| Gabriel Belami | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 18 2014, 09:49 PM (120 Views) | |
| Gabriel_Belami | Feb 18 2014, 09:49 PM Post #1 |
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Gabriel Belami is one of Thornbury’s most prominent Norman merchants. Even though he has somewhat withdrawn a bit from the daily tasks of his trade, which he has mostly delegated to his sons Léo (for the ship and convoys) and Geoffroy (for the inn), he is still actively involving in them as well as in other eccentricities which are looked upon by others with a certain indulgence, as in his old age, he is wealthier than many nobles and more fulfilled than anyone could ever hope to be. For years it has been long believed in the business that young Gabriel, as the eldest, heir to his father’s business, would never amount to anything in life; that he was only going to remain some light-headed juvenile delinquent, traveling around the world for fun instead of marrying and settling down. No one would ever have expected that, in doing so, and in finally settling down at an age when most men were already the heads of large families with sons nearly grownup, he had come back from his travels with a baggage of invaluable knowledge for an ordinary man. Not only some of that knowledge has proved itself to be most useful in his trade and has increased its prosperity to a point where the small business had become one of Thornbury’s largest, with its own boat and two carriage teams (one on the Continent and one on the Island) but it has also revealed in the most unexpected way an immense wisdom behind the apparent foolishness of the man. Gabriel will be able to make you dream of warm Aquitaine and its troubadours who are changing the medieval landscape forever; he’ll sing and play some instruments you’ve never seen before (he’s particularly fond of the hurdy-gurdy), talk about the exotic lands of Italy, Spain, Byzantium and of those of the Saracens; he’ll tell you of The Art of Love by Ovid or at how everything in the world is actually based on the same vibratory principle as music; he’ll also tell you of Saint Eilmer’s dream, that making a man fly is all a matter of finding out how. And no one will ever suspect that he’s never enjoyed being a businessman, that he has only done it for Emma, his beloved wife, and his three living children Léo, Geoffroy and little Viviane (they had lost four, and he isn’t in very good terms with Léo, but that isn’t a matter to talk about). “I’m grateful to the Lord for our coins, he says, there’s no denying it, but I’m even more grateful to you, my family, as you are my true wealth.” Gabriel is really a man of his race and age, an enthusiastic discoverer. He is among the few fortunate people who have been friends with Earl Godric since youth. He is the one who has seen newborn Thornbury as a golden opportunity to establish a new offshoot for the trade; so he now has an inn there, run by one of his sons, as well as a warehouse. Another Belami warehouse has been built in the port city of Rouen. The little town has been undisturbed by the quarrels; there is plenty of leather and wool there and the demand never ceases to increase. Soon, the town will develop and its demand for wine, olives and other continental goods will also increase… As Gabriel says himself: “I don’t have time to get old.” |
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10:47 AM Jul 11