Niccolò Rising by Dorothy Dunnett (1986)

The first in an eight-volume series, Niccolò Rising is a historical novel set in the 15th century that follows the fortunes of Claes, a dyer’s apprentice with the Charetty family in Bruges. A family by-blow, Claes has also become a sort of servant-companion to the Charetty heir, young Felix. When the youths get into trouble—frequently—from their pranks and misadventures, Claes is the one who takes the beatings, always cheerfully. It seems altogether unlikely that such a fun-loving, stolid innocent will become a scheming and hugely successful merchant-adventurer-political intriguer. We get to see how.

In his size and strength, his patient good nature, his broad low-browed face, Claes at first seems as simple as an ox. But he’s actually a gifted mimic who loves puzzles, speaks many languages, and is good at numbers. He’s good with the ladies, too. He turns the natural tendency to underestimate him into an advantage. Bit by bit, he makes himself useful to the Charettys, growing the business and eventually making international deals in political/military affairs as well as business. Romance, adventure, the subtlest personal and political intriguing among great merchant princes: Claes navigates it all, always surprising us.

This is a very dense novel, not at first easily approachable, and Dunnett doesn’t always clarify things as she might. A simple matter like names, for example: Dunnett doesn’t explain until rather late in the book that Claes is a Flemish diminutive for Nicholas (think St. Nicholas/Santa Claus), and I didn’t figure it out on my own. And in this first book, he doesn’t yet go by Niccolò, so when I began reading I kept wondering when we were going to get to the title character. More than once I had to look up untranslated foreign terms or obscure vocabulary not in Webster’s (to gant, FYI, is to yawn or gape).

Our view into Claes’s mind, his intentions, is left opaque for much of the novel—deliberately, as later becomes clear, but this distancing from the main character can be  offputting. With that, and with so many details to master—all the confusing if rich historical context combined with a huge cast of characters (a list at the beginning takes four pages)—it was some time before I felt really immersed in the world of the novel. But I was very glad I stuck with it. Perseverance has its rewards. I’ve already ordered the next volume and can’t wait to read it.