Review: The Pope's Butcher by Joseph C Gioconda

Synopsis: A new novel inspired by the true historical account of one man and his penchant for murder and misogyny in the medieval Roman Catholic Church is being released.

A story that has never been released to the public, The Pope's Butcher recounts the life of Father Heinrich Institoris, the Grand Inquisitor, a visionary man driven to cleanse the world of Eve's original sin by eradicating any woman he suspects of witchcraft. As Inquisition courts bloom across Europe, he vows to leave no stone unturned, no hovel unexamined, and no woman alive, in his search of his own perverse version of justice.

At a time when women had no power or voice, only one man seeks to stop him. The reader follows the life of Sebastian, a young seminarian who was abandoned as a child but carries with him an innate sense of morality that drives him to stand up for even the most vulnerable victims against his own Church. Will such a humble man be able to stop this powerful murderer, a killer even the Pope admires?

This astonishing account of religion, witchcraft and the occult in the Middle Ages reminds us that violence against women is as old as civilization itself and we must understand the events of the past, so we never repeat them.

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I was expecting something a bit different and as a result found no connection to the narrative nor the characters.

On the one hand we have the character of the witch-hunter and Grand Inquisitor, Fra Heinrich Institoris, a perverse and perverted man, whose mission is to eradicate witches and women he deems are witches. This is definitely a man worthy of further exploration, even if in a fictionalised account - but we are left with only a rudimentaty glance.

Then we have the naive, unworldly Sebastian, who is sent off on what is deemed to be a mission of such importance - to gather as much information as he can about witches and any heretical texts and report back to Heinrich. Quite frankly - Sebastian and his storyline was - for me - pure fantasy - it just didn't ring true for a supposed fictionalised account of actual historic events. Was Sebastian surplus to stock - probably, as I found myself wondering if he was really necessary at all, just there to pad out the word count and "make discoveries" (ie: display the author's research).

When this narrative finally gets to the point, we discover that this is the foundation story for the infamous "Malleus Maleficarum" or "Hammer of Witches" - and the narrative might have been put to better use by instead focusing more on the character of the tome's author, Heinrich Kramer or Heinrich Institor and just plain ditching the woeful character of Sebastian.

Overall, this just didn't cut it for me - I did read it through to the end but was disappointed I didn't set it aside sooner.

Royal Witches by Gemma Hollman

The stories of four royal women, their lives intertwined by family and bound by persecution, unravel the history of witchcraft in fifteenth-century England.

Until the mass hysteria of the seventeenth century, accusations of witchcraft in England were rare. However, four royal women, related in family and in court ties— Joan of Navarre, Eleanor Cobham, Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Elizabeth Woodville —were accused of practicing witchcraft in order to kill or influence the king.

Some of these women may have turned to the “dark arts” in order to divine the future or obtain healing potions, but the purpose of the accusations was purely political. Despite their status, these women were vulnerable because of their gender, as the men around them moved them like pawns for political gains.

In Royal Witches, Gemma Hollman explores the lives and the cases of these so-called witches, placing them in the historical context of fifteenth-century England, a setting rife with political upheaval and war. In a time when the line between science and magic was blurred, these trials offer a tantalizing insight into how malicious magic would be used and would later cause such mass hysteria in centuries to come.

Library seeks witches to translate 17th-century spellbook

Calling all witches and warlocks … or library enthusiasts.

Chicago’s Newberry Library is crowdsourcing translations for three 17th-century manuscripts of spells, charms and magic.

Handwritten in archaic Latin and English, the three texts, “The Book of Magical Charms,” “The Commonplace Book” and “Cases of Conscience Concerning Witchcraft” are currently available online under the independent research library’s “Transcribing Faith” portal.

So far experts have figured out that “The Book of Magical Charms” – written by two anonymous witches (probably) in England in the 1600s – contains spells to cheat at dice, ease menstrual cramps and speak with spirits.

read more here @ New York Post

'All Souls' Trilogy by Deborah Harkness

What do you get when a veteran academic with specializations in Renaissance history, alchemy and medieval science turns her hand to fiction? The "All Souls Trilogy" by Deborah Harkness is a work of romantic fantasy fiction for those whose tastes turn more toward the intellectual. Harkness is a professor of European and science history at University of Southern California in Los Angeles but has taught various subjects at multiple prestigious universities.

Each book in the series is lengthy, with plenty of plot twists and turns. Tidbits and factoids spanning the breadths of Harkness' learning are liberally injected into the story. At times, these additions make the plot seem convoluted, but if one has a bent toward historical trivia as this reviewer does, it will send the reader running to the library stacks in search of corroborative nonfiction titles. Each book builds on the previous, with the plot becoming denser and more satisfying with each addition. All in all, the series was an excellent read, at once dark and humorous, romantic yet mentally stimulating.

read entire review by Crystal Kendrick here @ Herald Dispatch