The House of Niccolò

About this guide

The questions, discussion topics, historical background, and author biography are designed to enhance your group's reading and discussion of Dorothy Dunnett's eight bestselling novels in the House of Niccolò. We hope this guide will enrich your experience of these intriguing and adventuresome works of historical fiction.

Bruges, 1460. Street smart, brilliant at figures, adept at the subtleties of diplomacy and the well-timed untruth, Dunnett's hero rises from wastrel to prodigy in a breathless adventure that wins him the hand of the most powerful woman in Bruges--and the hatred of two powerful enemies. From a riotous--and potentially murderous--carnival in Flanders to an avalanche in the Alps and a pitched battle on the outskirts of Naples, Niccolò Rising brilliantly combines history, adventure and high romance.

For discussion of Niccolò Rising

1. Despite all the comedy about unlikely items of "trade," from the canon at the beginning to the ostrich at the end, this novel manages to slip in a lot of information about the growing centrality of trade and commerce to the affairs of people and nations. "Alum," if you look it up, has a number of special commercial properties: is Dorothy nudging us here into thinking of it symbolically and if so how? How does the commerce in the mineral "alum," help knit the plot together? How about the gun? The ostrich? What commodities besides material goods are traded?

2. The protagonist "Claes" becomes "Nicholas" by the end of the novel: as with the names, how much of the character's "development" is simply recognition of what has already been there, and how much is genuine change? How does Felix's recognition in chapter six, "Claes was always making toys and other people broke them," illuminate this character? What about the exchange with Anselm Adorne towards the end of the novel: "I thought of a way to do it. That was all." "And did it. Why?" "To see what would happen."

3. In Katelina van Borselen Dorothy Dunnett has created a complicated, passionate and in some ways surprisingly modern young woman. What does Katelina mean when she says (chapter nine) that she wishes she were a widow? Does she understand her own nature at this point? How does her journey in the novel from daughter to lover to wife point up the dilemma of young women of rank in this period of transition between the medieval and the modern? In what respects is Katelina better or worse off than the servant Mabelie?

4. The deaths of Felix de Charetty and Jaak de Fleury are two of the more disconcerting and dramatic moments in the novel; more subtle but equally destructive are the underminings of the Scottish St. Pols, father and son. Why do certain intelligent observers come to think Nicholas engineered all these things? What level of responsibility do you think he bears in each of these cases?

5. Why does Marian de Charetty emphasize to the physician Tobie and the lawyers Julius and Gregorio that they must become Nicholas's "keepers"? Are there others in the novel who perform this function? What, in this context, do you think Tobie means at the end of chapter eight when he observes of the weeping Nicholas that "the voice that he needed didn't exist"?

Backed by none other than Cosimo de' Medici, Nicholas sails the Black Sea to Trebizond, last outpost of Byzantium, and the last jewel missing from the crown of the Ottoman Empire. But trouble lies ahead. Nicholas' stepdaughter--at the tender age of thirteen--has eloped with his rival in trade: a Machiavellian Genoese who races ahead of Nicholas, sowing disaster at every port. And time is of the essence: Trebizond may fall to the Turks at any moment.

For discussion of The Spring of the Ram

1. The "design " that Nicholas vander Poele is making of his trading journey to Trebizond has many threads: one of them is the assembling of a company of brilliant but quarrelsome "experts" who will run a new global commercial enterprise. How are the comic "recruiting" of John le Grant, the subtle binding of Father Godscale, the careful promoting of Loppe, examples of this thread in the design? What in Nicholas himself sometimes hinders this part of the design? As a business, but also as a work of art, who is this design really for?

2. One of the achievements of The Spring of the Ram is the extraordinarily convincing depiction, from the inside, of the mind of an intelligent but spoiled twelve year old girl bent on challenging and possessing her world, whatever the consequences. What are some of the highlights of this portrayal, and what, finally, do you think of Catherine de Charetty?

3. On the same side, for once, as it seems, Nicholas vander Poele and Pagano Doria play the ancient Greek form of polo, tzukanion, before the court of the Emperor in chapter 34, and Father Godscale, noting the similar working of the two agile minds and bodies, recognizes that despite everything "Nicholas was in his element, partly because of the game Doria was giving him." What, more broadly, is the game Pagano Doria is giving Nicholas? How are they alike and different? What understandings do you think are being conveyed as one dies, holding the eyes of the other for long moments, in chapter 38?

4. Nicholas made the yoyo that amuses Cosimo de Medici in the model of a persian toy, but by chapter 33 is reflecting that the Lady Violante of Naxos "was a better toymaster than he. A cord round his middle and running." Is he right? How does this image illuminate the politics of the journey to Trebizond? Does it also illuminate the sexual politics of the novel's last scene?

5. Intimate enemies, Nicholas vander Poele and Simon de St. Pol have each struck a consummately agonizing blow at the other through an angry young woman. Did they know they were doing so? What are some of the other ironies and potential tragedies here? How else does Nicholas feel and respond to what Marion de Charetty has called "the wound of Simon's enmity"?

At the age of 21, Nicholas finds himself in limbo. His beloved wife has died, his stepchildren have locked him out of the family business, and his private army is the target of multiple conspiracies. And both contenders for the throne of Cyprus--the brilliant Queen Carlotta and her charismatic, sexually ambivalent brother James--are demanding his support. Walking a tightrope of intrigue, Dunnett's hero juggles adversaries and allies, from the delectable courtesan Primaflora to the Mameluke commander Tzani-Bey al Ablak, a man of undiluted evil.

For discussion of Race of Scorpions

1. What are the key ingredients in the nature of James of Lusignan, king-in-the-making, of Cyprus? Will he be a better king than his sister Carlotta? What are some of the forces that bring Nicholas vander Poele to take a hand in this making? Does his recent equivocal experience in Trebizond influence Nicholas here?

2. When we first see Katelina van Borselen she is conversing with the troubador King René of Anjou while he is painting an illustration of his recently written allegory on the theme of "The Heart as Love's Captive." How does this theme frame the relationship of Nicholas and Katelina? How do they each react to love's captivity at the ancient black cone of Venus in Paphos? The ravine at Kalopetra? The shattered house in starving Famagusta?

3. Nicholas's great public achievements during his stay in Cyprus are the modernization of the sugar producing processes at Kouklia and the victorious military and diplomatic assault at Famagusta. What did each enterprise satisfy in him? What did he learn from them? What elements of failure are in each of them?

4. The conflicts at this time in Cyprus will shortly produce the setting of the story which Shakespeare will use for his tragedy Othello. What echoes and intimations of this play, its characters and themes, do you find in Dorothy Dunnett's novel?

5. How does the relationship between Nicholas and the young Diniz Vasquez replicate the nightmare version of Nicholas's relationship with his family? The ideal version? Why do you think Nicholas brought Diniz to work in the dye factory? How does Jordan de Reberac tarnish this relationship at the end?

The year 1464 finds Nicholas back in Venice. Plagued by enemies bent on dissolving his assets and smearing his character, he sets sail for Africa, legendary location of the Fountain of Youth, home to a descendant of Sheba and Solomon, and the source of gold in such abundance that men prefer to barter in shells. He will learn firsthand the brutality and grandeur of the Dark Continent, from the horror of the slave trade to the austere nobility of Islamic Timbuktu. He will discover too the charms of the beautiful Gelis van Borselen--a woman whose passion for Nicholas is rivaled only by her desire to punish him for his role in her sister's death. Erotic, lush with detail, Scales of Gold embraces the complexity of the Renaissance, where mercantile adventure couples with more personal quests behind the silken curtains of the Age of Discovery.

For discussion of Scales of Gold

1. In Cyprus and Trebizond, even in Bruges, Nicholas and his friends had encountered various aspects and consequences of the practice, old as history, of humans enslaving humans. During this African adventure, what new elements in this practice come to the fore? What other aspects of Dorothy's vivid portrayal of multi-cultural, multi-geographical Africa catch your eye in this novel?

2. Why does Father Godscale want to go to Ethiopia? What is Nicholas's final judgement about the success of this failed mission, for the priest's own soul, and for the general community of Christians?

3. How do some of the many transformations of the African Lopez recall (or reverse?) those of Nicholas vander Poele? What for you are the deepest or most interesting aspects of this soul-friendship? Why does the plot make a significant point of Umar's final investment in being a father?

4. Is Gelis van Borselen the heroine of Scales of Gold? In which relationship are there elements of the traditional Romance plot ? When, and why, do you think she decides to do what she reveals to Nicholas on their wedding night?

5. Spectacles--a triumph of science, commerce and art, a 'frivolity" Nicholas calls them at his Venetian party. What symbolic and practical uses does this product serve in the novel? How do spectacles connect with and compare to another ubiquitous product, useful as gift, in trade, as symbol, in this as in the other novels--books?

Scotland, 1468: a nation at the edge of Europe, a civilization on the threshold of the Modern Age. Merchants, musicians, politicians, and pageantry fill the court of King James III. In its midst, Nicholas seeks to avenge his bride's claim that she carries the bastard of his archenemy, Simon St. Pol. When she flees before Nicholas can determine whether or not the rumored child is his own--or exists at all--Nicholas gives chase. So begins the deadly game of cat and mouse that will lead him from the infested cisterns of Cairo to the misted canals of Venice at carnival.

For discussion of The Unicorn Hunt

1. In this novel the House of Niccolo series arrives decisively in Scotland, to add to its portraits of leadership, good and bad, those of the Stewart ruling family. How does Dorothy Dunnett dramatize the nature, and possible consequences for the nation, of the relationships among James and Alexander, John and Margaret and Mary? What impact does Nicholas vander Poele have on these?

2. "Tired of living life as a victim," Nicholas embarks in this novel on a complex set of "punishments" of the man he believes is his father. What do you think of this emerging side of him? Of the punishments themselves? Do his punishments hit only their target?

3. In chapter 26 of this novel Nicholas learns he has the capacity to "divine" where water is, or metals are: how unique do you think this kind of "divining," or "dowsing," is? Might you even be able to do this yourself? How is this human gift related to the more mysterious gifts, and roles, of figures like Dr. Andreas of Vesalia and Nicholai de Giorgio de Acciajuoli? Why do you think Dorothy links this gift in chapter 26 to the waking dreams, hallucinatory visions, scraps of insight from another life or realm to which Nicholas is also receptive?

4. "Walk over with me." "Go alone. I have a child." Probably the most intellectually complex and emotionally wrenching scene of the novel takes place at the top of a high mountain, climax of a pilgrimage, in chapter 41. What purpose does this scene serve its romance; the religious references (positive and negative) woven into it? What does Nicholas learn here? Why does he "free" Gelis after her response to his challenge?

5. Who, or what, is the "unicorn" of the title? Are there multiple possibilities? Several hunts? Some who occupy positions both of hunter and hunted? One version of the legend of the Unicorn requires a "virgin" as both controller and alter-ego of the unicorn--who could this description identify if anyone, among the characters of the novel?

The year is 1471. Within the circus of statecraft, where the lions of Burgundy, Cyprus, England, and Venice stalk and snarl, Nicholas wields a valued whip. Having wrested his little son Jordan from his estranged wife, Gelis, he embarks on the greatest business scheme of his life--beginning with a journey to Iceland. But while Nicholas confronts merchant knights, polar bears, and the frozen volcanic wastelands of the North, a greater challenge awaits: the vengeful Gelis, whose secrets threaten to topple all Nicholas has achieved. Here is Dorothy Dunnett at her best. Robustly paced, prodigiously detailed, To Lie with Lions renders the quicksands of Renaissance politics as well as the turnings of the human soul, from love to hate and back.

For discussion of To Lie with Lions

1. What are Nicholas de Fleury and Katelijne Sersanders to each other, really? What does each offer to, or release in, the other? What do you think the future holds for them?

2. What are the various motives for which his well-wishers persuade Nicholas to throw himself into designing the great Miracle Play at the novel's center? What are Nicholas's motives? Can you contrast Jody's response to the play with Gelis's eventual response? Why, of all the possible Miracles in the medieval playbook, is the Nativity such an appropriate story for the novel, and for Nicholas?

3. The journeys of Nicholas, since he first left his home in Bruges years ago, have up to this point been to the far East, or the far South. The most memorable and exotic journey in To Lie With Lions is to the far North. How does Dorothy Dunnett exploit the territory of Iceland--its geography, its history, its economics, its symbolic resonance--in the novel?

4. "A good man is as a tree, sheltering those of his blood whom he loves." Nicholas hears this brief allusion to family and future from the great scholar Cardinal Bessarion, and stricken, wishes it were true (ch. 36). Is it not true? Of his sons? Of the older men he believes are also of his blood? How do these shelterings deepen the potential for a tragic outcome under this "tree"?

5. Nicholas's behavior to the king and country of Scotland causes the moral catastrophe that ends the novel: do you see any similarities or differences between this and the Emperor's behavior to the Duke of Burgundy at the end of the novel? What grounds does Kathy have for hope at the end of the novel?

Winter 1474 finds Nicholas exiled in the frozen port of Danzig, Poland. His Machiavellian exploits in Scotland have cost him friends and family--not to mention countless riches. As the ice melts, temptations arise. Will he assist the Muslim Prince Uzum Hasan against the Turks? Will he lose himself among the secret, scented gardens of the Crimea, in the arms of a close friend's bride? As Nicholas pursues his future, his estranged wife, Gelis, seeks the truth about his past, only to discover the secret identity of his latest comrade in arms--a tantalizing ghost from the past poised to deal him the crowning death blow. Shimmering with detail, alive with intrigue, Caprice and Rondo is Dorothy Dunnett's quicksilver evocation of a world where joy is fleeting, love is unexpected, and truth the rarest commodity of all.

For discussion of Caprice and Rondo

1. A single exchange of letters, puzzles, music and numbers, constitutes the only adult meeting of Nicholas and his grandfather, Thibault de Fleury. What do you think of this brilliant and enigmatic figure? How does he help change the relationship between Nicholas and Gelis? Do you think he foresaw or intended this consequence?

2. Dorothy Dunnett puts Hans Memling's massive and elegant painting of "The Last Judgement" to many uses in the novel; one of them, surely, symbolic of the protagonist. In what respects does Nicholas fit each category in the painting, the Elect, the Saved, the Damned? What are the signs of a self destructive spirit, of a redeemable spirit, in him in the first half of the novel?

3. Two of the men who have vexed and manipulated Nicholas de Fleury for decades become humanized, their motives clarified, during the course of Caprice and Rondo. What view emerges, finally, of the subtle Greek aristocrat Nicholai Giorgio de' Acciajuoli? Of the boisterous Latin Patriarch Ludovico da Bologna?

4. Two nations-in-the-making come to grief in this novel--one in the East, one in the West. A new Persia might have consolidated itself in a Western-assisted strike at the Turkish empire, a new Burgundy might have arisen to dominate the European heartland from the North Sea to the Middle Sea. How much are these failures a matter of the tides of "history"? the sway of political interests? the imperfections of key individuals? How do these failures affect the life of Nicholas?

5. What does Anna want from Nicholas, and why? How does she produce the opposite of what she wants? Or does she, in the end, get what she wants? How is her "caprice" a "rondo" of Gelis's actions in the previous novel?

The final volume in the spectacular House of Niccolò. Scotland, 1477. As Nicholas de Fleury and his clever wife Gelis move between the countries where his bank has made its mark (Burgundy, Flanders, Germany, France, and England), he finally unlocks the door to his past--but not before his physical strength, his willpower, and his humanity have been tested to the breaking point by royalty, the gentry, the clergy, and his own family. A dazzling conclusion to this vivid re-creation of the early Renaissance.

For discussion of Gemini

1. "They were more than halfway towards becoming friends," says Nicholas of his two sons. What had made them enemies? As Jordan and Henry stepped tentatively and poignantly towards friendship, which do you think made the greater effort? Which made the greater achievement?

2. What are the links between the story of the Duke of Gloucester, soon to become the infamous English King Richard III, and that of Alexander, Scottish Duke of Albany? Are theirs at some level the same story? How do they diverge?

3. At the climax of this novel, and this series, Nicholas de Fleury finally kills a member of his family. What are the elements that make up what Kathi now calls his "obsession" against doing this? What do you think enables him to do it at last?

4. In its final quarter the novel devotes considerable attention to Jordan de Rebeirac. What enlightenments about him invite our understanding, and even our pity? What does Bel mean by insisting that he and Nicholas are alike? What is his final tragedy?

5. In their final scene together, Anselme Adorne says to Nicholas, "I wish--" and is cut off. How would you finish that sentence? How is Adorne's role in the Scotland of this section of the novel similar to his role in the Bruges of the early chapters? And different from it? What are some of the reasons he is "at home" in Scotland?

1. Throughout the eight books of the House of Niccolò series a picture emerges of Sophie de Fleury, the mother of Nicholas, and of her centrality in the life of her son. Can you put this picture together now --the Sophie of rumor and gossip, the Sophie of Nicholas's slowly revealed memories, of his maturer judgement, of Andro Wodman's reporting? Are there still some mysteries and obscurities in this portrait?

2. The House of Niccolò series offers a sustained and in many ways highly sophisticated version of the changes in intellectual , political and psychological structures which mark the transition from the medieval to the modern world. But like any good set of historical novels it abounds too in individual scenes and characters of great emotional, dramatic, and visual power, or stylistic verve, "set pieces" which hang in the memory even longer, perhaps, than the plot or the author's philosophy of history. What are some of your favorites here--scenes of comic impact or tragic illumination? Best-drawn villain or victim, most vexatious female adolescent? Most breathtaking fight or chase? Most engrossing moment of romance? Most stunning surprise?

3. At the opening of the second volume of the series, and at the closing of the last volume, the voice of an astrologer-character replaces that of the novelist-narrator. What do you make of this--some invitation to compare and contrast those two professions?

4. Some readers will have come to the Niccolò series after reading the Lymond Chronicles, to which they are a 'prequel'; others have now finished the Niccolò series and will go on to the sequel, the Lymond Chronicles. What are some of the dividends of doing it the first way? The second way? How (after a reading of both) are these two heroes, these two worlds, these two intricate plots, alike and different?