The Last Days of Magic (55 page)

The Vatican
attempted to crush the power of witches in Europe by orchestrating a series of extensive witch-hunts, culminating in the Valais witch trials of 1428. Hundreds of witches and sorcerers were burned to death. Thousands more were imprisoned, frequently dying there, often under torture. The trials were run by Cardinal Gabriele Condulmer, legate to Pope Martin V. Legate Condulmer was later elected pope himself, Pope Eugene IV, by promising all the other cardinals that half the revenues of the Church would be distributed to them.

Matteuccia de Francesco,
the Witch of Ripabianca, tutor to the children of the High Coven, was captured and burned alive the first year of the Valais witch trials.

Catherine de Thouars,
who was nursing at the breast of
Béatrix de Montjean
when Isabella was still studying in the High Coven, escaped the witch trials by marrying Gilles de Rais, marshal of France. He had been declared a hero of the Hundred Years’ War for fighting alongside Joan of Arc. Catherine taught Gilles the dark witchcraft practices. He was later hanged for the sadistic murders of over eighty children, whose body parts were used in the rites of witchcraft and the raising of demons. Once again Catherine escaped trial.

Joan of Arc
was rumored to be the illegitimate daughter of Queen Isabeau of France, the Grande Sorcière; however, there is no record of Joan’s ever attending the High Coven.

Catherine Simon,
the young girl who Cardinal Orsini accused of being a witch but promised to save from the fire as long as she was his sex slave, might not have been a real witch when she was taken to the Vatican. However, during her two years in Orsini’s chambers she learned enough enchantments to escape while he traveled to Ireland. She practiced her new craft in Andermatt and Wallenboden and taught it to her daughter, until they were both captured and burned at the Valais witch trials.

Brigid, Patrick, and Colmcille
(later Anglicized to “Columba”) were canonized as saints by the Vatican in an attempt to pacify the Irish population and to reshape history into myth.

Colmcille
returned to Ireland from the Isle of Man and established the Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Dublin. Tortured by nightmares, he lived in constant fear of demons and never again left the city walls. Eventually he confined himself to the monastery and then, for the last five years of his life, to his chamber. For centuries after his death, many a monk claimed to hear his pleas for forgiveness echoing down the stone passageways.

Patrick’s Blood Bell
(also called Bell of the Blood, or Clogh-na-fullah) disappeared for over four hundred years until it resurfaced in 1841—sealed in a jeweled reliquary made of iron, silver, and gold and protected by enchantments—in the possession of Reverend Marcus Beresford, who rapidly rose in prominence to become archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. Today the Blood Bell can be seen in the library of Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Fomorians
are still occasionally sighted in the loughs of Galway. There were too many bodies of water for the exorcists to find and kill them all.

Johannes Gutenberg
, in 1448, invented a system involving movable metal type and a new design of printing press that together could mass-produce inexpensive books. A single press using this system could print thirty-six hundred pages per workday on cheap paper (rather than expensive vellum). The resulting flood of books and pamphlets broke down the Vatican’s control over literacy, and with it their ability to reshape history as they wished also faded, though they continued attempting to do so for centuries.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

M
AGIC
IS
REAL
! There is no other explanation for how I ended up with the talented and passionate team who brought this book to completion and to market.

Long before
The Last Days of Magic
was a novel, when it was still just an idea and a few rudimentary chapters, Adrienne Brodeur believed in what it could be. Over the years her guidance, editorial acumen, and friendship kept me writing. This book would not be in your hands without her support. I am indebted to Tim Ryan and the rest of her family for their willingness to sacrifice time with her as she worked on this project.

What inspired Carole DeSanti, vice president and executive editor at Viking Penguin, to chase down and capture the original manuscript is hard to fathom. I am fortunate to have her as an editor and grateful for all the times she locked me in various (admittedly nice) rooms, refusing to let me compromise on any chapter, paragraph, or word. My thanks go as well to Christopher Russell for his timely input and all the heavy lifting required to get this book out into the world. For their hard work and enthusiasm, my gratitude goes out to the rest of the Viking Penguin team including: Brian Tart, Andrea Schulz, Kate Stark, Carolyn Coleburn, Lydia Hirt, Lindsay Prevette, Allison Carney, Angie Messina, Tory Klose, Maureen Sugden, Francesca Belanger, and their colleagues in publicity, marketing, sales, and production.

Stephanie Cabot is a literary agent extraordinaire whose insights were as invaluable in polishing the manuscript as they were about the marketplace. My thanks go to the entire Gernert Company team,
including Ellen Goodson, Anna Worrall, Rebecca Gardner, Seth Fishman, and Flora Hackett, who have facilitated everything from social media to marketing to foreign rights.

The programs and staff of Aspen Words, the literary arm of the Aspen Institute, served as midwives to this novel. Special thanks to Maurice LaMee, Jamie Kravitz, Caroline Tory, and Renee Prince.

My deep appreciation goes to those uniquely generous people who took the time to read and comment on a manuscript that I thought was finished but they knew was not: Lisa Kessler and Jenna Johnson. For their bravery, my thanks to even earlier readers: Tom and Bridget Tomlinson, Kathy Naumann, Barbara Bends, Jonathan Young, Mary and Larry Tompkins (my loving parents), and Cherie Tucker.

In Ireland, Deirdre Wadding shared a treasure trove of information on Irish faeries and magic. Dr. Andy Halpin, with the National Museum of Ireland, was quick to turn around valuable answers to my befuddled questions.

Victoria Haveman and John Beatty let me encamp in the corner of their inspirational café, Victoria’s Espresso, in Aspen, Colorado, where most of this book was written. Without their caffeine and pastries, the Gods only know if I would have ever actually finished. I also have a special fondness for Café Du Marché on Rue Cler, in Paris, where for a week I sat and scratched out the original outline.

For his wonderful personal support, both while I was writing and long before, I will always be grateful to my dear friend Rick McCord.

This novel is dedicated to my wife, Dr. Serena Koenig; she knows why.

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