Solymitana Delivered

*Solymitana Delivered* is an epic poem, completed in 1575, about five rich heiresses who decide to dress as men and ride off to war, in order to seek adventure and save the land from the invading Anitkabirians.  Its characters are a very popular subject for Liotainian operas, who often focus on one or the other of the five women.

## Origins

*Solymitana Delivered* was the lifetime work of Arunas du Kestas (1535-1582), a minor Liotainian noble from Sventoji. A fervent Orthodox believer, Arunas became fascinated with the pilgrimage to the Theophanite holy city of Solymitana. In 1555, the twenty-year old Arunas attempted to make this pilgrimage, traveling in the company of three Hospitaller Knights of Saint Mykolas. He instead got captured and enslaved by pirates from Anitkabir, and got caught up in the Revolt of the Mardins. He managed to reach Solymitana in 1560 in the company of Mardin rebels, and finally returned to Liotain in 1564, with his fortune exhausted and his health broken.

In 1565, despite living in poverty while working as a minor royal tax official, Arunas began penning an epic poem. A first draft was completed in 1567, but Arunas was dissatisfied with the work, telling a friend "it is a wretched piece worthy of no consideration." However, he continued working on a new draft, adding new characters and changing the meter. The work remained incomplete in 1570 when Arunas enlisted in the Liotainian fleet gathered for the War of the League of Sventoji, where he served as the second officer of the galley *Sv. Skaisté Svelnusis* during the Battle of Cape Sovata. The experiences of the war and the naval campaign sparked a further revision of the poem, which by this point had grown into an epic.

Arunas completed *Solymitana Delivered* in 1575, three years after returning from the Battle of Cape Sovata. He gave the only copy to *Grafienė* Zydre du Amidei, the wealthy countess of Sventoji, who had paid for the outfitting of the *Sv. Skaisté Svelnusis* four years prior. The countess did not read the poem until the following year, however, but fell in love with the story when she finally did. In 1578, during a visit to Sventoji by King Vydmantas I, Countess Zydre arranged a recitation of the first three Cantos for Vydmantas, who was so impressed that he ordered a sum of ten thousand florins to be gifted to Arunas.

Although his fortunes had turned, Arunas showed signs of mental illness later in 1578, and in 1579 would be confined to a cottage owned by Countess Zydre. During this time, Arunas struggled with depression, hallucinations, and occasional intense manic episodes. He wrote a shorter epic poem during this period, titled *The Desecration of the Altar*, which incorporated some of the same themes as *Solymitana Delivered*. In 1582, Arunas' health declined rapidly, and he died at the age of 47.

## Structure and Themes

*Solymitana Delivered* is structured in twenty-four cantos of varying length, with a total of 2,304 stanzas written in *ottava rima*.

## Plot Summary

* **Canto** **I**: Frustrated at her idle life, the young heiress Adelé receives a vision from the Archangel Israfiel. Inspired by this vision, she proposes a pilgrimage to the holy city of Solymitana with her four friends. Veronika and Jessica immediately agree, but Genovaite and Leonora must be convinced.
* **Canto** **II**: The five women set out by ship for Solymitana. For safety, Adelé proposes that they disguise themselves as men while aboard ship.
* **Canto** **III**: The ship is pursued and captured by Fir corsairs, who take them to Balefornia.
* **Canto** **IV**: During an attack by the Hospitaller Knights led by Ademar, the five women escape from the pirates and free the crew of their hired galley.
* **Canto** **V**: While crossing the sea, the galley is struck by a storm which the crew believes is supernatural. Adelé sees a vision of the Archangel Israfiel fighting demons in the skies above.
* **Canto** **VI**: The five women are shipwrecked on the otherworldly island of Krocylea and rescued by the sorcerer Gaetano, who imprisons them in his walled garden.
* **Canto** **VII**: Gaetano offers to let the five women go free in exchange for obscure requests. Genovaite instead asks to learn magic, offering to return to Krocylea to marry Gaetano after finishing the pilgrimage; Gaetano accepts.
* **Canto** **VIII**: After making a deal with Genovaite, Gaetano releases the five women and gives them a magic galley to return them to the world.
* **Canto** **IX**: Carried east by Gaetano's magic galley, the pilgrims arrive on the coast of Elbar, where they disembark.
* **Canto** **X**: All five women join a larger group of pilgrims headed across the countryside to Solymitana. They find the region gripped by a severe drought.
* **Canto** **XI**: Facing the summer sun, jackals, and bandits, the pilgrims make their way to Solymitana.
* **Canto** **XII**: The pilgrims arrive at Solymitana to find it besieged by the advance guard of the Kabirite army, led by King Melek of Anitkabir. Genovaite sings the first magic song, conjuring a dust storm that allows the pilgrims to flee.
* **Canto** **XIII**: The pilgrims flee from the Kabirite army, escaping through a narrow defile. At a narrow point, Jessica remains behind and challenges the Kabirite chieftains to single combat. She defeats six of them until Prince Aslan comes to challenge her; she is unhorsed and captured but treated respectfully.
* **Canto** **XIV**: Although captured by the Kabirites, Jessica is treated well by Prince Aslan. However, his sister, Princess Aysel, accuses her of theft and orders her whipped.
* **Canto** **XV**: The four women meet the nomad Kfir, the "king of the desert," who tells them that Solymitana's true king, Jeremiel, was deposed and sent into exile by jealous rivals. He prophesies that the city will not be free until Jeremiel is restored to his throne.
* **Canto** **XVI**: Prince Aslan, troubled by Princess Aysel's hostility and worried that King Melek may order Jessica's death, helps her escape from the Kabirite camp, giving her a horse and letting her flee into the desert. Meanwhile, Adelé and Leonora ride into the desert to search for the exiled king, Jeremiel.
* **Canto** **XVII**: Knowing that Solymitana is running low on water, Genovaite sings the second magic song she learned from the sorcerer Gaetano, and summons a wild storm which ends the drought and terrifies the Kabirite soldiers.
* **Canto** **XVIII**: Jessica reunites with the party of pilgrims. Adelé and Leonora become lost in the desert.
* **Canto** **XIX**: Exhausted, lost and thirsty, Adelé and Leonora pray for guidance. Israfiel appears in a vision and leads the two girls to a barren mountain, where Jeremiel lives a hermit's life in a high cave.
* **Canto** **XX**: King Melek's horsemen, in pursuit of the escaping Jessica, attack the pilgrims at the oasis. Genovaite sings the third song she learned from Gaetano, causing the stones to turn into lions, which kill the Kabirite horses and protect the pilgrims.
* **Canto** **XXI**: Because of her vision from Israfiel, Adelé passes Jeremiel's test to find his buried sword, and Adelé and Leonora convince Jeremiel to return with them to deliver Solymitana from siege.
* **Canto** **XXII**: Genovaite sings her fourth song, which summons Ademar and ninety-nine Hospitaller Knights to find them. The knights, the pilgrims, and the desert people prepare for battle.
* **Canto** **XXIII**: Battle is joined between the Kabirite invaders and the knights. Adelé is wounded by Melek's magic sword, but saved by her friends. Jeremiel fights King Melek in single combat and defeats him. The Kabirite army is defeated and scattered, returning to their homeland.
* **Canto** **XXIV**: The fellowship is scattered. Leonora marries King Jeremiel. Genovaite sings her final song, and is carried away to Krocylea by swans to marry Gaetano. Veronika marries the hospitaller knight Ademar. Jessica marries Prince Aslan, who converts to Orthodoxy. The wounded Adelé, having received another vision from Israfiel, sets off alone to return to the barren mountain where Jeremiel lived as a hermit. The story ends ambiguously, implying that Adelé is caught up to heaven to be healed of her wounds, with her task done.

## Characters

### Main Characters

*In the style of TVTropes:*

* **Adelé** (The Hero): a devout young heiress from the town of Sventoji, Adelé first proposes to her four friends the idea of disguising themselves in order to conduct a pilgrimage to the holy city of Solymitana.
* **Veronika** (The Lancer): Adelé's closest friend (sometimes addressed as 'kinswoman') who supports the idea of a pilgrimage.
* **Jessica** (The Big Girl): the primary combatant of the group, Jessica is an accomplished horsewoman, having been taught both the sword and the lance by her father.
* **Genovaite** (The Smart Girl): a young heiress who initially hesitates to join her friends, but eventually agrees to accompany them to Solymitana. She learns five magic songs from the sorcerer Gaetano.
* **Leonora** (The Chick): an heiress who is invited by Adelé to join the pilgrimage. At the conclusion of the epic, she marries Jeremiel, the king of Solymitana.

### Secondary Characters

* **Ademar**: a noble Knight Hospitaller
* **Aslan**: a prince, the son of Melek king of Anitkabir
* **Aysel**: Aslan's sister, the daughter of Melek king of Anitkabir
* **Gaetano**: a sorcerer who lives on the otherworldly island of Krocylea
* **Israfiel**: one of the archangels
* **Jeremiel**: the king of Solymitana
* **Kfir**: the childlike "king of the desert."

## Influence in Liotainian Literature

*Solymitana Delivered* built on the epic tradition established by *Kariska* (1220) and *The Last White Sword* (~1330), both of which were very familiar to Arunas from his education. Arunas used slightly more modern language in *Solymitana Delivered*, however, and incorporated some modern spelling.

## In Art

Paintings depicting scenes from *Solymitana Delivered* appeared as early as 1578, when Vydmantas I commissioned three paintings depicting scenes from the epic. The famous Liotainian painter Jurate Strolia painted her most famous work, *Genovaite Summons the Storm*, in 1583, depicting a scene from Canto XVII.

* *At the Empty Tomb* (1578):
* *The Sword of Deliverance* (1578):
* *Magic Garden of Gaetano* (1578):
* *Genovaite Summons the Storm* (1583): Jurate Strolia
* *Lions of Stone* (1680)
* *King of the Desert* (1716)
* *The Flight of Jessica* (1721)
* *Jeremiel on the Mountaintop* (1724)
* *The Marriage of Jeremiel and Leonora* (1773)

### Opera

*Solymitana Delivered* provided a base subject matter for a large number of operas.

* *Dykumos karalius* ("The King of the Desert")
* *Aysel*
* *Jeremiel,* or *The Hermit of Elbar*
* *Aslan and Jessica* (1856)
* *The Magic Horn*
* *Ademar*