Helena Zancani

Lady Helena Zancani is mundanely known as Alana Mateas. She has been an active member of the Society since she was 12 years old. Helena has been active in West Kingdom, Atenveldt and several Shires and Baronies in An Tir.

Persona:

Lady Helena at Twelfth Night XLIII

Helena was born in 1542 Venice to Lucrezia Zancani, a little known courtesan. She was the second child of Lecrezia. In 1554, at the age of 12, Helena began training as a courtesan. This education includes dance, embroidery, poetry, singing, playing the harp, and learning to read and write. Her training continued for four years before she took on her first client in 1557. Helena became a moderately prosperous Courtesan with a penchant for more exciting clientel. In 1559 she met Sargeant Nicolai from a mercenary unit called The Iron Ring. He became one of her infrequent Patrons during his company's many trips to Venice. In 1562 the Inquisition tried Helena on charges of Witchcraft. She was subsequently aquitted after there was a lack of evidence but she was found guilty of the lesser crime of fornication and was heavily fined. After two years of periodic scrutiny, Helena received a missive from one of her patrons telling her of another accusation of witchcraft. Instead of standing trial and losing even more of her wealth, Helena fleed the city with Nicolai. She became useful as a means of assisting with negotiations and remained a part of the Iron Ring.

Helena's Family Tree

Mother: Lucrezia Zancani
1st Born: Lorenzo Zancani, son, born 1540
2nd Born: Helena Zancani, daughter, born 1542
3rd Born: Nana Zancani, daughter, born 1544
4th Born: Antonia Zancani, daughter, born 1547

World History in Helena's Time

* indicates persona history

1542

• War resumes between Francis I (France) & Emperor Charles V (Holy Roman Empire). Henry VIII (England) allies with Carles, James V (Scotland) & Sultan Suleiman I ally with Francis.
• Feb 13: Catherine Howard, 5th wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.
• Mary I, Queen of Scots becomes queen at the age of one week.

*Helena Zancani is born

1543

• July 12: King Henry VIII (England) marries Catherine Parr.

-It's Henry's 6th marriage & Catherine's 3rd.

-Princess Elizabeth attends the wedding.

• 3rd Succession Act: Elizabeth is restored to the Line of Succession to the throne of England.
• Nanban trade period begins after Portuguese traders make contact with Japan.

1544

• Italian botanist Luca Ghini publishes the first herbarium.

*Nana Zancani is born

1546

• Peace is declared between England and France.

1547

• Jan 16: Grand Duke Ivan IV(the terrible) becomes Tsar of Russia.
• Jan 28: Edward VI succeeds his father Henry VIII as King of England.
• Mar 31: Henry II succeeds his father Francis I as King of France.

*Antonia Zancani is born

1548

• July 7: A marriage treaty is signed between Scotland & France.

-Mary I (age 5) is betrothed to the future King Francis II of France.

1551

• 5th outbreak of sweating sickness in England. John Caius of Shrewsbury writes the first full account of its symptoms.

1552

• Apr: War breaks out between Henry II of France & Emperor Charles V.

-Henry invades Lorraine & captures Toul, Metz, & Verdun.

1553

• July 6: Edward VI of England dies.
• July 10: Lady Jane Grey (age 17)is crowned Queen of England - a position she holds for the next nine days.
• July 18: The Lord Mayor of London proclaims Queen Mary as the rightful Queen; Lady Jane Grey willingly abdicates.

1554

• Feb 12: Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason alongside her husband.
• Mar 17: Princess Elizabeth is imprisoned in The Tower.
• July 23: Queen Mary I of England marries King Philip of Naples, the only son of Emperor Charles V.

*Helena begins training to be a courtesan

1555

• April 10: Pope Marcellus II succeeds Pope Julius III as the 222nd pope.
• May 23: Pope Paul IV succeeds Pope Marcellus II as the 223rd pope.
• July 12: Pope Paul IV creates the first Jew ghetto in Rome.

1556

• Jan 16: Emperor Charles V abdicates. His son, Philip II becomes King of Spain, while his brother Ferdinand becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
• Lorenzo Priuli becomes Doge of Venice.

1557

• June: Mary I (England) joins her husband Philip II of Spain in his war against France.

*Helena takes her first client

1558

• April 24: Mary I (Scotland) marries Francis II of France.
• November 17: The Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth.

1559

• January 15: Elizabeth I of England is crowned
• April 3: Peace of Cateau Cambrésis. France makes peace with England and Spain.

-France gives up most of its gains in Italy (including Savoy), keeping only Saluzzo, but keeps the three Lorraine bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and the formerly English town of Calais.

• July 10: Francis II becomes King of France following the death of his father, Henry II, in a jousting accident.
• December 25: Pope Pius IV succeeds Pope Paul IV as the 224th pope.
• The Italian Wars conclude.
• A royal edict in France makes heresy punishable by death.

*Helena meets Nicolai. He becomes one of her patrons.

1560

• Dec 5: Francis II (age 16) dies of an ear infection.
• Dec 6: Charles IX of France (age 9) succeeds Francis II.
• The oldest surviving violin, known as the Charles IX, is made in Cremona, in northern Italy.
• The great age of piracy in the Caribbean starts around this time.
• Erzsebet Bathory is born in Nyirbator, Hungary.

1561

• Ruy López develops modern techniques of chess playing in Spain.
• Michelangelo finishes the Sistine in Rome.
• The Book of the Courtier (Il Cortegiano) is translated into English by Sir Thomas Hoby.

1562

• Sept 22: Maximilian, son of the Emperor Ferdinand I, succeeds as King of Bohemia.
• The earliest English slave-trading expedition (under John Hawkins) goes between Guinea and the West Indies.

*Helena tried and aquitted of witchcraft. She is found guilty of fornication and heavily fined.

1563

• The official Roman Catholic decree "Tametsi" stipulates that for a marriage to be valid, consent as expressed in the vows must be given publicly before witnesses & the parish priest.
• Plague outbreak claimed 80,000 people in Elizabethan England. In London alone, over 20,000 people died of the disease.

1564

• Mar 8: Naples bans kissing in public under the penalty of death.
• The modern pencil becomes common in England.
• Death of Michelangelo
• William Shakespeare baptized 26 April

1565 *Helena Joins the iron Ring.