Dean Koontz | David Baldacci | Ken Follet | J. K. Rowling | Nora Roberts | John Grisham | Paulo Coelho | Stephen King | George R. R. Martin | John le Carré | Bill Bryson | Dan Brown Anthony Horowitz | Clive Cussler
ARTEFACTS AND OBJECTS MENTIONED IN THE ROSARIO
THE CARVED INFINITY SIGNS ON THE REAR DRAWER PANELS
CHAPTER 7, PAGE 65.
Tommy discovered infinity signs beautifully carved on the wooden rear panels of Sinclair's vargueño's drawers.
But what is the infinity sign? What does it mean?
I think we all have the concept of it standing for something that is unlimited, endless, or without bound. For example, think of parallel lines - they will never meet... The universe - we can't imagine it finishing, because... what would be on the other side?
However, we have a paradox here: in the story of "The Rosario", Tommy finds it difficult to remember and say the word 'infinity' - he assumes that is what the sign is... simply because it is the common symbol for infinity - ∞. Yes, it was invented in 1657, by the John Wallis, an English mathematician to be used in mathematics and science. However, perhaps the sign - and the symbolism that it represents, is much older?
BARS OF SPANISH GOLD FOUND IN SAINT LEZANTHE CHURCH
CHAPTER 33, PAGE 370.
Max and Katie searched the church of Saint Lezanthe in Devon trying to find the 'anomaly' - as Max called it - that would tell them why the church had something to hide. It was the last church indicated on the thin silver hexagonal map, found hidden inside the lead box, within one of the stolen doors.
And was it hiding something! A vast fortune of Spanish gold, put there by Sir Francis Drake.
TWO STARS ARGENT FROM SIR FRANCIS DRAKE'S COAT OF ARMS
CHAPTER 38, PAGE 441.
'Sinclair's' two stars argent (from Sir Francis Drake's coat of arms, given to him by his queen, Elizabeth I), were seen by Max and Katie in the church of Saint Lezanthe, and by Sinclair, carved into a timber beam in the lower basement level of the Wolfeberg Bank. Once Sinclair had spotted them, he ensured, in his most inimitable way, that Max and Katie were aware of their existence.
Drake's motto read: Sic Parvis Magna - "Thus great things from small things (come)". The hand out of the clouds is labelled Auxilio Divino, or "With Divine Help.
THE SOLID SILVER MODEL OF THE ARMADA'S SÃO MARTINHO
CHAPTER 41, PAGE 463 (edited).
Katie's description:
"This very large, solid-silver model is of the Spanish Armada’s galeón, the São Martinho – the flagship of the commander-in-chief or Capitana, the Duke of Medina Sidonia and senior army officer, Maestre Francisco Arias de Bobadilla. This silver model is at least four hundred and twenty-five years old and belonged to King Philip the Second of Spain."
Similar to the beautiful model below - which isn't made of silver!
MICHAEL MERCATOR'S MEDAL
CHAPTER 41, PAGE 464 (edited).
Katie's description:
"The ultra-rare silver medallion, by the famous engraver of maps and medals, instrument-maker and constructor of organs and harpsichords, Michael Mercator. This medal shows Sir Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. It must be worth at least one to one-and-a-quarter million pounds. On one side of the medal is the eastern hemisphere, and on the other, the western. The medal is sixty-eight millimetres in diameter and has a weight of approximately four hundred grains."
EXPEDITIONIS HISPANORUM in Angliam vera descriptio. Anno Do- M D LXXXVIII
CHAPTER 41, PAGE 468.
Katie's description:
"This was written by Petruccio Ubaldini, just after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588; it’s quite short, describing the campaign and battles, or lack of them. Anyway, to accompany the account, Richard Adams created eleven maps showing where the two fleets were in relation to one another: ten of the maps showed the fleets at different times down the English Channel. The eleventh map showed the scattered Armada and their courses around Scotland."
Below is the sixth of Adam's maps, showing the Armada being chased by the English fleet, with their ships leaving Plymouth on 31st July - 1st August 1588.
At the near bottom of the map, Sir Frances Drake is in the motions of capturing the stranded, unprotected and gold-and-silver loaded Nuestra Señora del Rosario.
