Medieval historian and philosopher Umberto Eco weaves legends, fantasy and fact in this 500-page shaggy dog tale.  Recounted in April 1204, during the Crusader’s sack of Constantinople, it is the story of Baudolino, adventurer, peasant, servant of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarosa and, most importantly, self-proclaimed liar.   While the first half of the story takes place in Paris and Italy, the narrative becomes increasingly fantastic as it describes a journey to find Prestor John, the Christian king who purportedly rules in East Asia.  Eco uses pieces of several medieval legends from the east, including the Alexander Romance and castle of the Assassins.   He also gives us the origin of the Holy Grail Legend and the Shroud of Turin.  He peoples the far lands with freaks of the medieval imagination, all Christian, who are bitterly divided not by their appearance, but by religious schisms.  Baudolino can be riotously funny (at least to those who know their medieval history), such as the disturbing appearance of 3 mummified heads of St. John the Baptist in Byzantium, when people knew there were only two.  On the other hand the book is very long and some sections are turgid and repetitive.

I have the feeling that wherever the book touches fact, Eco begins with known events.  Central to the story is the mystery surrounding the death of Emperor Frederick I during the Fourth Crusade.  By the end of Baudolino we have “solved” the mystery, though that is very much not to the point.  The author is playing with history, with story telling, with lies and rewriting.  He is deep, humorous and difficult.  I think this book will appeal to the sturdy reader, especially those of us digging into the stories of the Middle Ages.

-Peotr