Bernard Kenway
- "I'm reliving the life of Bernard Kenway, sheep farmer. Yeah. I'm literally shoveling virtual shit all day."
- ―Philippe Chartrand on his Sample 17 subject, 2013.[src]
Bernard Kenway (unknown – December 1717) was a sheep farmer from Bristol, England, the husband of Linette and the father of Edward Kenway; as such, he is an ancestor of Desmond Miles.[1]
Biography
Life
Hailing from Swansea in Wales, Bernard and his family settled in 1703 in Hatherton, a village near Bristol, and ran a small holding keeping sheeps. Although the Welsh accent of the Kenways marked them as different, the true love of Bernard for his wife, Linette, and his fairness in commercial matters earned him the respect of the surroundings tradesmen. But his son, Edward, was unhappy with the farmer life while growing, and often attracted problems by frequenting the taverns of the area when Bernard left the sales part of the farm to him in 1711.
During such an altercation, in the Auld Shillelagh, Edward provoked the anger of Tom Cobleigh, his son and their associate when he physically stop them from raping Rose, the drunken maidservant of Caroline Scott. Two days later, the group slaughtered two of Bernard's sheep and placed the carcasses in front of the Kenway house in order to provoque Edward. Bernard refused to let him retaliate, explaining that the Cobleighs and many merchants of Bristol had joined the Trade Organisation, an association of tradesmen protected by "powerful men". An Organisation that he had himself refused to join when he was approached.
When Edward won the heart of an already engaged Coroline Scott, Bernard and Linette were present at their wedding and witnessed Emmett Scott disowning his own daughter for this misalliance. So they gave shelter to the young couple at their home, but again Edward's ambition for an better life created a gap between him, his wife and his parents and he resumed frequenting taverns. In one of them, Bernard's son met a privateers recruiter, Dylan Wallace, who convinced Edward to join a crew and leave in order to become rich and gave his wife the live he think she deserved. Unhappy with her husband's choice, Caroline left the Kenway farmstead for her father's house, this caused pain to Bernard and his wife who were became fond of the young woman.
In late 1712, a group of hooded men sent by Scott burned down the Kenway farmstead while Bernard and Linette were sleeping inside and while Edward was in Bristol, embarking on his life as a privateer. Coming back to Hatherton due to his departure being delayed, Edward tried to stop the Templar and his allies, but the group pinned him to the ground, beating him and subsequently left. After the fire had killed all the livestock, knowing that the attack was Edward fault and telling him that he was a poison for his family, Bernard told his son to leave and that he never wanted to see him again.
In January 1718, Edward, now a pirate of the Carribeans, received a letter from his mother informing him of his father death from pleurisy and that following the attack on their farm, is parents had descended into poverty, forcing Bernard's wife to work in the Auld Shillelagh.
Legacy
In the year 2013, the Abstergo Entertainment researcher Philippe Chartrand was given Bernard as his research target for the Sample 17 Project; much to the researcher's subsequent chastisement.[2]