Kathleen Kirkwood & Anita Gordon - Heart series (46 page)

Author’s Postscript

THE VARANGIAN GUARD: Although it was not until later in the tenth century, during the reign of Basil II, that members of the Varangian Guard were officially installed in the palace as the emperor’s personal bodyguard, the Varangians had been in service to the Imperial crown dating well back to the ninth century. An elite corps, the Varangian Guard was reputed for its exceptional fighting skills and its fierce loyalty to one another and to the emperor. Constantine Porphyrogentius, as an adult, wrote of the Varangians in his work
De Administrando,
placing them in the palace at Christmas as they performed their “yul” dance. With some liberty, I have depicted the emperor’s Varangian bodyguard to be in place in the early tenth century, but have otherwise been faithful to their portrayal.

BYZANTINE WEDDING CEREMONY: My source for the ancient ceremonials and rites was
Marriage: An Orthodox Perspective
by John Meyendorff, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press: Crestwood, NY 10707 (1984).

THE FATE OF THE HOUSE OF THE MACEDONIANS: In 918 A.D., Zoë’s popularity plummeted after the Byzantine army endured two annihilating defeats at the hands of Symeon the Bulgarian. In her struggle to retain her throne, she relied heavily on Leo Phocas, now a widower and with whom she may have considered marriage. However, the Patriarch Nicholas Mysticus moved swiftly to remove Zoë from power only to be countered by Romanus Lecapenus who successfully usurped the throne and within a month married his daughter Helena to thirteen-year-old Constantine. Through his efforts, Romanus undermined the loyalty of the army to Leo Phocas. Leo was seized in flight and his eyes put out. Zoë, who had been allowed at first to remain in the palace at the desperate pleadings of her son, was caught in another palace intrigue and dispensed once and for all to the convent of Saint Euphemia. Meanwhile, Romanus solidified his power. Within two years he had Constantine elevate him to the status of
Caesar
and subsequently crowned himself as co-emperor. In time, he further displaced Constantine, taking the mantle of senior emperor and raising his three sons to the throne. In 944 A.D., Romanus’s sons seized power and dispatched him to the monastery on the island of Proti. Constantine in turn, discovering the brothers’ intention to kill him, supplanted them and sent the brothers into exile with their father. In January of 945 A.D., Constantine Porphyrogentius came at last into his own rule at the age of thirty-nine.

Author Biography

Kathleen Kirkwood is the pseudonym for award-winning, best-selling author Anita Gordon. Having an abiding love for history, she enjoys setting her stories in distant times and places long past. To date they include Medieval adventures and Late Victorian paranormal romances. After forty years of travels and raising children in various locations, Kirkwood and her husband have returned to the Southwest where they first met. Currently, she is dusting off and revising her backlist for release in digital and print format. She is also working on a new novel, a haunting tale set on the Chesapeake Bay and the shores of historic Southern Maryland. Look for Pirates’ Moon in late 2014. Visit her at:

www.KathleenKirkwoodHistoricals.com

http://KathleenKirkwood.blogspot.com

Coming July 2013