Three Emperors (9780062194138) (30 page)

Historical Note

A
s with other Ethan Gage books, many of the places, events, and characters in this novel are real. The three emperors fought at Austerlitz, as described, and the French did capture Tabor Bridge with a ruse claiming an armistice. The Austrian, Russian, and French officers cited are taken from history, including the flamboyant Murat. His claim that he avoided personal killing was made shortly before his execution in Italy, after the collapse of Bonaparte's empire. Also taken from history is the curious talisman that Napoleon shows Ethan in his tent.

Josef and Paulina Schwarzenberg did put on performances in the theater at the castle of Český Krumlov. As Astiza predicted, Paulina met a tragic end. Visiting Paris in 1810, she burned to death in a fire at a ball.

The medieval legend of a Brazen Head, built by Albertus Magnus, that could foretell the future is drawn from history, as is the legend that Saint Thomas Aquinas destroyed it. The legendary background of Christian Rosenkreutz is also authentic, and the description of his tomb is taken from speculative accounts. Rosicrucian chapters exist today, including a museum and study center in Palo Alto, California. The suggestion that Rosenkreutz took the Brazen Head, however, is the author's invention.

Ca' Rezzonico, in Venice, the theater at Český Krumlov, Prague's Klementinum and castle, its Jewish ghetto, Trosky Castle, and the silver mines of Kutná Hora are all open to visitors today. The church of bones, or Sedlec Ossuary, which is described, is more elaborate than in Ethan's day, because it was after the events in this novel that nineteenth-century monks arranged some of the bones into bizarre decorations and chandeliers.

The alchemical books, beliefs, methods, practitioners, and sayings used in this book are taken from history. A tower in Kutná Hora has a replica alchemical laboratory in its basement. The risk of explosion in these chambers was very real, and the gold fulminate that Astiza concocts was particularly dangerous.

As bizarre as alchemical beliefs might seem today, the quest for the Philosopher's Stone represented the birth of modern chemistry. Alchemical belief in fundamental elements has been confirmed by modern science.

The Battle of Austerlitz was Napoleon's greatest victory, confirming his domination of Europe. While estimates differ, the Allied losses—approximately 27,000 dead, wounded, and captured—were three times French casualties. The heavy sanctions imposed on the Austrian empire, however, ensured that war would continue. One can only wonder at the course of history if Napoleon had stopped military campaigning, consolidated France's position, and concentrated on domestic reform. Each battle, alas, planted the seeds for the next, and his eventual downfall.

And Durendal, the sword of Roland? While there is an alleged fragment embedded in a wall in Rocamadour, France, most authorities consider this a replica. The reader can decide whether Ethan Gage found the real sword, then shattered it once more, and where hilt and key may be today.

About the Author

William Dietrich is the author of twelve novels, including six previous Ethan Gage titles—
Napoleon's Pyramids
,
The Rosetta Key
,
The Dakota Cipher
,
The Barbary Pirates
,
The Emerald Storm
, and
The Barbed Crown
. Dietrich is also a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, historian, and naturalist. A winner of the PNBA Award for Nonfiction, he lives in Washington State.

 

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Also by William Dietrich

F
ICTION

 

The Barbed Crown

The Emerald Storm

Blood of the Reich

The Barbary Pirates

The Dakota Cipher

The Rosetta Key

Napoleon's Pyramids

The Scourge of God

Hadrian's Wall

Dark Winter

Getting Back

Ice Reich

 

N
ONFICTION

 

Green Fire

On Puget Sound

Natural Grace

Northwest Passage

The Final Forest

Credits

Cover design by Richard Ljoenes

Ethan Gage portrait © Seb Jarnot

Map designed by Nick Springer for Springer Cartographics, LLC

The Grand Canal in Winter, Venice
, Federico Moja (Italian, 1802–1885), courtesy of Bonhams

A New Map of Bohemia and Moravia, from the Latest Authorities
(1801), by John Cary (1754–1835)

Napoleon Visiting the Bivouacs on the Eve of the Battle of Austerlitz, 1st December 1805
(oil on canvas), Baron Louis Albert Bacler d'Albe (1761–1824) / Château de Versailles, France / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library

Copyright

THE THREE EMPERORS.
Copyright © 2014 by William Dietrich. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN: 978-0-06-219410-7

EPub Edition MAY 2014 ISBN 9780062194138

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