Tags
Caravaggio, Historical characters, Historical fiction, historical novels, historical plays, Manfred von Hohenstaufen
Some historical characters seem so very, very perfect for fictional treatments, don’t they? Whether they have lived enormously interesting lives, full of drama and colour, or we know tantalizingly little about them – just enough to make us want to fill the gaps – they practically beg to be written.
And usually they are, with a vengeance. I mean, how many novels, stories, plays and whatnots do we have about, say, colourful Kit Marlowe, and relatively mysterious Will Shakespeare? And then there are other characters who seem to have it all – so much so that one has to wonder why, oh, why there is so little fiction about them.
Take for instance Manfred Hohenstaufen, King of Sicily, and son to Emperor Frederick II. I mean: an Imperial prince of questionable birth, a de facto king before he is quite eighteen, a good ruler, a poet, a warrior, a well-intentioned usurper, open-minded and magnanimous, strikingly handsome, and complete with a tragic end… isn’t he absolutely perfect? He lacks nothing – and yet… As far as I know, there is next to nothing about him, fiction-wise. Leaving aside Dante’s portrayal in the Divine Comedy, I’ve found a couple of Romantic German plays, three opera librettos, one ugly Italian 19th century novel, and one even uglier contemporary children’s (?) novel. And that seems to be it – and I don’t know but… why isn’t there more? 
Another underfictionalised character is, if you ask me, Caravaggio. Again, he has everything: tortured genius, ground-breaking art, a Temper, duels, lies, disputed commissions, chases, a charge of murder, the Knights of Malta, a mysterious death… And there is something – definitely more than about Manfred, and among other things a graphic novel and a play – but still not nearly enough for such a novel-like life. All else apart, I find it interesting that there seem to be more mysteries centred around Caravaggio’s works than novels about his life…
So yes – I really wonder: why isn’t there more about Manfred, about Caravaggio…?
And what about you, o Readers? Who are your favourite underfictionalised historical characters?
Scribblings 
From what I read around, I think there is not more about poor old Manfred because the Nazis gave him a very bad rep. But apparently Neo-Nazis dig him a lot (despite his alleged homosexuality), so maybe there’s a market for a novel about the guy, as long as you include some evil Jews and a blond Valkyrie or two 😉
Caravaggio is very popular as a character in France (why? Beats me).
But yes, he would be a perfect character for some action-oriented historical caper series.
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This is the very first time I hear about Manfred as a Nazi icon… I’m rather surprised, because I’ve been reading about the fellow, and never came across this, not even in passing. And besides, why Manfred especially, over all the other Hohenstaufen? All considered, he doesn’t strike me as a very good fit. Where did you find out about this?
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For reasons long to explain I had to wade through a swamp of Nazi occultism/crackpottery in the past few weeks, and looks like there is this tendency, on the part of certain sectors of the current Nazi cosplayers, of co-opting any medieval guy with a German connection as an “inspiration”. Manfred apparently got bundled with a few others, poor fellow.
He also did some kind of miracle, or was involved with it, or something…?
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Ah well, I’m not sure I’d call “being bundled up with any other medieval guy with a German connection by Nazi cosplayers” enough of a bad reputation to deter historical novelists. Though, Nazi cosplayers… I shudder to discover that it is even a thing. Either I have lived a very sheltered life, or the company you keep, my dear Doctor!
And… a miracle? Are we speaking of the same Manfred? I must dig out Momigliano’s Vita di Manfredi: if any biographer is likely to have reported a miracle, it must be Momigliano – but, Manfred being very much his father’s son, I rather doubt it.
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Anyone expounding the ideology of the Nazis after 1945 is either a strange German man living in Argentina, or a Nazi cosplayer… neo-Nazi being too good a word.
But in fact you can buy full Nazi uniforms for cosplaying in Taiwan. They have a thing with Nazism, there. It’s pretty embarrassing.
On the issue of the miracle I have to dig in my books. I’ll be back.
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