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A review by jdintr
Baudolino by Umberto Eco
4.0
Last summer I visited Speyer, Germany, and the cathedral which holds the graves of the Stauffer family: a dynasty which reached its zenith under the two Fredericks of the medieval Holy Roman Empire, Barbarossa and his grandson, Frederick II, who ruled Sicily and Naples as well as lands stretching from the Po Valley to the Baltic Sea. Beatrice is buried in Speyer. Her husband is not.
It was while learning more about the Stauffers after my visit that I came across a reference to this book, which is a wonderful complement to historical study.
Baudolino captures the crux of the Middle Ages. Framed by the fall of Constantinople during the madness of the Fourth Crusade, it looks back to the life of a fortunate Italian boy, who rescues a king wandering in the Italian swamps, is adopted by him, falls in love with a forbidden empress, and ascends to remarkable heights.
The book is a testament to Eco's remarkable scholarship and artistry. For it is many types of books rolled into one:
To me, this book is a discourse, a scholar flexing his intellectual muscles and taking us deep into a culture and mindset that he has fully mastered. It is a thriller, yes, but not as great as ITNOTR. It is far more than that, and the curious will find it far more satisfying because of its connections to real events and figures from European history.
It was while learning more about the Stauffers after my visit that I came across a reference to this book, which is a wonderful complement to historical study.
Baudolino captures the crux of the Middle Ages. Framed by the fall of Constantinople during the madness of the Fourth Crusade, it looks back to the life of a fortunate Italian boy, who rescues a king wandering in the Italian swamps, is adopted by him, falls in love with a forbidden empress, and ascends to remarkable heights.
The book is a testament to Eco's remarkable scholarship and artistry. For it is many types of books rolled into one:
- It is a discourse on Italian politics of the 12th Century, as the Lombard League sought to remove the yoke of domination from both Papal Rome and the German (Holy Roman) Empire, often by playing both sides against each other. In the sudden appearance of the city of Alessandro, Eco is able to describe how Italian towns were fortified, and how they survived. Also, Baudolino frames the difficult choices that Barbarossa faced in very matter-of-fact terms, and he often uses his position as an adviser to recommend a surfeit through which the king can save face when the odds don't seem to be in his favor.
One surfeit is the exploration of the myth of Prester John--a fabled eastern kingdom, cut off by the Turks, where a Latin Christian rules in splendor. If Frederick cannot get the Pope or Lombard counts to stay on his side, perhaps a mythical union will provide the glamor he needs. After Frederick's untimely drowning, Baudolino and a band of eleven compatriots (trying to pass themselves off as the returning Twelve Wise Men from the Bethlehem story) leave for the east. A tale that becomes medieval fantasy with strange beasts, cotton-candy clouds, and marmalade skies.
Eco includes discourses on medieval science, such as the discussion of the scientific and theological implications of the Vacuum, demonstrated at a castle the band finds in Armenia.
There are insights into poetry, and into the Christianity of the High Middle Ages, where relics are manufactured (the wise men travel with six heads of John the Baptist), and the Holy Grail is first discovered, then lost, then sought for.
Finally, there is a murder mystery, which ties Baudolino together with Eco's other great medieval novel, In the Name of the Rose. This makes up the final fifth of the book--and it's not a plot device that Eco really carries along well. King Frederick is dead. The history books tell us he drowned, but Eco introduces an element of doubt, and the final scene in the crypts of Constantinople return to it and tie the plot together nicely.
To me, this book is a discourse, a scholar flexing his intellectual muscles and taking us deep into a culture and mindset that he has fully mastered. It is a thriller, yes, but not as great as ITNOTR. It is far more than that, and the curious will find it far more satisfying because of its connections to real events and figures from European history.