Sistine Heresy
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The lovely and pious Domenico is an anachronism. Although there were castrati in the Sistine Choir during the 1600s, they are recorded by name only at the end of that century. Castrated men, particularly those who performed in a secular context, are thought to have engaged sexually with both men and women, much like modern rock stars. In 1902 Pope Leo XIII signed the order banishing castrati from the choir.
Giovanni de’ Medici, as he kept hinting, did succeed Julius as pope (Leo X 1513). His papacy was marked by a continuation of the Sale of Indulgences to finance St. Peter’s Basilica and, later, by his bull Exsurge Domine (1521), which excommunicated Martin Luther for his 95 Theses.
Eventually, the grim ascetic Gian Pietro Carafa also became pope although, during the period of the novel, he was not yet even a cardinal. As Adriana feared, the Inquisition did indeed come to Rome and Carafa was its agent. Initially he was appointed by Pope Paul III as Head of the Holy Office charged with trying heretics. After he himself became Pope Paul IV (1555) he expanded the office to full Inquisitional force to counter the threat of Protestantism. He also ordered the segregation of Roman Jews.
Martin Luther did in fact become a monk as the result of a lightning strike. According to historical accounts, he went to Rome as a young monk where he climbed the steps of the Lateran Church on his knees, but it would be another eight years before he would nail on the Wittenberg church door his 95 theses criticizing the selling of indulgences.
God’s backside is an actual biblical image (Exodus 33). And some time during 1512, Michelangelo in fact painted the Divine Derriere—provocatively attractive—in the eighth bay of the Sistine Chapel ceiling,
Silvio and his falcon are fictional, but the Piccolomini family is not. A prominent family from Sienna, they put two popes on the throne, the most famous of which was the humanist Eneas Silvio Piccolomini (Pius II 1458).
Adriana Borgia is fictional, but many Borgia men and women survived the end of the Borgia papacy, and the family line lasted until the eighteenth century.
Juan, Cesare, and Lucrezia were the three most famous of the eight known children of Rodrigo Borgia (Alexander VI). The boys came to a bad end, but Lucrezia lived and maintained a cultured court until 1519 as the Duchess of Ferrara.
Raphaela Bramante is fictional, but modeled on the extraordinary Artemesia Gentileschi (1593–1652), who resided with her father in Rome, Florence, and Genoa. Her most famous painting is Judith Slaying Holofernes (1614), though her sexual preference is not known.
Baldessare Salomano is fictional, but the immigrant wave that brought him to Rome in 1492 is historical. Pope Alexander VI, for all his venial sins, was wise enough to see the value of having Jewish merchants and professionals added to the Roman population.
Infrastucture, clothing, food, weaponry, politics, and plumbing are historically accurate to the degree possible for an amateur historian. While the author has tried to maintain a certain archaic flavor in the language, the use of modern American English and the desire to increase readability has allowed for certain linguistic anachronisms.
About the Author
Having traveled through much of the Arab world, Justine Saracen lost her heart early on to the desert. Together with her Egyptologist partner, she became immersed in the colorful theology of ancient Egypt, a fascination that led to the Ibis Prophecy books. The playful first novel, The 100th Generation, was nominated for the Ann Bannon Reader’s Choice award and was a finalist in the Queerlit Competition. The sequel, Vulture’s Kiss, focuses on the first crusade and vividly dramatizes the dangers of militant faith.
More recently, the Brussels-based author explores what religion has historically done to gay men and women. Her most daring work to date is Sistine Heresy, an imagined “backstory” to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes, and a blasphemy if ever there was one.
Having had it out with the Church, Justine also faces down the devil in Mephisto Aria (Bold Strokes Books, forthcoming 2010), her own queer Faust story. In Berlin, staggering toward recovery after WWII, a Russian soldier passes on his brilliance, but also his mortal guilt, to his opera singer daughter.
All part of Justine’s lifelong effort to “plant our flag retroactively on the literary and historical landscape.” You can visit her at her Web site at http://justinesaracen.googlepages.com.