The colours of Constanza Vitellini

Sable, a crusilly of
clechée or

Constanza Vitellini out for a walk wearing a burgundy dress of pure silk velvet trimmed in gilded braid, over a green underdress of silk damask

Constanza Vitellini di Firenze

Daughter of Giacomo Vitellini and his wife Simonetta, herself a daughter of a minor noble with rank, but no money. Constanza grew up in Florence as the third child of a wealthy silk merchant. Her older brothers followed her fathers profession, while Constanza was educated in Latin and languages, history, geometry and music to increase her value on the marriage market.

Unfortunately on a trip to Piacenza to visit a friend, Constanza was taken hostage by a band of Milanese soldiers, led by Sir Thibault de Mont St Martin. After successful negotiations for ransom, she returned to her family, but soon after left them to joint Sir Thibault again and eloped to France. She accompanied Sir Thibault to England where their daughter Amélie was born.

Note: Constanza is a fictional character indicative of the rising class of merchants and their families during the era of the 100 Years War. With the high costs of maintaining a knight in battle readiness, and the growing wealth of the merchant class, it was quite common for knights with little land of their own to take the daughters of wealthy merchants in marriage. The merchants gain by raising their descendants into the nobility, the knight gains a beautiful (if he is lucky) wife and a lucrative source of cashflow.