was common, and perhaps expected, for the artist to add further details, such as the sky and clouds, by which the field might be wholly obscured. The use of landscapes in heraldry fell out of fashion during

6804-529: The belief that they were used to signify some dishonour on the part of the bearer. Other colours have appeared occasionally since the eighteenth century, especially in continental heraldry, but their use is infrequent, and they have never been regarded as particularly heraldic, or numbered among the tinctures that form the basis of heraldic design. The frequency with which different tinctures have been used over time has been much observed, but little studied. There are some general trends of note, both with respect to

6912-419: The blazon, but no other words. In the elaborate calligraphy appearing on most grants of arms, all of the tinctures are capitalized, as indeed are the names of the charges, but this is purely a matter of decorative style, and in no way does the manner of capitalization used in the original grant affect how the arms may be described on other occasions. A long-standing heraldic tradition has been to avoid repeating

7020-613: The case Wimsey undertakes is just to clear his young son of the false accusation of stealing fruit from the neighbour's tree. Though Sayers lived until 1957, she never again took up the Wimsey books after this final effort. Jill Paton Walsh wrote about Wimsey's career through and beyond the Second World War. In the continuations Thrones, Dominations (1998), A Presumption of Death (2002), The Attenbury Emeralds (2010), and The Late Scholar (2014), Harriet lives with

7128-496: The case in the first of the Wimsey books, Whose Body? (1923). Sayers wrote no more Wimsey murder mysteries, and only one story involving him, after the outbreak of World War II . In The Wimsey Papers , a series of fictionalised commentaries in the form of mock letters between members of the Wimsey family published in The Spectator , there is a reference to Harriet's difficulty in continuing to write murder mysteries at

7236-515: The children at Talboys, Wimsey and Bunter have returned successfully from their secret mission in 1940, and his nephew Lord St. George is killed while serving as an RAF pilot in the Battle of Britain . Consequently, when Wimsey's brother dies of a heart attack in 1951 during a fire in Bredon Hall, Wimsey becomes — very reluctantly — the Duke of Denver. Their Graces are then drawn into a mystery at

7344-404: The classics of English literature, Wimsey is familiar — though in fundamental disagreement — with the works of Karl Marx , and well able to debate with Marxists on their home ground. The only occasion when Sayers returned to Wimsey was the 1942 short story "Talboys". The story is set in a quiet rural environment, the war at that time devastating Europe received only a single oblique reference, and

7452-401: The conclusion of Strong Poison , Inspector Parker asks "What would one naturally do if one found one's water-bottle empty?" (a point of crucial importance in solving the book's mystery). Wimsey promptly answers, "Ring the bell", whereupon Miss Murchison, the indefatigable investigator employed by Wimsey for much of this book, comments "Or, if one wasn't accustomed to be waited on, one might use

7560-479: The conscious decision to turn the tables on Wimsey and make him fall deeply in love with a woman who would make him sweat and wait very very long before she finally accepted him". In Strong Poison Lord Peter encounters Harriet Vane , a cerebral, Oxford-educated mystery writer, while she is on trial for the murder of her former lover in December 1929. He falls in love with her at first sight. He saves Harriet from

7668-459: The facts of life – how to conduct various love affairs and treat his lovers. Lord Peter was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford , graduating with a first -class degree in history. He was also an outstanding cricketer, whose performance was still well remembered decades later. Though not taking up an academic career, he was left with an enduring and deep love for Oxford. To his uncle's disappointment, Wimsey fell deeply in love with

7776-528: The fictional Riddlesdale in North Yorkshire to assist his elder brother Gerald, who has been accused of murdering Captain Denis Cathcart, their sister's fiancé. As Gerald is the Duke of Denver, he is tried by the entire House of Lords, as required by the law at that time , to much scandal and the distress of his wife Helen. Their sister, Lady Mary, also falls under suspicion. Lord Peter clears

7884-424: The gallows, but she believes that gratitude is not a good foundation for marriage, and politely but firmly declines his frequent proposals. Lord Peter encourages his friend and foil, Chief Inspector Charles Parker, to propose to his sister, Lady Mary Wimsey, despite the great difference in their rank and wealth. They marry and have a son, named Charles Peter ("Peterkin"), and a daughter, Mary Lucasta ("Polly"). Visiting

7992-516: The lining of crowns and caps. In fact, furs occur infrequently in German and Nordic heraldry. The colours and patterns of the heraldic palette are divided into three groups, usually known as metals , colours , and furs . The metals are or and argent , representing gold and silver respectively, although in practice they are often depicted as yellow and white. Or (Ger. Gelb , Gold , or golden ) derives its name from

8100-404: The metals and colours dates to the beginning of the art. In this earliest period, there were only two furs, ermine and vair. Ermine represents the fur of the stoat , a type of weasel, in its white winter coat, when it is called an ermine. Vair represents the winter coat of the red squirrel , which is blue-grey above and white below. These furs were commonly used to line the cloaks and robes of

8208-439: The more influential heraldic writers and supposed to represent some sort of dishonour on the part of the bearer, but there is no evidence that they were ever so employed and they probably originated as mere variations of existing colours. Nevertheless, the belief that they represented stains upon the honour of an armiger served to prevent them receiving widespread use, and it is only in recent times that they have begun to appear on

8316-403: The most common is known as potent (Ger. Sturzkrückenfeh , "upside-down crutch vair"). In this form, the familiar "vair bell" is replaced by a T-shaped figure, known as a "potent" due to its resemblance to a crutch. Other furs sometimes encountered in continental heraldry, which are thought to be derived from vair, include plumeté or plumetty and papelonné or papellony . In plumeté ,

8424-404: The names of tinctures multiple times in any given blazon. If it is possible to mention multiple charges of the same tincture at once, followed by the name of the tincture, then this problem is avoided, but when it is impossible to combine elements of the same tincture in this manner, more creative descriptions may be used. For example, instead of "gules, on a fess or between three chess-rooks argent,

8532-556: The neighbour's tree. Peter and the accused set off to investigate and, of course, prove Bredon's innocence. Lord Peter has a noted collection of early editions of Dante : it includes, besides the famous Aldine octavo of 1502, the Naples incunabulum of 1477 sine typographo and the Florence incunabulum of 1481 printed by Niccolò di Lorenzo , which in Whose Body? Bunter bought for him at Sir Ralph Brocklebury's auction sale. Wimsey

8640-402: The nobility. Both ermine and vair give the appearance of being a combination of metal and colour, but in heraldic convention they are considered a separate class of tincture that is neither metal nor colour. Over time, several variations of ermine and vair have appeared, together with three additional furs typically encountered in continental heraldry, known as plumeté , papelonné , and kürsch ,

8748-450: The novel Trent's Last Case , a book which Sayers greatly admired. Many episodes in the Wimsey books express a mild satire on the British class system , in particular in depicting the relationship between Wimsey and Bunter. The two of them seem to be the best and closest of friends, yet Sayers states in the narration of The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club that Charles Parker is "in some ways [Peter's] only intimate friend." Bunter

8856-450: The official description of a coat of arms gives its tinctures as Gules (red), Azure (blue) and Argent (white or silver) then, as long as the blue is not too light and the red not too orange, purple or pink, it is up to the artists to decide which particular shades they think are appropriate." Most heraldic authors do not capitalize the names of the various tinctures, although a few do (sometimes inconsistently), and some who do not capitalize

8964-435: The opening collection of letters and diary entries in Busman's Honeymoon . The Wimseys honeymoon at Talboys, a house in east Hertfordshire near Harriet's childhood home, which Peter has bought for her as a wedding present. There they find the body of the previous owner, and spend their honeymoon solving the case, thus having the aphoristic "Busman's Honeymoon". Over the next five years, according to Sayers' short stories,

9072-420: The origins of which are more mysterious, but which probably began as variations of vair. Ermine (Fr. hermine , Ger. hermelin ) is normally depicted as a white field powdered with black spots, known as "ermine spots", representing the ermine's black tail. The use of white instead of silver is normal, even when silver is available, since this is how the fur naturally appears; but occasionally silver

9180-411: The other tinctures recommend capitalizing or in order to avoid confusion with the conjunction. However, there are relatively few occasions in which the conjunction "or" would appear in the blazon of a coat of arms, and if properly worded, which meaning is intended should be readily apparent from the context. Another convention has been to capitalize only the first word or the first tincture appearing in

9288-402: The panes are depicted as feathers; in papelonné they are depicted as scales, resembling those of a butterfly's wings (whence the name is derived). These can be modified with the colour, arrangement, and size variants of vair, though those variants are much less common. In German heraldry there is also a fur known as Kürsch , or "vair bellies", consisting of panes depicted hairy and brown. Here

9396-414: The panes of one tincture form the upper part of the row, while those of the opposite tincture are on the bottom. Succeeding rows are staggered, so that the bases of the panes making up each row are opposite those of the other tincture in the rows above and below. As with ermine, the argent panes may be depicted as either white or silver; silver is used more often with vair than with ermine, but the natural fur

9504-730: The part of the bearer. Murrey , from the Greek morum , "mulberry", it has found some use in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Murrey is also the official colour of the Order of the Bath ribbon. Tenné or tenny or tawny , from Latin tannare , "to tan". It is most often depicted as orange, but sometimes as tawny yellow or brown. In earlier times it was occasionally used in continental heraldry, but in England largely confined to livery . The use of heraldic furs alongside

9612-420: The passage of time, and noted preferences from one region to another. In medieval heraldry, gules was by far the most common tincture, followed by the metals argent and or , at least one of which necessarily appeared on the majority of arms (see below). Among the colours, sable was the second most common, followed by azure . Vert , although present from the formative period of heraldic design,

9720-413: The phrase "vair bellies" may be a misnomer, as the belly of the red squirrel is always white, although its summer coat is indeed reddish brown. Several other tinctures are occasionally encountered, usually in continental heraldry: The heraldic scholar A. C. Fox-Davies proposed that, in some circumstances, white should be considered a heraldic colour, distinct from argent . In a number of instances,

9828-402: The placing of a comma after each occurrence of a tincture. In recent years, the College of Arms has regularly dispensed with many of these practices, believing them to cause confusion, and in new grants of arms, the names of tinctures are repeated on each instance that they occur. The names of all tinctures and charges are capitalized, although the word "proper", indicating the colour of nature,

9936-495: The rank of Commander (and becomes Wimsey's brother-in-law). Bunter, a man of many talents himself, not least photography, often proves instrumental in Wimsey's investigations. However, Wimsey is not entirely well. At the end of the investigation in Whose Body? (1923), Wimsey hallucinates that he is back in the trenches. He soon recovers his senses and goes on a long holiday. In Clouds of Witness (1926), Wimsey travels to

10044-505: The role of a regular line officer. He was a conscientious and effective commanding officer, popular with the men under his command—an affection still retained by Wimsey's former soldiers many years after the war, as is evident from a short passage in Clouds of Witness and an extensive reminiscence in Gaudy Night . In particular, while in the army he met Sergeant Mervyn Bunter , who had previously been in domestic service . In 1918, Wimsey

10152-409: The sad ghost of a wartime lover(...). Oxford, as everywhere in the country, was filled with bereaved women, but it may have been more noticeable in university towns where a whole year's intake could be wiped out in France in less than an hour." There is, however, no verifiable evidence of any such World War I lover of Sayers on whom the character of Wimsey might be based. Another theory is that Wimsey

10260-427: The seven in contemporary use as well as proper , the natural colour of any animal, bird, or herb. Legh rejects tawny as non-existent and sanguine or murrey , a reddish-brown tincture, as a mistake for purpure . The tinctures are not standardised, with any shade being acceptable so long as it cannot be confused with another tincture. Purpure , in particular, has been depicted in a range of shades; many grants by

10368-542: The staff room of a German officer. Though not explicitly stated, that feat implies that Wimsey spoke a fluent and unaccented German. As noted in Have His Carcase , he communicated at that time with British Intelligence using the Playfair cipher and became proficient in its use. For reasons never clarified, after the end of his spy mission, Wimsey in the later part of the war moved from Intelligence and resumed

10476-408: The subsequent The Late Scholar , Roger is not mentioned at all. It may be presumed that Paul is named after Lord Peter's maternal uncle Paul Delagardie. "Roger" is an ancestral Wimsey name. In Sayers's final Wimsey story, the 1942 short story "Talboys", Peter and Harriet are enjoying rural domestic bliss with their three sons when Bredon, their first-born, is accused of the theft of prize peaches from

10584-591: The suspicious death of an elderly cancer patient. Wimsey's highly effective idea is that a male detective going around and asking questions is likely to arouse suspicion, while a middle-aged woman doing it would be dismissed as a gossip and people would speak openly to her. As recounted in the short story "The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba", in December 1927 Wimsey fakes his own death, supposedly while hunting big game in Tanganyika , to penetrate and break up

10692-425: The things he really wanted, and I suppose he is luckier than most." Wimsey begins his hobby of investigation by recovering The Attenbury Emeralds in 1921. At the beginning of Whose Body? , there appears the unpleasant Inspector Sugg, who is extremely hostile to Wimsey and tries to exclude him from the investigation (reminiscent of the relations between Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Lestrade ). However, Wimsey

10800-546: The tinctures are not depicted in full colour, they may be represented using one of several systems of hatching , in which each tincture is assigned a distinct pattern, or tricking , in which each tincture is designated by a letter or abbreviation. Historically, particularly between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, the tinctures were sometimes associated with the planets, precious stones, virtues, and elements. However, in contemporary heraldry they are not assigned any particular meaning. The use of tinctures dates back to

10908-403: The war, Bunter would become Wimsey's valet . Throughout the books, Bunter takes care to address Wimsey as "My Lord". Nevertheless, he is a friend as well as a servant, and Wimsey again and again expresses amazement at Bunter's high efficiency and competence in virtually every sphere of life. After the war, Wimsey was ill for many months, recovering at the family's ancestral home in Duke's Denver,

11016-405: The water from the bedroom jug." George Orwell was highly critical of this aspect of the Wimsey books: "... Even she [Sayers] is not so far removed from Peg's Paper as might appear at a casual glance. It is, after all, a very ancient trick to write novels with a lord for a hero. Where Miss Sayers has shown more astuteness than most is in perceiving that you can carry that kind of thing off

11124-443: The whole, French heraldry is known for its use of azure and or , while English heraldry is characterized by heavy use of gules and argent , and unlike French heraldry, it has always made regular use of vert , and occasional, if not extensive, use of purpure . German heraldry is known for its extensive use of or and sable . German and Nordic heraldry rarely make use of purpure or ermine , except in mantling , pavilions, and

11232-420: Was a very distant fifth choice, while vert remained scarce. Among commoners, azure was easily the most common tincture, followed by or , and only then by gules , argent , and sable , which was used more by commoners than among the nobility; vert , however, was even scarcer in common arms. Purpure is so scarce in French heraldry that some authorities do not regard it as a "real heraldic tincture". On

11340-457: Was based, at least in part, on Eric Whelpton , who was a close friend of Sayers at Oxford. Ian Carmichael , who played the part of Wimsey in the first BBC television adaptation and studied the character and the books thoroughly, said that the character was Sayers' conception of the 'ideal man', based in part on her earlier romantic misfortunes. Another theory is that Wimsey was based, at least in part, on Philip Trent, created by E. C. Bentley in

11448-591: Was presumed to be intentional, to the point that one was supposed to enquire how it came to pass. One of the most famous armes à enquérir was the shield of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , which had gold crosses on silver. This use of white and gold together is also seen on the arms of the King of Jerusalem , the flag and arms of the Vatican, and the bishop's mitre in the arms of Andorra. These uses of gold on silver indicate

11556-448: Was relatively scarce. Over time, the popularity of azure increased above that of sable , while gules , still the most common, became less dominant. A survey of French arms granted during the seventeenth century reveals a distinct split between the trends for the arms granted to nobles and commoners. Among nobles, gules remained the most common tincture, closely followed by or , then by argent and azure at nearly equal levels; sable

11664-435: Was wounded by artillery fire near Caudry in France. He suffered a breakdown due to shell shock (which we now call post-traumatic stress disorder but which was then often thought, by those without first-hand experience of it, to be a species of malingering) and was eventually sent home. While sharing this experience, which the Dowager Duchess referred to as "a jam", Wimsey and Bunter arranged that if they were both to survive

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