To Lie With Lions: The Sixth Book of the House of Niccolo Read online

  FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, AUGUST 1999

  Copyright © 1995 by Dorothy Dunnett

  Introduction copyright © 1996 by Judith Wilt

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain by Michael Joseph Ltd., London, in 1995, and in slightly different form in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, in 1996.

  Vintage Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:

  Dunnett, Dorothy.

  To lie with lions / Dorothy Dunnett.

  p. cm. — (The house of Niccolò; 6th)

  1. Vander Poele, Nicholas (Fictitious character)—Fiction.

  2. Fifteenth century—Fiction. 3. Bankers—Europe—Fiction.

  I. Title. II. Series: Dunnett, Dorothy. House of Niccolò; 6th.

  PR6054.U56T6 1996

  823′.914—dc20 95-50422

  eISBN: 978-0-307-76242-9

  www.vintagebooks.com

  v3.1

  For Halliday Alastair Dunnett

  Contents

  Cover

  Map

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  The House of Niccolò: Preface

  Characters

  Introduction

  Part I - Summer, 1471 Prologue: The Chute of Lucifer

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Part II - Autumn, 1471: Joyous Entry and Farce

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Part III - Spring, 1472: The Crapault of Hell

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Part IV - Summer, 1472: The Multiplication of Pains

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Part V - May, 1473: Voleries

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Reader’s Guide

  About the Author

  Other Books by This Author

  The House of Niccolò

  PREFACE

  When my chronicle of Francis Crawford of Lymond ended, it seemed to me that there was something still to be told of his heritage: about the genetic lottery, as well as the turmoil of trials and experience which, put together, could bring such a man into being.

  The House of Niccolò, in all its volumes, deals with the forerunner without whom Lymond would not have existed: the unknown who fought his way to the high ground that Francis Crawford would occupy, and held it for him. It is fiction, but the setting at least is very real.

  The man I have called Nicholas de Fleury lived in the mid-fifteenth century, three generations before Francis Crawford, and was reared as an artisan, his gifts and his burdens concealed beneath an artless manner and a joyous, sensuous personality. But he was also born at the cutting edge of the European Renaissance, which Lymond was to exploit at its zenith—the explosion of exploration and trade, high art and political duplicity, personal chivalry and violent warfare in which a young man with a genius for organization and numbers might find himself trusted by princes, loved by kings, and sought in marriage and out of it by clever women bent on power, or wealth, or revenge—or sometimes simply from fondness.

  There are, of course, echoes of the present time. Trade and war don’t change much down through the centuries: today’s new multimillionaires had their counterparts in the entrepreneurs of few antecedents who evolved the first banking systems for the Medici; who developed the ruthless network of trade that ran from Scotland, Flanders, and Italy to the furthest reaches of the Mediterranean and the Baltic, and ventured from Iceland to Persia, from Muscovy to the deserts of Africa.

  Scotland is important to this chronicle, as it was to Francis Crawford. Here, the young Queen of Scots is a thirteen-year-old Scandinavian, and her husband’s family are virtually children. This, framed in glorious times, is the story of the difficult, hesitant progress of a small nation, as well as that of a singular man.

  Dorothy Dunnett

  Edinburgh, 1998

  Characters

  February 1471 – November 1473 (Those marked * are recorded in history)

  Rulers

  *England: King Edward IV, House of York, vying with

  *Henry VI, House of Lancaster

  *Scotland: King James III

  *France: King Louis XI

  *Burgundy: Charles, Duke of Burgundy, Count of Flanders

  *Pope: Paul II, Sixtus IV

  *Venice: Doge Niccolò Tron

  *Cyprus: King James de Lusignan (Zacco)

  *Ottoman Empire (Istanbul): Sultan Mehmet II

  *Mameluke Empire (Cairo): Sultan Qayt Bey

  *Muscovy: Grand Duke Ivan III, Autocrat of All Russia

  *Scandinavia: King Christian I

  *Poland: King Casimir IV

  House of Niccolò

  Nicholas de Fleury, governor of the Banco di Niccolò

  Gelis van Borselen, dame de Fleury, his wife

  Jordan (Jodi), their son

  Clémence de Coulanges, senior nurse

  Pasque, nursemaid

  Bita, temporary nursemaid

  Alonse, servant to Nicholas

  VENICE COUNTING-HOUSE:

  Gregorio (Goro) of Asti, lawyer and manager

  Margot, his wife

  Tasse, former servant to Jaak de Fleury, Geneva

  Julius of Bologna, notary and manager

  Cristoffels (Cefo), under-manager

  BRUGES COUNTING-HOUSE:

  Diniz Vasquez, manager, nephew of Simon de St Pol

  Mathilde (Tilde) de Charetty, his wife

  Marian, their daughter

  Catherine de Charetty, Tilde’s younger sister

  SCOTTISH BUREAU & ESTATES:

  Govaerts of Brussels, manager, Canongate bureau

  Oliver Semple, factor

  Wilhelm of Hall, goldsmith

  Tom Yare, lawyer from Berwick

  *John Bonkle, natural son of the Provost of Trinity College

  PERIPATETIC:

  Father Moriz of Augsburg, chaplain and metallurgist

  John le Grant, engineer, sailing-master

  Michael Crackbene, shipmaster

  Astorre (Syrus de Astariis), mercenary commander

  Thomas, deputy to Astorre

  Tobias Beventini of Grado, physician to Count of Urbino

  OTHER NAMED AGENTS:

  Lazzarino, agent in Rome

  Jooris, agent in Antwerp

 
Eric Mowat, agent in Copenhagen

  Achille, agent in Alexandria

  COMPLEMENT OF THE SVIPA:

  *Lutkyn Mere, Danish pirate

  Yuri, from Muscovy

  Dmitri, his son

  (with Nicholas de Fleury, Mick Crackbene, John le Grant and Father Moriz)

  PAST ASSOCIATES:

  Ochoa de Marchena, former master of the Ghost/Doria

  Filipe, former boy on the San Niccolò

  Duchy of Burgundy

  BURGUNDIAN HOUSEHOLD:

  *Charles, Duke of Burgundy and Brabant, Count of Flanders, Holland, Zeeland etc.

  *Margaret of York, his wife and sister of King Edward IV

  *Isabella of Portugal, Dowager Duchess of Burgundy

  *Marie, daughter of Duke Charles by previous wife

  *Bastard Anthony, natural brother of Duke Charles

  *William Hugonet, lord of Saillant, Chancellor of the Duchy

  *Philippe de Commynes, Master of Ducal Household, later chamberlain to King of France

  *Loyet, the Duke’s goldsmith

  *Peter von Hagenbach, Duke’s High Bailiff in Alsace

  BRUGES AND GHENT:

  *Anselm Adorne, merchant, magistrate, of the Hôtel Jerusalem

  *Margriet van der Banck, his wife

  *Jan Adorne, lawyer, their oldest son

  *Katelijne (Kathi) Sersanders, Adorne’s niece

  *Anselm Sersanders, her brother, Adorne’s nephew

  *Dr Andreas of Vesalia, physician in Bruges and Scotland

  *Louis de Bruges, seigneur de Gruuthuse, merchant nobleman

  *Marguerite van Borselen, his wife

  *Tommaso Portinari, Medici manager in Bruges

  *Maria, his wife

  *Angelo di Jacopo Tani, former Medici manager at Bruges

  *Alexander Bonkle, merchant in Bruges and Scotland

  *Justus of Ghent (Joos van Wassenhoven), painter in Urbino

  *Hugo van der Goes, artist, sponsored by Joos

  *Hans (Henne) Memling, German artist working in Bruges

  *Jehan Metteneye, host to Scots merchants in Bruges

  *Lambert van de Walle, merchant kinsman of Adorne

  *Colard Mansion, scribe and illustrator

  *Pieter Reyphin, merchant kinsman of van de Walle

  *João Vasquez, secretary to Duchess Isabelle of Portugal

  *Henry Cant, Scots merchant

  *William Caxton, former Governor of the English merchants: adviser to Duchess of Burgundy

  VEERE AND MIDDLEBURG:

  *Henry van Borselen of Veere, Count of Grandpré, ‘uncle’ of Gelis van Borselen

  *Wolfaert van Borselen, his son

  *Charlotte de Bourbon, Wolfaert’s second wife

  *Lodewijk van Borselen, their son

  *Anna van Borselen, their daughter

  *Paul van Borselen, bastard son of Wolfaert

  *Stephen Angus, Scottish agent at Middleburg

  DIJON/FLEURY:

  Enguerrand de Damparis, friend of Marian de Charetty’s sister

  Yvonnet, his wife

  The Vatachino Company

  Martin, broker, merchant and agent

  *David de Salmeton, the same, in Cyprus

  COMPLEMENT OF THE UNICORN:

  Svartecop of Revel, master

  Mogens Björnsen, pilot

  Reinholdt, Cologne merchant

  (with Martin, and Anselm and Katelijne Sersanders)

  Anjou and the Loire

  ANGERS:

  *René, Duke of Anjou, Count of Provence and titular King of Naples and Sicily

  *Jeanne de Laval, his wife

  *Margaret, his daughter, wife of King Henry VI of England

  *Edward of Wales, her son

  *Nicholas of Calabria, Duke of Lorraine and grandson of King René

  *René, grandson of King René and Duke of Lorraine after Nicholas, his cousin

  *Fleur de Pensée, herald

  *Ardent Désir (Pierre de Hurion), herald

  *Jehan du Perrier (‘Le Prieur’), chamberlain

  *Master Guillaume, keeper of lions

  *Bertrand, master of works

  *Cresselle, Bertrand’s Moorish wife

  *Pierre de Nostradamus, physician to René’s late son John

  *Pierre Robin, physician and architect

  *John Perrot, Abbot of Angers, King René’s confessor

  VALLEY OF CISSE:

  Bernard de Moncourt, seigneur de Chouzy

  Claude d’Échaut, dame de Chouzy, his wife

  France and Franco-Scots

  *King Louis XI

  *Francis II, Duke of Brittany, his nephew

  *Charles, Duke of Guienne (Aquitaine), the King’s brother

  Jordan de St Pol, vicomte de Ribérac, merchant-magnate of Scotland and France

  Simon de St Pol the Younger of Kilmirren, his son

  Henry de St Pol, son of Simon’s late wife Katelina

  *Andro Wodman, former Archer of the King’s Scottish Guard

  *Louis de Luxembourg, Count of St Pol, Constable of France

  *William, Lord Monypenny, lord of Concressault, envoy to Scotland

  *Gaston du Lyon, equerry, seneschal of Toulouse

  *Guillaume Fichet, rector of Sorbonne and printer, Paris

  *Jacques d’Orson, master gunner

  *Odet d’Aydie, Gascon lord of Lescun, chief counsellor to Duke of Brittany

  *Colombo, French privateer

  Scotland

  ROYAL HOUSEHOLD AND NOBLES:

  *James Stewart (Third of the Name), King of Scotland

  *Margaret, daughter of Christian I of Denmark, his Queen

  *Georgie Bell (Little Bell), King’s chamber valet

  *Mary Stewart, Countess of Arran, the King’s elder sister

  *Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran, her husband

  *James and Margaret, their children

  *Robert, Lord Boyd, father of Thomas

  *Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, the King’s brother

  *Sir James Liddell of Halkerston, Albany’s steward

  *John Stewart, Earl of Mar, the King’s younger brother

  *Margaret Stewart, the King’s younger sister

  *Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, Master of the Royal Household

  *Archibald Whitelaw, Royal Secretary

  *Andrew Stewart, Lord Avandale, Chancellor

  *John Laing, Treasurer

  *Patrick Graham, Bishop of St Andrews

  *William Tulloch, Bishop of Orkney, Keeper of the Privy Seal

  *William Scheves, cleric, royal apothecary

  *James Hommyll, royal tailor

  *David Guthrie of Kincaldrum, Clerk-Register

  *Master Conrad, physician

  *Archibald Crawford, Abbot of Holyrood

  *Robert Blackadder, Abbot of Melrose, brother of John Blackadder, Rome

  *David Arnot, cleric, kinsman of Henry, Abbot of Cambuskenneth

  *William Sinclair, Earl of Caithness

  *Sir William Knollys, Preceptor in Scotland of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem

  *David Lindsay, 5th Earl of Crawford

  *James Hamilton of Cadzow, 1st Lord Hamilton of Kinneil

  *Sir Robert Semple of Elliotstoun, sheriff of Renfrew

  *William Semple his son, ‘second cousin to Oliver Semple’

  MERCHANTS AND OTHERS:

  *William of Berecrofts (Old Will), Canongate merchant

  *Archibald Berecrofts the Younger (Archie), his son

  *Robin, son of Archie

  Isobella (Bel) of Cuthilgurdy, neighbour to the St Pols of Kilmirren

  *Elizabeth, Prioress, Cistercian Priory, Haddington

  *Elizabeth (Betha) Sinclair, daughter of the Earl of Caithness, widow of Patrick Dunbar, Haddington Priory

  *Catherine Sinclair, daughter of the Earl of Caithness by another wife, wife of the Duke of Albany

  *Euphemia (Phemie) Dunbar, Betha’s cousin, daughter of George Dunbar, Earl of March, Haddington Pr
iory

  *Dame Alisia Maitland, nun of same priory

  Ada, servant at Coldingham Priory

  *William Roger (Whistle Willie), Court musician

  *Thomas Cochrane, master mason

  *Edward Bonkle, Provost of Trinity College, Edinburgh

  *John Lamb, Leith merchant

  *Thomas (Thom) Swift, Edinburgh merchant

  *Andy Crawford, merchant

  Richard, his son

  *John Muir, merchant-burgess of Canongate

  *John Lauder, burgess of Canongate

  *Sir Alexander Napier of Merchiston, merchant, vice-admiral

  Constantine (Conn) Malloch, Borders landowner and merchant

  Benedict (Ben) Bailzie, landowner and merchant

  The Duchy of the Tyrol

  *Sigismond, Duke of Austria & Styria and Count of the Tyrol

  *Eleanor Stewart, his wife, aunt to the King of Scotland

  Urbino

  *Federigo da Montefeltro, Count of Urbino and mercenary leader

  *Battista Sforza, his second wife

  Rome (including envoys)

  *Pope Paul II, Sixtus IV

  *Henry Arnot, Abbot of Cambuskenneth, and procurator of James III at the Curia

  *John Blackadder, brother of Abbot of Melrose, Scotland

  *Bessarion (John) of Trebizond, Cardinal Legate, Archbishop of Nicaea, Patriarch of Constantinople

  *Jacques Scéva, his Greek-Cypriot major domo

  *Niccolò Perotti, his secretary, Archbishop of Manfredonia

  *Antonio Bonumbre, Genoese Bishop of Accia, Corsica, and papal envoy to Muscovy

  *Zoe Palaeologina, grand-daughter of Manuel II, past Emperor of Constantinople, and protégée of Bessarion

  *Andrew and *Manuel, Zoe’s brothers

  *Father Ludovico de Severi da Bologna, Patriarch of Antioch

  *Hadji Mehmet, legate of Uzum Hasan, Turcoman Prince, Persia

  *Nicholai Giorgio de’ Acciajuoli, Greek-Florentine kinsman by marriage of Pierfrancesco de’ Medici

  Nerio of Trebizond, exile, Burgundian Court and Rome

  *Michael Alighieri, of Florence and Trebizond, counsellor and chamberlain to Duke Charles

  *Benedetto Dei, seamaster and Florentine merchant trading in Africa

  *Marco Barbo, Cardinal of San Marco and nephew of Pope Paul

  *Oliviero Caraffa, Cardinal of Naples, Admiral of papal fleet

  *Lorenzo de’ Medici of the Republic of Florence, envoy