The Marquis Mirko E-Book

Alessandro Carlomagno

• Herausgeber: Booksprint
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

The correct key to reading my simple story is the heart. Try to close your eyes, after reading what you consider is enough to satisfy your curiosity, and you will perceive noise in an undefined time, but very far; the smell of baked bread and lentils soup with chickpeas will reawaken in you the taste , the smell of dust will flood your nostrils, the winter cold within the huge buildings will blush your ears and, this will be just the beginning...

Leseprobe

Alessandro Carlomagno

THE MARQUIS MIRKO

For Annafranca, Antonio and Samuel

“The seriousness aging our souls.

The fountain of youth is the laugh.“

The brave soldier is not violent;

The good fighter does not lose his temper;

The great conqueror does not fight (on small issues);

The good user of men places himself below others.

 – This is the virtue of not – contending,

Is called the capacity to use men…

Presentation

A great passion for narrative, a keen taste of fantastic, solidly attached to the story and essentially to a more intense calling, the artistic one. Sailing from Poseidonia to Heraclea, from Tarentum to Apulia, meeting Asdrubale or Artaserse, or Ali Hassan or Mansur (and these are just a few examples) Alessandro Carlomagno captures casual inspirations and he builds a human story, rich in detail and shades and reveals the ability to write a novel. Marquis Mirko, as Carlomagno says, is tanned with the smell of baked bread and lentil soup with chickpeas but he remains with all his majesty a real character of the story.. It is what offers our distant province, in the deep south, between common people, smoldering however vocation and personality worthy of greater cause.

For this reason, I was impressed by the pages the reader is preparing to read.

Preface

The story of Alessandro Carlomagno is to read in one breath. With a calm and sober style, filled with a great narrative intensity, the writer gets the reader falling in love with this imaginary character that is the Marquis Mirko. Following his adventures, along itinerary starting from the near Castelluccio, touching far and fascinated itineraries, to land in the mythical Persia of Babylon, you remain pleasantly trapped in a story that, page after page, send us strong messages on which we should reflect. Like when making talk one of his most “authoritative” characters, Alessandro Carlomagno, writes verbatim:

“Knowing yourself is the most difficult challenge, because it involves directly our rationality, but, at the same time, our fears and passions; if you know yourself all the way, you will understand even the other and the world around you”.

There are many steps like this in the book. So how strong is the appeal to Lucan tradition elements, blending with a high feeling of popular piety and filial respect for tradition and maternal teachings and an innate respect for Christian values and the role of Catholic Church and its popes.

In this work of fiction, the author shows a strong devotion to his roots, from his dreams of youth, to the vision of a more right and supportive society. This makes “The Marquis Mirko” of Alessandro Carlomagno an instrument, an educational story to be reported especially at young and youngest generations.

Introduction

Open an old text! A millennial ignored document may appear to your eyes...

Every day a new discovery writes History pages!

My story is pure fantasy, but each of us lies in a personal imagery a grain of truth, inspiration can occur from unexpected sources that often play hide and seek under our eyes...

The earth is bright when thou risest on the horizon,

Resplendent as the sun-disk in day-time.

Thou removest darkness (When) thou sendest thy rays.

Both lands are in festival joy,

Awakening and standing on (their) feet;

Thou hast raised them up.

Their limbs being bathed, they take (their) clothing;

Their arms are (lifted) in worship at they rising;

Background

The Reign of Nerulum stretched from Poseidonia to Eraclea, it was not huge, but had the wealth of beautiful places and good soil, where were cultivated vegetables and fruits in abundance. The cattle could always found feed in every corner and the wild game enriched the tables of the people each day of the year. The Duke Ettore and the woman of the House, Duchess Caterina, led the reign from the wonderful palace of Capo La Timpa, a place where winds raised the sea salt combined with smells of the mountain, unique and very important for the Trade of the Kingdom. For some time, the political and economic strategies of the Duke had taken flourishing trade with the Eastern peoples and not, that added to the proceeds of Heraclea markets, set up every Mercurii dies outside the city walls, they gave a solid foundations to the economy of the Kingdom. Men and women dedicated their existence to stock the stalls, Apuli were the most regular customers and loyal friends, in fact, thanks to this event the duke Ettore and the Lord of Tarentum had a major trade agreement, and the products of Nerulum arrived everywhere in Apulia. It was thanks to the flourishing profit of this friendship that the two kingdoms embraced the idea of not fight each other and decided to entrust the fate of Heraclea market to the messenger god of trade, Mercury. For this reason was decided to carry out it on Mercurii dies, day dedicated to him, and, in his honor, two huge statues were built in the squares of Heraclea and Tarentum. Earthquakes often rattled the lands of the kingdom, but the plagues had been almost all tamed, thanks to a drastic policy of the Duke and his Council. It was now known to everyone the imminent need to expand the Council; the whispers and mystical speculation were travelling far beyond outside the walls of the Kingdom. The Lord of the House had undertaken the way of simplicity and equality and, although the elders of the council, attached to traditions, countered him, he decided to entrust to Zena, the last born, the guidance of a feud and the entry in the Council alongside her brothers. The ancient traditions of the Kingdom of Nerulum wanted the entry of the heirs, called to govern it, took place at the age of their fifteenth birthday. The duke Ettore, before extending the Council, decided to wait all four of his children had turned fifteen. The gift of mediator and his virtues of wisdom, guaranteed in tight time a complete healing of cracks within the Council, also thanks to the involvement of the duchess Catherine, who suggested the engagement between her daughter Zena and the eldest Cleto’s firstborn, the dean of the Council. It was the month dedicated to the god Mars and every entry into the Council had to coincide with the feast of the Oak, celebrated with ancient rituals, the sixth day of each month. The new rulers, for the occasion, had to adorn their brow with a crown of leaves oak, just as the god Mars, wearing white robes. The ceremony took place under the big oak on the wooded slopes of Capo la Timpa, a sacred place where they met the spirits of the ancestors; the Duke wanted noble lords and friends of the families, with whom he had also secured interesting political and trade agreements, invested his children with titles: Tarentum, Neapolis, Thurii and Venusia. After the ceremony, the children of the Duke acquired the noble title of Marquis with the assignment of a feud within the Kingdom of Nerulum: the firstborn Lorenzo was honoured with the title of Cape la Timpa’s Marquis, living under the same roof of his parents, but occupying a pride of place in the representative palace.

Mirko, the second born of the family, for a little over a year continued to live in the family palace, waiting for marquis family construction ended. The fief of Castelluccio, which he led, had been generated splitting up four parts of the land belonging to the Kingdom and, therefore, in a place where had never been necessary to build a representative palace. For this purpose, the Duke, his father, granted to the new Marquis a significant amount of money to build a worthy structure to represent the house of the family. Oscar, the third son, occupied the elegant residence constructed recently by his father in Heraclea, in order to overseeing businesses market and launch new ambitious friendships using the Fleet Family. Zena, the Marquise for which the laws of the Kingdom were changed, given her innate ability to drive people, became the first woman of the Kingdom who was  involved in political thing and not in the house. She sat on top of her members as the maximum representation of the Fief of Grumentum, residing in a wonderful building surrounded by nature, where the scent of apple orchards overwhelmed every room.