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Knights of the Cross - Volume 8. Followers of Huniade - Andrei Breaban

Knights of the Cross - Volume 8. Followers of Huniade - Andrei Breaban

Name: Knights of the Cross - Volume 8. Followers of Huniade - Andrei Breaban
Brand: Editura Universitara
SKU: 9786062818531
Price: 39.00 RON
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Publisher: Editura Universitara

Author: Andrei Breaban

Edition: I

Pages: 418

Publisher year: 2024

ISBN: 978-606-28-1853-1

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The Stefanian Epics, conceived by Andrei Breabăn, from a historical-literary perspective, are added, for completion and substantiation, with the volume Urmasii lui Huniade, centered on the reconstruction of the era after the death of Iancu de Hunedoara, one of the Knights of the Cross, alongside Stephen the Great and Vlad Tepes.
The Romanian medieval era seen in a European context constitutes the background of the wide unfolding of historical events, which Andrei Breabăn portrays with meticulous detail and in the perspective of historical truth.
With a rich historical documentation, this volume, Urmașii lui Huniade, the eighth of the Ștefanian Epic, brings to the eyes of contemporaneity, signs of the past, on which the story invites meditation. Andrei Breabăn does not overdo patriotism, he maintains a lucid objectivity, presenting the facts as they were recorded in history, with all the load of exemplification, which support the feeling of dignity and national pride.

Ana Dobre

Knights of the Cross - Volume 8. Followers of Huniade - Andrei Breaban
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ANDREI BREABAN

Preface - The light of the world went out, by Ioan Holban / 5

Chapter 1 – At the Royal Court of Buda / 9
Chapter 2 – The Royal Council of Buda / 26
Chapter 3 – On the way to Buda / 51
Chapter 4 – Judgment of the Huniads / 59
Chapter 5 – Royal Revenge / 81
Chapter 6 – The Wandering's End / 95
Chapter 7 – Home Again / 107
Chapter 8 – Battle of Doljesti / 118
Chapter 9 – Assembly from the Right / 130
Chapter 10 – Easter Holidays in Târgoviște / 156
Chapter 11 – Easter holidays in the family / 177
Chapter 12 – Prince Alexander / 205
Chapter 13 – At the cell of Daniil the Hermit / 229
Chapter 14 – Anti-Royal Rebellion / 250
Chapter 15 – Secret plots in Prague / 260
Chapter 16 – The End of a King / 268
Chapter 17 – With the Will of the Country / 279
Chapter 18 – Master in the Kingdom of Hungary / 302
Chapter 19 – The Peace of Overchelauţi / 336
Chapter 20 – Master in Wallachia / 356
Chapter 21 – Ruler in the Land of Moldavia / 378

Glossary / 402

Afterword - The past as reminder and remember, by Ana Dobre / 407

Bibliography / 410

The Descendants of Huniade is the "eighth book" of the epic cycle entitled Knights of the Cross, which Andrei Breabăn dedicates to the three "knights of the Cross" from our medieval age, Iancu de Hunedoara, Vlad Drago (Dracula, Țepeș) and Ștefan cel Mare , uniting in an inspired symbolism the Romanian provinces centuries before Alba Iulia 1918, projecting, however, the event from the 20th century into one that took place in the same place, in the year 1458: "The funeral takes place after both King Matia, the rulers of the Royal Council, as well as many barons of the Kingdom. There were present the two voivodes of Transylvania, the comites of the Szeklers and that of the Saxons, representatives of the seven counties of Transylvania, judges of the cities and a crowd of people. The casket with the bones of the hero from Belgrade was placed in the tomb prepared in advance after a special ceremony, officiated by the Archbishop of Esztergom, Dionisie Szécsi and Cardinal Juan de Carvajal, assisted by a council of prominent bishops. In the mourning of the relatives and the crowd, the casket is covered with the tombstone on which, at the request of the grieving widow, were written the words spoken by Ioan de Capestrano when Iancu died: The light of the world has gone out. Finally, Iancu found eternal rest in the place he wanted, alongside his brother Ioan the Younger and his older son Ladislau, whose bones were brought from Buda". Andrei Breabăn compresses the epochal time of his novel, the years 1456 1460, after the assault on Belgrade and the assassination of Iancu de Hunedoara, with the plague epidemic "which hit Venice as terribly as a century ago", but also "other countries European", with the intrigues of Ulrich de Cilli, the killer of the hero from Belgrade going to recreate the "League of Antihuniads" from 1453, with the first three years of Stephen the Great's reign in Moldova, finally, on at least three narrative levels , with the martyrdom of Ladislau, the son of Iancu and the rescue of the other descendant, Matia, who will become Matei Corvin: the prose writer stops from the cinematic montage of his narrative to fix the human condition of the era, the inner profile of his characters, as in the emotional scene of at the separation of the brothers on the scaffold in Buda, in its frightening details: "Accompanied by two soldiers, little Matia, who three weeks ago had turned 14 years old, gets up from his chair and starts for Ladislau. His eyes were filled with tears that he could not control seeing his brother on the scaffold with the executioner next to him. He climbs the steps and stops in his arms crying loudly (...) At a signal from Garai, the ax descends vertiginously towards the neck of the condemned man who was looking defiantly at the executioner. Everyone expected the head to be cut off and to roll on the scaffold. However, the ax did not listen to the executioner's hands, stopping in Ladislau's thick lump, like his father's. The condemned man lets out a cry of pain to the astonishment of the onlookers. The grand palatine motions again to the executioner who raises the ax above his head. As Ladislau writhed in pain with his head held on the butt by two soldiers, Garai lowered his hand again. And this time the cursed ax doesn't do its job. Groaning in pain, Ladislaus cried out to the executioner:
– Finish once! Don't bother me anymore.
– What's going on? asks Matia in fear while Bishop Ioan Vitez of Oradea makes the sign of the cross while continuing to pray. Even the barons who were present turned their heads in disgust. Garai motions to the executioner again, this time with his left hand. Getting the message, he nods, takes the ax again with both hands, brings it above his head and waits to strike, this time with the blade that wasn't covered in blood. The ax descends for the third time on Ladislau's beautiful trunk. This time they shoot his head rolling on the scaffold which fills with blood. Ladislau's body writhes for a few minutes near the stump, then calms down. A young man, strong in body, with broad shoulders and a thick trunk, with gentle and serene eyes, forced to leave this world too early. He was only 24 years old, he would have accomplished a lot if he had lived."
The moving of Iancu's bones from Belgrade to Alba Iulia, the execution of Ladislaus, the detention of Matia and his release thanks to the efforts and tenacity of Elisabeta, Iancu's wife, structure one of the important narrative plans of the novel, with the protagonist from Belgrade, the Knight The crosses with which the history of the other two, Stephen the Great and Vlad Drago, begins. The pivot of this novel, like all the books in Andrei Breabăn's saga, is represented by Stephen the Great, surprised at the beginning, as he prepares his army at the Târgoviște court of Vlad Țepeș, to take the road without turning back to Moldova, on the throne of his father, Bogdan, usurped by Petru Aron. Stephen the Great's journey from Wallachia to Moldova is an initiatory one, starting from Borzești, with the place and childhood companions, with the legendary oak tree and "the small church, made of oak wood, decorated on the inside with icons nailed to the walls". then, in Doljești where he confronts Petru Aron, his father's murderer, whom, to everyone's surprise, he forgives because, behold, everything takes place in Passion Week, before Easter ("In memory of the Passion of the One who was Crucified for we on the cross brought you forgiveness, and with it, I want to forget the harm you caused my father! Seven years have passed since that incident, the wounds have closed even if inside I still ache", says Ștefan cel Mare, giving what can be called a lesson in forgiveness), and after Doljești and the escape of the fratricide, the road through Moldova passes through Roman, at the monastery there, evoked in a previous novel of the narrative cycle, then through Baia towards Suceava. Andrei Breabăn is original in the reconstruction of this initiatory path of Stephen the Great towards Suceava, in the Week of the Passion, with events marked every day, in a particular symbolism, which recalls the Savior's entry into Jerusalem; after the fight with Petru Aron, on Palm Sunday, the most important event takes place on Maundy Thursday when Ștefan meets Daniil the Hermit, in his cell on Valea Putnei, in a divine place ("Poienita offered a divine view, from there he could see the whole valley at the foot of the mountains that spread their peaks on either side of the stream, with the water flowing down the valley watering the litter of small stones, washed by the waters, the tall and straight firs, arranged like an immense army defending the mountains, the green grass full of all kinds of flowers and butterflies taking advantage of the spring sun to walk from flower to flower. On the other side of the stream rose a mountain wooded with tall firs, with peaks in the clouds, where God dug several holes in the stone. In one of them flickered a small light that invited him to come to it. It was a candle with oil that burned at night to drive away the evil spirits. He entered the cell directly through a hole sea chiseled by the skilful hermit so that a man could fit on it, and inside he also dug a small hole in the stone, in the form of a window, which during the day let the sunlight in"), who advises him to gather the people at Câmpia de la Direptate, in Dolhești, a village neighboring Dolhasca, located on the Şomuz valley. Stephen the Great receives the investiture to the throne from the people, on Holy Saturday, the ceremony of "grafting" takes place, officiated by Metropolitan Theoctist, fulfilling the Passion Week, as long as the journey of the ruler of Wallachia, from his friend, Vlad Drago, to the meeting with the people on the Direptate Plain and the entrance to Suceava, on Easter Sunday.
Andrei Breabăn writes, basically, a chronicle of the beginning of Stephen the Great's reign in Moldova, his novel is, perhaps, above all, a history book where the author addresses novel aspects, some (too) little known, absent from the textbook of history; thus, the hunt for the murderous uncle Petru Aron in the lands of Leș, in Camenita and Hotin, Pocutia and Podolia or, otherwise, the symbolism on the flag of the Braves, having on it "the victorious face of the Great Martyr George who kills the dragon, on the other side being printed the coat of arms of Moldova, a bison's head with the sun between its horns, on the right the moon in the phase of Crai Nou, and on the left a rose flower, considered in Moldova the flower of life, according to the traditions of the ancestors" and, above all, the understanding from Overchelăuți , "a more easterly village located on a ravine on the bank of the Dniester, near the Hotin market": here Stefan meets the envoys of the Cazimir Kingdom of Poland to sign a "Peace Treaty" with them: they knew about the peace of Overchelăuți too few before the evocation of Andrei Breabăn.
Finally, the third Knight of the Cross is Vlad Drago, also a descendant of Iancu de Hunedoara. In Andrei Breabăn's novel, he receives a very carefully structured narrative plan in which the revenge of Mircea's brother, killed by the boyars "with unprecedented cruelty", the moving of the capital from Tîrgoviște to Dîmbovița, in the fortress built by his grandfather ("On the way to Tîrgoviste, the princely procession also stops at the fortress on Dîmbovița built from river boulders by the late Voivod Mircea Basarab, the grandfather of Vlad Voivod. Near the fortress there was also a modest princely court where Mircea used to go when he wanted to visit the lands of south of Romania. There were more than 40 villages around the fortress, people being attracted to these places by the merchant road that connected Sibiu and Brașov and the fairs across the Danube. Trade was flourishing and they could sell more easily the products of work, grains, animals or skins sought both for winter clothing and to make parchments on which to write the documents that were drawn up at the princely courts"), how Vlad Drago escapes from beggars, robbers and merchants dishonest, then, by the boyars who killed his brother and by those who plotted against him, the author taking care to point out the exaggerations that appeared in the chronicles of the time, especially in the German ones.
Memorable portraits, such as those of Ștefan Tomșa of Bosnia and Vlad Voievod, inspired landscapes (Castel Corvinilor de la Hunedoara, Valea Putnei, where Daniil Sihastrul's cell is located), the reconstruction of fairs of the time (Roman, Baia) and the support of a impressive bibliographies, battle scenes (siege of Sibiu, Hotin), the change of narrative levels from Tîrgoviște to Suceava and from Hotin, to Sibiu, Buda and Prague, in the footsteps of Ladislau and Matia, the sons of Iancu de Hunedoara - all this, in the perfectly believable flow of a historical narrative, make, again, the charm of Andrei Breabăn's Knights of the Cross cycle.

John Holban

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