The Rose of Provence (8 page)

“
I don’t mind, just save her!” The princess sprang up and
pushed Morgan towards the door, who also thought that it is time to
leave.

With relay horses, without rest, he galloped to Arles where
he arrived on the following day at five o’clock in the morning.
Only the third innkeeper, roused from sleep, could provide
information, and he said something which the earl did not like.
According to the news, the red-haired witch from Paris was taken to
Avignon the previous evening, to place her on a pile and burn her
at six o’clock in the morning.

Morgan spurred towards the former papal residence. He knew
that every minute would
count.

A few minutes before six o’clock, he arrived at the square in
front of the Palais des Papes, where a huge crowd had already
gathered to see the witch pay for her dark practices. Morgan,
looking over the hustling crowd, saw the pile standing in the
middle of the square, which was still empty. From there, he could
only continue his way on foot, so he threw himself into a whirl
and, without selecting, he pushed aside the people who got into his
way. He should have hacked his way through about thirty mortals
when the mob started to scream mindlessly. The earl stopped and
lifted up his head: he had to see the marauders dragging Amrita up
on the pile, and then tying her hands and legs to the thick
pillar.

He knew he was too late.

Of course, it would have been only an instant of work for him
to get on the top of the pile, wring the neck of the guards with a
single movement, and finally, by tearing away Amrita’s cords, take
her in his arms and run away with her. He will tear out the heart
of those who would stand in his way with one hand. But he was also
aware that there are too many bystanders here, and he cannot kill
everybody. Obviously, he cannot disclose his real self, and what he
is able to do.

At that moment, they set the pile on fire with a
torch.

Morgan slowly set out towards the girl, while the flames were
snatching at the edge of the rusty skirt more and more ravenously.
When he got to the foot of the pile, Amrita also noticed him, and
their eyes interlocked for a timeless moment. He did not detect
reproach in the emerald eyes because he was late, but he knew that
the self-accusation will torture him for a long time.

The smoke crawled up on her dress, and pushed her into
unconsciousness before the merciless flames could wrap around her
body. Morgan was unable to see this. He felt sorry for Amrita, but
also for himself. He knew that in the following years, decades, or
even centuries, a monster will feast on his heart, which is even
crueler than self-accusation: the forever hungry lack.

Consummatum est.

Appendix 1 -
Historical figures and
places in the novel

Henry II
- (31 March 1519 – 10 July
1559) was the king of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in
1559. The son of Francis I and his first wife, Claude of Valois,
the duchess regnant of Brittany. Henry II was the tenth Valois
ruler of France.

His early death was caused by an injury in a jousting
tournament, which was supposedly prophesized by Nostradamus as
well. His three sons, Francis II, Charles IX and finally Henry III
of France succeeded him on the throne. The male line of the Valois
dynasty died out with Henry III.

In 1553, Henry married Catherine the Medici, the daughter of
Lorenzo de Medici the ruler of Florence, but their relationship was
not so fruitful: the true love of Henri until his death was Diane
de Poitiers who was twenty years younger than him and wielded
considerable influence on the royal politics. Even though Henri had
affairs with numerous other women beside her and fathered several
illegitimate children.

Catherine de Medici
– (13 April 1519
– 5 January 1589) was the mother of the crown prince, queen of
France from 1547 until 1559, then regent on behalf of her second
son, Charles IX.

Catherine was considered to be infertile for ten years,
though she tried everything to become a mother. Neither the
traditional medicine nor the charlatans helped. However, on 19
January 1544, Francis, Dauphin of France (Francis II king of
France, 1559-1560) was born and from that time on, Catherine
provided a continuous childbearing to her volatile husband. The
couple had 10 children.

Catherine was interested in the occult sciences and
surrounded herself with several magicians, seers and astronomers.
She also accepted the service of Nostradamus who later became very
famous in the royal court.

Diane de Poitiers
– (3 September
1499 – 25 April 1566) was a French courtesan, duchess of Étampes,
one of the lovers of Henry II king of France. She gained fame with
her beauty and her influence on the king.

Her husband died in 1531, so Diane de Poitiers widowed at a
young age; she was 32 years old at that time. She returned to the
court and a few years after her husband’s death (around 1534), she
became the lover of the crown prince, Henri Prince of Orléans, who
later became Henry II the king of France.

Although Henry – fulfilling his obligations as a king –
married Catherine de Medici, Diane de Poitiers stayed next to him
all of his life, and in the following twenty-five years, she could
wield huge influence on the life of the crown prince, who became
king later, and was twenty years younger than her.

Nostradamus
– Michel de Nostradame,
often Latinized as Nostradamus (14 December 1503 – 2 July 1566) was
a significant figure of the French Renaissance, Doctor, qualified
astronomer and astrologer, apothecary, mystic prophet and
seer.

He was born in 1503, in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Provence in
France. He studied philosophy in Avignon, and then he entered the
medical university of Montpellier, on the shores of the
Mediterranean, and after five years of study, from the bishop, he
received the lowest level doctoral degree and the certificate
justifying the licentiate. He aimed to obtain the higher doctoral
degree as well, but for that he should have studied further.
However, he couldn't achieve this because of the plague of the
1520s. Nostradamus took the role of the plague Doctor, which
demanded outstanding courage. After the end of the epidemic, he
returned to study at the university of Montpellier and on 23
October 15, he officially obtained the doctoral title. After that,
he practiced as a doctor for nearly thirty years.

He dealt with future-telling as well, though it was not safe
in those days because the Catholic Church held a suspicious eye on
future-telling, and magic. Despite all this, his rhyming, prophetic
book was published in 1555 in Lyon.

In November 1547, he got married. He married a wealthy widow,
and then he moved to Salon with his family and lived there until
the end of his life.

Benvenuto Cellini
– (3 November 1500
– 13 February 1571) was a Florentine sculptor, goldsmith, medalist.
Between 1540 and 1544, he stayed in the court of Francis I, king of
France.

Jacques Cartier
– (December 31, 1491
– September 1, 1557) was a French explorer. He was the first to
describe the Canadian Saint Lawrence River and its shores. Explorer
of several islands, and he was the first to name the land ‘Canada’.
After several expeditions to the east coast of North America,
Francis I could not start a new expedition for a while because of
the lack of money, so Cartier could only depart again in 1541 with
five ships. However, the journey failed. The settlers’ supplies ran
out, and moreover, the aborigines proved to be hostile.

So, after the discovery of the Ottawa River and the Davis
Strait, the French left their settlements, and in 1543, they
returned home once and for all. The colonization of New France only
started again at the beginning of the 17
^th
century.

Louvre Palace
– Philip II Augustus
built it in 1204 to be a royal castle. During the time of the
Capetian dynasty, it was a royal hunting lodge and palace. Between
1364 and 1380, King Charles V rebuilt it in the gothic style. Henry
II employed Pierre Lescot to build a beautiful Renaissance style
royal castle from it. Catherin de Medici placed her seat there and
extended it.

Langeais
– Here stood the oldest
fortress of France, which was built in the
10
^th
century by Foulque de Nerra. The old tower remained from the
castle, and it can be seen in the garden of the present castle. In
1216, Philip II Augustus got hold of the fortress, and as a result
of a peace treaty, it became royal property. The liege lords
changed several times until the castle fell into ruins at the
beginning of the 1400s. Between 1465 and 1467, during the Hundred
Years’ War, Louis XI built the present-day castle.

„
Consummatum est”
– It is finished!
(Christ's last words, John 19:30)

Appendix 2 -
Recipes for the rose
dishes and drinks in the novel

Caution:
Only use edible flowers
produced for human consumption. Always shop from a reliable source.
For your safety, never use garden plants.

Rose bonbons

Ingredients
: 25 dkg sugar, 2
handfuls of dried rose petals, 30 dkg powdered milk, 25 dkg butter,
1 dl water, 3 tablespoons rose water, 10-15 dkg peeled ground
almonds

Grind one part of the sugar and half of the dried petals.
Combine this colorful sugar with the rest of the sugar and cook
into a syrup with the water. Remove the pot from the heat, add rose
water and combine with butter, ground almonds and powdered milk.
Chill in a cool place for at least one hour, but overnight is even
better. With wet hands, roll the mixture into tiny balls; cover
them with finely shredded rose petals. Depending on the color of
the rose, we can make red, pink or white bonbons!

(Source: Monika Halmos –Taste of Rose
www.halmosmonika.hu
)

Honey glazed chicken breasts stuffed with rose
petals

Ingredients
: 2 chicken breasts,
salt, 2 tablespoons honey, 2 tablespoons spicy chili cream, 1
handful of fresh rose petals, flour for coating, 2 eggs, bread
crumbs, oil for frying

Debone the chicken breast, cut the chicken into four pieces.
Tenderize the chicken pieces, sprinkle salt on them and glaze with
honey and paprika cream. Spread the rose petals, roll them up
tightly and fix with pins. Coat with flour, whipped egg then bread
crumbs, and fry them in hot oil until they become crispy golden
brown. After removing them from the oil, let the chicken drip,
remove the pins and serve it while hot. Recommended garnish: potato
parsnip puree.

(Source: Monika Halmos –Taste of Rose
www.halmosmonika.hu
)

Rose donut with rose jam

Ingredients
: (cca. 16 donuts) 40 dkg
extra fine flour, 8 dkg butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, a pinch of
salt, 2 tablespoons rum, 2 tablespoons rose syrup, 1 dl sour cream,
4 egg yolks, oil for frying, 2-3 tablespoons powdered sugar for
covering, rose jam

Make a mixture of the flour and butter; knead flexible dough
with the rest of the ingredients. Chill it in a cool place for at
least one hour. Roll out the dough to 2 mm thick on a mildly
floured pastry board. Then, take the round pastry cutter (in 3
sizes) and tap it sharply so that it goes straight through the
dough. Cut in the edges of the dough disks; this is how they will
open up and become rose shaped during frying. Take the biggest
piece and spread egg whites in the middle and push the medium-sized
dough on it. Then, spread egg whites again so that we can stick the
smallest piece of dough on it, and then push it in the middle a
bit. We can make 16 rose donuts from the given amount. Fry them for
about 3 minutes in medium-hot oil. Drain the donuts on paper
towels, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and serve with rose
jam.