Saint Fenice of Tarlenheim

The enigmatic figure of the fifteenth-century Countess Fenice of Tarlenheim ties together many of the plot strands of the Peacher stories. Her prophetic work on the End Times is quoted in Henry in Finkle Road, but she actually appears in The Green Side and Henry and the Eschaton. The historical Fenice was the wife of Count Serge of Tarlenheim and the friend and adviser of Duchess Osra, daughter and heir of Duke Waclaw III of Rothenia. Fenice lived through the troubled times of the wars that followed the Elphberg succession. After the death of Count Serge, Fenice moved to the northern provinces of Rothenia and the castle and forest of Belvoir, her marriage portion. She took vows and lived a life of prayer and contemplation, though without entering a monastery. She published many works of theology and spirituality and had a great reputation in her homeland. Her prophetic gifts however were regarded with suspicion by Rome and she was investigated for heresy. Following the death of Duke Rudolf I Elphberg, Fenice joined her friend Duchess Osra in the nunnery of Medeln where the duchess was titular abbess, and they both ended their lives there. Fenice was reputed to have accomplished numerous miracles before her death, and was canonised early in the sixteenth century. The Fenizenkirche in the Nuevemesten of Strelzen was built in her honour by Duke Rudolf V, and had relics of her, but her principal shrine was at Medeln. Her Meditation on the Face of Christ was inspired by the legendary Icon of Christ of which it later turned out she was the hereditary keeper, and which it transpired in HatE allowed her to transcend the constriction of time  and communicate with future ages.