Characters in The Last Crusader Kingdom: Brother Zotikos & Father Andronikos

Continuing with my series on the fictional characters in the Last Crusader Kingdom, I want to turn to the two Greek clerics, who play a significant role in this novel: 

 

Brother Zotikos and Father Andronikos.

Brother Zotikos is the very first character the reader encounters. He is a peaceful monk in an impoverished mountain monastery worried about a pregnant cow when the brutality of foreign occupation breaks in upon his peaceful world. The “Franks” are burning the village at the foot of the mountain and refugees flood into the monastery. It is a life-changing moment for Brother Zotikos; he cannot come to terms with the unjustified violence and he turns to rebellion.

I created this rebellious monk because we know that the greatest (not to say only) opposition to Frankish rule on Cyprus came from the Orthodox church. The Byzantine nobility, like the Frankish nobility in the centuries to come, had estates on the mainland. Many had already abandoned Cyprus during the reign of the despot Isaac Comnenus because of his rapacious policies. Others cut their losses when confronted with the Templar’s equally oppressive rule. The church was not so quick to abandon the island or its flock.

Of the nobles that did remain on the island, we are told that many did homage to Richard the Lionheart, and that others were rewarded with fiefs by the Lusignans for their loyalty. There is no recorded instance of a Greek knight or noble taking up arms against Frankish rule.

But there was resistance, armed resistance, resistance strong enough to drive the Templars from the island. The only specific rebel the chronicles tell us about is a monk, a relative of the despot Isaac Comnenus. It therefore seemed most appropriate to make the representative of Cypriot opposition to Frankish rule a monk.

Having made that decision, Zotikos took over. He was young, vigorous and he has been turned into a fanatic by an encounter with violent injustice. I thought it believable that he would be like any young fanatic fighting for a cause he believes is completely sacred ―whether it is Communism, liberation theology, or ISIS. This means that while at first he is justified, his own fanaticism eventually becomes his enemy and drags him down a course that no longer serves his own goals.

Father Andronikos is, if you like, the natural antidote to Brother Zotikos. He represents the church at its most positive: a source of inner strength and an advocate of peace. Father Andronikos as a mature man with a family cares more about resolution than revenge.

Father Andronikos also serves the important role of spokesman for the native population of Cyprus. Since all my principal characters are new-comers to the island, even Maria Comnena, it was important to have someone who could speak for the Cypriots. It would have been difficult to work in more about the history of Cyprus, what had happened before the arrival of Aimery and John, without a character of this nature.

Because Orthodox priests can and do marry and have families, Father Andronikos was also a means of introducing John to a decent Greek girl. As a young Frankish noble it would otherwise have been very difficult to develop a circumstance in which he might meet and interact with a Greek maiden.

Last but not least, he is a tribute to the Greek Orthodox priests I have encountered in my life.

Buy Now!

Characters in The Last Crusader Kingdom: St. Neophytos

The role of the Greek Orthodox Church in the popular opposition to Frankish rule on Cyprus is an important feature of The Last Crusader Kingdom. As explained earlier, this hypothesis was based on the fact that the only named rebel was a priest and that the Greek aristocracy had largely withdrawn to Constantinople. Yet the idea was also influenced by the fact that the only contemporary Cypriot chronicle for this period was written by a hermit monk named Neophytos. 

In contrast to the Latin and French chronicles (that in a sentence or two claim that the people of Cyprus welcomed Guy de Lusignan―after driving out the Templars―and every one lived happily ever after), Neophytos’ account suggests an extended period of oppression, resistance, violence and struggle. To be sure, Neophytos’ descriptions of all the twelfth century rulers of Cyprus are negative and his commentary on contemporary events is characterized by a pervasive sense of gloom and impending doom. 

Yet the fact remains: he was living on Cyprus during the period described in the novel. As such he is the only eye-witness of events that we can still “hear from” today―and he describes the increasing lawlessness and deterioration of governance that is a major theme of my novel. 

Furthermore, he was known to have traveled to the Kingdom of Jerusalem in his youth, giving him at least a little insight into what the Kingdom of Jerusalem was like. Most important, he received many visitors to his hermitage in the period of the novel. The temptation to have Balian meet him face to face was too great to resist!

The historical Neophytos was born to a peasant family in the Cypriot mountains in 1134. He, like his parents, was illiterate. At the age of 18 he caused a major scandal by running away to a monastery to avoid an arranged marriage. Because he was illiterate, he was initially assigned to tend the monastery vineyard, but after five years he had learned to read and write sufficiently to be made assistant sacristan. He performed these duties for two years, but then he expressed his desire to become a hermit. His superiors did not think he was ripe enough at the age of 25 for such a life, so instead sent him on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He spent six months there visiting the sacred sites and other monasteries, but returned to Cyprus still determined to live as a hermit. 

In 1160, Neophytos found a cave in the Trodos Mountains just north of Paphos and began turning this into his hermitage by hand. When the Bishop of Paphos heard about it, he insisted that Neophytos accept consecration as a priest and also take on a disciple. Over time that one discipline turned into many, and an entire monastery grew at the foot of the cliff containing Neophytos’ cave/hermitage. A church was built and dedicated to the Holy Cross. 

Although Neophytos had initially sought solitude, he was (he says) “forced” to interact not only with the monks of his monastery but with the many visitors who sought his advice. He read voraciously and was also an extremely prolific writer, producing numerous biographies of saints, interpreting scripture, composing hymns, codifying the rules of his monastery, and writing a (lost!) history of Cyprus. He also maintained a rigorous correspondence with people as far away as Constantinople. Last but not least, he commissioned the magnificent wall paints of his hermitage, which had grown into a nave, church and cell, which can still be admired to this day. He is believed to have died in 1214.

Both his writings and his letters demonstrate that far from being disinterested in the affairs of the world, Neophytos was actively concerned and, indeed, engaged in with current events―from his cell in the side of a mountain. In short, although he did not want to live with others in a community, he did care about what was happening beyond his cave. More: he recorded ― and at times tried to influence ― the course of events by the advice he offered his visitors and those with whom he corresponded. 

There is considerable evidence that the educated and aristocratic elites disparaged Neophytos’ somewhat simple and direct style of writing, but this may have been the very reason he was so well loved by the common people of Cyprus: they could understand what he was talking/writing about better than the religious tracts of the traditional, erudite elite writing from distant Constantinople. It was above all the common people of Cyprus who saw in Neophytos a man of exceptional spiritual wisdom.

In the period covered by my novel, Neophytos was already a famous “holy man,” although he would not be sanctified until after his death. Furthermore, by the time the Lusignans came to Cyprus, Neophytos’ monastery had been in existence roughly 10 years. It is not, therefore, so far-fetched that a monk (such as my fictional Father Andronicus) would turn to Neophytos for advice and assistance. As a man with great influence, it likewise makes sense for Neophytos to play a mediating role between Orthodox rebels and Frankish invaders. 

It was only after I had decided to include Neophytos in the novel that I saw the wonderful, additional opportunity to have Humphrey de Toron find sanctuary in Neophytos’ reclusive monastery.  While it is recorded that Toron went to Cyprus with Guy, nothing is heard from him after that. Neither he nor his descendants appear in history as lords and vassals of the Lusignans. Furthermore, because he never recognized the annulment of his marriage to Isabella, Humphrey had challenged Isabella’s marriage to both Montferrat and Champagne. Yet he was conspicuously silent about her marriage to Aimery de Lusignan. This has led historians to assume he was dead by 1197, the year of this last marriage of Isabella. Another explanation, however, is that he had by then made peace with his fate and consciously chose to retire from the world. I liked that image and so included it in my novel.

 

Buy Now!