A Folktale and a duchess (Post #1)

"A folktale by the candle of a late night in many a tavern." - Jason J Albano, 2023

What is a folktale?

As defined by Dictionary.com, "A tale or legend originating and traditional among a people or folk, especially one forming part of the oral tradition of the common people."

Or Merriam-Webster, "A characteristically anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale circulated orally among a people."

The character of "Giovanni Salzano the Traveling Mercenary" has been a constant in the life of this author since 2011. What started out as an adventure in its own right has turned into a book character. I, more than anyone else I assure you, felt the idea of making a book about a medieval/fantasy character that I created to role play out fanciful dreams to be....well, should we say immature? Not to intent offense to those of us (me included) who roleplay such characters in the real world at festivals and events, but to instead bring the concept of that roleplaying character into a professional book. To clarify, at least in my mind in 2016, there was a difference between fantasy and adventure characters in a book, characters made for a book, and a roleplaying character made for life performances that found himself in a book. Does that clarify my train of thought? I thought, well, who is going to take me seriously?

In all seriousness, my first 2016 book was just a fun little story. Free of the more rigid and thorough routines that I use to ensure my books now-a-days meet both a quality and historical accuracy bar, my very first book----simply titled Giovanni Salzano the Traveling Mercenary: A Story of the Beginning---was full of raw emotion and the simplicity to tell a story about a roleplaying character in a historical setting. Was it good writing? Well....no. Not at least compared to my more recently released titles. Was it historically accurate? Compared to my more recent works, most definitely not. Was it in the right timeframe? Oh yes, a course. The "big details" were right, all the small historical details that matter the most were wrong. Looking back, although I had plans to write a follow-up book, I honestly never thought it would happen deep down inside. So, in my mind, the book would act as a stand-alone entry. Something that, to date, only ever sold 7 copies. Thank God in retrospect.

So, there I was, from 2016 to 2021. Despite my ill intentions towards ever truly making a follow-up book, I picked up a copy of Margaret of Austria: Regent of the Netherlands by Jane De Longh (1953) in 2016. I vaguely remember doing some mindless research one night on wars in Europe to insert my roleplaying (now book) character into for the next story, using every serious history author and history teacher's worse dreaded word: Wikipedia. I found this little war in the Netherlands (Guelders War, 1502-1543). In the grand scheme of things to the untrained eye, a minor dust up that lasted way longer than it should have and, ultimately, of little importance when compared to The Thirty Years' War, etc. Once again, mind you, to the untrained eye. However, to the historical scholar and anyone interested in the early 1500s, one of the most important wars of the early 1500s and, surely, could be argued as the most important for a short time in context of who was directly involved for more political reasons than war reasons: the Holy Roman Emperor's daughter, Margaret of Austria. Daughter to an emperor, aunt to a future emperor, and regent during---arguably---one of the most important periods of history. Without Margaret, the Kingdom of France would rule Europe instead of the Holy Roman Empire during the 1500s. It would be the French king, Francis I, in history books we would read about, not the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Indeed, our own more modern history in the 20th century could look very different, even to the point of never having World War Two. Although I will leave the World War Two discussion to much more qualified individuals than myself.

It would be through Longh's book that I received the first real idea of where I wanted to take Giovanni Salzano as a book character. More importantly from a roleplaying character to a book character. And it would change everything, turning this "would-be author" into "an author" and amassing my collected paperback and eBook academic collection on the Netherlands, the Guelders War, Margaret, and other closely related historical characters and events to over ten books, books from trusted academic sources and experts that I use as the historical bedrock of my storytelling.

However, before we go too far into the future, we must come back to the beginning. In specific, "A Story" of a beginning. However much I lost myself in the rich history of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of France, the Holy Roman Empire, and everything and everyone else since 2016 from Longh to James D Tracy's Holland Under Habsburg Rule: 1506-1566 (1990) or Leonie Frieda's Francis I: The Maker of Modern France (2018), and Geoffrey Parker's Emperor: A New Life of Charles V (2019), I have---ultimately and after now 4 books and a 5th book on the way---maintained that "A Story of the Beginning" was about a folktale character. It was a story of raw emotion and simple tales. Did Giovanni Salzano the Traveling Mercenary really exist? A course not. But, in the character's raw spirit, can we not indulge ourselves that Giovanni Salzano saw history unfold before his very eyes? That he was there, interacting with, some of the biggest names in our history books? That, maybe, he did something to influence that history? Or was it all a story around the campfire? A desperate tale by those unlucky enough to not have riches or comfort to make-up a tale such as Robin Hood? Is Giovanni a hero? A villain? An anti-hero?

Or could it simply be "A Story" of the beginning? What do folktales teach us? You decide. I hope you will join me in discovering this ancient folktale of a Giovanni Salzano, last told over 500 years ago.

“He was loyal to the coin. Not much can be said of other men’s convictions. When we asked him to be a hero, he was. When we needed him to be a villain---he was that too. Sometimes, what is right and what is wrong is a hard thing. Are we God to judge a man’s actions of good or evil? Or is God the Judge and pray you, the Redeemer of men’s souls like Salzano’s?”
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--- Pope Clement VII (16th century) ---
A Story of the Beginning (Revised Edition), 2022