Pawn in Frankincense - Dorothy Dunnett [1]
4. Historical fiction. gsafd. I. Title.
PR6054.U56P39 1997
823′.914—dc21 96-45598
Random House Web address: http://www.randomhouse.com/
v3.1_r2
For Ninian and Mungo
THE LYMOND CHRONICLES
FOREWORD BY Dorothy Dunnett
When, a generation ago, I sat down before an old Olivetti typewriter, ran through a sheet of paper, and typed a title, The Game of Kings, I had no notion of changing the course of my life. I wished to explore, within several books, the nature and experiences of a classical hero: a gifted leader whose star-crossed career, disturbing, hilarious, dangerous, I could follow in finest detail for ten years. And I wished to set him in the age of the Renaissance.
Francis Crawford of Lymond in reality did not exist, and his family, his enemies and his lovers are merely fictitious. The countries in which he practices his arts, and for whom he fights, are, however, real enough. In pursuit of a personal quest, he finds his way—or is driven—across the known world, from the palaces of the Tudor kings and queens of England to the brilliant court of Henry II and Catherine de Medici in France.
His home, however, is Scotland, where Mary Queen of Scots is a vulnerable child in a country ruled by her mother. It becomes apparent in the course of the story that Lymond, the most articulate and charismatic of men, is vulnerable too, not least because of his feeling for Scotland, and for his estranged family.
The Game of Kings was my first novel. As Lymond developed in wisdom, so did I. We introduced one another to the world of sixteenth-century Europe, and while he cannot change history, the wars and events which embroil him are real. After the last book of the six had been published, it was hard to accept that nothing more about Francis Crawford could be written, without disturbing the shape and theme of his story. But there was, as it happened, something that could be done: a little manicuring to repair the defects of the original edition as it was rushed out on both sides of the Atlantic. And so here is Lymond returned, in a freshened text which presents him as I first envisaged him, to a different world.
CHARACTERS
On board the Dauphiné
FRANCIS CRAWFORD OF LYMOND, Comte de Sevigny
JEROTT BLYTH, his captain, a former Knight of St John
ARCHIE ABERNETHY, his serjeant-at-arms, former Keeper of the French King’s Menageries
SALABLANCA, a free Moor in his personal service
MAÎTRE GEORGES GAULTIER, usurer and horologist, of Lyons and Blois
MARTHE, a protégée of the Dame de Doubtance
PHILIPPA SOMERVILLE, young daughter of the mistress of Flaw Valleys, near Hexham, England
FOGGE, her maid
ONOPHRION ZITWITZ, a Swiss household official M. VIÉNOT, Master of the Dauphiné
Other characters, in order of their appearance
THE DAME DE DOUBTANCE, an astrologer, of Lyons and Blois
SALAH RAIS, Viceroy of Algiers
OONAGH O’DWYER, a captive Irishwoman in Dragut’s household, and mother of Francis Crawford’s son, Khaireddin
LEONE STROZZI, of Florence, Prior of Capua in the Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St John
ALI-RASHID, camel-trader, Mehedia
KEDI, nurse to Khaireddin
THE AGA MoRAT, Turkish Governor of Tripoli
GÜZEL, mistress to Dragut Rais, the corsair
SHEEMY WURMIT, a Scots dragoman
MARINO DONATI, Venetian merchant of Zakynthos
MÍKÁL, a Pilgrim of Love
EVANGELISTA DONATI, sister to Marino Donati
GRAHAM REID MALETT (Gabriel), Grand Cross of Grace of the Knights Hospitaller of St John
PIERRE GILLES D’ALBI, a scholar
PICHON, his secretary
TULIP, a child of tribute, boy-page to Philippa
GABRIEL DE LUETZ, Baron et Seigneur d’Aramon et de Valabrègues, French Ambassador to Turkey
ROXELANA SULTÁN (Khourrém), wife of Suleiman the Magnificent
SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT, Sultan of Turkey and Lord of the Ottoman Empire
NÁZIK, a nightingale-dealer, Constantinople
ISHIQ, boy to the Meddáh, Constantinople
HUSSEIN, Chief Keeper of the Royal Menageries, Constantinople
JEAN CHESNAU, French Chargé d’Affaires at Constantinople
Contents
Cover
About the Author
Other Books by This Author
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