Blood Roses Read online

  BLOOD ROSES

  By Chelsea Quinn Yarbro from Tom Doherty Associates

  Ariosto

  Better in the Dark

  Blood Games

  A Candle for D’Artagnan

  Crusader’s Torch

  Darker Jewels

  A Flame in Byzantium

  Hotel Transylvania

  Mansions of Darkness

  Out of the House of Life

  The Palace

  Path of the Eclipse

  Writ in Blood

  This is a work of fiction, although some of the characters are based upon or are composites of actual historical persons; they, and all locations and institutions used fictitiously, do not and are not intended to represent persons living or dead, or existing places and institutions past and present.

  for

  Gahan Wilson

  affectionately and

  on behalf of the Count

  ... these Swellings be ... Tokens of the Black Plague the which the French do sometime call Blood Roses ...

  Anonymous fifteenth-century English broadsheet

  Author's Notes

  At the height of the Medieval period in Europe, the feudal system perpetuated a social order that assumed continuing stability in spite of wars and religious turmoil, and for a long time, it worked fairly well. But in the middle of the fourteenth century, a catastrophe hit Europe. Its magnitude was far beyond any social provisions to accommodate, and in the space of four years, the apparently unchangeable order was almost destroyed; in a very real sense, the first stirrings of the Renaissance began as a direct result of the devastation of the epidemics of the late Middle Ages. Beginning in 1348, Bubonic Plague ravaged Europe, starting in Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica and moving north from the port of Marseilles in France, and spreading throughout Italy from Rome and Florence. In three years, it went through France, Switzerland, the Lowlands, Germany, and into Britain. The loss of life was staggering. In the three epidemics between 1347 and 1383, approximately 33 percent of the population died. The first epidemic was by far the most severe, with death tolls higher than any at that time resulting from war. And there was a war going on. France and England were locked in what is called the Hundred Years War (because it lasted 116 years). The Plague brought it to a temporary halt while it spread through the regions where the fighting had been the most concentrated.

  Medieval culture was not equipped to deal with such comprehensive calamity: the social system, based on the immutability of social “place” could not withstand the erosion of the population and was left in shambles. Political and civil institutions thought to be indestructible as religious institutions came to pieces and economies underwent upheavals of an unparalleled nature. Commerce was almost entirely redefined in the four years of the Black Plague. Travel had always been dangerous what with poor communications, unmaintained roads, bandits, and regional fighting, but with the coming of the Plague, travel took on an additional risk--that of bringing the miasma of disease. Merchants and other traditional travelers—with the exceptions of players, troubadours, and religious—found themselves thrown into prison or worse if a region was sufficiently alarmed.

  The newly powerful Hanseatic League, an association of the central merchants’ towns in northern Germany but trading as far away as the Mediterranean and Russia, was all but crippled for two crucial years due to fear of Plague in the very ports where the League was gaining a foothold.

  At the end of the first epidemic, the Hanseatic League was able to resume activities without any real organized competition and as a result assumed a preeminent position in northern European maritime trade; the Hanseatic League became one of the most remarkable mercantile empires in the Medieval world.

  Merchants were not the only ones at risk. Scholars, while not regarded with the same suspicions as merchants, could be the target of savage acts if the populace was frightened enough. Persons with any knowledge of medicine—such as that was in the fourteenth century—were all but worshiped unless their treatments failed. Then they were vilified if they were lucky and were killed if they were not. Physicians usually recommended treatment and left town, and not for the sole purpose of avoiding the Plague; they did not want to deal with dissatisfied patients. Religious persons—pilgrims, monks, and such—were considered good omens and were encouraged in their travels. The other group of habitual travelers who were not subjected to such arbitrary ferocity was entertainers; players, jongleurs, and troubadours continued their travels from town to castle to village almost unimpeded.

  As increasingly large numbers of travelers made their ways along the roads and lanes of Europe, they became a problem in their own right. Displaced persons and refugees were everywhere after 1349, creating a compelled disruption of the population that was not to be equaled until World War One. With cities devastated and towns depopulated, the rare survivors usually had no choice but to leave the ruin behind them or face certain starvation. Serfs and peasants were dead and the land was unworked; those few who were spared were unwilling to transport food into Plague regions. Most of Europe at that time was a jumble of fiefdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, vidamies, and other semi-autonomous states; each one developed its own ways of dealing with the Plague and those escaping the Plague, most of which were arbitrary and severe. Once Plague approached a region, all semblance of vassalage obligations ended. Dread of Plague overruled all other considerations.

  Survivors often profited; estates once divided among half a dozen or more heirs now ended up in the hands of far fewer. Cadet branches of great families rose to primary positions as the Plague claimed their relatives. Among peasants, land began to consolidate into significant holdings as those entitled to it died. For the next twenty years after the first Plague epidemic, relatives—or those claiming to be relatives—of merchants, landholders, and minor nobles continued to take into possession inheritances swollen in value by the dearth of surviving heirs.

  Depleted and displaced populations were not the only challenge to the status quo. Social uprisings occurred in many parts of Europe, caused directly or indirectly by the Plague and the resultant social disruption. Sicily, the areas around Barcelona, the Central Massif of France, the region to the north of Paris, and Flanders were particularly hard-hit by major disruptions at this time. Penitential movements sprang up, many of them not only anti-civil authority, but anti-clerical as well. Towns, convents, castles, and monasteries were razed by penitential mobs, accomplishing what the Plague had not done: laying waste to the country.

  The Church might have been able to provide some continuity during these turbulent years, but the Church was fatally divided, with the Holy Roman Emperor holding sway in Italy, whose principal followers were in Germany, northern Italy, England, the Venetian Empire, Scandinavia, and Portugal; and the Pope, Clement VI, in Avignon, whose followers were concentrated in France, the Low Countries, Sicily, Sardinia, southern Italy, and Spain. When Gregory XI returned the papacy to Rome in 1377, the situation worsened; two papacies were established and the rivalry between them continued for four decades. Any chance of providing united assistance or extending sanctuary to refugees was ignored as the two courts, Papal and Imperial, continued their rivalry, each insisting the Plague was brought about by the other. By the time the enormity of the tragedy was recognized, it was far too late for any program to be established to provide succor for those left homeless and desperate; too much of the social structure was in disarray to adapt to the new demands the epidemic imposed. The intensely political agendas of the Church became enmeshed with the social catastrophe that had overtaken Europe.

  Matters were not helped by what passed for public health measures of the period. The standard quarantine precautions in cities were rudimentary and inadequate: anytime
one member of a household showed symptoms of Plague, everyone in the house was boarded up inside the house, which served to increase the death rate significantly. The usual explanations of the cause of the Plague were 1) the wells were poisoned; 2) the miasma had brought the disease; and 3) it was the result of demonic visitation, a sure sign of God's displeasure and a possible prelude to the end of the world. In places where wells were thought to be poisoned, or a miasma present, the usual method used to address the problem was to bum suspected outsiders—Jews, gypsies, foreigners, the handicapped, the insane—as a way of punishing them for bringing Plague, and, less readily admitted, as an offering to God in the hope that the sacrifice of these undesirables would save those more worthy of God's good opinion. When demonic visitation was the preferred diagnosis, then all those suffering from Plague were considered contaminated and no efforts to ease their suffering was tolerated. In Nuremberg, when the first epidemic struck, the leaders of the city, typically of the period, recognized the disease as demonic in origin and prepared to address it with the methods of religion. To rid the city of all demonic familiars, all the cats—known to be agents of demons and malign forces—were rounded up and burned. The Plague promptly got worse, for there were no cats to kill the rats carrying the fleas which brought the Plague. When this worsening was realized, the city leaders expanded their efforts and began to bum heretics and the mad; the Plague got worse. These events were not unusual: they were repeated in various forms throughout Europe.

  Most of the characters in this book are wholly fictional: historical figures are mentioned in passing or appear in letters. The rest of the people of this horrific period are composites, drawn from accounts of actual persons who lived at the time in that part of the world; this means I have, perforce, given preferential attention to the literate, they being the only ones with surviving accounts. Within that necessary bias, I have made every effort to remain true to their understanding of their experiences and the nature of the epoch, and to show how they lived on their own terms as much as possible. The song lyrics quoted are from the period and in regional vernaculars that are unlike the French, English, and Italian we know today.

  A word about the Vidames—this tide and rank was given by the Church to men of good birth with military backgrounds charged with serving the Church as a vassal served a lord, and was approximately equal to that of Count or Margrave: the grant of tide carried with it the obligation to defend by force of arms the property of the Church and the religious persons and institutions that were part of the property. Vidames answered to the Church and had the option of refusing royal orders if they were not in accord with those of the Church. Vidames were awarded the title of the property they protected; unlike other, royally granted property-related titles referential to patron saints, the Vidames had no hyphen between the Saint and the Saint's name: thus Percevall de Saunt Joachim, being a Vidame, does not have the more usual hyphen in his title, as, for example, Saint-Germain does.

  The small but crucial Dukedom of Verviers in the western comer of what was then Hainaut and Brabant and is now Belgium and the Netherlands, had, in fact, disappeared by the time of this story; it ceased to exist three centuries before the period of this novel, forcibly annexed to the County of Hainaut, for the purposes of protection it fulfilled so admirably as a Dukedom. However, its location and its strategic importance suited my fictional purposes so well, I have taken the liberty of resurrecting it, with apologies for the lapse in historicity.

  Medieval French, as all Medieval languages (English included) had few structural rules and was written phonetically, which is why the same word may have two or three different spellings in the same document; all are pronounced the same way. Therefore a word such as savoir—sah-VWOH(R) in modem French thanks to Burgundian influences—was rendered phonetically in Medieval French—sah-vo-IR. Basically, if the letter is there, pronounce it. François at that time in southern France is pronounced Fran-tso-IS. Rogres is pronounced RO-gres, with a hard g as in grey. Hue is pronounced WHAY. Jenfra is pronounced ZHEN-frah. Heugenet is pronounced You-jen-ET. In Italian, the diphthongs were stronger than in modem Italian, particularly in the northern dialects. Because of the phonetic structure of all the writing of the time, regional pronunciations were built into the written language: in the south where the Latinate influence was strong, vowels were broader—thus saint was often spelled saunt, rhyming with daunt, reflecting the nature of the dialect. In the north of France, where flatter vowels prevailed, it became saint or sant, the a pronounced like the a in that. All three usages are in this story. Many cities had different names than they do now, and I have used the forms of the period for them. The city known to the Romans as Massilia and to us as Marseille was called Marsailla (Mahr-SAHEE-lah) in the fourteenth century, and you will find it in that version in the text. Rome and Roma were used indiscriminately in France, and the text also reflects this. These irregularities may drive the copy editor up a wall, but it is accurate to the period of the novel.

  In regard to the baker/baxter, brewer/brewster usages, I have used the English forms of the period instead of the French because baxter and brewster—and webster, for that matter—indicate that the person doing the baking, brewing, and weaving is female; after the first epidemic of Black Plague many trades which previously rarely admitted women to their ranks, were left by default in the hands of wives, sisters, and daughters. Using these forms of the occupational words reflects these shifts and alerts the reader to the tremendous social change the Black Plague brought about as a result of its ravages.

  As always, there are some people who deserve thanks for their help. For research sources, I would like to thank C. D. Hall for his knowledge of Medieval France and the French, and the French language; to Gina Roselli for the same in Medieval Italian; to Donna Lincoln for her extensive information on the history of epidemic diseases; to Maude Hracany for her vast knowledge of the history of Medieval Europe and the politics of the Holy Roman Empire; to Harold Lewis for access to his photographic collection of historical buildings in Europe; to R. J. Reyes for information on the events leading to the Rome-Avignon Schism; to E. F. Jennings for information on the merchants’ roads and market towns in Medieval Europe; to Louise Fletcher for information on horticulture in Medieval Europe, and the little Ice Age of that period insofar as it impacted the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France.

  On the other end of the process, I would like to thank my manuscript readers, Lona Mock, Eric Rielander, and Sharon Smith, who read the manuscript for clarity; D. H. Rosemont and Alan Todd, who read it for accuracy; and to Maureen Kelly, Sharon Russell, and Stephanie Moss, who read it just because. Any errors or omissions are mine, not theirs. Also I would like to thank my agent, Donald Maass, for his hard work; to the staff at Tor who have borne their labor in patience; to my attorney, Robin Dubner, who protects the Counts interests; to Lindig Hall Harris for her newsletter Yclept Yarbro (inquiries: 103 Edgewood, Asheville, NC 28814; e-mail—[email protected]); to Lou Puopolo for a decade of faith; to Wiley Saichek in Texas for all those hours on the Internet; to Tyrrell Morris, my computer maven who keeps the machines humming; to Libba and Spencer Campbell for the time-out; to Mark for giving a damn after thirty eight years, to Alz and/for the Morgans; to the wonderful participants in the Dracula ’97 Conference for obvious reasons; and to my readers who have continued to support the Count no matter how hard he may be to find, along with the book dealers who stock the books—your perseverance and persistence are much appreciated.

  Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

  Berkeley, California

  June 1997

  PART I - FRANCOIS DE SAINT-GERMAIN, SIEUR RAGOCZY

  Text of court records for the village of Orgon, near Avignon, submitted on 18 October 1345.

  Upon my soul and in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, this is a fair and accurate copy of the proceedings of the court at the village of Orgon in the County of Provence, being part of the Holy Roman Empire, prepared at the behest of the Pa
pal Court of His Holiness Pope Clement VI, reigning at Avignon.

  The proceedings of the peasant farmer Simon Haspordis, it has been determined that his claim on the payment to his cousin Johannes Haspordis cannot be sustained, for it is known that at no time did said Simon Haspordis provide any more or less inspiration for said Johannes Haspordis’ songs than any other peasant farmer could have done, and ties of family notwithstanding, the said Simon Haspordis is not entitled to any monies his cousin is not prepared to provide of his own inclination.

  In the proceedings of the clergy and congregation of Saunte-Barbara against the termites that destroyed the choir of the church, their claim is upheld, and the judgment made against the said termites, which have been exterminated with sulphur fumes and tar traps, for no other recompense may be obtained.

  In the matter of Loys Moullin in his claim of breach of promise against Gabriella d’Epreuve, the lady has shown to the satisfaction of the magistrates and the Bishop that she never pledged herself to the said Loys Moullin, for although, being fifteen, she is of the age of consent, she is not inclined to enter the married state and has intended since her Confirmation, to enter the convent at Saunt-Piere-le-Apostre. She opines that said Loys Moullin wants the money in her dowry, for as the daughter of a goldsmith, she has some considerable amount coming to her, and which she intends to be her bride-price upon entering her novitiate. Said Loys Moullin, as the bakers third son, according to witnesses, must be eager to find a wife with means, since he can expect little from his inheritance. Several witnesses attested to said Loys Moullin's often-stated intention to wed well by any means he had to use to achieve his ends. Said Loys Moullin has twice before attempted to press into marriage young women with monies coming to them, or already left for their maintenance. Said Gabriella d’Epreuve has been given leave to undertake her vocation at the Nativity.