Fernandín is a young page and squire of the popolo minuto in Florence around 1300, an archer and dagger-man in the service of a Templar lord, who was for weeks replaced by an impostor without anyone noticing.
| Type | Character |
| Class | Popolo minuto |
| Service | Page of a Templar lord (“almost the first” among his pages) |
| Affiliation | Comedero del Buen Ladrón (Good Thief’s Eating-House) |
| Spanish entry | Fernandín |
Description
His dress shows three loyalties: his class, in torn trousers and “little straw clothes”; his house, in a red cross “sewn somewhat sloppily” on his chest; and his eating-house, in a cape embroidered with a bitten loaf, symbol of the Comedero del Buen Ladrón. He wears a hooded garment he does not always put up, and a short bowl cut. He is the poor man of the company.
Equipment
- A short bow, always slung behind him.
- A rapier.
- Two daggers hidden in his sleeves, one per sleeve; he has been seen drawing both at once.
- Gloves that vibrate when Alberico is near, useful for detection. Their origin is not recorded.
The other Fernandín
For “a long time, perhaps some weeks”, the one who went with his companions under his name was not him, and no one could tell when the change happened. The thing that took his place was “a horrible, giant thing” with wings; a piece of one wing is left stuck in a side.
The body pinned with arrows
After the fight against the witches, Fernandín was not with the company. A body pinned with arrows was pointed out as one of theirs, dead, but the companions could not fix where he was or whether he survived. His whereabouts remain open.
The relic
A companion proposed “that Fernandín’s body be a relic, and when someone dances or plays, their hunger goes away”, echoing the bitten loaf on his cape. The proposal was never ratified; no miracle is recorded.
Conflicting accounts
- He was replaced by a doppelgänger.
- “Fernandino was not Fernandino but one of the witches.”
- “It is very likely that Fernandito is being possessed” — by a tsar.
Open questions
- Whether Fernandín is dead.
- Whether the winged creature is the impostor or Fernandín himself transformed.
- Whether “Fernandito”, “Fermín” and “Alberico” are one character or several — though his gloves vibrate in Alberico’s presence.
- What the Comedero del Buen Ladrón is, what obligation its bitten loaf imposes, and whether it has dealings with the Templar order.