Randal answers “How historically acurate is this? Both...”

Jenny asked this question about Here Be Dragons (Welsh Princes, #1):

How historically acurate is this? Both language wise as well as facts concerning the characters and events?

Randal I can't speak to the history, but linguistically it's nowhere ... the characters -- as courtiers -- would have almost exclusively spoken French (OK, A…moreI can't speak to the history, but linguistically it's nowhere ... the characters -- as courtiers -- would have almost exclusively spoken French (OK, Anglo-Norman) & Welsh.
Commoners would have spoken something in the Old/Middle English range ... but the setting of this book predates Chaucer by 150-200 years:

Here bygynneth the Book
of the tales of Caunterbury

1: Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
2: The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
3: And bathed every veyne in swich licour
4: Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
5: Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
6: Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
7: Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
8: Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,
9: And smale foweles maken melodye,
10: That slepen al the nyght with open ye
11: (so priketh hem nature in hir corages);
12: Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
13: And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
14: To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
15: And specially from every shires ende
16: Of engelond to caunterbury they wende,
17: The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
18: That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.(less)

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