THE FLORENTINE EMERALD
The Secret of the Convert’s Ring
Agustín B. Palatchi
Contents
Cast of Characters
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Part Two
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Part Three
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Epilogue
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
About the Author
To Raquel. Thanks to her inspiration, the novel was able to find its way.
To my mother. Without her, nothing would ever have been possible.
To Francesc. A man of such generosity that he contributes only the very best.
Cast of Characters
LORENZO DE MEDICI
His extraordinary charisma and manifold talents allowed him to govern the Republic of Florence with even more authority than a king. A fine poet, admired for his verse, he encouraged commerce in place of the sword and took the most outstanding artists of the time under his protection.
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Multifaceted creator and Renaissance genius, far in advance of his time, the wings of his imagination soared over the arts and science with equal ease. Painter, engineer, musician, inventor, and so much more. His work is a faithful reflection of his brilliant and eclectic mind.
MARSILIO FICINO
Priest, doctor, philosopher, and soul of the Platonic Academy in Florence—gathering place of the most illustrious minds. He translated the Corpus Hermeticum by Hermes Trismegistus and the Dialogues of Plato. He reintroduced ancient wisdom to the Christian world.
PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA
Prodigious scholar of noble lineage and an early defender of human freedom, he dared to stand up to Rome by proclaiming that the great religions—Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek and Christian—all shared the same essential truths.
GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA
An ascetic, visionary monk who imposed his will on Florence. His intense hate of feminine vanity, the sages of antiquity, festive music, empty luxury, and naked bodies as depicted in sculptures and paintings, completely transformed the city.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
One of the most famous and most studied characters in history. Despite this, many mysteries still surround him, as the great seafarer concealed his origins and the real motivations behind his deeds.
ABRAHAM ABULAFIA
An influential thirteenth-century Kabbalist from Aragon who traveled throughout Galilee, Sicily, and Greece before settling in Barcelona. His contact with Eastern traditions, including Sufism, enriched his works, which were highly esteemed in the Italian peninsula.
Other Historical Characters
FRANCESCO PAZZI
Impulsive and charismatic member of the noble Pazzi family, whose enormous wealth and contacts in high places rivaled those of the Medici family.
JACOPO PAZZI
Patriarch of the Pazzi family.
FRANCESCO SASSETTI
General manager of the Medici Bank.
BERNARDO RUCELLAI
Banker and humanist, he was married to Lucrecia Medici, Lorenzo’s sister.
PIERO MEDICI
Lorenzo’s firstborn son, he inherited none of his father’s talents.
GIOVANNI MEDICI
Lorenzo’s second son, diplomatic and intelligent, he would go on to become Pope Leon X.
Fictional Characters
Only son of a Barcelona merchant, his world falls apart when his father reveals disturbing family secrets to him moments before being executed. Obliged to flee, he travels to Florence in the hope of selling an extraordinary ring to Lorenzo de Medici.
LORENA GINORI
A young, impetuous Florentine condemned to marry a man whom she finds loathsome. Francesco, her father, is not prepared to allow his daughter’s personal feelings to get in the way of a marriage that would be so advantageous to the family’s social standing.
LUCA ALBIZZI
&nb
sp; An ambitious nobleman down on his luck, he yearns to recover the lost splendor of his family’s name and be the driving force to avenge the family honor snatched away by the Medici when they expelled his ancestors from Florence.
CATERUCCIA
Purchased as a slave on the occasion of Lorena’s birthday, she is much more than an exotic servant from the Black Sea, for thanks to her conscientious caring she has won a place in the hearts of the Ginori family.
GALEOTTO PAZZI
Member of the noble Pazzi family.
BRUNO
Quick-witted bookkeeper at the Tavola Medici in Florence (tavola means “bank”—its business, such as loans and money-changing, was conducted by men seated behind a tavola, the Italian word for “table.”)
PIETRO MANFREDI
Prominent Florentine merchant, he hides many secrets behind his elegant facade.
SOFIA PLETHON
Daughter of Gemisthos Plethon, one of the learned scholars saved by escaping to Florence before the Turks conquered Constantinople.
FRANCESCO GINORI
Wealthy trader. Husband of Flavia and father of Lorena.
FLAVIA GINORI
Distinguished Florentine lady. Wife of Francesco and mother of Lorena.
MARIA GINORI
Younger sister of Lorena.
ALESSANDRO GINORI
Elder brother of Lorena.
ELIAS LEVI
Prestigious rabbi.
MICHEL BLANCH
Nothing can be revealed about this character, not even whether he finally makes an appearance.
Part One
1478–1480
1
Cardona, Spain
April 3, 1478
“My life has been one long succession of errors and tomorrow I shall die.”
It was only after many years had passed that his son grasped the full meaning of these words. The fact is the truth was too terrible for Mauricio Coloma to accept unquestioningly. Chained up in that claustrophobic and foul-smelling cell in Cardona Castle, his father was the very embodiment of defeat, bitterness, and suffering.
Torture, Mauricio supposed, was the reason his father had been reduced to such a pitiful condition. His hair had been shaved and his skull was a mass of blood-stained scabs. His broken nose forced him to breathe through his mouth and when he spoke he seemed to choke on his own words. His dislocated jaw and swollen features completely distorted his expression. Only his light-colored eyes reminded Mauricio of the man he had always known. They shone with even more intensity than usual, as if to devour all the attention of his only son in these last moments left him as he awaited death.
The previous week Pedro Coloma, his father, had gone to Cardona Castle to claim payment for a large order of fabric. During his stay in the fortress, the Count of Cardona stabbed the king’s herald after a heavy meal lubricated by far too much wine. The affair would have been of no concern to a modest proprietor of textile mills in Barcelona, had he not been a witness to the murder. Chosen to be the scapegoat for this most unfortunate incident, Pedro Coloma was accused of committing the crime with the aim of encouraging a new rebellion of the serfs, whose just grievances had already provoked ten long years of civil war. In this way, by adding another death to the first, the hot-tempered Count of Cardona aimed to avoid both the royal rage and the payment of the old debt owed to his father.
“Surely there must be some way of preventing your execution!” exclaimed Mauricio, as if mere words could have the power to change the inevitable.
Devastated by a pain so deep that it seemed to pierce his soul, as if it were torn fabric, consumed by a searing fire forcing its way through his feeling of complete impotence, stunned by a torrent of emotions that clouded all understanding as if an explosion of gunpowder had shattered his brain, Mauricio could hardly bear not being able to help the person he loved so much. Mauricio’s mother, the only woman his father had ever loved, died giving birth to him and in his innermost heart he felt he had never fulfilled the hope placed in him. And now, when his father most needed him, most, he was failing him yet again.
“My son, you are now twenty-one years of age. Since your childhood, I have allowed your passion for books to be a refuge from the reality you preferred to avoid. But now, the time for dreaming has come to an end.”
His father’s abrupt rebuke shook him to the core, dissipating a kind of haze that had always shielded him like a protective barrier from direct contact with his most painful emotions, those he did not wish to confront. It was no longer possible to escape that anguish by plunging into the mists of his imagination. His father’s steady, challenging gaze prevented him from doing so.
“Once you have left this cell I shall confess to the crime I did not commit,” said Pedro Coloma. “No one can bear pitiless and prolonged torture. The reason I have been able to resist without surrendering has been my stubborn insistence on seeing you in exchange for my admission of guilt. They were even denying me that last wish. Now listen to me carefully, for we have little time left. Tomorrow, at dawn, I shall be executed for high treason. They will take my life and confiscate all my possessions. You will be left penniless and forced to live like a beggar unless you do exactly as I say.”
There was no room left in Mauricio’s mind to worry about his uncertain future. Motherless and possessing neither brothers nor sisters, whatever he was he owed to the person who had cared for him since childhood with tenderness, patience, and love. Had it been possible, he would not have hesitated for a moment to take his father’s place, for his only wish was for the salvation of the man who was still trying to guide him, even now, from the very depths of the pit of sorrow that fate had assigned as his ultimate dwelling place. However, the only choice left to him was to listen to the instructions from that paternal voice, every word laden with doom.
“You must search for a jewel of incalculable value hidden in our home in Barcelona. As you know, the entrance hall of our house is made up of tiles laid out in eight black and white rows, like a chessboard. Under the tile where you would place the white king, you will discover a ring crowned with the most beautiful emerald you could possibly imagine. Not even King Solomon at the very height of his glory could have possessed such a precious jewel.”
Mauricio was completely taken aback. The textile trade was prosperous, but not to the extent of purchasing such a fabulous jewel. Hidden there, lay a great secret. The secret for which his father had been able to withstand such atrocious torture that even his captors had to admit defeat. The secret that he wanted to pass on before he died. The secret whose radiance would mark Mauricio’s life. His father, by this time, was speaking slowly and haltingly, and, by dint of enormous effort, took several deep breaths before continuing.
“When you find the ring, cross the Pyrenees swiftly, with no looking back. Do not tarry or you will be incriminated for being in possession of family property that should have been confiscated with the rest of our belongings. Do not try and sell it secretly either or a moneylender will offer you a ridiculous price in exchange for not giving you away. Follow my counsel and go to Florence, the prodigious city,” he urged while close by the hoarse laughter of the guards could be heard behind the door. “Lorenzo Il Magnifico, the magnanimous prince without a crown, is the governor of that city and his great passion for precious stones is well known. There you can start a new life.”
“Where does this stone come from, father? Is there something else I should know?” Mauricio demanded, hearing the creaking of the door hinges.
His father coughed and breathlessly continued with his surprising utterances, ignoring the jailer’s footsteps.
“I should have explained so many things to you while I still had time … I am a descendant of Jews and, although you might not like this, a certain number of our family were moneylenders. It is possible that they took the ring as a guarantee against an unpaid debt, though I am not sure, as the jewel has been passed from father to son for centuries. Accustomed as they are to persecutions
, Jews have always observed the habit of keeping objects of great value, which could easily be transported or concealed. In that way, should they be forced into exile, they could always rebuild their lives in another country after selling whatever valuable object they had discreetly brought with them, just as you should now do.”
“Your time’s up,” announced the jailer.
His father broke down in tears and Mauricio clasped him to his chest, wishing to convey in that final contact all the love that he had sometimes been unable to express: a love that flowed with more strength than he had ever felt, an uncontrollable torrent of emotion sweeping aside everything in its path. Gone was the overflowing latrine, the lurking rats sensing death, the slimy contents of an earthen bowl masquerading as food, gone was the disfigured face of his father. All that remained was love. An immense love that soared up like a chant, as if the dismal cell were, in reality, a cathedral of the spirit.
“Do you know,” muttered his father, “I sometimes wonder if the Grand Rabbi Abraham Abulafia might have punished me for being the first of his descendants to betray the Jewish faith. Pray for me, I beg of you.”
Questions pierced Mauricio’s mind like lacerating arrows but nevertheless, to save his father from more pain, he kept the anxieties rising up inside him to himself. It had never even crossed his mind that Jewish blood ran through his veins. That confession implied that his grandparents had not been true Christians, but merely marranos: false converts, who practiced their Jewish rites in secret. Mauricio felt the heavy hands of the guards grabbing him from behind and he clung to his father with all his strength.
“Do not lose heart, father. God awaits you once you have left this inferno.”
When the jailers finally managed to pry them apart, Mauricio knew it would be the last time he would ever see his father. His last words echoed within him like a blessing.
“My death will be a new beginning, my son. The bad luck that has blighted our family will be forever buried with my lifeless body. Whatever sins we may have committed in the past will be forgotten. You will start a new life in Florence and good fortune will accompany you. All hopes for the future of our lineage reside in you, the last living Coloma of our household. May our past not prove to have been a voyage undertaken in vain. Remember these words, my last words, and do as I told you. Accept my dying voice as that of one who knows.”
2
Florence, Italy