BARBAROSSA'S PRINCESS ITALIAN WRITERS ABROAD edition by Elizabeth Vallone Romance eBooks
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A tale of intrigue, violence, sex, love and ultimate triumph, Elizabeth Vallone’s Barbarossa’s Princess is also a tapestry of the customs of the Holy Roman Empire, the Norman-Sicilian Court and mores of life in the 12th century.
Barbarossa’s Princess is a veritable page turner. From the very first line, we are swept away on an adventure through the corridors of power in the 12th century. We taste and smell the meals, we see the unusual medical practices, we hear all the raucous sounds of life in an age more refined and more coarse than even our own. At the center of this delightful tale is Constance de Hauteville, a woman drawn from a nunnery to become Empress of a continent. She becomes the bearer of the next Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. An innocent, along with her maid-servant, Constance enters the corridors of power and grows to become as forceful as those who would use her for their own gain. Vallone portrays Constance de Hauteville as a woman of chutzpah and humility, a mother who endures the humiliations of women in an earlier time,
but who triumphs and endures.
Patrick McGuire
Elizabeth Vallone’s Barbarossa’s Princess, a superbly researched historical novel, will transport readers to the milieu of the late Middle Ages and the intrigue of the court of the Holy Roman Empire. It begins in the middle of the drama, in the year 1194, as Sicilian Queen Constance, consort of Emperor Heinrich, is about to give birth publicly to an heir to the throne. Townspeople who will witness the birth are exceedingly curious to see whether a monstrous anti-Christ will emerge from the queen’s body, as predicted by a famous clairvoyant… Ms. Vallone provides authentic multi-sensory details that will transport readers to the 12th Century. Many elements, such as beauty and fertility treatments, obstetrical medicine, food, customs and other details about daily life of the time are factual…
Joyce Magee, L’Idea Magazine
BARBAROSSA'S PRINCESS ITALIAN WRITERS ABROAD edition by Elizabeth Vallone Romance eBooks
I have read Barbarossa's Princess and found that I had difficulty putting it down. I did not want the story to end!I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Vallone's style of writing as I found myself being transported back in time to this era in history. Her descriptions of the cultures, politics, and medicinal practices, alone, blend the vast differences of the centuries and the beauty of the past into an inticing story I found myself becoming a part of. I applaud the author and her accomplishment.
Excellent read!
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BARBAROSSA'S PRINCESS ITALIAN WRITERS ABROAD edition by Elizabeth Vallone Romance eBooks Reviews
This was a good book with a glimpse of the Middle Ages and court life in Europe. It touched upon religion and how the clergy used their power to pursue their own greed. I enjoyed the story but would like to have seen a better ending. I felt it was rushed. Worth the read if you are looking for an entertaining historical novel.
Barbarossa's Princess is spellbinding from the very opening scene. I could not put it down. Author Elizabeth Vallone writes about the 12th Century customs and lifestyle in such detail you feel as if you are there. I still cannot get some of the images described in the book out of my mind. I believe they are going to stay with me for a long, long time. I love historical fiction because I enjoy learning while being entertained, and this book accomplishes both. Vallone has left no stone unturned when it comes to researching this period and its players in history and, she has managed to turn it all into an intriguing story you won't be able to put down. I highly recommend it!
Would the Pope order the death of an innocent child? Would he instruct an archbishop to carry it out? What would be the motivation and what would cause such a drastic action? Constance of Barbarossa was over the childbearing age and was about to give birth to son. Legend or superstition has it that she will give birth to a demon or who they refer to as the Anti-Christ. Constance has been sheltered for most of her life in a convent but was sent for by her nephew the King to marry in order to create a bloodline to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. With her wet nurse and her maid she lives within the walls of the Palace with her young child and has no idea what is about to happen. Enlisting the help of someone the Archbishop has no choice but to ask for a special poison that will not only kill the child within a few days but also cause the wet nurse some minor discomfort in order for his actions to go undetected. As the author takes the reader back in time to the court of the Holy Roman Empire as the events unfold in the year 1194. Queen Constance, wife of Emperor Heinrich is about to give birth to an heir to the throne. But, this is not an ordinary birth, as you would experience today. This is what they referred to back then as a public birth. Many will witness the agony, pain, personal and what should be private moment in a woman's life to see if the child she bears is a demon or not. Some predicted that it what will emerge would be the Anti-Christ. The author then flashes back to when it all began allowing the reader to learn of her prearranged match, her marriage, the secrets and the lies told.
Words are powerful and sometimes control the actions and thoughts of others whether true or false. Clairvoyants whether in the present or past are thought to predict events in the future and can often see the end result? Many belief their predictions and adjust their lives and actions accordingly. Superstitions often create or instill fears in others the same way and the result of giving in to them can be tragic. Constance was born a princess and lived a life that every young girl would want. But, when forewarned that something was going to happen to a royal heir she was sent away to live under the protection of the nuns at convent of San Salvatore. Living as a nun Constance felt safe and secure until called back to Palermo in the darkness of night. Greeted by her nephew the new King she was told of an impending match that she was required to accept. The unhappiness and indignities that she would face and the ones prior to that allow the reader to understand that what some young women went through in the 12th century to just be accepted is no different than today. The methods might be barbaric and cruel but the end result the same. As the author takes us back to her childhood and allows the reader to meet Constance, her nephew and her loyal nurse Almudena and understand what happens when appearances really do matter. As the Germans arrived from Barbarossa and the inspection began the result might prove positive but the procedure by far not. But, another premonition would be in the back of Constance mind but this time she set it aside. Just what it was and had she listened might have changed the course of so many events. But, sometimes we think of a wider and bigger picture when the throne of a country is your prize.
Betrayals, massacres and deaths would follow before all was said and done and the final coronation takes place. When Constance finally marries Heinrich the obstacles she faces are many and the indignities she withstands horrendous. But, the birth miraculous as the truth about the child unfolds and the death of another would follow. But, Constance did not remain true to Heinrich and those who knew of her affair the poet would hold her love for another secret. Battle lines drawn, Kingdoms in disarray, loyalties tested and one young King who wanted it all at all costs. Deaths of those dear to Constance and one child who just might bring hope to a nation. Told in the voice of the Empress the reader feels the pain, understands the frustrations, enters the prison along with her, the sickness and cures used to help her pull through and the many treatments she endured just to bear a special child. The lives of so many depended on Constance and the hope of the Sicilians in the hand of one so young. Take the journey back in time and learn what happens to one woman who endures the life set out for her by others, the cruelty, manipulations and the life she did not choose as Constance proves that she is more than just a pawn in a chess game so dangerous that even the King is in more than just Check.
Characters that you will either love or hate. An Empress with no heart and a young King out for his own greed and one woman who stood to gain it all but would she before it was too late. An ending that will surprise the reader and twists, curves and turns you won't expect as author Elizabeth Vallone reminds everyone that prejudice, hate and terrorism are not just part of today's society they have been around for a very long time. One well-written novel and one that definitely deserves more recognition and should have more readers.
Throughout antiquity, men have repeatedly and summarily destroyed cities and physical documentation of events. Because of that, we have accepted that the information regarding some historical figures have almost completely disappeared and very little is known about them. There are particular timed incidents, though, which place them in the chronology of history, and sometimes even provides them with a mythical aura. Constance de Hauteville's existence, for example, even though mostly lost in the fog of time, is as real as it gets. She sanctioned the unification of the Holy Roman Empire with the Kingdom of Sicily, through the union of her lineage (Hauteville) with her husband's (Hohenstaufen). Her son Frederick II became accordingly the emperor of a much larger Holy Roman Empire, turning into a clear precursor of the Renaissance rulers, thanks to his profound culture, his designs and his visions for the Italian land.
Accustomed as we are to fictitious recreations of past events in movies, historical fiction becomes an accepted and welcome solution to the understanding and the presentation of characters, which lack the depth of records to allow for an accurate historical reconstruction, to the general public.
Barbarossa's Princess is a work of art which bases its narrative upon historical facts, weaving a web of intrigue, lust and violence that amply reflects the times in which these events truly occurred. The main character, Constance de Hauteville, comes alive with her strengths and weaknesses, her sharp intelligence and her deep culture, drawing the reader in the plot more and more with each electrifying, inspiring and inspired page.
Elizabeth Vallone's thorough research in the medical treatments of the times enhances the credibility of the storyline and allows the reader to plunge in the 12th century without hesitation. Her description of the places is factual, and so is the unraveling of the main events, but the author carefully plugs characters and small details of her creation in the story, intensifying the excitement of the tale by giving it a sharp characterization and a well-constructed setting.
Through her well-balanced amalgam of real historical episodes and characters with fictional ones, Vallone obtains a book which will thrill both history enthusiasts and lovers of adventure. Barbarossa's Princess shows the drama behind the metamorphosis of the richest princess in Europe from a pious woman living modestly in a convent to a brave and audacious empress. It does so with an elegant style and a perceptive attention to the evolution of her personal feelings and thoughts.
The final product is therefore a well-knitted story, with developed characters portrayed as close to known reality and painted as colorful as they could have been without distorting that reality. Vallone shows at every step the rigorous research and she does that without becoming academic or exasperating the reader with unnecessary details. The accurate physical description of the environments are neither casual nor merely ornamental, but they aim at completing the characters through their milieus.
For example, Constance's sensibility may be understood better through the memory of her city "In Palermo everything was bright. The walls of colored mosaics dressed in gold leaf, the brilliant geometric patterns on the altars and Moorish arches took my breath away. Sometimes when I entered, it felt as if I were witnessing the colors, the images, the architecture for the first time..."
Barbarossa's Princess will also satisfy the readers who fancy love stories, because Constance is full of love, although lives mostly without it, finding herself, unfortunately and without any blame, in a loveless marriage with a brute "Traveling and negotiating also made It more difficult to make time for his manly duties, which gladdened me, for I had come to absolutely abhor the feeling of his touch on my skin. If Heinrich never came to my bed again, it would have been all right with me."
Constance will not deny herself a chance to love in spite of her position and will risk everything to be close to her lover, even if that meant to be playing chess in front of everyone at court "Now the object of my affections sat across the chessboard smiling, and touching my pinky, my wrist. Though it was only the brush of finger tips, a fiery sensation passed between us. I watched him and shivered."
It is the author's ability of rendering the nuances of the main characters' emotions that allows the reader to embrace Constance's cause and root for this remarkable woman who preceded her times with her strength, her determination and her enlightenment.
I have read Barbarossa's Princess and found that I had difficulty putting it down. I did not want the story to end!
I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Vallone's style of writing as I found myself being transported back in time to this era in history. Her descriptions of the cultures, politics, and medicinal practices, alone, blend the vast differences of the centuries and the beauty of the past into an inticing story I found myself becoming a part of. I applaud the author and her accomplishment.
Excellent read!
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