by David Gilman
When Thomas Blackstone and his men rode into Milan they entered through one of the eastern gates: the Porta Tosa. (This gateway was renamed Porta Vittoria but is now just a piazza.) The bas-relief of the medieval woman raising her skirts and about to trim her pubic hair with shears is from the twelfth century. It was removed from the porta by Cardinal Borromeo in the fifteenth century and is now in the city’s Castello Sforzesco. Various legends exist about the image: one is that during a siege by Barbarossa (in the twelfth century) the vastly outnumbered Milanese thought their city would fall. A young woman climbed the ramparts and exposed herself to the attacking army and began to shave herself. The awestruck enemy dropped their weapons and retreated home. Another explanation is that when the Milanese asked Constantinople for financial assistance following Frederick Barbarossa’s sack of Milan in 1162, their request was refused. The Milanese affixed the marble bas-relief to this eastern, Constantinople-facing porta as an insult to the Eastern Emperor.
The coded words used to introduce Blackstone to Father Torellini’s informant: Worldly fame is nothing but a breath of wind… is a quote from the Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy: Purgatory, Canto XI, lines 100–2.
In avenging the death of his wife and daughter Blackstone was acting legally because of the Italian adherence to vendetta – although of course the Visconti were never going to give him a chance to exercise it. In law injuries to one member of a family were construed as injuries to all; they ‘belonged’ to the clan and could be avenged. All of the family take up offensive weapons, for the injury done to one stains the whole house, wrote one fourteenth-century lawyer. That obligation did not die with an injured party.
Whether Thomas Blackstone’s act of revenge ended the vendetta remains to be seen.
*
I always welcome comments and can be contacted via my website or on my author’s Facebook page and, for those who are more fleet of foot, on Twitter.
Find me on Twitter
Find me on Facebook
Visit my website
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Captain David Whitmore of the Shire Bowmen (Shire Bowmen, a free company of Roving Archers) and Patrick Hutchinson, readers of the Master of War series, both of whom are practising longbow archers and who spent time kindly answering my questions regarding the correct description for when bowmen are placed in enfilade.
So many of my readers contact me via my website or on social media about Thomas Blackstone’s adventures, and their generous comments are welcome and appreciated, as are those who post reviews on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads.
I have the good fortune of being edited by Richenda Todd, who is as sharp as a bodkin point and, although she no longer puts me through the quaresima, takes no prisoners and always makes excellent suggestions that improve elements of my storytelling, as does my agent Isobel Dixon. My thanks to the team at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency who enthusiastically continue to sell Thomas Blackstone’s adventures into other countries. Finally, my thanks and appreciation go to my publisher, Nic Cheetham and his team at Head of Zeus, whose unflagging passion for the Master of War series keeps the books’ momentum going forward, rather like Thomas Blackstone on the field of battle.
David Gilman
Devonshire
2016
About David Gilman
DAVID GILMAN enjoyed many careers, including firefighter, soldier and photographer before turning to writing full time. He is an award-winning author and screenwriter.
Find me on Twitter
Find me on Facebook
Visit my website
About the Master of War series
Amid the carnage of the Hundred Years’ War – the bloodiest conflict in medieval warfare – a young Englishman rises from longbowman to knight.
Find out more
Find out more
Find out more
Find out more
The fifth book in the Master of War series will be released in spring 2018
Visit Head of Zeus now
Also by David Gilman
Find out more
Visit Head of Zeus now
An Invitation from the Publisher
We hope you enjoyed this book. We are an independent publisher dedicated to discovering brilliant books, new authors and great storytelling. Please join us at www.headofzeus.com and become part of our community of book-lovers.
We will keep you up to date with our latest books, author blogs, special previews, tempting offers, chances to win signed editions and much more.
Get in touch: [email protected]
Visit Head of Zeus now
Find us on Twitter
Find us on Facebook
Find us on BookGrail
First published in the UK in 2017 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © David Gilman, 2017
The moral right of David Gilman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
9 7 5 3 1 2 4 6 8
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (HB) 9781784974466
ISBN (XTPB) 9781784974473
ISBN (E) 9781784974459
Jacket: Rory Kee
Imagery: Shutterstock.com
Head of Zeus Ltd
Clerkenwell House
45-47 Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.headofzeus.com