Review: A Poisoner's Tale by Cathryn Kemp

Synopsis: The legendary figure of notorious seventeenth-century Italian poisoner Giulia Tofana, thought to be the first female serial killer in history, is brought to life in this feminist retelling.

Palermo 1632: Giulia is thirteen when she learns her mother greatest secret: Teofania makes an undetectable, slow-acting, lethal poison—Acqua Tofana—which she uses to free the broken and abused women of Palermo. Now Teofania wants to pass her recipe on to her daughter, and Giulia soon realizes that in a time when women have no voice, justice is sometimes best served in a cup of wine or broth.

Rome, 1656: Years later, within the alleys and shadows of the Eternal City, Giulia forms her own circle of female poisoners, who work together under the guise of an apothecary shop to sell poison to women in need.

But even in a time of plague, when death looms over the city, it doesn’t go unnoticed that the men of Rome are starting to fall like flies. And with the newly elected pope determined to rid the city of witches and heretics, Giulia is more vulnerable than ever. How far is she willing to go to continue her mother’s legacy?

Weaving together the stories of the women Giulia helped, the men she killed, and those who wanted her dead, this is a tale of magic, secrets, vengeance, and sin in the back streets of Rome—and, ultimately, a fight for power.

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This is a fictional account of 17th century poisoner, Guila Teofania, whose mother was a former courtesan and whose step-father was an abusive, predatory man with links to the Inquisition. Guila sold a poison called Aqua Tofana (supposedly invented by Thofania d'Adamo, who may have been Giulia's mother) to women who wanted to murder their abusive husbands.

The story is narrated in the first person by Guila and then as the tale progresses, alternates with that of Fabio Chigi, Pope Alexander VII (although I found this to be unnecessary, he could have, like the character of Bracchi, remained in the third person narrative).

Whilst the historical Guila Tofana's life and that of her (step)daughter and women's circle is shrouded in mystery, Kemp combines the myths and truths to weave a narrative that is at times compelling and frustrating. 

By frustrating I mean the characters, who despite being on the radar of the Inquisition - and especially Inquisitor Stefano Bracchi - do nothing to conceal their activities and in fact draw further attention to themselves - which for me boils down to stupidity or egotism (author's prerogative and the reader is the proverbial fly on the wall).

The tale is well constructed - whatever the reality - and the reader will get a sense of life in Renaissance Italy.  Life for the majority of women was beyond their control - they were ruled by their fathers, their husbands, their male relative and the Church.

Modern readers may have a hard time understanding the motives behind the many women that sought out the poisoners.  In the book "The Black Widows of the Eternal City: The True Story of Rome's Most Infamous Poisoners", by Graig Monson, therein lies the story of Girolama Spana, the alleged daughter of Guila. One of the women to utilise the services of the poisoners - Caterina Nucci - is brought before the Inquisition for questioning after two husband's met similar fates:

Women who sought out their own destiny were often treated with suspicion and branded as witches, and Kemp's book gives the reader a first hand glance at this. There is all the drama of the chase and hunt for these women by Bracchi, and the very real threat of the Inquisition and exposure and death.

For a debut novel, this is quite good - and I did enjoy reading this tale of a group of notorious female poisoners!

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.

Review: Cathedral by Ben Hopkins

Synopsis: A thoroughly immersive read and a remarkable feat of imagination, Cathedral tells a sweeping story about obsession, mysticism, art, and earthly desire in gripping prose. It deftly combines historical fiction and a tale of adventure and intrigue.

At the center of this story is the Cathedral. Its design and construction in the 12th and 13th centuries in the town of Hagenburg unites a vast array of unforgettable characters whose fortunes are inseparable from the shifting political factions and economic interests vying for supremacy. Around this narrative center, Ben Hopkins has constructed his own monumental edifice, a novel that is rich with the vicissitudes of mercantilism, politics, religion, and human enterprise.

Ben Hopkins' "Cathedral" is definitely one for readers of The Pillars of the Earth and Cathedral of the Sea, both of which I have and love, so it's a no-brainer that this tome will be joining them on my book shelves. Like those two tomes mentioned, Hopkins' "Cathedral" has a carefully constructed and engaging narrative, a mix of first and third person, of the citizens of Hagenberg and is told against the backdrop of the construction of the city's Cathedral, their lives intersecting across the pages as the years progress. And like the two aforementioned tomes, "Cathedral" may also be worthy of a mini-series of its own

Hopkins' "Cathedral" deftly taps into the psyche of the people associated with its construction - the masters, the guilds, the merchants, the Church, the nobles, whilst exploring the complexity of the mores and prejudices, the political and religious discord of the time. Many of the cathedral workforce was itinerant, moving from one job to another, and so new social elements or social / religious groups would be introduced into these often small, insular communities. 

When I read historical fiction I love to know if events were based on real people, places and events - and to that end I go in search of the "back story". I am now going to touch on some of the themes within the narrative that fascinated me. 

Medieval Cathedral Building 

The building of monumental cathedrals in the middle ages was a reflection of faith and the channel for much of the creative energy of medieval European society. As cathedrals took decades, and often even centuries to complete, few people who worked on them expected to see them finished during their lifetimes. Being involved in the construction of a cathedral, even as the building patron, required a willingness to be part of a process that was larger than oneself. As architectural technology developed further, greater expanses of glass became possible. This led to stained glass becoming an important decorative medium in religious buildings

The most obvious starting point was for an architect to be found who would design a cathedral. An architect would also know who were the best master craftsmen to employ – and many highly skilled men were needed. Each master of his own trade ran a workshop for his own particular trade - these were skilled men and they would not do any labouring – unskilled labourers who lived near to where a cathedral was being built would do this. Many of the skilled workers relied on other trades to keep them at work.

It was typically the Cathedral Chapter that determined how much money could be spent on what. It was the Chapter that would decide on the final design of the cathedral – and it was the Chapter that would instruct the architect on just what they wanted. The cost of these buildings was vast – but the money to pay for these huge buildings came from the people via the many payments they had to make to the Roman Catholic Church in Medieval times.

Holy Roman Empire & Habsburgs

Alsace and Strasbourg have been the object of rival claims by France and Germany up until the very recent past and have experienced multiple changes of possession. Alsace experienced great prosperity during the 12th and 13th centuries under Hohenstaufen emperors. Frederick I set up Alsace as a province to be ruled by ministeriales, a non-noble class of civil servants. The idea was that such men would be more tractable and less likely to alienate the fief from the crown out of their own greed. The province had a single provincial court and a central administration. The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II designated the Bishop of Strasbourg to administer Alsace, but the authority of the bishop was challenged by Count Rudolf of Habsburg, who received his rights from Frederick II's son Conrad IV. 

Cathedral of Hagenberg or Strasbourg

Unlike the actual city of Hagenberg (located in Austria), our fictional city is located along the Rhine, and - to my mind anyway - the fictional Cathedral of Our Lady of Hagenberg seems to have much in common with the Strasbourg's Notre Dame Cathedral (or Cathedral of Our Lady). 

The Cathedral of Strasbourg was founded in 1015 on the remains of a previous cathedral. This wooden structure burnt down in 1176-177 and was replaced by a new, Gothic stone building was being built from 1220. Its construction was financed by the free city of Strasbourg , a rich merchant and financial republic. It is also one of two contemporary structures that made use of architectural drawings.

Strasbourg began to grow to become the most populous and commercially important town in the region. Until 1200, the development was limited to the island, which was covered with a grid of narrow streets and lanes.  As the economy flourished, the original medieval city began expanding. 

France and Germany had a long history of "warrior bishops". These bishops in medieval Germany were born into aristocratic or knightly families which prided themselves upon their proficiency in war­fare. It appears that Hopkins tapped into this as inspiration for one of the components of his nove1.  The city of Strasburg rose in defence of its rights against the new bishop, Walter of Hohengeroldseck (r. 1260 - 1263), in 1261. Benjamin Arnold as written a fascinating piece on this phenomenon entitled "German Bishops and their Military Retinues in the Medieval Empire" as has Nicholas Friend in his thesis entitled "Holy Warriors and Bellicose Bishops: The Church and Warfare in Early Medieval Germany".  After this long struggle, its citizens gained the status of a free imperial city in 1262. 

Church & Inquisition in Germany

In 13th cent Germany & France, the Inquisition was alive and well. Their focus was on the Waldensians and Albigensians or Cathars. Conrad of Marpurg, Inquisitor General over Germany sought them out with impugnity in the 1230s, after Pope Gregory IX began to commission Dominicans and Franciscans in Germany, France,Spain and Italy as delegated judges tasked with the prosecution of heresy in 1231.

The bishops were, by default, responsible for the purity of faith in their dioceses. The de-cretal Ad abolendam of Lucius III (1184) ordered that bishops and archbishops, acting either in their own person or through their archdeacon, should conduct an inquiry once or twice a year within those parishes in which any form of heresy had begun to circulate, If there was an indication of heresy, the suspects were to be called to the bishop or to the archdeacon to exculpate themselves through oath. Those who might defy oath-taking,fail to exculpate themselves, or relapse into heresy after purgation, were to be judged by the bishop and handed over to the secular arm. (source: Bishops and the inquisition of heresy in late medieval Germany by Reima Välimäki in Dominus Episcopus Medieval Bishops between Diocese and Court).

Cathars

The Cathars were largely local, Western European/Latin Christian phenomena, springing up in the Rhineland cities (particularly Cologne) in the mid-12th century, northern France around the same time, and particularly the Languedoc—and the northern Italian cities in the mid-late 12th century. 

The Inquisition was established in 1233 to uproot the remaining Cathars. Repentant lay believers were punished, but their lives were spared as long as they did not relapse. Having recanted, they were obliged to sew yellow crosses onto their outdoor clothing and to live apart from other Catholics, at least for a while. Those Cathars who refused to recant or relapsed were hanged, or burnt at the stake. Hunted by the Inquisition and deserted by the once supportive nobles of their districts, the Cathars became elusive, scattered fugitives. 

In the Languedoc and northern Italy, the Cathars attained their greatest popularity, surviving in the Languedoc, in much reduced form, up to around 1325 and in the Italian cities until the Inquisitions of the 14th century finally extirpated them.

Medieval Jewish Community

Into our small fictional community, many arrive looking for work - as do our main characters of Rettich and Emmle Schaffer. The arrival of new transient groups also exposes the community to new thoughts and ideas - and different religious beliefs (see above for the Cathars). 

Early on we are introduced to the resident Jewish population, and the role assigned to them by the dictates of the day - finance. Because pre-modern Christianity did not permit money-lending for interest and because Jews generally could not own land, they played a vital role as money-lenders and traders.  As European commerce grew in the late Middle Ages, some Jews became prominent in trade, banking, and moneylending, and Jews’ economic and cultural successes tended to arouse the envy of the populace.

Jews were denied citizenship and its rights, barred from holding posts in government and the military, and excluded from membership in guilds and the professions.  However, where they were permitted to participate in the larger society or were merely tolerated, Jews thrived. 

The history of the Jews in Alsace is assumed to dates back to around the year 1000. Although Jewish life in Alsace was often disrupted by outbreaks of pogroms, at least during the Middle Ages, and reined in by harsh restrictions on business and movement, it has had a continuous existence ever since it was first recorded. The city-dwelling Jews of the Middle Ages, lived in walled-up, segregated ghetto districts, which naturally aroused suspicion. Jews were subsequently forbidden to settle in the town and were reminded every evening at 10 o'clock by a Cathedral bell and a municipal herald blowing the "Grüselhorn" to leave. 

The outbreak of plague became the trigger for Black Death persecutions. in 1349, Jews of Alsace were wrongfully accused of poisoning the wells with plague. On February 14, Saint Valentine's day, several hundred Jews were massacred during the Strasbourg pogrom - either burned at the stake, or rounded up in synagogues and private houses that were then set aflame. This mass slaughter of German Jews saw them flee in large numbers to Poland. You can read more about this in "Jews in the Medieval German Kingdom" by Alfred Haverkamp

The Characters

The medieval bishops of Hagenberg are, to my mind, based on the medieval Bishops of Strasbourg, specifically: Berthold I von Teck (r.1223 – 1244); Heinrich III von Stahleck (r.1243 - 1260); Walter von Geroldseck (r. 1260 - 1263) - see above; and Heinrich IV von Geroldseck (r. 1263 – 1273).  I am also thinking that one Arnold von Uissigheim (ex. 1336), a medieval German highwayman, bandit, and renegade knight, is possibly the basis of the character of the Count von Schwanenstein.  Baron von Kronthal is surely named from the area located twenty-one kilometres west of Strasbourg. And could the cathedral architect Achim von Esinbach be based on Erwin von Steinbach, architect of the Cathedral of Strasbourg master mason and architect (1277-1318)?  

Throughout Hopkins' complex narrative of political and religious discord, the fictional characters develop as the story and the cathedral building progresses. All are linked by money which sees personal ambitions and fortunes rise and fall, as the city of Hagenberg expands and becomes possibly a distorted image of that which originally aspired to be.

Verdict: Immense, immersive, imaginative, indelible, impressive.

Fallen Order: Intrigue, Heresy, and Scandal in the Rome of Galileo and Caravaggio by Karen Liebreich

From @ Amazon.com: 

Catholic hierarchies protecting paedophile priests is a scandal as old as time, and one that has plagued the Church since the 1600s.  In 1643, after a failure by the Church hierarchy to deal with child abuse scandals amongst their members, a group of priests took control of the Order of the Clerics Regular of the Pious Schools.  It would be anachronistic to call this group a paedophile ring, but it is nevertheless true that a man accused of abusing the boys in his care was promoted to universal superior of a Catholic teaching order, supported by a small group of like-minded priests, and with the full complicity of the Inquisition and the pope himself.

This is the world that Karen Liebreich uncovers; one of ancient, deeply disturbing and intensely secretive shames that was endorsed by Joseph Calasanz, the founder of The Order of the Pious Schools.  It was at these private schools, run by the Piarist order of priests, that some of the most famous children in history were educated and vast contributions to science, art and culture were also overseen by heads of the Church.

Yet investigations into child-molestation and the relentless brutality of priests were frequently quashed – countless children who were the recipients of abuse and psychological violence were silenced.  Great lengths were taken to protect the reputation of the Church as rivalry, bribes, conspiracy, evil and pressure from the Vatican continued to mount amongst the priests.

Liebreich brilliantly depicts the dangerous politics of the Church in seventeenth-century Rome, revealing previously hidden and immensely sobering information she uncovered during her intense historical research.