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Edward Charles Historical Novels |
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‘Daughters of the Doge’—Author’s View |
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DAUGHTERS OF THE DOGE
Author’s View
It is Autumn 1555. Catholic “Bloody Mary” is on the throne of England and Richard Stocker, a Protestant since the years he spent with Lady Jane Grey, and culminating in her death, fears for his life. As the extent of the persecution grows, and the threat of the Spanish Inquisition extending to England becomes ever more real, he and his mentor, Dr Thomas Marwood, accept an offer to accompany Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, on a visit to Venice.
They arrive in Venice to find levels of wealth well beyond their experiences at home, even in the English Court of King Edward VI. This is the richest and most cosmopolitan city in the world, yet beneath the surface, all is far from well. Although perhaps unwilling to admit it, La Serenissima is already past the peak of its power, and beginning to face economic decline, for the trade which it has dominated for so long between East and West, along the Silk Roads, through Venice and north through Augsburg into the growing economies of western Europe, is being increasingly siphoned off by the new sea routes round the coast of Africa opened up by the Portuguese fifty years before.
The ailing Venice remains a highly structured society, in which the two hundred original families of the Libro D’Oro act as a self-defining nobility, employing the Cittadini as their professional class of citizens but holding down the rest of the Popolani to a life of drudgery and poverty.
This unnatural society produces unexpected features and Richard is surprised to find that over ten percent of the population are nuns and an even bigger proportion prostitutes, satisfying the appetites of the Venetian bachelors living in their fratellanze, or brotherhoods, and the teeming crowds of merchants flooding the city from every corner of the globe.
Trying to find his way in this maelstrom, Richard meets and befriends a man who may change the direction of his life, and three extraordinary women:
Jacopo Tintoretto, a young and competitive artist, is trying to make his name against competition from Titian and Veronese, in a market where patronage is dominated by the Venetian nobility, represented by Doge Francesco Venier himself;
Yasmeen Ahmed, leaf-eyed Muslim daughter of an Arab spice trader and business manager of Tintoretto’s workshop;
Faustina Contarini, a member of one of the noblest families in Venice, but as a younger daughter, is unable to marry, and has effectively been imprisoned in a convent since the age of seven;
Veronica Franco, artist’s model, poet, and courtesan, who above all others understands the snakes and ladders of this writhing society, and whose helpful hand guides Richard as he tries to find his own place within it.
Feeling his way forward in this difficult and often troubled society, Richard develops a relationship with each of these women. With plague and famine in England, and Queen Mary’s persecution of the Protestants appearing to get worse, Richard is forced to choose between them, as he tries to find a future for himself in a foreign land.
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Historical novels are, perhaps, built upon imaginary events and motivations woven through the warp and weft of real people and places, and whilst some of the former may be imaginary, most of the people and all of the places are real. Many of the characters in this book are true, as are many of the events described.
Richard Stocker may or may not have existed, but his father, John Stocker, certainly did, as did his brother, also called John. Stockers Farm remains today in the upper Coly valley, with Blamphayne as its next door neighbour.
Dr Thomas Marwood was born in Blamphayne, near Colyton in 1512 and travelled to Padua as a young man to qualify as a doctor. He returned to England and practiced in Honiton. Local history insists that he joined the Earl of Devon on his trip from Brussels to Venice in 1555-6. Dr Marwood lived to be 105 years old and is buried in St Michael’s Church, Honiton. The house he built for his son still stands at the upper end of Honiton High Street.
The Earl of Devon was indeed banished by Queen Mary to Brussels and in 1555 did leave the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor in Brussels and travel to Venice, starting and arriving on the dates quoted, and taking the stated route. His described problems with funds from England are as reported in the history books. Hard as it may be to believe now, the Függers and other Augsburg families did finance extended trade and exploration adventures at that time from Japan to Central America, and were factually the legal owners of Caracas in Venezuela. Their trade route between Augsburg and Venice was still thriving in 1556, although beginning to feel the pinch of competition from the Portuguese sea routes, whilst the motorway over the Brenner Pass may be older than most of us thought.
The events of the Earl’s mishap on the island of Lio whilst flying his falcons are based on historical fact as are those of his accident on the staircase and eventual death in Padua. Peter Vannes, the English Ambassador, did play the parts described, up to and including his funeral.
Francis Walsingham was a student in the University of Padua at this time and was meeting and plotting with Sir John Cheke and Sir Francis Carew, whose arrest on their return to Antwerp is factual. They worked together to ensure the replacement of Mary Tudor by Princess Elizabeth and were successful in that objective. Walsingham went on to act as Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster.
Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto were all painting and competing with each other in Venice in 1556 and the paintings referred-to were painted at that time, although the identity of the model may be open to discussion. Tintoretto did paint Veronica Franco at least once but later, in 1575, and I have had to make a small adjustment to her age to fit the present story. I hope, however, I have been faithful to the spirit of a real and unusual woman.
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