Speaking of galloping, on October l5th the ancient Romans honoured Mars with the Equus October festival, during which a two-horse chariot race was held. The right-hand equine of the winning team was sacrificed to the god, a left-handed compliment to be sure, but it's been suggested that as the horse was noble, strong and newly victorious it was considered a fitting offering for Mars. In a curious postscript, teams then contested for the sacrificial horse's head, which the winners publicly displayed in their part of town. And now, changing horses in mid-stream, we'll race ahead with this newsletter.
MARY'S BIT or BEWARE OF THEODORA'S HAIR-PIN
What a wonderful sight it must have been when Zenobia,Queen of Palmyra, made her grand entrance. Resplendent in embroidered gold tissue garments sewn with emeralds, diamonds, rubies, and other jewels, set off by a lavishly embroidered green velvet trailing train decorated with more gems in a lotus flower motif -- not to mention a golden crown encrusted with diamonds, festooned with pearls and accented with ostrich plumes -- in a word, or actually three, Zenobia eclipsed Theodora.A daring move indeed, you may be saying, especially considering new arrivals at Justinian's court were doubtless discreetly advised that it would be unwise for them to (reversing metaphors) outshine the imperial couple -- and especially Theodora, a woman of peppery temperament to say the least. Indeed, Zenobia might have lived long enough to regret her display of expensive finery, but fortunately the outfit just described was in fact donned by the Duchess of Devonshire to merely play the part of Zenobia, and that only for one night.
For the duchess was hostess of a costumed ball held at Devonshire House in London on 2nd July l897. It's fair to say that her gathering of the creme de la creme of society was one that would have competed on an equal footing with any jamboree organised at the Constantinople court -- while being much less nerve-racking for its gilded guests.
One of several hundred blue-blooded attendees at the ball was Winston's mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, née Jennie Jerome (born in Amity Street, New York, next down from Congress Street where Eric lived while attending college). Lady Jennie decided to go as Theodora and her costume was accordingly based upon the Ravenna mosaic portrait of the empress. Thus her beautifully sewn garments were just as heavily embroidered and lavishly ornamented, and look equally uncomfortable to wear, as may be seen by pointing your clicker HERE . These photos of Lady Jennie as Theodora are among images of numerous of the costumed guests, including the redoubtable Duchess of Devonshire herself, forming part of the Lafayette Negative Collection in London's Victoria and Albert Museum.
In an aside, the website mentioned also provides a detailed description of the plot of Victorien Sardou's elaborate play THEODORA, which debuted in Paris in l884 with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role. Scenes are set in and under the Hippodrome as well as at Justinian's court and mystery aficionados will be interested to hear that the play features a novel murder weapon, Theodora's golden hair-pin. Having used the hair-pin to stab a man to death, she tells Justinian she did it because the man had insulted her -- not the real reason at all, needless to say.
Returning to our muttons (as Sardou's fellow countrymen so colourfully say) I must confess that upon reading The Times' detailed description of some of the costumes I found myself wondering why the Duchess of Sutherland attended the event as Charlotte Corday, assassin of Jean-Paul Marat. Hers was a modest get-up indeed, consisting of a plain red gown and a muslin cap adorned with a tricolour rosette.
On a woo woo note, The Times reported that supper for the glittering throng was served in a huge garden tent hung with Louis XIV tapestries depicting Roman scenes. While particulars of these scenes are unfortunately not given, doubtless they were easy to see by the newfangled electric lights attached to garlands of flowers festooned around the tent walls. The gardens, through which guests strolled until the early hours of the following morning, were also illuminated, ensuring none of the distinguished revellers ran the risk of falling into a decorative garden pond -- unlike the barbaric Sir Thomas in ONE FOR SORROW.
NECESSARY EVIL or THE BSP TICKER
We were recently honoured to be listed in Willetta Heising's Mystery Series Week 2000 pocket calendar -- we're lurking about in the entry for October 5. Over three hundred mystery series linked to more than a hundred historical events are mentioned in its eighty pages, and it's stuffed with interesting facts and trivia. And there's more! Title lists are given for every author appearing therein. You'll find the calendar in libraries and bookstores and you can also download it HEREWilletta tells us that authors, publishers and readers are welcome to suggest a historical event with a mystery series tie-in for the 200l calendar by sending an e-mail to purplemoon@prodigy.net. Next year's Mystery Series Week dates are October 7th to l3th.
The paperback edition of ONE FOR SORROW is available now from Poisoned Pen Press or your favorite bookstore. Its striking scarlet jacket provides a nice contrast to the lush green and gold cover of TWO FOR JOY, which will be out in a week or three.
In Twofer, John and his friends find themselves embroiled in a strange web of events that begin when a stylite spontaneously combusts atop his pillar. John's investigations into the matter are hampered by his old philosophy tutor and a heretical Christian holy man whose ultimatums threaten to topple Justinian and destroy the empire. The cast includes a runaway wife, not to mention servants, soldiers, and mendicants as well as the venomous court page Hektor and a wealthy landowner or two -- plus John's bete noire, Empress Theodora. Old favourites Isis, Felix, Peter, and that headstrong young man Anatolius also play important roles. You can read an excerpt on Amazon.com .
