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Heirs of Alexandria is an alternate history/historical fantasy series introduced in 2002 and set primarily in the Republic of Venice in the 1530s. The books are written by three authors, Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Dave Freer. [1] [2] The books combine elements from the styles of all three authors, such as Lackey's approach to tolerance and magic and Flint's sense of history alteration.
In our own universe, Hypatia of Alexandria was killed for her non-Christian views, shortly before the destruction of the Library of Alexandria by an angry mob. In the universe of the novels, Hypatia was converted to Christianity by John Chrysostom, and stopped the mob from destroying the Library. She continued her correspondence with John and Augustine of Hippo, which eventually led to the modern (1530s) divisions of the Church.
The Shadow of the Lion (2002) deals with Chernobog's attempt to destroy Venice and the awakening of the city's ancient powers. Marco is the main protagonist, while Chernobog acts through several intermediaries.
This Rough Magic (2003) is set in Corfu and features several new antagonists. It is largely centered on Maria and Benito's awakening, Marco having fit comfortably in his new role in Venice. Elizabeth Bartholdy has replaced Chernobog as the major behind-the-scenes villain in the book.
A Mankind Witch (2005) is a solo effort by Freer, and takes place between Shadow of the Lion and This Rough Magic. While Manfred and Eric are major characters, the focus is shifted to a thrall, Cair Aidin, and the Princess of Telemark, Signy. Trolls are the major antagonists of the story.
Much Fall of Blood (2010) follows Manfred and Erik after their journey to Jerusalem. They are attempting to broker an agreement between the Ilkhan and their nomadic cousins, the Golden Horde, which is complicated by disguised agents of Chernobog who wish to ensure no agreement occurs. In parallel, and eventually intersecting, Elizabeth Bartholdy's latest plot seeks to exploit and destroy an ancient supernatural pact between the family line of Prince Vlad of Wallachia and the supernatural powers that live in his domain, and both her nephew Prince Emeric of Hungary and the dark magician Count Mindaug work their own plots subverting hers.
Burdens of the Dead (2013) centers on Benito Valdosta's attempt to stop Chernobog's plots once and for all thanks after the revelations of Much Fall of Blood, through a naval war with Byzantium in an attempt to block a Black Sea fleet under construction for Chernobog from penetrating into the Mediterranean. The crossroads city of Constantinople is the focal point of their war, and the spirit of Hekate, goddess of crossroads and long worshipped in the Bosporus, quickly becomes involved in the war, and kidnapping and sorcery puts Benito's family at risk in an attempt to distract him and weaken the naval offensive. The original working title was Great Doom's Shadow.
All the Plagues of Hell (2018), by Eric Flint & Dave Freer, focuses on the city of Milan. The condottiere Carlo Sforza foils its Duke's attempt to assassinate him, lethally, and takes control of the city. The illegitimate daughter of the dead duke awakens a spirit of plague in an attempt to take control for herself, and magicians across Europe seek the source of their premonitions that a plague is awakening. This is complicated by the arrival in Milan of a notorious black magician, Count Mindaug, who most of the Christian magicians believe is the architect of the plague, by the involvement of Sforza's illegitimate son, Benito Valdosta of Venice, and the antagonism Venice has had for Sforza, and by Sforza's belief that magic is faked and lacks any spiritual or supernatural power.
The following characters appear in two or more novels in the series:
Led by the Grand Metropolitan in Rome, the Petrine branch of the Church (named for St. Peter and built on the teachings of Hypatia and Chrysostom) is the creed of choice in Italy and Spain, with a relatively large following in Aquitaine. The Petrines are noted for taking a mediative role in politics and a more tolerant attitude to other faiths.
Most of central and northern Europe follow the Pauline creed (named for St. Paul and based on the writings of St. Augustine). The Paulines are recognized for a general intolerance to all non-Christians, though some members of the Church are more politic about it than others. There is no official head of the Pauline church, though the Holy Roman Emperor is the "Bulwark of the Faith". The Paulines very closely (with a few exceptions) resemble historical medieval Catholicism in faith, practice and politics.
Most priests and Sisters of the Petrine branch of the Church are trained as magicians in the Vatican or Alexandria. They are typically trained in scrying, healing, and protection, though a number of them have taken up combative magic. The Order of Hypatia is a dedicated group of Petrine priests and Sisters who use magic to heal and protect.
In the Pauline branch, only the Servants of the Holy Trinity are allowed to use magic (a fact which does not stop the Emperor from seeking a second opinion), and all forms of magic not sanctioned by them is heretical.
The Strega are magic-users and traditional witches who typically serve a higher purpose. In Venice, the Strega are welcomed, and about a third of the students at the Accademia are Strega or have Strega leanings. The Strega are led by a Grand Master, who is usually a Grimas (one who has mastered all three branches of Stregheria ).
The darker sides of magic are usually the antagonists of the series. The demon Chernobog, for instance, is the main villain, and his magical minions are the source of Venice's troubles. In This Rough Magic, King Emeric of Hungary is a witch, and a sect of sorceresses are the most powerful antagonists (their leader is the infamous Elizabeth Bartholdy). In A Mankind Witch, it is revealed that female Trolls have powerful magic.
The most trade-oriented and tolerant city in Europe. Venice is in possession of a large empire in the Mediterranean; in addition to its own home territories in Italy, the city also rules Istria on the Adriatic coast, Crete, the Greek island of Corfu, and unnamed territories in Sicily, Sardinia, and North Africa. The city is also known for its policy of tolerance—it is the only city in Europe where all manner of creeds can live together. Jews and Strega are among the persecuted minorities who find safe haven in the city.
The Republic's government is ruled by numerous bodies and individuals:
The House of Sforza was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. They acquired the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti family in the mid-15th century, Sforza rule ending in Milan with the death of the last member of the family's main branch in 1535.
Sigismund I the Old was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV and younger brother of Kings John I Albert and Alexander I Jagiellon. He was nicknamed "the Old" in later historiography to distinguish him from his son and successor, Sigismund II Augustus. Before ascending to the Polish and Lithuanian thrones, he was Duke of Głogów from 1499, Duke of Opava from 1501, and governor of Silesia from 1504 on behalf of his brother, King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary.
The House of Este is a European dynasty of North Italian origin whose members ruled parts of Italy and Germany for many centuries.
The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between 1494 and 1559, mostly in the Italian Peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and Mediterranean Sea. The primary belligerents were the Valois kings of France, and their Habsburg opponents in the Holy Roman Empire and Spain. At different points, various Italian states participated in the war, some on both sides, with limited involvement from England and the Ottoman Empire.
Condottieri were Italian captains in command of mercenary companies during the Middle Ages and of multinational armies during the early modern period. They notably served popes and other European monarchs during the Italian Wars of the Renaissance and the European Wars of Religion. Notable condottieri include Prospero Colonna, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Cesare Borgia, the Marquis of Pescara, Andrea Doria, and the Duke of Parma.
The House of Riario, sometimes referred to as Riario-Sforza, is an Italian noble family from Savona, near Genoa. Closely associated with the Papal States, the family gained control over several signorie ("lordships"), such as Bologna and Forlì.
Federico da Montefeltro, also known as Federico III da Montefeltro KG, was one of the most successful mercenary captains (condottieri) of the Italian Renaissance, and lord of Urbino from 1444 until his death. A renowned intellectual humanist and civil leader in Urbino on top of his impeccable reputation for martial skill and honour, he commissioned the construction of a great library, perhaps the largest of Italy after the Vatican, with his own team of scribes in his scriptorium, and assembled around him a large humanistic court in the Ducal Palace, Urbino, designed by Luciano Laurana and Francesco di Giorgio Martini.
The Duchy of Milan was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277.
The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names, was fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fought for its entire duration, were France, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice; they were joined at various times by nearly every significant power in Western Europe, including Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, England, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Ferrara, and the Swiss.
The Golden Ambrosian Republic was a short-lived republic founded in Milan by members of the University of Pavia with popular support, during the first phase of the Milanese War of Succession. With the aid of Francesco Sforza they held out against the forces of the Republic of Venice, but after a betrayal Sforza defected and captured Milan to become Duke himself, abolishing the Republic.
Alfonso d'Este was Duke of Ferrara during the time of the War of the League of Cambrai.
Virginia de' Medici was an Italian princess, a member of the House of Medici and by marriage Duchess of Modena and Reggio.
The Bentivoglio family was an Italian noble family that became the de facto rulers of Bologna and responsible for giving the city its political autonomy during the Renaissance, although their rule did not survive a century.
The First Italian War, sometimes referred to as the Italian War of 1494 or Charles VIII's Italian War, was the opening phase of the Italian Wars. The war pitted Charles VIII of France, who had initial Milanese aid, against the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and an alliance of Italian powers led by Pope Alexander VI, known as the League of Venice.
The Shadow of the Lion is an alternate history/historical fantasy novel set primarily in the Republic of Venice in the 1530s. It is a part of the Heirs of Alexandria series. The book was written by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Dave Freer and combines elements from the styles of all three authors, such as Lackey's approach to tolerance and magic and Flint's sense of history alteration. The book was published in various e-book formats in the Baen Free Library and on Baen CD #01 (Honorverse).
Catherine of Austria was one of the fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. In 1553, she married Polish King Sigismund II Augustus and became Queen consort of Poland and Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania. Their marriage was not happy and they had no children together. After a likely miscarriage in 1554 and a bout of illness in 1558, Sigismund became increasingly distant. He tried but failed to obtain a divorce from the pope. In 1565, Catherine returned to Austria and lived in Linz until her death. Sigismund died just a few months after her, bringing the male line of the Jagiellon dynasty to its end. The dynasty would continue, strictly speaking, for one more reign—that of Sigismund Augustus’ sister, Anna Jagiellon, who was crowned with the male title of Rex Poloniae.
Ippolito (I) d'Este was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal, and Archbishop of Esztergom. He was a member of the ducal House of Este of Ferrara, and was usually referred to as the Cardinal of Ferrara. Though a bishop of five separate dioceses, he was never consecrated a bishop. He spent much of his time supporting the ducal house of Ferrara and negotiating on their behalf with the Pope.
Taddeo d'Este was a condottiere, a freelance military leader, who was known for his defense of the Republic of Venice in 1439 against Milanese forces under Niccolò Piccinino. Unlike many other condottieri of the day, who often changed sides, he served Venice almost exclusively throughout his thirty-year military career. During most of this period Venice was constantly at war with one or more of the neighboring states in northern Italy.
The Milanese War of Succession was a war of succession over the Duchy of Milan from the death of duke Filippo Maria Visconti on 13 August 1447 to the Treaty of Lodi on 9 April 1454.