Seconding this. The writing isn't bad, but the pacing is slow. There's also some deliberate repetition, which is fine from a literary standpoint, but when combined with the pacing makes it seem a lot worse.

This skews towards old school literary, and the only way you can get away with that sort of stuff w/ modern audiences is if your writing is really really beautiful (and even then, maybe not).

@Aitnesse said he loves it, so I hesitate to say something. I apologize if this is not what you’re looking for, but the story comes off very passive. There’s nothing going on. For a page full of words, all we have is two priests. All the description you have there could be woven into the story later. There’s no need to take up the precious first page. That’s the most important real estate. You do not want to give it away to a backstory.

You write well though. So once you learn the mechanics on how to write a novel, you’re all set.

I know we're supposed to be hard here but, first things firs. I absolutly love the way you describe scenery, and characters. The only thing I would say based off of my first read through, there are some occasions were you could use one word to do the job of many. However there are a few instances where even if one word would do the job I still like how the sentence is crafted to the point where I wouldnt even tell you to change it.

I objectively just like what I read!

I'm going to start with a disclaimer that I have not read much of historic fiction, and so my opinions on the genre may not be relevant. 

Starting off, I like your writing. The style is to my liking and your prose is interesting. I am bad at prose though, so maybe that's not saying much, but anyway. 

I'll answer your questions first then I'll ramble for a bit. 

1. I liked the description well enough, for the most part. There were some areas which I think can be reworded a bit, especially paragraph two. That paragraph falls off as repetitive and maybe you can assimilate it into the descriptions of the first. I especially like the third paragraph - very beautifully described, and balanced nicely to not be too wordy. Your character descriptions are nice, too - I get the the general image of the character but my imagination is free to fill in the rest. I like that. Overall I think your descriptions are okay bar a little repetitiveness in the beginning. 
2. I am curious to know more, but

Your first sentence stating the year feels too much like non-fiction. Consider world-building through description and then explicitly stating the year as a side-note. Remember the story will be contemporary to your characters, and I’d recommend trying to make it feel contemporary to the reader too, encouraging them to get lost in the world you’ve created. I felt the same way when you said “it was the middle ages”. I like the scene-setting by talking about the zeitgeist characterised by a fervent Swiss patriotism, but feel like it could be done with more subtlety and nuance. Check out the opening page of Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy for a great example of introducing a historical setting without being too on-the-nose about it.  
  
Some adjective choices feel a little too lazy and simple against the rest of the chapter, especially for a first-person narrator who’s meant to be an educated person in medieval Switzerland, for example “woodsy”.  
  
Look for places where you’re not

Hi and thanks for posting:

In response to your questions: 

1) I think that there's too much scenery clumped together at the start of the piece. Instead, it should be weaved in with the action so that the geography is part of the story. I also am not so crazy about trouble scenery when it's described as to the right and left because right and left are subjective. I'd go with the cardinal directions (N, E, S, W). 

Quibbles with the scenery: 

* I don't know if it's hilly in Switzerland -- there are mountains for sure but not small, rolling hills, and the villages were in these mountains, as far as I know. 
* That brings me to my second point -- rivers in the Swiss Alps would be serious rushing mofo's, not tranquil rivers that reflect the sky in a mirror-like fashion, which would be found in flatter regions of Europe (like Budapest on the Danube, Prague on the Vltava and others)
* how does a castle "frown" and if the castle was the place of such happy memories, why is it frowning over 

First chapter in a historical fiction I'm working on.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-jbOPPWXH4MDYffWqv9jJxi9_wtOIIoDTTVnEUUHy74/edit?usp=sharing

I understand you'll be harsh, have at it. Basically just trying to build the setting and introduce characters. Supposed to be kind of historical, but not shying away from some light anachronism.  

Questions:

1. Did you get enough or too much out of the description of the setting?

2. Do you want to hear what happens after the last paragraph?

Thanks!

Critique:
https://old.reddit.com/r/DestructiveReaders/comments/r4qcie/2350_you_there/

[1328] The Wandering One, Chapter 1