Chapter 11 April 12, 2019 Frankfurt
Coming out at Ankünfte, Barbara looked for the limousine she’d rented for her stay. She immediately spotted the driver with a Herr Dr. Moore sign. He apologized profusely for the gender error and quickly retrieved her luggage and stowed her in the spacious backseat of the Mercedes Benz S-Class.
During the ride, Barbara went over Nickolas’ account in her head, again and again. There was nothing unusual there! Maybe when she saw it in person. Nickolas admitted he was stumped. He spent almost two days in the room before finding the answer.
Nickolas said he tried to approach the mystery (mysterium) by being in the head (in capite) of the person who solved it. But he hadn’t been told who that was.
At first. he tried to think as the great king Barbarossa would think. But this got him nowhere. He had no experience in government or war or nobility. The Emperor’s thought processes were total foreign to him.
Then he wondered about Victorinus, Frederick’s antiquity advisor. He was a kind of rags to riches story himself. Born into a poor family of herders in the hill country of Swabia, his mental gifts came to the attention of the monks in the nearby Augustinian Abbey of Saint Pancras of Backnang. At the age of 7, they asked his father to let him come to the abbey to learn. With six other mouths to feed, the poor goatherd jumped at the suggestion. The boy’s natural gifts were remarkable and by age 9, he was fluent in Latin and Greek. He studied Cicero, Caesar and Aristotle with excellent understanding. His career as a monk ended at age 18, when the new 26-year-old Duke of Swabia, Frederick III passed through the region and heard of the wunderkind. He attached the boy to his court as an advisor and translator. Four years later, Frederick became King of the Germans as Frederick I (Barbarossa) and Victorinus never left his side from then until the King’s death 38 years later.
Nickolas got no farther with Victorinus. While he could channel the Latin and Greek scholar and had some knowledge of the ancient writers that he was so fond of, there was nothing of Latin or Greek or Aristotle on the walls!
He thought of the companions. But they were all rough knights and warriors with no great thought powers and all foreign to the humble friar.
Nickolas was totally stumped until he, in what he called a lux de caelo moment, saw the answer and knew the location immediately.
The limousine delivered Barbara to her hotel, the Villa Kennedy, and parked nearby, ready for her needs. Barb was impressed by the efficiency and friendliness of the staff as the desk clerk joked about her being in the Präsidentensuite. As she followed the two bell hops wheeling her luggage to the elevator, her thoughts went back to her problem. Dr. Moore realized that she needed a lux de caelo moment of her own!
