In the meantime Kelley continued to work as an alchemist in Prague, a profession that over time appeared to hold rather more prestige and promise than did employment as Dee’s scryer. Queen Elizabeth was most eager to have Kelley return to England, where she believed—despite Matthew Roydon’s skepticism—that he was close to discovering the philosopher’s stone. The Holy Roman emperor Rudolf believed the same and, through a combination of inducements and threats, kept Kelley working long hours at his court. This is where Matthew and Diana finally tracked him down, and Diana immediately perceived how disturbed he was.
For years Kelley persuaded the emperor that he was on the brink of success, but eventually Rudolf lost patience and had him imprisoned. The exact date and circumstances of Kelley’s death are murky. Some reported that he died in 1597 or 1598 of injuries sustained in an attempted escape from the castle where he was being held. Others insist he was still alive in 1600, though keeping a low profile so as to avoid the emperor’s anger.
JOANNA KELLEY
Full name and other names: Joanna (or Jane) Cooper, Joanna Weston
Date of birth: 1563
Family and romantic relationships: Married to Edward Kelley, with two children from her first marriage, including the poet Elizabeth Jane Weston.
Personal history: Joanna Kelley was the wife of Dee’s assistant and crystal gazer Edward Kelley. After her first husband, a John Weston of Chipping Norton, died, the widowed Joanna married Edward. She brought her children to live with her: a boy, John Francis Weston, and a girl, Elizabeth Jane Weston. The marriage between Joanna and Edward was childless, and he seemed to have been pleased with his stepchildren. According to Joanna’s daughter, Elizabeth, the children’s relationship with their stepfather was a happy one, and he paid for their education in Latin, among other things.
We do not know if Joanna and Edward enjoyed a happy marriage, but there are indications that it faced unusual strains. The time in Prague might have been particularly difficult for Joanna, especially after the Dee family left the city to return to England. Joanna was isolated from her neighbors and lonely for her English home, with little company except for her children and servants while Edward spent long days at his work for Emperor Rudolf. Joanna outlived Edward. Near the end of his life, as well as after his unfortunate death, Joanna and her daughter sought to salvage her husband’s waning reputation, which would have been inextricably intertwined with their own. They were unsuccessful.
See also: Jane Dee, John Dee, Edward Kelley
PETER KNOX
Origin of name: Peter is of Greek origin, meaning “rock” or “stone.”
Date of birth: April 15, 1945
Astrological sign: Aries
Physical description: Knox is in his sixties. He looks like a tweedy expert from a television documentary, with salt-and-pepper hair, spectacles, and an air of authority. But there is an avaricious gleam in his eye that causes other creatures to turn away.
A member of: The Congregation
Personal history: Peter Knox is a witch of great ambition and considerable skill. Though he has real talent, it is his devotion to detail and study that has made him a leader among witches. Knox’s mastery of magical lore, his knowledge of spells and his ability to replicate them precisely make him stand out among his peers. Knox is old-school.
He has risen to the highest echelons of witch society and occupies a seat on the Congregation. He is also a scholarly expert on the history of magic and ritual, providing a bridge to the world of humans. Museums and the media often call upon Knox to vet manuscripts and objects or comment on issues that touch upon the occult. Despite these achievements Knox is envious of witches who have more natural ability than he does. He resents having to put in long hours to perfect his skills. Like most in this predicament, no matter how adept he is, Knox always feels there is something just out of his grasp. He always wants more: more power, more magic, more influence.
Decades ago Peter Knox became obsessed with just such a witch: Diana’s mother, Rebecca Bishop. Not only was Rebecca well trained, but she had an intuitive grasp of magic that cannot be taught. The two were often pitted against each other during their teen years, when Congregation officials set up a series of competitive training exercises to identify the next generation of witch leaders. Rebecca was the only witch who could best Knox. After losing the top spot to Rebecca Bishop, Knox vowed never to be in second place again. This makes him a dangerous enemy. No matter what Peter Knox says, he is interested in only one thing: winning.
L
LOBERO
Lobero is the dog that the besotted Emperor Rudolf gave to “La Diosa” in sixteenth-century Prague. Lobero is a Komondor, and his name means “wolf hunter” in Spanish, clearly a gibe at Matthew. Young Jack Blackfriars immediately adopted Lobero, beginning a centuries-long tradition of Komondor ownership. For sentimental reasons Jack calls each new dog Lobero.
RABBI JUDAH LOEW
Full name and other names: Judah Loew ben Bezalel; Yehuda ben Bezalel; Maharal of Prague; “The MaHaRaL,” the Hebrew acronym of Moreinu Ha-Rav Loew (Our Teacher, Rabbi Loew)
Origin of name: The name “Löw” or “Loew” is derived from the German Löwe, “lion.”
Date of birth: Possibly 1525
Physical description: Fatherly and wise, with a long beard and dark hair
Family and romantic relationships: A wife, Pearl, six daughters, and a son. According to Jewish tradition, his family was descended from King David.
Personal history: Rabbi Loew was a leading Talmudic scholar, mystic, and philosopher in sixteenth-century Prague and known for his works on Jewish philosophy and mysticism. He was also linked to the nineteenth-century legend about the Golem of Prague, although All Souls readers know that it was in fact Abraham ben Elijah who created it.
Rabbi Loew was briefly in possession of one of the missing Book of Life pages but passed it on to Abraham ben Elijah. He is buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague, where his tombstone can still be seen today.
M
MORDECHAI MAISEL
Full name and other names: Mordechai Marcus Meisel, Mordechaj Marek Meisel
Date of birth: 1528
Family and romantic relationships: Mordechai had two wives, Eva and later Frummet
Personal history: Maisel was a prosperous merchant and philanthropist in the Jewish Town of sixteenth-century Prague. He built the Maisel Synagogue, which for a century was the most significant building in the Prague ghetto. He also helped Rudolf II with small financial matters, like his war against the Turks. In Shadow of Night, he guided Diana safely back from her meeting with Rabbi Loew in Prague’s Jewish Town.
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
Full name: Christopher “Kit” Marlowe
Origin of name: Marlowe is of Old English origins, and a locational name.
Date of birth: Before February 26, 1564 (date of his baptism)
Astrological sign: Aquarius or Pisces
Physical description: A man with tousled brown hair, of average height, with a neat build and expensive, tailored clothes
A member of: The School of Night
Family and romantic relationships: Marlowe was the son of John and Catherine Marlowe from Canterbury. He never married but was particularly close to the enigmatic Matthew Roydon and others in the School of Night.
Personal history: Christopher Marlowe, known as Kit to his friends, was a daemon, born into an ordinary human family in sixteenth-century England. His father was a shoemaker. Marlowe rose from those humble beginnings to become one of the foremost playwrights of Elizabethan England, a spy in Her Majesty’s service, and a member of the adventurous thinkers known as the School of Night.
As a young man, Marlowe studied on a scholarship at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, where his attendance was marred by long absences due to time spent working as a spy for the queen. It
was perhaps in that capacity he met another spy, the vampire Matthew Roydon, who was to become one of his best friends, along with the other members of the School of Night. Historians know little of his private life. As All Souls readers are aware, however, Marlowe harbored a deep love for Matthew Roydon and was intensely jealous of his wife.
An impulsive creature of deep passions, Kit was inordinately fond of food, drink, and fine clothes and was a profligate spender. Notwithstanding the income he earned as a spy, Marlowe was chronically in debt, forced to dodge his landlords and other lenders. He was also a brawler, and on numerous occasions his behavior—or at least his habit of keeping violent company—landed him in court. He was never convicted of any violent crime, but it’s possible his secret employment in Her Majesty’s service offered him some protection.
Despite his tumultuous and untidy private life, Marlowe was best known by his contemporaries for his dramatic plays. He was alive and writing during a golden age for English drama, and indeed he was born the same year as William Shakespeare. Marlowe wrote six immensely influential plays that shaped Shakespeare’s own verse (and there is evidence that he also contributed material for Shakespeare’s plays), though only two of Marlowe’s plays were published and performed before his death. The others, including his masterful Doctor Faustus, were published posthumously. He also began a poem, Hero and Leander, which George Chapman, another member of the School of Night, finished after his death.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for one who lived recklessly, Marlowe died young, at the age of twenty-nine. While the circumstances surrounding his death are cloudy, it is likely that his fondness for drink and opiates, in combination with a jealous temperament and a lifelong habit of brawling, contributed to his demise. In 1593 he was stabbed and killed in a disagreement over an unpaid bar tab. The authorities deemed his death an accident, and his murderer was pardoned, judged to be acting in self-defense against a third person present.
See also: LITERATURE: Doctor Faustus, The Jew of Malta, Hero and Leander
MARTHE
Origin of name: Marthe is the French form of Martha, meaning “lady” or “mistress.”
Date of birth: Unknown
Date of rebirth: Unknown
Physical description: Marthe is an unprepossessing dumpling of a creature, nearly as round as she is tall. Her small stature speaks to her great age as a vampire. She was reborn a vampire when she was in her sixties, and given her age there was only so much that vampire blood could do to straighten out gnarled limbs and fill in wrinkles. Her hair is black and silver, her eyes sparkling and expressive, her smile mischievous.
Family and romantic relationships: Marthe has been Ysabeau de Clermont’s closest friend and retainer since time immemorial. By extension she is a loyal and key servant in the de Clermont clan and became godmother to Diana and Matthew’s daughter, Rebecca Bishop-Clairmont.
Personal history: Marthe’s origins are in the mythological dawn of civilization, and she has survived all the Vampire Wars. She possesses a great deal of ancient lore and information and remembers a time long before the Congregation and its covenant. She forgets nothing and no one and is one of the de Clermonts’ greatest assets.
Marthe has no known last name. The only creatures who ever knew Marthe’s age or her origins were Philippe and Ysabeau—and neither of them ever revealed it. As Ysabeau’s companion she was the one who nursed Ysabeau’s tortured body back to health after Philippe rescued her from her blood-rage– infected maker.
Marthe quietly and competently kept the de Clermont household running so that Philippe and Ysabeau could rule the world, and she continues to do so. She is usually found in the bowels of the castle commanding her empire of pots and pans, receiving mail, deliveries of freshly caught game, and the odd package of murder mysteries, which she devours. Marthe is a skilled needlewoman, a fantastic cook, a careful manager of finances, and a selfless friend. She has a great laugh and a wonderful sense of humor, the latter an essential for living with the de Clermonts. She is, in short, the perfect servant.
The modern reader may have a difficult time understanding why a person would be satisfied being a servant for eternity, but Marthe would tell them that to be the trusted confidante of someone like Ysabeau de Clermont is a serious responsibility and that her job is an honorable one. In this respect Marthe is resolutely premodern. She thinks the modern preoccupation with formal degrees and career trajectories is absolutely ridiculous. In her day you were born into a station and made the best of it. Everybody had a divine purpose, and you didn’t tell the gods that they were wrong. Her purpose was to take care of Ysabeau, and she did it superbly when she was a human and will do so forever now that she is a vampire.
EMILY MATHER
Origin of name: The name Emily is derived from Latin, meaning “industrious.”
Date of birth: July 1, 1952
Astrological sign: Cancer
Physical description: Tall, with a narrow face and a cap of prematurely silver hair
A member of: The Madison coven, the Conventicle
Family and romantic relationships: Sarah Bishop’s devoted partner and aunt to Diana
Personal history: Descended from New England immigrant stock on her father’s side, Emily Mather occupied a maternal role in Diana Bishop’s life after the death of her parents in 1983. She was Rebecca Bishop’s closest confidante, and a librarian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before moving to Madison, New York, to keep an eye on Diana. Once there, Emily fell in love with Sarah Bishop. The two tried to keep their relationship secret during Diana’s teen years. Inevitably, everyone in town—including Diana—knew that the two were life partners.
Emily was soft-spoken and tactful, the yin to Sarah Bishop’s yang, and the domestic one in the Bishop-Mather household. She was also a librarian at the local elementary school and a fixture in the Madison coven. As a witch, Emily had modest craft abilities and a slight tendency toward elemental magic related to air. She could fly short distances and had erratic gifts of premonition. She also had vampire and daemon friends in the past and thought that many of the covenant’s restrictions were outdated and silly.
Emily was maternal, nurturing, and capable of truly unconditional love. She was honest, and she encouraged Sarah and Diana to face difficult truths. Her tragic death, following a confrontation with Peter Knox and Gerbert d’Aurillac, left them devastated. But her ghost still watches over them both.
LUCY MERIWEATHER
Lucy is a librarian at the Beinecke Library, Yale University, who helped Diana in her search for the missing three pages from the Book of Life.
DOMENICO MICHELE
Origin of name: Michele is a derivation of the Hebrew name Michael and means “like God” or “as powerful as God.”
Date of birth: Unknown
Date of rebirth: Unknown
Physical description: Domenico is angelically handsome, with dark skin, dark hair worn curling low onto his collar, and dark eyes. He looks innocent and trustworthy, which he is decidedly not. His likeness can be seen in the Portrait of a Man by Andrea del Sarto.
A member of: The Congregation
Family and romantic relationships: Domenico Michele has his own clan of vampire children, whom he uses to further his power and political maneuverings. While doge of Venice, he was married to a vampire named Alicia. He had a relationship with Louisa de Clermont at one time and held daemon Tatiana Alkaev in his thrall.
Personal history: Reborn a vampire in Venice in the early Middle Ages, Domenico Michele is a survivor. He competed successfully in the lethal world of the city’s vampire politics during the Vampire Wars. The city was terrifying at the time, with assassins around every corner and daily bloodbaths as daemons, humans, vampires, and witches were caught up in the power struggles between rival vampire clans. Michele survived by deliberately taking a backseat while the more powerful vampires around him fought for dominanc
e. Working first for one side, then the other, Michele fed a constant stream of poison and misinformation carefully constructed to bring down everyone but himself. That Domenico succeeded is a testament to his talent for skulduggery and underhanded tactics. Domenico then achieved not only vampire leadership but overall civic leadership when he was elected doge in 1117.
It was at this moment that Domenico’s ambitions proved his undoing. Wishing to ally himself with the powerful de Clermont clan, Michele interfered in Philippe’s carefully laid plans to create a creature state in the Holy Land. Under the guise of rescuing Philippe’s imprisoned son Baldwin, Michele sailed into Acre with the Venetian fleet. It was a flashy thing for a vampire to do in the context of the period’s geopolitics, and it drew the attention of humans. This was another factor that led to the formation of the Congregation, the terms of the covenant, and the destruction of Philippe’s dreams.
Domenico has been skulking around ever since. Barred from holding any official position in Venetian politics, he machinates behind the scenes to improve his own fortune and to protect his clan. He wormed his way into the Congregation and allied himself with Gerbert, Knox, and Satu. In all these relationships, Domenico is still playing by his original rules: Let the bigger fish eat one another and wait patiently until the seas are empty and you can rise unchallenged. While he waits, Domenico quietly gathers useful information on his opponents and allies, and he is especially focused on Matthew and Gerbert, whom he sees as the greatest obstacles to his potential success.
The World of All Souls Page 16
