Race of Scorpions - Dorothy Dunnett [1]
* England: Henry VI, House of Lancaster, to 1461; Edward IV, House of York, from 1461
* Flanders: Duke Philip of Burgundy
* Pope: Pius II
* Milan: Duke Francesco Sforza
* Genoa: Doges Prosper Adorno, Louis and Paul Fregoso
* Venice: Doge Pasqual Malipiero
* Portugal: Alfonso V, nephew of Henry the Navigator
* Ottoman Empire: Sultan Mehmet II
House of Niccolò:
ABROAD:
Nicholas vander Poele (Niccolò), son of the first wife of Simon de St Pol
Tobias Beventini of Grado, physician
John le Grant, Scots engineer
Loppe (Lopez), a former Guinea slave, major domo to Nicholas
UNDER CONTRACT ABROAD:
Astorre (Syrus de Astariis), mercenary leader
Thomas, English under-captain to Astorre
Michael Crackbene, sailing-master
Umfrid, Crackbene’s accountant
Andrea, Florentine under-manager of Nicosia royal dyeworks
Galiot, French steward to Nicholas in Nicosia
IN VENICE:
Gregorio of Asti, lawyer
Merchant families of France, Scotland and Portugal:
Jordan de St Pol, vicomte de Ribérac, Scots financier and merchant in France
Simon of Kilmirren his son, co-owner of St Pol & Vasquez in Portugal
Katelina van Borselen of Veere, Flanders, second wife to Simon de St Pol
Henry de St Pol (Arigho), child of Katelina
Lucia de St Pol, sister of Simon
Tristão Vasquez of St Pol & Vasquez, Portuguese husband of Lucia
Diniz Vasquez, son to Tristão and Lucia and nephew to Simon
Flanders and Burgundy:
THE CHARETTY COMPANY:
Mathilde (Tilde) de Charetty, elder daughter of Marian, late wife of Nicholas
Catherine, her sister
Julius, notary, seconded from the House of Niccolò
Father Godscalc of Cologne, chaplain, also seconded
OTHER BUSINESS FAMILIES IN BRUGES:
* Anselm Adorne
* Margriet van der Banck, his wife
* Colard Mansion, scribe and illustrator
* Jehan Metteneye, host to the Scots merchants
* Tommaso Portinari of the Medici company, Bruges
* Isabelle of Portugal, wife of Duke Philip
* Sir João Vasquez, her secretary
* Pierre Bladelin, Duke Philip’s controller in Bruges
* Michael Alighieri of Florence and Trebizond, the Duke’s chancellor
Fleury, Dijon:
Thibault, vicomte de Fleury, maternal grandfather of Nicholas
Enguerrand de Damparis, friend of Thibault’s second wife, Marian’s sister
Yvonnet, his wife
Anjou:
* René, Duke of Anjou, Count of Provence and titular King of Naples and Sicily
* Jeanne de Laval, his wife
* John, Duke of Calabria, his son
* Margaret of Anjou, his daughter, wife of King Henry VI of England
* Roland Cressant, Scottish Archer
* Odile Spinola, widow of the King’s Genoese maître d’hôtel
* John Perrot, abbot of Angers, René’s confessor
Savoy:
* Louis I, Duke of Savoy
* Anna de Lusignan, his wife, aunt of Carlotta of Cyprus
* Luis, Count of Geneva, his son, husband of Carlotta of Cyprus
Naples and the Abruzzi:
* Ferrante of Aragon, King of Naples
* Federigo da Montefeltro, Count of Urbino, Papal mercenary
* Paltroni, his secretary
* Sigismondo Malatesta, lord of Rimini
* George Castriot (Skanderbeg), Albanian leader and patriot
* Moses Golento, one of his captains
* Count Jacopo Piccinino, mercenary captain
Florence:
* Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici, head of the banking house of Medici
* Alessandra Macinghi negli Strozzi, matriarch of the Strozzi merchant house
* Lorenzo di Matteo Strozzi, her son, merchant in Naples
Bologna:
* Sante Bentivoglio, lord of Bologna
* Ludovico de Severi da Bologna, Franciscan Patriarch of Antioch
Cyprus:
* Carlotta de Lusignan, daughter of King John II of Cyprus and Helen Paleoioga
* Luis, her husband, son of Luis, Duke of Savoy and Anna de Lusignan of Cyprus
Primaflora, courtesan and Carlotta’s attendant
Ansaldo, her lover; a knight of Carlotta’s
* Sor de Naves, Sicilian defender of Kyrenia
* Thomas Pardo, Cypriot follower of Carlotta
* John de Montolif, Marshal of Cyprus
* Antony de Bon, major domo to Carlotta
* Abbot of Bellapaïs
* James de Lusignan (Zacco), bastard son of King John II of Cyprus
* Marietta of Patras (Comomutene or Cropnose), his mother
* Markios of Patras, Marietta’s brother
* Jorgin, servant