Crusades

The Crusades form the setting for Alfonso’s journey to the Holy Land and the events that secretly preserve his line of succession. A storm drives him to Sicily, where his marriage to Victoria leads to the birth of a daughter; the news of Alfonso’s supposed death and Ricardo’s accession then leaves Victoria unable to establish her claim openly. Jerome’s account of these events helps explain why Manfred ultimately accepts Theodore as the rightful heir and yields Otranto.

Alfonso’s Journey and Marriage

Alfonso sets sail for the Holy Land, but a storm forces his vessel to the coast of Sicily. While he is delayed there for three months, he falls in love with Victoria. Jerome relates that Alfonso, unwilling to pursue a forbidden relationship, marries her. Because he considers the marriage incompatible with the vow of arms binding him during the Crusade, he plans to keep it secret until his return, when he intends to acknowledge Victoria as his lawful wife.

A Hidden Line of Succession

Alfonso leaves Sicily while Victoria is pregnant; she later gives birth to a daughter. Before she can make her marriage known, she hears that Alfonso has died and that Ricardo has succeeded him. Jerome describes Victoria as friendless and helpless, uncertain whether her testimony could establish her claim, and says he possesses an authentic document concerning it. The marriage therefore creates a legitimate line of descent whose existence remains concealed while Ricardo’s descendants hold power.

The Crusade in Manfred’s Confession

At the close of the novel, Manfred recounts how Ricardo, his grandfather, inherited Otranto through a fictitious will after Alfonso’s death by poison. Manfred links the disasters that have overtaken his family to Ricardo’s usurpation and to the prophecy that Ricardo’s descendants would rule only until the rightful owner grew too large to inhabit the castle. Jerome’s account of Alfonso’s forced stop in Sicily and his marriage to Victoria supplies the concealed history behind Alfonso’s surviving heir. Manfred accepts that the dominions belong to Theodore and renounces them, while the Crusade’s interrupted journey stands at the origin of the secret that overturns his family’s claim.