Realms of Gold - Book Trailer

St. Mark's Campanile, Venice

Ruins of St. Mark's Campanile

Piazza San Marco, Venice

The campanile of Venice collapsed mid-morning on July 12, 2102.  

The campanile's fall is also part of the story telling in Realms of Gold

Otranto The mosaic of secrets

More than one thousand years old, this precious tree of life mosaic pavement in Otranto Cathedral depicts the image of the melusina and other mythical creatures as well as the first representation of King Arthur.  Both the melusina and King Arthur have a place in my novel, Realms of Gold.

Melusina Otranto Cathedral

About a thousand years old, the precious pavement in Otranto Cathedral is one is one of the sites depicting the image of the melusine. This mythical creature is part of the story telling in Realms of Gold.

Vix Krater Statuette

Displayed separately from the Krater is its perforated lid, with a protrusion at its centre which supports a 19 cm statuette of molded bronze, depicting a woman with one outstretched arm, which once may have held some object. She wears a peplos , the body-length Ancient Greek garment worn by women, and her head is covered by a veil. The statuette appears of a somewhat older style than figures on the rest of the vessel. 

Artù. King Arthur. From The Tree of Life, mosaic floor, Otranto Cathedral, Puglia, Italy.

Designed by the monk, Pantaleone, built by Duke Roger, of Apulia in 1163, completed 1166-67. Chrétien died in 1180. Between 1160 and 1170 he was at the court of Marie de Champagne. The floor is contemporary with Chrétien. The story of King Arthur was most likely brought to Otranto by the Normans who had occupied what is now Puglia and Sicily since the early eleventh century.

 The very first example of Arthurian imagery may be these mosaic pavements (Otranto Cathedral, Puglia , c.1165

Contemporary with Chretien de Troyes

Otranto. Detail of the mosaic in the cathedral. Photo by Giuseppe and Pierluigi Bolognini, from ''Il mosaico di Otranto, Biblioteca medioevale in immagini'' by Grazio Gianfreda, Edizioni Grifo

Otranto Cathedral

Myth of Melusine

Melusine (or Melusina) is a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down (much like a mermaid)

The most famous literary version of Melusine tales, that of Jean d'Arras, compiled about 1382 - 1394 was worked into a collection of "spinning yarns" as told by ladies at their spinning.