Rafael Sabatini

Writer

• Born: April 29, 1875
• Birthplace: Jesi, Italy
• Died: February 13, 1950
• Place of death: Adelboden, Switzerland

Biography

Rafael Sabatini was born on April 29, 1875, in Jesi, Italy. His father, Cavaliere Vicenzo, and his mother, Anna Tafford Sabitini, were both opera signers. In his youth, Sabatini accompanied his parents when they performed throughout Europe. Sabitini’s mother was British, and Sabitini always considered himself British, spending much of his childhood with maternal relatives in Liverpool, England. He attended Ecole Cantonale in Zoug, Switzerland, and went on to study at Oporto and Coimbra in Portugal. He became a British citizen in 1918.

In 1905, Sabatini married Ruth Goad Dixon, and the couple had one son, who died in a car accident in 1927. They divorced in 1932. He married Christine Dixon in 1935, and his stepson died in a plane crash in 1940.

During World War I, Sabatini took a brief hiatus from writing to work with the British Intelligence Department. After the war, he was able to produce a new novel nearly every year. Sabatini is best known for his adventurous historic fiction and romance novels, several of which were adapted as films. He maintained there were three types of historic novels: those that featured historic settings, events, and characters; those that featured fictional characters placed in historic settings; and those that combined fictional characters and settings with actual events and people.

Sabatini’s book, The King’s Minion, exemplifies the first type of historic novel. The book follows the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury in the court of King James I; it contains factual information and actual characters. Scaramouche: A Romance of the French Revolution is an example of the second type of historic novel. The story and characters are fictional, but they are placed within the historically accurate era of the French Revolution. The protagonist, André Louis Moreau, adopts the name Scaramoche after he is banished from his foster father’s estate, and he becomes a revolutionary hero. After the murder of a friend at the hands of an aristocrat and fighting for the woman he loves, Scaramouche battles the aristocrat, only to discover the man is his father.

Captain Blood, arguably Sabatini’s best known work, is the third type of historic novel. The novel’s main character, Peter Blood, is modeled after Henry Pittman, a British surgeon who was sold into slavery in Barbados after being sentenced to death for administering to the wounds of rebel soldiers during Monmouth’s Rebellion. Sabatini also incorporates the life of British pirate turned knight Henry Morgan into the character of Blood. Captain Blood is filled with adventures on the high seas, as Blood questions allegiance and loyalty to country, government, and religion.

In addition to novels, Sabatini wrote plays, biographies, and short stories. His biographies of Cesare Borgia and Tomás de Torquemada, the Spanish inquisitor, received critical acclaim.

Sabatini died on February 13, 1950, while vacationing in Adelboden, Switzerland. Sabatini’s ability to write exciting novels which fused history, adventure, and romance were his greatest contributions to literature.