The Pope's RhinocerosThe Pope's Rhinoceros is a vivid, antic, and picaresque novel spun around one of history's most bizarre chapters: the sixteenth-century attempt to procure a rhinoceros as a bribe for Pope Leo X. In February 1516, a Portuguese ship sank off the coast of Italy. The Nostra Senora de Ajuda had sailed fourteen thousand miles from the Indian kingdom of Gujarat. Her mission: to bribe the "pleasure-loving Pope" into favoring expansionist Portugal over her rival Spain with the most exotic and least likely of gifts -- a living rhinoceros. Moving from the herring colonies of the Baltic Sea to the West African rain forest, with a cast of characters including an order of reclusive monks and Rome's corrupt cardinals, courtesans, ambassadors, and nobles, The Pope's Rhinoceros is at once a fantastic adventure tale and a portrait of an age rushing headlong to its crisis. |
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Contents
Vineta | 1 |
Roma | 113 |
The Voyage of the Nostra Senora de Ajuda from the Port of Goa to the Bright of Benin in the Winter and Spring of 1515 and 11516 | 351 |
And the Ship Sails On | 405 |
Nri | 439 |
Naumachia | 509 |
Gesta Monachorum Usedomi | 569 |
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Common terms and phrases
already Amalia amongst asked Ayamonte barrel beast began beneath Bernardo Bibbiena boat Brother Cardinal Castel Sant'Angelo chapter-house church Cippi coast Colonna courtyard crowd dark dead deck Diego disappeared Don Antonio Don Jerònimo door Dovizio drifted ears Estêvão Ewald eyes face Father Jörg feet fell Fernando the Catholic fish floor forward Francisco Gerhardt Ghiberti going Gonçalo Groot hand Hanno HansJürgen head heard Henry the Lion Holiness horse Iguedo Ijaw island Jacopo knew legs looked Lucullo monks mouth moved Namoke night Niklot nodded Oçem Onitsha Ostia perhaps Pierino pirogues poop deck Pope POPE'S RHINOCEROS Prato pulled Ravenna reached river Rome rope Rufo sails Salvestro seemed Seròn ship shouted side silence soldiers sound standing stared stone stood stopped Teixeira tell thought told turned Usedom Usse Vich Vineta voice waiting walked wall watched waves White-men